http://voiceofkibera.org/
I really like the way this map turned out. The makers combined the KML files from http://mapkibera.org/ (which I think is the best thing in the world!) and the Ushahidi platform (http://www.ushahidi.com/, again another really cool project-the co founder keeps a really interesting blog: http://www.kenyanpundit.com/).
Oh, and I'm going to this movie tonight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWCbQjPJR2w
Friday, November 5, 2010
Monday, November 1, 2010
Facebook Photos
This should be accessible to everybody, it's a facebook photo gallery with some of my pictures from western kenya (more to come soon)
The past couple weeks part 1
The picnic I mentioned in the last post went very well. Somehow we were able to get everything together and feed and water about 85 people for 35,000 Khs (450$). The only problem we had was that we couldn't seem to cook the meat fast enough; although, this is due in part to the fact that Kenyans like their meat very well done (burnt to a crisp). Helping to manage a large barbecue in Kenya opened my eyes to two truths: without a car it is difficult to organize a barbecue (especially in Kenya), and leading people even those you know well can be extremely difficult. Enough of that-unless you have more questions of course...
During the barbecue and for the week following I fell relatively sick, I guess Montezuma got his revenge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveler's_diarrhea). On tuesday, thursday and friday of that week I had mid-terms in three classes: International Economics and Trade, African Authors Seminar, and Kiswahili. The first two went well (relatively easy essay questions), but Kiswahili was more difficult. Pretty soon Micaela's going to write a guest post talking about the basic structure of Kiswahili and its slang counterpart, Sheng.
Saturday evening my body decided to purge itself of everything inside of it other than vital organs (one can only hope). Sunday morning we left our apartment at 5:30 to catch a bus out to rural Kenya where we stayed for a week with a home stay family . We caught the bus at a crazy station in East Nairobi called Machakos. As soon as we arrived at the station we were surrounded by drunk men calling me Johny, hitting on all the girls, and asking which bus we wanted. The station was nothing but confusion and mud on this drizzly morning, it took us a while to shed the men, the confusion, and the mud and make our way onto our bus. While waiting for the bus to leave the station (in Kenya buses only leave once they're full), a series of vendors came on the bus touting their merchandise of hats, soda, water, candy. biscuits, flashlights, and locks (?). An hour after getting on the bus it filled up and we left the station. We passed through beautiful landscapes of hills, the rift valley, tea plantations, and sugar plantations (much less depressing than the sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic for some reason though). Along the side of the road stood the famous, although I don't really know why, crying stone http://www.letsgokenya.com/crying-stone.
Most of the time, however, instead of looking out the window I had my eyes on the man selling cures at the front of the bus. He spoke loudly without stumbling over his words with the conviction of a southern baptist preacher, telling us in Kiswahili all the benefits of his products. One could cure malaria and typhoid, another could clean the bathroom and your (he said this one in english) "private parts," and the third could cure sleeping sickness. He went on and on for over two hours without respite. His speech finally ended, a few Kenyans bought his cures, but I didn't have any money on me which is a shame because I wanted to buy a present for my mother. The bus ride lasted about 7 hours during which, as a passenger on the aisle, I was bashed in the face by the behind of every Kenyan on the bus. Eventually, we reached a village on the edge of the Kakamega forest and...(look for part 2)
During the barbecue and for the week following I fell relatively sick, I guess Montezuma got his revenge (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traveler's_diarrhea). On tuesday, thursday and friday of that week I had mid-terms in three classes: International Economics and Trade, African Authors Seminar, and Kiswahili. The first two went well (relatively easy essay questions), but Kiswahili was more difficult. Pretty soon Micaela's going to write a guest post talking about the basic structure of Kiswahili and its slang counterpart, Sheng.
Saturday evening my body decided to purge itself of everything inside of it other than vital organs (one can only hope). Sunday morning we left our apartment at 5:30 to catch a bus out to rural Kenya where we stayed for a week with a home stay family . We caught the bus at a crazy station in East Nairobi called Machakos. As soon as we arrived at the station we were surrounded by drunk men calling me Johny, hitting on all the girls, and asking which bus we wanted. The station was nothing but confusion and mud on this drizzly morning, it took us a while to shed the men, the confusion, and the mud and make our way onto our bus. While waiting for the bus to leave the station (in Kenya buses only leave once they're full), a series of vendors came on the bus touting their merchandise of hats, soda, water, candy. biscuits, flashlights, and locks (?). An hour after getting on the bus it filled up and we left the station. We passed through beautiful landscapes of hills, the rift valley, tea plantations, and sugar plantations (much less depressing than the sugar plantations in the Dominican Republic for some reason though). Along the side of the road stood the famous, although I don't really know why, crying stone http://www.letsgokenya.com/crying-stone.
Most of the time, however, instead of looking out the window I had my eyes on the man selling cures at the front of the bus. He spoke loudly without stumbling over his words with the conviction of a southern baptist preacher, telling us in Kiswahili all the benefits of his products. One could cure malaria and typhoid, another could clean the bathroom and your (he said this one in english) "private parts," and the third could cure sleeping sickness. He went on and on for over two hours without respite. His speech finally ended, a few Kenyans bought his cures, but I didn't have any money on me which is a shame because I wanted to buy a present for my mother. The bus ride lasted about 7 hours during which, as a passenger on the aisle, I was bashed in the face by the behind of every Kenyan on the bus. Eventually, we reached a village on the edge of the Kakamega forest and...(look for part 2)
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