Please help us test the new version of the KenyaUnlimited Aggregator. Please share any comments, problems or questions in the comments to this post or via email.

Thank you

Introduction

On June 1st 2007, Kenyans everywhere will be celebrating Madaraka Day. Madaraka Day commemorates the day that Kenya attained internal self-rule following an important milestone on the road to independence. To mark this event, we would like to invite members of the Kenyan Bloggers Webring to blog in unison under the banner ‘Kenyan Bloggers’ Day’.

Why?

This day is opportunity for members of the Kenyan Bloggers Webring to share their thoughts on the topics below. Last year’s Kenyan Bloggers’ Day featured a wide range of inspired posts. The level of support and interaction shown by our members in response was outstanding. Please follow this link to see how members celebrated last year - http://www.kenyaunlimited.com/blogs/admin/2006/05/23/kenyan-bloggers-day/

How to Get Involved

On or on the weekend of June 1st 2007, we are proposing that we all create a post on any or all of the following suggested topics:

* Kenya
* Being Kenyan
* Being a Kenyan blogger
* Being a member of KBW

The post can be a piece of prose – 2 lines, an essay, a poem, a podcast, a photograph, your favourite quote. It is entirely up to you how you chose to celebrate this day. You don’t have to be Kenyan, just a member of KBW.

On this day we wish to use collective blogging as means of celebrating the nation that unites us as bloggers of KBW.

To keep track of who is taking part please leave a comment below or email us at admin [@] kenyaunlimited.com with a link to your blog as we shall maintain a list of participating blogs. We shall also be producing buttons to display on members’ blogs.

For the past 48 hours users inside Kenya trying to access KenyaUnlimited.com may have noticed that availability of the site is fluctuating depending on which ISP you are using to log on to KenyaUnlimited.com. For some users, the website has been completely unavailable for others the availability has been sporadic while some may have not noticed any problems.

Users outside Kenya seem largely untouched by these problems but we have had some indications that some users in other countries may be experiencing similar problems. Please let us know if you have noticed anything unusual.

We suspect that this is happening because of a DNS issue which hopefully should be resolved by now. We appreciate your concern and patience.

If you have problems accessing the site on http://www.kenyaunlimited.com/ then you can try accessing it via the IP address at http://207.210.111.112/
In the same way if you problems accessing the aggregator at: http://kenyaunlimited.com/feed.php try accessing it via the IP address at: http://207.210.111.112/feed.php

As usual if you have any questions, comments or suggestions please feel free to get in touch with us.

[Thanks to Maitha who helped us troubleshoot this problem].

In memory of the Kenya Airways Flight KQ507 that crashed in Douala, Cameroon on Saturday, KenyaUnlimited has set up a page where you can leave your message of support for the families and friends of all those affected by this tragedy. These messages will be printed and delivered to Kenya Airways at an appropriate time.

The page can be found here.

Kindly note that this page is strictly for messages on KQ507. If you would like to comment on any other issue please email the KenyaUnlimited Admin Team on admin [@] kenyaunlimited.com.

Let us stand together, united, to honour those on KQ507. Pamoja.

Celebrated on 8 March, International Women’s Day is the global day connecting all women around the world and inspiring them to achieve their full potential. International Women’s Day celebrates the collective power of women past, present and future.

The latest Kenyan Blogs Webring statistics show that out of nearly 400 blogs, approximately 60% of bloggers are men while 40% women make up the rest. To ensure gender equity, we are working to engender a 50/50 balance between men and women bloggers.

With this in mind, today on International Women’s Day, the Kenyan Blogs Webring is launching a campaign to get more women blogging in the next 7 days. To achieve this we need your help. We would like to ask each and every one of our members to get involved!

How?

We would like you to introduce at least one woman to blogging within the next seven days. If you can introduce more than one, great!

Your involvement should be:

• Commitment for seven days
• Explaining the process of blogging
• Directing them and walking them through blog software such as blogger.com and WordPress.com. (We recommend you sign them up on WordPress.com)
• Helping them to set up a blog
• Helping them to write their first blog post (if they need your help)
• Helping them register with KBW (if they so wish and fulfil the membership criteria) so that they can be read widely.

Please note that it will not be enough to send us a list of e-mails with instructions to ’start blogs for these women’. You will certainly need to ‘make the commitment’ and go through the process with the women.

We at the KBW Admin will available for further assistance or advice on technical aspects and signing on to KBW. We are here to help, as you help women start blogs!

See, the process is simple!

If you have questions or require assistance, please contact us.

Over the next 48 hours we are moving KenyaUnlimited to what should be a more reliable service. While the move is taking place the website, KenyaUnlimited, will be unavailable. This change was not due to take place without warning but the service from our current webhost has become so unreliable that we have had to change our original plan to give a few days notice and have had to start the process immediately. We will be posting regular updates on the KenyaUnlimited Status page. Please check this status page for any updates. An RSS feed for this status page is available.

We appreciate your patience on this.

If you have any questions or comments please email us at: admin [@] kenyaunlimited.com

Thank you.

Dear KBW Member,

We wish you a prosperous and healthy New Year. We look forward to your continued blogging and pray the year brings you love, peace and happiness, health and wealth, joy and laughter to you and your loved ones.

Happy New Year! Happy Blogging!

Best wishes from all of us
KBW Admin

One of the conditions of KBW membership is that KBW member blogs MUST have the KBW ringcode visible on the blog for as long as they remain a member.

The Admin Team shall be carrying out checks of the whole webring this week to enforce this. All KBW members please check their blogs to ensure they have the KBW ringcode visible.

Please note if you have changed your blogger template or moved to a new URL then you would have to upload your ringcode again as it is not done automatically.

If you need any help adding the ringcode to your blog please visit the KenyaUnlimited Help Pages.

If you still need help please send us an email with ALL the following information:

1. Your blog url
2. Your blog username
3. Your blog password
4. Your KBW ringcode number

and we shall upload the ringcode for you.

You will find your KBW ringcode number in the email you received when you first signed up to the webring. If you do not know your ringcode ID number, send us the three other pieces of information.

Not having the webring code on your blog will lead to your blog being removed from KBW.

If you have decided to leave the webring, please send us an email and we will remove you from the members’ list.

Any questions or comments contact us.

The tribute website for Dr. Wanjiru Kihoro is now up.
Thanks to Mshairi and Mich.

Cross posted on Mentalacrobatics

These past few days Kenyan newspapers and news stations have been dominated with the news of the end of Dr.Wanjiru Kihoro’s brave battle from coma which she has been fighting since January, 24 2003. Dr. Kihoro went into a coma following the Busia plane crash in which three people were killed. She had accompanied a high-profile government delegation to Funyula to celebrate Vice-President Moody Awori’s election victory. The end came at Kenyatta National Hospital, Nairobi, at 10pm on Thursday.

Dr. Kihoro was a true patriot, a strong daughter of Kenya, highly principled in an age where people’s convictions change with the direction of the wind.

In Kenya, where she took on the Moi regime on human rights abuses when most were to scared to speak out, she showed patriotism and courage. Refusing to be broken by the arrest and detention of her husband, Wanyiri Kihoro, and colleagues by Moi’s notorious security forces, she showed patriotism and courage. As the founder and director of ABANTU for Development, an international development agency, Dr. Kihoro’s vision, inspiration and direction touched and changed the lives of many.

Forced into exile after detention, the Kihoro’s London house came to be known as the true home of Kenyans in the UK. For many years, it was the first point of contact for many Kenyans in the UK before the embassy. These past few days I have heard story after story from a wide range of people all saying how warmly they were welcomed into the Kihoro’s London home, how they were feed enthusiastically. The Kihoro home was a place where they could sit and debate the issues of the day openly and honestly. A warm meal, a place to sleep and the kinship of country(wo)men. Today many gratefully remember that welcome.

Closer to home, here on the Kenyan Blogs Webring, the pain is real and more personal for some. Kui has lost her mother, Mshairi, Uaridi, Nyakehu have lost their elder sister. A highly dedicated, extremely warm and strongly united family. My thoughts and prayers are with them. Together we will create a space online where we and you, if you so wish, can pay tribute to Dr. Kihoro, share your stories of your time with Kihoro family. This space will be announced soon.

Dr Wanjiru Kihoro, wife, mother, sister, daughter, economist, activist, feminist, patriot, visionary, leader, friend. An inspiration and example for all Kenyans.

Daudi
On the behalf of the Kenyan Blogs Webring Admin Team