2011

The year 2011 was quite an eventful one the world over. Here in Kenya, there had been tremendous changes both in the social political and economic field. First, there was the enactment of the constitution that occasioned a raft of changes that saw the way the country is governed radically transformed.

Leadership is one issue that’s most debated in society. In Kenya, there is a growing focus on the role of the young people in national leadership. Young people are increasingly facing the challenge of being held responsible for the decisions they make in positions of leadership. Hence as we approach the general elections there is need to focus on the crop of young people who have expressed interest in the highest office in the land - Presidency. One of the contenders is Kingwa Kamenchu, a young Kenyan writer who has just returned home from Rhodes scholarship in the UK.

It is very important for those touring Kenya to familiarize with the security situation in the country. The Kenyan government has sent troops deep into the Somalia territory to flush out the Al shabaab militia that has been wrecking havoc in the coastal part of Kenya.

When Winston Churchill visited Uganda in 1907, he was overwhelmed by it vast beauty characterized by magnificent scenery, landscapes and the warm hospitality of its natives! To him this magical experience could only be summed up in one word, pearl! And so Uganda has come to be known for generations thereafter as the pearl of Africa!

I have descended down to Mombasa to attend a workshop cum public lectures in selected venues down there. Since I am a writer and an artist, our link up point is Wasanii restaurant opposite the Norfolk hotel overlooking the University of Nairobi. It is here where you can meet any performing artist that you either watch on the screen or in theaters.

Teenagers are often fooled into thinking pimples will miraculously disappear when they’re old enough to pass their driving test. Not true: many of us find spotty chins a grim reality well into our thirties. Whiteheads and blackheads become a particular problem during Dubai’s sweltering summers, so we spoke to Dr Maria Anglo Khattar, a research scientist from Dubai’s Aesthetica Clinic and fellow of the Royal Society of Medicine in the UK, to find out why we get spots and how to stop them.

Public speaking is something that Jackson Kariuki Thige has perfected over the years. Within the confines of a Sunday school, at a very young age, he started participating in speaking contests. He says that it just naturally flowed in him and it did not take long before he won a major competition in public speaking that was organized by the city council of Nairobi. He was in standard seven at the time and this award enabled him to travel to Rome, Italy. The most humble thing about such a monumental achievement is that Jackson was coming from a rural school in a place called kagira; in fact he was one of the few pupils in the school, who were privileged to own shoes.

There is nothing as unpleasant as seeing those you grew up with losing their lives as a result of crime. Yet that is the environment that Oneko Arika, an internationally recognized Kenyan artist grew up in. Though he is widely traveled and has immense experience in matters art, his personal achievement has not clouded his vision of changing the face of Maringo estate in Nairobi, where he was born and brought up under very difficult circumstances.

The story of David Owiti is a testimony of the fact that life’s capabilities and skills if put to good use can propel one to greater heights. It is some sort of irony that David who took a whole term to acclimatize to school life went on to excel in his academic pursuit hence becoming the fast rising science and English tutor he is today.

The life ways of a perpetually denigrated society in the African context is the loss of the rich roots that were so valued as the lifestyles of our ancestors. Some primitive yes, but now commercialized in an ideology that sends sparks of a westernized society.

The Kiswahili phrase ‘Tumetoka Mbali’ is one which the fourth estate of Kenya can vividly relate to. During the Moi era publishing or reporting stories that would go against the government would land one into prison, or torture the chambers. According to Carol Gichengo a special correspondent for The East African, that particular era was one where people looked over their shoulders and spoke their thoughts in whispers; a time of banned publications, detention of dissidents and writers; and of academicians seeking asylum abroad.