Kikuyumoja's realm

• FarmVille ni…

  Posted: August 25, 2009, 4:11 am by jke

  Story by KBW correspondent
  Publication date: Aug 25th, 2009

  FarmVille is a new Kenyan game on Facebook where you can grab land, excel in overgrazing farmland and overstocking sheep & cattle, buy luxurious decorations and spend the rest of the time idling with a sundowner in your hand.

  A report by the KenyaTimes recently revealed that most employees in Nairobi CBD are spending their lunch break in front of computers, playing FarmVille. FarmVille is said to have 9 million users worldwide, a quarter of Kenya’s current population.

  A personal computer, commonly referred to as an IBM-compatible device, is a machine often see in offices, hidden under a dust cover. The first personal computer was brought to Kenya by an US-American bible translator family in 1979.

  One employee of Kenya Paraffin, Lanterns and Candles (KPLC) who wants to remain anonymous, told us that Kenya currently experiences a power rationing program due to an excessive use of Facebook.

  Facebook is a very successful website on the internet (mtandao wa intaneti), often used as a dating site and for subversive political and digital activism. The website includes a microblogging service called “status update” which has recently substituted the blooming Kenyan blogosphere.

  Another popular microblogging service called “Twitter” (ndege kelele) has meanwhile been condemned by the Government Spokesperson Dr. Alfred E. Neuman who said that “it can not send SMS” to him. In a related matter, Dr. Alfred recently anounced that those without telephone network should sms him directly so that he can forward the matter to the relevant ministry in charge of terrorcommunications.

  A delegation of Kenyan MPs, who is currently touring the United States, recently wrote a letter to the Office of the President, asking for a national holiday to celebrate FarmVille Day. This, as they explained in their open letter, will also help those urban citizens who have in the past failed to secure their own upcountry shamba due to lack of funds and competition in their extended family networks.

  A group of young Kenyan writers also published an open letter, claiming that FarmVille actually comes from the United States of America and was introduced to Kenyans by visiting UN interns and PeaceCorps youth who used their daily allowances to access the internet from remote villages. This, as they claim, is “clearly evident as there is no mobile version of FarmVille”.

  A group of talented programmers from JKUAT is meanwhile working on a mobile version of FarmVille. The project is financed by Sufericom.

  In other news, a Mr. Kamau from Muranga’a was today injured in a battle with Mr. Ezekiel Oluoch, an official from the National Bureau of Statistics who had approached Mr. Kamau for Kenya’s fifth national census. In a heated debate, Mr. Kamau refused to state the actual number of his lifestock.

  The fifth Kenya National Census is an inititiative by the GoK to allocate farm land on FarmVille according to family size and fixed assets. In an unexpected move, the World Bank and outgoing ambassadors recently called for a country wide introduction of FarmVille so that no Kenyan will have to suffer from malnutrition in future.

  
  

• It’s our turn to read

  Posted: August 20, 2009, 6:54 am by jke

  “It’s Our Turn To Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistleblower”, by Michela Wrong, ISBN 978-0-00-724196-5

  After having read this interesting book by Michela Wrong, written in a similar style as “In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz: Living on the Brink of Disaster in the Congo” (which I really liked) – I am still confronted with some open, or rather: resulting questions this book has generated.

  And this although the issue itself – the bogus deals by the “Mount Kenya Mafia” – have been debated elsewhere numerous times. I chose so call it “elsewhere”, as Michela Wrong also mentioned the (Kenyan) blogosphere where John Githongo’s seemingly sudden departure from the official job & disclosure of cosa nostra secrets had been ripped apart in the usual manner. I am yet to see a German publication where the German blogosphere is taken into account with so much attention. This, however, may be related to their media and German sceptism which doubts anything that’s not published or confirmed by numerous sources.

  I take it that a lot of readers of my blog with an interest in Kenyan affairs also read, or at least read about this book, and have their own opinion of it.

  Another reason for blogging about this – already closed? – chapter of contemporary Kenyan history is that I can somehow relate to the described silver spoon upbringing of JG in a sense that a) discussions and intellectual discourse where part of the family life and b) that our generation – JG is 10 years older than me but I think most of you are just as old as I am (>30) – still enjoyed this limited or filtered view of the world, where everything new was sucked up with great interest for the lack of multiple media resources that would otherwise constantly penetrate your brain with “news”. I actually enjoyed this part the most during childhood – being forced to live in an environment where news would only dribble in, instead of showing up on the web-based RSS feedreader. Why? Because it enables you to take your time for your own development and dreams. I consider this a luxury that I am not taking for granted. Michela also mentioned this part where listening to the BBC World Service (instead of the montonous “HE DT arap Moi today said…” on KBC) was part of the daily habits. And I wouldn’t limit this to a family’s financial status as most Kenyans actually read more newspapers than e.g. Germans.

  Sooo…..my first question is: why was such a book written by a foreign observer? Why not by someone in Kenya or in the diaspora? Because of fears? Or because life is so hard & busy that there’s no time for such excursions? Or is it because of the culture which is so much forward-driven, with a focus on things to come instead of those that already happened?

  After the first 100 pages into the book, I thought it is a bit too Kikuyu-centric, but then, again, I think it’s Tucholsky who once said it is best to view your own country from the outside – and if these stereotypes (she even mentioned the jokes) are what it takes to draw a rough picture of this group for the uninformed world, then so be it.

  Which effect did this publication have on Kenyan society (within and outside of Kenya)? What’s with the role of a whistleblower (anyone still remembers David Munyakei?) in today’s Kenya and what about that anonymous reporting tool introduced @ KACC two years ago? What do you think about JG’s actions (as described via the book)?

  “Kenyans tend to quickly forgive or forget”… in the light of the post-election violence, a corruption scandal may not be that interesting after all.

  I also wondered how Kenyans would feel about this book + the story it tells. The way it was written, the examples used to explain historically-based feelings inside ethnic groups, the readership it was written for… questions that pop-up between the lines, how it feels to read about your own people, friends and known public figures.

  Michela also mentioned the network: “..he became aware of a delicate cobweb of expectations, obligations and duties tying him down” which makes Kenyan politics so interesting to me. It’s like having half of the Kenyan blogosphere / diaspora as friends on Facebook and Twitter, and then publishing opinionated status updates in a Koigi wa Wamwere manner. And, again, comparing Kenya to Germany (which is an on-going mission of this blog, I think), I am yet to see an interesting book on a contemporary German politician. Most of them are just as boring as their political agenda – which is also why Angela Merkel will most likely win the upcoming elections in Germany and remain Chancelorette for the next legislative period. Not because she’s any better or because she’s a woman (only positive reason, it seems), but because she has a network where she remains the queen at the center of the beehive. This is btw the same woman who once refused to meet with Barack Obama and later on licked his boots just because his network is so much more influential then hers.

  You know it’s a bit hypocritical to openly wonder about politics & corruption in an African state when at the same time Europe comes up with dictators leaders such as Silvio Berlusconi in Italy. You can write a book about just another African economy that has been corrupted in the past by the Hippo Generation and a laissez-faire mentality in society, and it will sell quite well. But a book on a corrupt European leader? No. Makes me wonder where our priorities are.

  Another detail or theme that I’ve been wondering about is the change on Kenyan culture. Yes, Kenyan culture. As paradox as it may seem – and I am not talking about books like “How to be a Kenyan” by the late Wahome Mutahi, the national dress once artificially invented by the Nyayo regime (Nyayo car??!) but rather this new Kenya which developed along with Moi’s last years, NARC and the 2002 elections and the spirit it brought to society since then.

  The appreciation of a society for cultural values – their own + shaped style, language, habits, new communication tools – has so often been an indicator to me of how a country actually performs. Please correct me if I am wrong on this, but I think that Kenya has in the past 10 years eventually found its own roots somewhere out there where local stars have become more interesting than foreigners, where the City of Nairobi is actually (& eventually!) regarded as a cosmopolitan place (despite frequent power failures & water shortages) and where there’s much more nationalism to be found these days which is not based on Obama’s Kenyan roots or just another sports athlete. And it’s not that Nairobi has never been that progressive before – only: the speed of growth seemingly increased tremendously, it seems (to me).

  Taking this new Nairobi as an indicator (! – pole for the NGO lingo) for things to come, where do these worlds of the old and new mix up to the bigger picture? When will we see the political change in Kenya the electorate voted for in 2002 and 2007? A new Kenya where power failures are a thing of the past, where broadband internet connections will help the youth stay in rural areas (vs. urbanisation), where water bodies are actually protected and land grabbing reversed for the sake of a growing nation? Where education and proper health care are top priorities?

  Questions which probably won’t be answered any time soon, but I secretly wish that integre characters like John Githongo are now using the time building up their support on the basis. Bottom-up instead of top-down – maybe that’s the new strategy these days – loosely joined forces that have a nation in mind and not their own pocket, where qualifications are more important than cosa nostra networks.

  Politics. I actually decided not to blog about politics anymore since January 2008, and this isn’t even meant to be book review. I’d love to read about your opinion of this book though, and maybe also find some answers to my given questions above and other things I’ve most definitely left out for various reasons. Thx!

  
  

• Estamos en España, part 2

  Posted: August 16, 2009, 3:18 am by jke

  What you see in the picture above is a huge sign-board put up by (the supermarket chain) Mercadona in Cartaya, Spain, directly in front of the exit (”salida”) from their car park. Hmm….looks like a Eurofail to me. Ama?

  A wide variety of Spanish pastries / cookies and mainly different variations of what’s otherwise called a donut. Took this picture in reference to the following from Embu (as seen in this post):

  …because there actually isn’t much difference between the Spanish and Kenyan pastries you’ll get. Both countries have all it takes to produce tasty & different cakes, and the Spanish ones even come in different packagings. But still, most of these cakes just go down with a good tea or coffee because they are too dry. Or they are like those BlueBand “butter” cakes you’ll get for birthdays and weddings that look appealing but all taste the same in the end.

  If I could start again, I’d probably open up a bakery for German cake in Nairobi or start selling Leberkäse to Nairobi commuters.

  As I just can’t remember the correct Spanish names for the different kinds of squids and octopus (cephalopods), I took this snapshot at another local supermarket to remind me of what to order at a Tapas Bar where you’ll get huge plates of fresh fish every evening for a relatively low price.

  As mentioned in my last post, we also spent a day in Portugal as it’s just a ~2h drive away from the place we’re currently staying in Spain.

  40°C on the way back from Portugal.

  Vertical cliffs in Sagres, Portugal.

  I have to admit that I am such a geek that I was equally fascinated by these huge antennas:

  In Sagres we also visited the Fortaleza de Sagres, a national monument from the 15th century:

  It really is a huge fortress but well worth a visit. We later on discovered that the Reggae festival taking place (the same day) in front of the fortress in Sagres actually included 2manyDJs (my fav. mashup DJs from Belgium!).

  So we continued our excursion to the next destination: Cabo de São Vicente …..only to find this German snackbar on the parking lot:

  Anyone in for a German Bratwurst at Cape St. Vincent in Portugal? Me neither.

  The trip to Portugal was very nice and an easy drive with our ugly rental car. Enjoying the luxury of a rental car is just very, very convenient as it enables you to see places you’d probably miss out otherwise. It also enables you to take snapshots like the following I took for my solar friends – showing a solar farm somewhere between Jerez de la Frontera and Seville:

  For the remaining days here in El Rompido, I shall enjoy the following view from the very balcony I am currently sitting on, editing this blog post via a free wireless inet connection here (with pre-Seacom-speeds).

  Huku ni kuzuri…. the hotel room is even bigger than our humble flat in Frankfurt.

  
  

• Estamos en España, part 1

  Posted: August 11, 2009, 2:22 pm by jke

  Einfach mal 9 Tage lang an gar nichts denken, die Sonne auf den vom üppigen Frühstück gut gefüllten Bauch scheinen lassen, nachher mit dem hässlichen, froschgrünen Mietwagen durch die Gegend cruisen und am Abend dann gebratenen Tintenfisch mit frischem Salat und einem kühlen cerveza genießen.

  
  Die Liegen am Pool befinden sich in idealer Handtuchwurfweite vom Balkon.

  9 Tage lang die vielen baulichen Mängel eines solch typisch spanischen Hotels versuchen zu verdrängen (sorry, Technikmensch) und das Netbook trotz relativ guter & kostenloser Inetanbindung (LAN & WiFi, ungesichert) nur für 2h statt 24h auspacken.

  This actually is supposed to be an English blog post – but! you quickly realize how German you actually are, even if it’s just Spain (where there are a lot of Germans). The fancy hotel we’d chosen for our much-awaited holiday (first since 2006) is located close to the Portuguese border, so we actually get two countries for one price plus a rented car which enables us to be mobile and tour the area. Great!

  
  

• HP 6930p & service quality

  Posted: August 5, 2009, 8:29 pm by jke

  ….so I just received my (new) HP 6930p back from repair which I had to send in to JABIL Poland where they were supposed to repair the display lock issue and check why the docking port connector had a problem.

  
  the stuff you do when you receive repaired hardware:
  open it up and double-check for any changes…
  (both microphones weren’t inserted properly!!!)

  HP Warranty Hotline was quite helpful, responded quickly and knew what I was talking about. My notebook comes with a 3yr warranty, so UPS came the other day, picked it up and returned it today. The whole process took 10 days to complete which is ok, I think.

  JABIL replaced the motherboard (good!) and even tried to fix the display lock. The lock is still kinda sensitive to external pressure (opens up by itself as there’s too much mechanical tension on the springs), but at least it is better than before.

  BUT!

  Maybe I am too German to complain about such things, but the service technician with JABIL Poland actually removed the transparent business card holder which is on top of the licence stickers and service tags.

  I had used this BC holder on both my notebooks in the past and am quite upset about this fault. You won’t even have to remove this plastic sheet in order to open up the notebook, so I can only assume that the technicians just didn’t care enough and/or removed it to have less reflections while reading those bar codes with a bar code scanner. And even if so, this is a 2cents piece that should easily be replacable, especially by service technicians.

  So I once again called HP service hotline, informing them about this missing piece and the (very helpful) lady on the other end told me: “Yes, in such cases we normally dispatch a service technician who will come to your house and probably replace the whole bottom cover.” – “So what about these stickers?” – “The technician will use a hot air gun to remove these stickers and put them on the new bottom cover”.

  3h work & someone else even spoiling the remaining stickers on my notebook just because HP is unable to provide such transpartent business card holders as spare parts? No way!

  Case closed.

  Besides, how will he apply those stickers if they are covered by a transparent business card holder sheet on the new bottom – the reason for an exchange? Ati?

  Why can’t they ever handle these items with enough care and return it the way it came? The original plastic bag is also missing. I am really upset about these “technicians” and would like to hit them with the oversized UPS box. There’s nothing worse in the technical world than service technicians who just don’t care enough or hotline staff that’s just as dumb as the fee you’ll have to pay for calling special service hotlines. Fortunately, the ladies from the Hotline were nice and friendly, but their outsourced technicians still suck big times.

  
  

• matching colours

  Posted: August 3, 2009, 4:41 am by jke

  How does this moth know it is actually sitting on a beige surface (here: the inner side of the window blind) that somehow matches its camouflage?

  I think it doesn’t actually know.

  
  

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes