Afromusing

Diaspora Kenyans (KT’s) and Africans getting ready to fly home for the December migration commonly known as Christmas holidays, call your bank or credit card provider and give them your travel dates, especially if you plan on using your debit card to withdraw cash or using your credit card for purchases. This could save you the headache of having your transactions not go through as the bank might be concerned about fraud.

For Kenya, you probably should consider carrying your American Express card too. There was this post by Bankelele from April last year about Amex being available through barclays bank - I would presume then that you could withdraw cash from barclays ATM’s in kenya with ease, there will still be a transaction fee of 2%.

Please chime in if there is more you can add, thanks.

Update: Kenya is still VISA country - Thanks Bankelele.

There is an wonderful story over on worldchanging by Sarah Rich about a billboard in the Alexandria Township in South Africa. This is practical and serves dual purpose - advertising for the bank and providing electricity for the MC Weller Primary School.

It goes without saying that this is a wonderful idea that can be emulated in Kenya, there is no shortage of billboards in Nairobi for sure.

on to the blurb:

…it’s generating power from the sun sufficient to run the electricity for the school’s kitchen. The copy appearing on its surface aptly reads: What if a bank really did give power to the people?

The concept came from a South African duo at the firm Net Work BBDO. The billboard is fitted with ten solar panels, each of which generates 135 watts of power. It will create 5,800 watts of power per light day, or enough to boil eighteen 1-liter kettles simultaneously. For many of MC Weller’s students, the school kitchen is the source of their only daily meal, making it a vitally important operation for keeping the community’s kids healthy and fed.

*AkalaNote:
1. World Aids Day - A documentary on VH1Soul called Tracking the monster will be showing at different times, click here for the TV schedule. Tivo the repeat… Very moving. It features India Arie in Kenya, where she worked with wangeci of KENWA visiting aids orphans in the slums of Kenya. Most touching moment, she played guitar for a musician who was ill, sang beautifully and bowed. She bowed with respect.

I pray for all those who have lost a loved one to this terrible epidemic, and salute those working to provide care to Aids patients, orphans and those educating others about AIDS.

The link above to Kenwa has info on how to donate, in addition it receives funds from The Global fund. The global fund receives money from the product Red campaign . At the very least, consider buying some of the products. Need another reason? The InspiRED T-shirt by Gap is very soft and comfy, plus its made of 100% African cotton.

2. Doing a much needed revamp of the blog..so if it looks kinda weird for a minute, sit tight…

*the register has bootnotes…so i figured…while you are there, dont miss out on BOFH - Bastard Operator from Hell for some great IT humour. BOFH on wikipedia

LED and Solar go hand in hand like…

Update: Thanks to E-Nyce, here is a link to a similar story in the Vancouver sun.
From the Economist Sept. 23rd print edition: (sorry, subscription link)

LEDs are an ideal off-the-grid light source because they need so little power. They can be run on AA batteries, or batteries recharged using small solar arrays. Compared with kerosene lanterns, LEDs can deliver up to 100 times more useful light to a task, besides being extremely long-lasting.

One of the companies making this possible:

Cosmos Ignite Innovations, a spin-out from Stanford University that is now based in New Delhi, India, has developed the MightyLight, a solar-powered LED-based lamp that is waterproof, portable and runs for up to 12 hours. So far, Cosmos has sold nearly 5,000 of its $50 lamps to various charities.

For more info about the solar LED light, please click here.

Via African Painters
The piece above is by Rix Butama, whose goal is to paint the largest mural in the world - 7.5km long. To raise money for this project, his awesome work is being auctioned on ebay If you are in need of wonderful art and want to support Kenyan art, please bid, or point this out to someone you know who can. Time is of the essence on this one… 17hours left on one of the pieces, 9 days for others…Bid away! please….

AOB: I am sorta back online…why new laptops come saddled with useless software that i wouldn’t remotely consider using is beyond me. A clean system is all i wanted. Still purging stuff to get the new lad in line.

I came across this story on The East African, The title is - “Kenya gifts six key oil blocks to China”, with a barely legible graphic showing the blocks.

excerpt:

In an unprecedented act of generosity, the government in April gave the state-owned China National Offshore Oil Company Ltd (CNOOC) exclusive rights over a total of six out of 11 available blocks, including the hotly contested Blocks 9 and 10A in the Mandera area.

So dominant has China become in the oil exploration scene in Kenya that CNOOC alone now controls 28 per cent of the total exploration acreage in Kenya.

What. The. Fuzz. Since when did we start ‘gifting’ natural resources to other countries, something’s off, either the article misrepresents the agreement and creates the impression that Kenya is just giving stuff away…what is in it for Kenya, is the National oil corporation of Kenya part of the deal or is this actually what happened? How much more beneficial to Kenya would the deal with the european countries be?
Further down in the article is this:

Apparently, CNOOC negotiated and signed only one complete production sharing agreement for Block L4 with the government. The rest of the contracts were one-year-study agreements granting them exclusive access to the five blocks – with the option to relinquish the blocks at the end of the one-year period.

If you have any more info or a more contextualized reading of the article…please feel free to comment. I was just left with more questions and feel like the article was not complete nor clearly written.

Ps. Sorry for the very light posting, my laptop is kaputt, i will replace it in due time…

Ngoma Process - A Bruce Odhiambo Project.

This is a CD that would fit neatly into the category ‘ World Music’, though i would call it something like Kenyan Ngoma. There is Kapuka, Genge, Bongo, time for the genre Kenya ngoma? The CD has the types of songs that have a cultural thumbprint; it is immediately identifiable to Kenyans. You know that deep down familiarity that makes you feel intouch with your homeland. Rythms that sing to a certain part of your being, where you feel ‘aah this is home’. Now add some sharp production work, really good musicianship and voila! or… haiya! you have a good CD that you can play at a party for your pals, kenyan and non-kenyan alike. What i am trying to say is that for Non Kenyans, this is a really good CD that gives you sense of the rythms kenyans like. It has Taarab, folk - maasai/kalenjin, Luo, and Benga influences.

Afew thoughts on my favourite songs:

Asai: A kalenjin/Maasai song is the first on this great CD. It is a welcome song*, warm, inviting - picture maasai’s, or anyone for that matter hugging each other saying hello. If I was or when i get to be music video producer, this is the song I would like to do montages with. Its really neat. I would do something like “Where the hell is Matt,” but show hugs all over Kenya or Africa, between kids and mums, kids and dads, kids and kids, kids and pets, pets and pets…
(If you are a new afromusing reader - be warned, i tend to be very corny)

Mama:
Like the title suggests this is a tribute to mums everywhere. Especially Jaluo mums (I am just kidding) Its upbeat, feels heartfelt, beautiful singing by Mercy Myra. I think this song that clearly exemplifies Bruce Odhiambo’s talent as a producer. How to listen… (preferably if you have an office swivel chair): Put your arms around the back of your head, lean back on your chair close your eyes, listen and imagine yourself sitting at a Lake victoria resort…

Amdalla:
In the vein of isicathamiya - An acapella singing style from South Africa. It’s a beautiful showcase of Mercy’s and Uballe’s voice. It ends too quickly. It leaves you wanting more. I was expecting the second part of the song to have accompaniment, but I still play this track more than once. Its gorgeous. (That is the word that came to mind!)

Isich – John Kiarie (K.J.)
Fun song, especially if you are familiar with Eastleigh, an estate in Nairobi: “Mogadishu Ndogo”[small mogadishu], “Estate moja kali kama nagasaki Ratha! Ratha! Si waria naambia nyinyi hakuna brefte brefte 100%” (pronounce pehRRrr-sent), about the things you can buy (including weapons).
KJ of Redykyulas channels one of the characters from their sketch shows -Waria.

VERDICT: Buy this CD, throw a party with good wine (did you know that there is Tanzanian wine? ) Relax and dance whenever it strikes you to. The world is in much too much turmoil , chill with this.

You can listen to more songs on the jcleff jukebox, and buy a copy on Jcleff.com once its fully set up, or use their contact page. It would be really good if it could be available on Calabash music - they have the music e-commerce thing down pat, plus it would have a more global stage, maybe later.

The official launch of the CD will be in Nairobi, tentatively set for early December per Bruce, so the CD will be available there.
If more info lands on my lap…you know it will be blogged here. (aaaw, my first exclusive? - give it love…)

*welcome songs are just that - to welcome someone, often sung at get-togethers or even at meetings to welcome dignitaries and such…a short example is the song done by the women in this documentary on Wangari Maathai.

During the memorial day weekend we had the good fortune of visiting our friends Irene and Joe whose blog some of you may have seen already; They took us to the Botanical gardens of St. Louis, which we enjoyed alot (Thank you!!). While there, amongst the other cool garden sculptures and plants, what jumped out at me was the manicured english garden with concentric maze like rows of Boxwood. A very versatile plant that i saw again and again not only there, but also at the Golden Gate Park in San Fran. I liked how neat it looked, it has small leaves such that when the hedge is trimmed it doesnt clearly show where the trimming occurred, so its quitely seamless…so to speak.

So lets check out alittle more about this plant. From Wikipedia -

Boxes are commonly used for hedges and topiary, and the dense wood (called “boxwood” in all countries) is valued for wood carving. The inconspicuous flowers mean that boxes are usually only grown for their foliage. They are particularly favoured for hedges and topiary in formal gardens. Given time, neat low hedging can grow to enormous size, as at Powis Castle in north Wales. Often, however, they are kept dwarfed, as in the famous gardens at Château Villandry in France.

I was slightly overwhelmed by the search on wikipedia, as there are 15 different types of boxwood that can be found throughout Africa, from Congo, Zaire, SA, Madagascar to Somalia. I was wondering which species would work in Kenya. Buxus Hildebrantii seems to be close since it grows in Somalia and Ethiopia.

According to this draft paper by Mr. Kiambi, writing about bio-diversity in Djibouti;

Buxus hildebrandtii has been described in Bouankouale as the species with the best wood for handicrafts especially for the tourist market.

I could not find a picture of the east african boxwood, i do not have a mental picture of what it looks like. I am wondering whether someone could do something like this for a garden.

or the hedge like this at the Behringer Vineyards

The internet being what it is am sure i will find a pic soon.

Here are a few interesting links to resources (that point to many other articles and books) i came across over the past months.
First up? The enterprising Emeka Okafor of Timbuktu Chronicles, with an excellent series on the importance of trees to local economies. The first post on trees of change, and the follow up on Sahelian fruit trees.

World changing on Edible forests (which is just a win win situation - edible groundcover), and also on ‘Eco- literacy and America’s Nature-Disorder’.

AOB - The test of the solar ipod charger is set for tomorrow, i hope its sunny.

Via Solarbuzz.
There are 3 interesting things in this article. It isnt just about solar panels being installed in post offices. It points out an effective system for providing financial services like Life Insurance, for rural areas. In kenya, people can access the internet at post offices, but there are still some rural areas that are not covered, as i bet they also do not have financial services in those remote areas. Another thing? There is money to be made.

The ‘Postal Fin-mart’ had been set up with the objective of addressing all the financial needs of the customers starting with postal savings to postal life insurance as well as sale of other financial instruments under one roof.
She said that power was being generated using solar panels at a post office in Maharajganj in Rae Bareli district while similar panels are being installed in Sindholi, Bikapur (Faizabad) and Gauriganj (Sultanpur) regions

Congratulations to all the Kaybee winners!
[standing ovation, *clap *clap]
Y’all simply rock!

Timeline for Kaybee’s - Kenyan Blog Awards 2006
9 April: Nominations close
10 April: Nominated blogs announced – Final voting opens
17 April: Voting closes
19 April: Winners announced

Just a reminder, submit the nominations…more detail on the Kaybee’s site.