- As we descended into Kisumu last month, I tried to imagine what it was like during the post-election violence. Images from the Kenya Burning exhibition of coffins, streets on fire and police beating up their brothers and sisters ran across my mind but in truth, no matter how hard I tried, it was impossible to imagine my hometown as the bloodbath hanging on the walls at the Go Down. Kisumu was a lot of things but it was certainly not a war torn city. I had been in touch with my folks regularly and other friends from Kisumu and all in all, I had the impression that most people had moved on since the election eruptions. The airplane was full as were the other four flights that descend on K…

- The other day a clever little man explained to us why he hoped Barack Obama will be chosen as the preferred Democratic candidate. It had nothing to do with the fact that he had Kenyan blood in him or that he was partially black: "The man offers a breath of fresh air that the world needs. Clinton just wants business as usual. He offers a new approach to the Middle East crises, to Iraq, for Africa. Things cannot continue the way they are - we need someone who will do business un - usual." Click HERE to read more.

- “People who ignore their history are bound to repeat it” (Desmond Tutu) If we really wish never again to see a repetition of the traumatic events that we experienced after the 2007 elections, we CANNOT AND WE MUST NOT bury the memory of what happened in the early months of 2008. WAJIBU, in this first double first issue of the year brings you not simply the events of that period as lived by many Kenyans but also the reflections of thoughtful writers (many of them young but established) on the underlying reasons for this outbreak of violence. At the same time, we give you the thoughts of religious leaders as well as of social activists on the paths we must choose if we wis…

- Daily Nation commentator, Rasnah Warah has an article published in today's Daily Nation on PCEA Moderator, David Githii "banning" the use of the word Harambee because the word traces its roots from the Hindu Godess, "Ambee". (Click HERE to read her story) This pathetic argument from certain Christian leaders is not new in Kenya. A few years ago I came across the debate and published a cartoon with Kevin Amenya in an issue of Awaaz: The question is whether Kenyan's will actually accept one of the only calls we have as a Nation to pull together! How could this man be so blind as to be an overt tribalist of all times in Kenya!

- As I sit smug in Shanghai on leave where I am visiting my sister-in-law and her family, I can’t help but anxiously surf the web at odd hours in the night. Kenya is back on the headlines: Breakdown in Kenya Coalition Talks writes Nick Wadhams for Time and CNN. Yesterday, there was a fresh outburst of protests and demonstrations in Kibera, the largest slum in Kenya and Kisumu my hometown and stronghold of the opposition. The slogan has changed slightly: No, Raila, no peace. No cabinet, no peace…” Read More on: http://baraza.wildlifedirect.org/2008/04/08/kenya-falling-again/

- "Would that we might be adequately demystified to be unified in our political maturity; neither to use the instruments of prejudice and hate to suffocate each other with tear gas, not to beat each other senseless, nor to shoot at each other with live bullets, nor to loot each other's shops, nor to rape each other." Thus wrote John Sibi-Okumu in the previous editorial of AwaaZ as we prepared to go to the ballot. Three months later, we sat glued to the TV screen in disbelief as the cartography of violence was sketched. In Kisumu, the shops that line Oginga Odinga Street are mostly owned by South Asians and when local residents decided to go and tear their own town down, ine…

- The last few days have really had us all on our feet at WildlifeDirect. There have been a lot of atrocities committed against Kenya's wildlife who unfortunately are being used as a scapegoat for a much deeper rooted problem in Kenya: land. Last week we found out through one of our partner organisations, the Lion Guardians that three lions were tragically killed. Such inhumane acts are becoming more and more common and whilst they are often the result of retaliation due to Pastoralists losing their livestock to an opportunistic carnivore, there is really no justification for taking revenge on an animal that is only following its basic nature. Reuters were quick to pick up the story a…

- 29th October 2007 – 1200hrs “A Ranger was killed and another was wounded in an attack yesterday near Kabaraza carried out by the Mai Mai rebels. I learned this late yesterday. The Rangers were on patrol and were ambushed by the Mai Mai rebels, who are fairly dominant in this area just north of Rutshuru. During these tense times anything can happen. And this just goes to show it.” (Posted on wildlifedirect.org) Innocent is one amongst several Congolese rangers who have dedicated their lives to the protection of DR Congo’s Mountain Gorillas. Their relationship to these peaceful creatures is no different from any mother to her children: unquestionable dedicatio…

- Kit Mikayi means the rock of the first woman in Luo. Legend has it that an old chap named Ngeso so loved the rock formation that he would spend his whole day lazing under the stones. Everyday he would wake up in the morning and head straight for there and force his wife to bring his breakfast and lunch while he pondered about the meaning of life. Whenever someone asked about him, his wife would say he has gone to Kit Mikayi - his first wife. Read More on Sukuma Kenya

- Besides the politicians and hoodlums, I can't help but think there are actually a lot of good and caring people in the world. Perhaps not enough, or maybe because we are all so scattered across the globe that, it is sometimes not easy to feel a common bond of humanity. However, when I started working with WildlifeDirect and began to really understand the power of online communities, I realised that we are now sitting on the most powerful and positive tool of all times. Read More on Baraza....

- It's hard to show concern for anything else when so many people are dying and suffering. Places like DR Congo, Somailia and Southern Sudan have lost so much of their natural heritage as a consequence of power hugnry man made disasters and Kenya is facing the same future if nothing is done immediately. At WildlifeDirect.org where I work, we have all been having a really hard time focusing on what we need to. The organisation is fighting to keep the Virunga National Park in DR Congo alive. With the influx of Internally Displaced People to the periphery of the park, the immediate concern from a conservation perspective was that there would be a massive rise in charcoal making. People ha…

- I am overwhelmed. There is a virtual revolution going on amongst caring Kenyans who find a space not invaded by political pollutants. At least I have managed to find a space where likeminded people share and care about what is going on. Facebook, My Space, Blogger.com, literary blogs like Kwani and other art scenes have all joined this virtual revolution. Arriving within the blogging paradigm is perhaps the closest we can get to returning to basic principles of decency. It is a personal space that allows for an interaction of perceptions, allows for building communities, allows anyone who has access to participate. But, that is as far as it goes unfortunately and because we are stuck wi…

- (2008-01-04) DIPESH PABARI: What is your general assessment on the situation? SALIM AMIN: Well, at the moment it is pretty much what is being shown on television; it is just pockets of protests around Nairobi. We have not been out to Eldoret or Kisumu but in Nairobi it is just pockets of demonstrations around Kibera, Kawangware and Ngong Road, Argwings Kodhek Road and places like that where it is a few hundred people marching and demonstrating and the police pretty quickly crush that. Yesterday, there was more looting and damaging of property which I don’t think is ODM’s idea of protest. These are just a bunch of unemployed people who are just taking advantage of opportun…

- The Rift Valley has been one of the most affected areas in Kenya by the electoral violence. NTV accompanied Red Cross in a helicopter to film the level of destruction. After the recent horror in which 30 people were burned to death in a church in Eldoret, and continuos widespread violence and destruction of property, is it possible that Kenyans are witnessing the beginning of what could easily escalate into a "genocide" as suggested by leaders from PNU and ODM? However, perhaps their might be a ray of light amidst this savagery as reported by individuals who have been caught close to Eldoret where for the past few days, local communities have been demanding Kikuyu blood but afte…

- CNN and Time have declared Male Circumcision as the biggest medical breakthrough of 2007. This comes with the recent early closure of two clinical trials on male circumcision conducted in Uganda and Kenya which both showed that male risk of HIV infection through heterosexual sex is reduced by up to 65%. The findings were very similar to a study conducted in South Africa in 2005. With such overwhelming evidence, the World Health Organisation and UNAIDS have officially recommended the procedure as a way to help reduce transmission of the virus through heterosexual sex. Several East African countries have put male circumcision at the top of the Public Health agenda. In Uganda, the Mini…

- Football is something I have always associated with hoodlums, overpaid sports celebrities, and an excuse to get drunk. That is certainly the stereotypical portrait that we have of football in the developed world. The flipside of this is the tragic irony of poverty. Take a walk through any open space in a village or town throughout Africa and there are young men or children knocking around a worn out football or in many cases a bunch of plastic bags tied together to make a ball. Read More on sportanddev.org

- When Bob Dylan was singing about the times changing, I doubt he had in mind a Maasai Moran or a Turkana pastoralist in full traditional regalia negotiating the price of cattle on the international market with a mobile phone in some distant arid landscape... The full article is published on Pamabazuka

- Nothing quite prepares you for the drive from Mutsora to Ishango in the northern sector of Virunga National Park, DR Congo. Within two hours we traveled from the dense and humid tropical Congo forest to the stunning savannah landscape of Ishango which is located on the shores of Lake Edouard where the Semliki River flows out...Read More: http://wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/baraza

- Getting around in DR Congo is no easy task for the majority of people. We are fortunate to have the support of a free European Commission flight that takes you to major areas around the country. Most roads are virtually inaccessible and when there are roads, what should only take 2 hours could take the entire day. To make things worse, there is virtually no public transport beyond the urban areas. How people move around bewilders me and gives me even more respect for the Congolese... Read more on: http://wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/baraza

You may wish to consider uploading the Utube of Dr. Richard Leakey's thoughts on climate change in relation to African Parks. Check out: http://www.wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/richardleakey - Do Parks make sense in a changing climate? You may wish to consider uploading the Utube of Dr. Richard Leakey's thoughts on climate change in relation to African Parks. Check out: http://www.wildlifedirect.org/blogAdmin/richardleakey

- Goma, the capital city of north Kivu Province in DR Congo must be one of the most extreme places in the world. On the one hand, the environment is spectacular: the sky at night is lit up by Nyiragongo, an active volcano and the mountains surround the lake side town which trail into Lake Kivu. As we descended into Goma by plane... Read More on: http://wildlifedirect.org...24/rambling-through-goma/

- The publication lashes out stating that Kenya’s Kleptocrats are some of the worst in the world listing Moi and Associates as No.5 in the International Looters League based on findings of the Kroll Report released last month which went largely ignored by the government.The Parliamentary Bill puts all of Kenya’s major corruption scandals including Goldenberg, Angloleasing and the recent Kroll Report as acts of the past that absolve anyone of involvement leaving billions of Kenyan shillings unaccountable to the Kenyan public.Several whistleblower and human rights activist groups are reaching out to the Kenya public in a bid to ensure that the forthcoming elections will not provide…

- Her story is one that reminds Kenyans of the previous regime where violence and torture where the status quo for any form of opposition. As the Nation reported, Ms. Tera had just alighted from the bus when approached by a group of strange men who she did not recognize but knew her by her family name. Within seconds, she was pinned down beaten, burnt and human excrement shoved down her throat. According to Ms. Tera this was no ordinary act of inhumane theft, for she begged the assailants to take her money and belongings to which they replied that they were not interested in cash – it was her they were after.Having being left for near death, the thugs confidently stuck around in the di…

- “Every single time something is done with a purpose in view, something fundamentally different and other occurs” Nietsche. Anthropology, like most of us has had to go through several personal crises. You know, just like that time in your life when suddenly you discovered things are not quite what we thought they were; the world, society and our immediate surroundings do not quite fit into the perspective they unquestionably once did. For a while we are unable to listen properly, we hesitate, we are paranoid, things fall apart, the center cannot hold. For anthropology that has been happening a lot lately. Suddenly, borders weren’t as defining as they used to be, suddenl…

- You know those silly, large, rectangular frames that the heroines in typical Hollywood ‘more shots less talk’ type movies always wear, at least used to; and then in the last five minutes (or first five if it’s a porn flick), with such dexterity, takes them off, and the hero shows true signs of joy when he sees he has not just fallen in love with an intelligent, brave, blabidiblah, woman; but he has really got lucky, for she turns out to be a real babe! You know it and I know it: she really is a bimbo but he doesn’t know, because he is too busy dodging bullets, and making sure her glasses stay on her face so they can get away from the baddies without them ever knowi…

- Despite the occasional ignorant rants like, "muhindi, rudi nyumbani" or "wewe sio mwananchi, wewe ni muhindi", I have never really considered myself anything but Kenyan. Sure, I feel more Indian sometimes or my Turkish blood burns strong when goat cheese is being served but being is quite different from feeling. As for the empty voices telling me to go back to a place I've never been, I forgive them (but I don't forgive the history that has dealt them a raw deal nor the government that keeps them out cold with a losing hand). One can even ignore the power hungry baseless political blabber that we have heard from empty vessels like Shikuku or Matiba convincing…