A Mzungu who loves Kenya

• The Threat of Power-cuts ...

  Posted: September 29, 2008, 5:18 pm by Dad Mzungu

  It is all doom and gloom at the moment, the UK news. Banks going bankrupt, the threat of power-cuts, food price hikes, fuel prices - it goes on and on.

  I thought back to last March when I stayed with my friends in Kisii, SW Kenya, and how happy I was.

  There was no electricity at the little two-bedroomed house, occupied by three adults and four young children. There was no running water - it was delivered daily in 25 litre drums and had to be boiled for consumption. The loo was at the end of the plot and was a glorified hole in the ground. There was a wet room and a room for preparing food. I cannot call it a kitchen.

  We had a battery-powered radio, a kerosene lamp for the evenings - and each other's company.

  And, that last is all I needed. I was happy.

  It was a little strange at first, standing in a bowl of tepid water to wash, but I soon got used to it.

  I did not have to cook, which is just as well. I don't know how well I would have coped over a single kerosene ring and a charcoal brazier.

  I did not miss TV, or a home computer.

  In town, there were frequent power cuts and it was a bit annoying if I was in the cyber café, checking emails etc., but I soon became resigned to the fact that this was Kenya.

  The two things I really missed were my car - and oxygen. I am mildly disabled and walking any distance is uncomfortable. Kisii is a town on a hill, a town at 5,500ft, so oxygen is a bit scarce. And everywhere is either up or down, there is nowhere flat.

  From the house to the town was about 2km, uphill, and I couldn't do it. I had to wait for a taxi or matatu. So I really did miss the ability to jump in my car and go wherever I needed (or wanted) to.

  But apart from that, I was happy.

  Mind you, the average daytime temperature is 25°C and at night it rarely drops below 16°C. So heating is not an issue.

  In Britain, if the power goes, everything goes, no lighting, no heating, no cooking (and no blogging).

  Frankly, if the prospect here is to have electricity rationing, I think I'll go back to Kenya.

• Before I was Baba Mzungu

  Posted: September 26, 2008, 2:25 pm by Dad Mzungu

  I have not always been called Baba Mzungu - of course
  

  When I was in South Africa, I was Leisimane, which means Englishman in Sotho, the language of the people of the same name.

  While I was there in 1989, I fostered a couple of street kids, then another couple and then ... etc.

  And I kept a diary. All the little anecdotes about these kids from a different culture, speaking a different language. I found it interesting but to anyone else, it was just that, a diary. So I decided to change the perspective and re-wrote it from the point of view of the first of my charges, a 12 year-old Sotho boy, living in a township during the apartheid era. Obviously, my diary only covered the time that they were with me, so I had to plump it out a bit. I had a good idea about what these kids got up to when not with me, but writing about the life of a 12 year-old in the style of a 12 year-old was a challenge.

  Well, here's a taster:

  
  

  Leisimane

  You can never guess the consequences of a simple mistake.

  A young boy is begging in a suburb of Johannesburg. He is very competent, but he suffers a slip of the tongue, a Freudian slip perhaps, when instead of asking for money to buy bread for a fictitious little sister, he instead asks for money to buy the chicken and chips he longs for.

  What happens next could never have been imagined in his wildest dreams. The person he is asking is a visitor to his country, and is not yet impervious to little black kids begging. He takes pity on the child, and as a result, a whole set of events transpire, changing the lives of this boy, his family and friends, and even total strangers.

  Want to know what happens? Click Here!

• Still Raping and Pillaging ...

  Posted: September 19, 2008, 1:50 pm by Dad Mzungu

  As a born and bred Englishman, I am sick, tired and ashamed when I hear of UK companies and organisations "ripping off" our erstwhile colonies. I am also ashamed when I read about UK companies being involved in graft and corruption in deals with other countries.

  The latest, of course is the debacle over the De la Rue Currency and Security Print Ltd, where it is alleged that said company obtained the contract from the Kenyan Government to print their currency by fraudulent means.

  At least the Serious Fraud Office is looking into it and I hope that, at the end of the day there will be a full and honest outcome, unlike the Saudi Arms deal, which was swept under the carpet by the British government.

  When I was last in Kenya, it was also mooted that many international companies with subsidiaries in Kenya were avoiding paying tax on profits to the Kenyan Government by salting away the money to their respective head offices. I don't know if this is true, but if it is, Kenya must be losing billons of shillings every year in revenue - revenue that can hardly afford to lose, bearing in mind all those 4x4s and elevated salaries they have to pay as a price for political stability.

  Kenyans, don't expect the British Government to step in. They are too interested in saving their own skins at the moment. Our Scottish Prime Minister and Chancellor are making sure they gain a few extra votes at the next election by pandering to the banks with bases in Scotland.

  Yes, tribalism exists in the UK. Each looks after its own.

  So, Kenyans, don't think you are alone!

• They Do Not Represent the General View ...

  Posted: September 13, 2008, 5:09 pm by Dad Mzungu

  This was the plaintiff cry this morning after first Siobhain McDonagh, then Joan Ryan, both junior minions within the Labour Party called for a look into the leadership of the party.

  These two do not represent the general feeling of backbenchers was the cry. Oh, really?

  Then why has George Howarth (Lab. Knowsley North) written to the party asking for a leadership election?

  And in any case, it is not what backbenchers, front benchers, ministers, or good ol' Gordon thinks. It is what the electorate thinks. That's us, I do believe. And I am pretty sure that a majority would like a change of Prime Minister, if not a change of Government!

  Come on Gordon (and your supporters), give in before you are forced to, as was Maggie. You really don't want to suffer any more indignity, do you?

• Corruption in High Places

  Posted: September 13, 2008, 2:44 pm by Dad Mzungu

  No, not Kenya, not even Africa, but in the great and good Europe!

  For the 14th year running - yes, that is 14 years - the European Union has failed to manage to balance its books. They auditors have refused to sign off the accounts in 17 different areas.

  This is a body that spends about £95bn per year (of which the UK contributes around £7 billion) and has a staff of around 170,000 people, but they cannot get its accounts to add up.

  Now, maybe this is just government incompetence at its worst, or, as I suspect, it is due to total corruption of the system.

  This is supposed to be Government, European Government - you know, that which we try to impose upon the rest of this world full of despots and commies.

  Well, I reckon that we have taught the world well, by example.

  Tony Sharp has the full story here

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

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

The end of the fish cakes