A man must be made of steel so that when the fires of life come, he emerges stronger and without defect.These are the chronicles of my time in the flames.I am the Acolyte now but will not be so for long........
Oh Joy! Monday is here! I'll try and say that as many times as I can till I believe it. Anyway in case you don't know I always have a digital camera in my car and I do try and take pics when I can, of course most of them aren't masterpieces but I do like to have something to look back to when I move on. Anyway here are some pics for you.
With the price of gas, I'm soon going to be wiping the dust off my bus card
Kenyans doing what we do best
A great looking mural
I like the artistic freedom people take with their shops in this part of town
More freedom of expression at work
A building design that stays with you
I liked the design of the sign
Some folk are living large I tell you..
A view from a hotel just by the Airport
Someone told me the hotel was once a hanger
Do transvestites prefer to fly with air tran? (Crude Acolyte statement of the day)
A news crew doing a story around the time one airline had their planes were grounded
Just wanted to show you all my private jet
No, I was not seated at the bar at anytime that day!
In other news I was reading about how during Labour day wanainchi booed the President when he did not declare a rise in the minimum wage. What it got me to wondering was if many employers even adhere to that minimum wage law and how often it is enforced? It's a known fact that many Indian owned factories in the Industrial Area over work, under pay and abuse their Kenyan workers. What is sad though is that the labour officials do nothing or are bribed to turn a blind eye. And what makes things worse is that I hear that fares are going to go up in Kenya do to the price of petrol, I guess more Kenyans are going to start walking. Oh the joys of a globalized economy, America's problems become everyone else's problems. Anyway let me get myself back to the everyday grind before I start thinking too hard and get pensive.
Last I heard he took up with a sugar mummy and disappeared without even doing his Form 4 exams.
I was reading the Kenyan press on-line and came across the Prison Warders' strike. I don't support their threats (release of hard core criminals) but on the other hand the press has been highlighting their pathetic living standards and working conditions for years without any change at all, even when Uncle Moody was gallivanting around the country improving conditions for prisoners. What I find even more ironic is how we have not built even one prison since Independence, surely there is no excuse at all for that!
I had my first sushi experience this weekend and I really must say it was most enjoyable, whoever knew that raw fish tasted that good? This was the perfect way to end a day that was spent at an outdoor festival (pics coming soon), that I went to with work mates and a friend of their who used to work in our organization. She left the organization under acrimonious terms so when we became cozy she had no shame in digging up and sharing the dirt of the organization with me, which was also confirmed by one of my work mates. I'll share later but let's just say I'm not going to be looking at some people in the office in the same light. One of my work mates feels she has gone as far as she can with the organization so is doing some serious job hunting, she reminds me of this crappy job that I used to have where most of the department used to spend half the day passing around job vacancies to each other. The funny thing though is how upper management seemed not to notice the low morale all over the office.
I was listening to the new Maddona album and it's surprisingly good, there is one important lesson Janet Jackson can learn from her and that is innovation and reinvention. Maddona has had misses but more often than not she goes back to the drawing board and reinvents herself, Janet on the other hand has over played the sex kitten card if you ask me.
The only word to describe this story is sick! Is it something in the Austrian air or something that is turning out these kidnapping pedophiles? I wonder if the daughter will ever recovers.
A few years ago. I had the feeling that this article was inevitable. I don't know if anyone remember a few years back in Kenya how there used to be one thousand one different fashion shows and titles, Ms Langata, Ms Eastlands, Ms Nakumatt, Ms Toyota, Ms Jam Rescue, Ms Florida 2000 etc. With no main governing organization or standards. many of these contests were just an excuse for men to ogle women and shop for their next pretty young thang.
As I had posted sometime back, our two main papers always have to post their annual article on the State of Prostitution in Kenya today. Here is what Standard came up with, it does seem the more "westernised" Kenya gets, the more brazen the advertising gets. It's this excerpt that I found interesting;
"It a thrilling business," she says. "I was forced into it due to hardship and the harsh living conditions, and now I pay my own fee and still have something left over to send to my mother who is a widow."
Her mother believes that she is the beneficiary of a lucrative internship with an international NGO in the city.
The use of the words force and thrilling in the same sentence to described prostitution. Her account makes prostitution not seem that bad. Yes the headline does sum up the whole tone of the article but even so, the writer should have at least mentioned some of the hardships or something faced by those in the trade but who knows maybe the hookers he interviewed don't face any hardships in the trade? For 1,450/= an hour maybe I too should hop onto a plan and join the trade?
No there is nothing terrific about the day so far but I'm being optimistic.
First things first, I see mass hysteria has checked into the Congo; making away with people's manhood is all the rage now. What's silly is the fact that people are being told to watch out for people wearing gold rings, I remember when I was Kenya most of the Congolese men I came across were very metrosexual and used to wear loads of jewellery; so I guess most of the nation is suspect. Anyway I'm sure it's going to die down as soon as people find something else to keep them occupied.
I came across this article about older British women going to third world countries to get their groove on. All well and good but there are those who actually lose the script, fall for the young dudes' lies and end up losing most of their money to them; only to find out they aren't the only ones being played. On the other hand there is this interesting video about sex tourism in Thailand, how British men go to Thailand, mostly for the sex but some of them also end up staying there with girls in "sugar dady" kind of arrangements and a few of them even marry the girls. One dude in the video was depressed about how his "girlfriend" started rolling with another dude when his money from UK took a bit longer than usual to come through. So at the end of the day, when you read the stories and watch the video; who's really being played? Yes sex tourism is a cruel trade esp when children are involved but in these cases I do think that at times the Brit folk end up losing. And come to think of it, why is it in places where feminism seems to thrive both parties seem to be dissatisfied and unhappy with relationships in general? I do agree that traditional systems often had women at a disadvantage but now why is it the more feminism spreads the more unhappy women in relationships seem, this was the great emancipation that came wasn't it? Anyway I'm sure someone out there can school me about that.
I may have mentioned this, but I came across this magazine and this one too. It's good that someone is trying to reach out to the African diaspora out here, my only issue with wakilisha magazine is the cost. $5 an issue is too much, I have subscriptions that come out to $1-2 per issue; but I also understand that with a smaller circulation each issue becomes more expensive. What I am also concerned about is the fact that these two magazines seem to focus on women who are on the upper class here in the diaspora and that is a very small percentage of the women out here.
On another serious note we have this global food shortage going on. Half of this I blame on globalization, let's look at Haiti which used to grow it's own rice until it was "forced" in the name of globalization to take in imports of US rice that had been subsidised by the government, obviously the local farmers couldn't compete with the lower prices and had to stop growing rice and import. But now when they country you import from for some reason or other isn't exporting that much rice and keeping it for their own people you are stuck up the creek without a paddle as they say here. I know of course I'm oversimplifying things but that is the problem with the chain of globalization, when something goes wrong at one link it has ramifications for everyone in the chain. Let's look at Kenya, yes we do not have as much arable land as we should, thanks to deforestation, urbanisation and poor climate in some areas of the country; but I am sure that Kenya can still provide a whole lot more food for the people than it is doing at the moment and not have to rely on imports. Plus we also do know that reducing the taxes on fertiliser, cess fees and other levies on local farmers would encourage the sector to grow. Yes, I do know that it isn't that simple but every small step in the right direction is better than standing still waiting for AID from the West; they have their own problems to worry about. I find it funny though how the 2 touted virtues of capitalism and globalizations are now creating more problems than solutions.
Anyway time for me to get off my soap box and back to work, have a nice day people!
Yes for those of you who remembered ie Gish, Mocha and company; I say thanks for remembering! Yes on Thursday, April the 17th; The Acolyte became one year older. No, I will not share how old I am turning with you. For some reason or other, birthdays have never been the greatest occasions for me, but they are good times for me to look over the past year and see what has been done, hasn't been done, shouldn't have been done and needs to be done. But by all means I am grateful for the fact that one year later, I'm here in one piece!
This week I intend to put down my goals and time lines on paper. I know most of them off head but research has shown that more people achieve their goals when they have them on paper since we all forget. Time to make sure I'm still on the right track!
In other news, I was talking to my small sis and she was telling me that if she was ever going to marry a Kenyan man she would go back home to do so, as all the ones here in the States are "rotten". On telling her friends in Kenya that they told her that she shouldn't have high hopes as most of the men in Kenya are "rotten" too, seeing as I am not in the motherland, I can attest to her opinion of Kenyan men out here but now those of you back home please defend yourself. If mamas back home are swearing you off then there must be a big problem somewhere. State your case gents!
You know one thing I miss about Kenya? The fact that 99% of the food was organic and cheap (before the whole elections chaos and current economics issues) to boot. Here what's cheap is processed food, organic food which I try to buy costs an arm and a leg, I can only imagine what it costs people who have children. I joined a co-op this weekend to help save money on that, I guess you don't realize what you got till it's gone.
I'm planning another picture post soon but in the meanwhile let me share these pictures from the Photoshop Disasters blog.
Look Ma, no feet!
No comment.....
I guess his sword levitates or something?
I always knew there was something wrong about that girl!
Now the picture below isn't a blooper but just plain disturbing. The State of Montana decided to run PSAs (Public Service Announcements) about the dangers of smoking meth. Take a look!
It seems some people are not well versed in leaving well enough alone at all. It seems that I have been touted as a grand example of what statesmanship is not, the difference between Kenyans and Tanzanians in addition how Statesmanship should not be conducted.
Well let's clear some small things out of the air first, first and foremost I called Kikwete a dumb bitch and not a dumb ass bitch. Please do your research. As for those who quoted Voltaire, my hats off to them; because however ill advised that statement was I stand by it.
Second, it's rather interesting how one who feel they can wax forth about statesmanship not show an iota of that to their own country man and fellow blogger by spewing forth a statement like, "an insignificant and inarticulate Kenyan blogger?"
Of course that statement in itself brings forth various questions. What does the poster mean by the term insignificant? How do we measure that in the blogosphere? Is it by the number of links linking back to your blog, I'm not going to get in a pissing contest about that but I know I'm faring rather well in that area. Is it because of the subject matter you carry? My blog has never been high brow but I have never claimed it was but in my short time I have done some good, case in point exposing a Dutch minister in Kenya for the huckster he is (I still get comments on that series by the way). Or maybe we could use blog traffic as a measure of significance? But once again I'm not going to get into a pissing contest here. So please don't make statements that don't stand up to in-depth examination.
Inarticulate? How do we measure that? Is it the amount of flowing Queen's English that the blogger uses? is it the comments from the readers hailing their command of the language and how clearly they articulated their point? In fact isn't being articulate being able to make your point clearly? I made my point and by the firestorm that came from it I would say that it was pretty well understood? My regular readers understand me rather well and relate to what I post and that is why they keep on coming back to my blog with comments of note and not kowtowing to my "significance".
At the end of the day, the poster is welcome to say what they want; remember Voltaire. But are they really in a position to be on a high horse? What can you teach people about statesmanship when you are hardly a gentleman yourself (an issue I won't bother going deeper into)? I for one don't and never have claimed to be a statesman or even a gentleman, I just say what I feel, no matter how inarticulate and insignificant it may be, funny enough that seems to resonate with other people in the blogosphere; if that is another indicator of how immature and low brow Kenyans are then so be it, I have nothing to apologize for.
Anyway I do feel I have said my piece, I am sure the poster of that piece has more significant things to worry about such as State House agents bugging his phone, following him to his house and interfering with his personal business as he tries to teach our President to be a statesman in addition to being the avatar of all that is significant and articulate. How heavy the load is that some of us how to bear. Let us support him as he teaches us how to progress as a Nation. Have a wonderful day people and in all that you say please be articulate!
Life is War.To master the art of war is simple enough. Find out where your enemy is. Get at him as soon as you can. Strike him as hard as you can, and keep moving.
