Barack Obama's Speech on Education

What a speech! These are some of the quotes I'll forever cherish from the above speech.
"Asking for help isn’t a sign of weakness, it’s a sign of strength. It shows you have the courage to admit when you don’t know something, and to learn something new."

"But at the end of the day, we can have the most dedicated teachers, the most supportive parents, and the best schools in the world – and none of it will matter unless all of you fulfill your responsibilities. Unless you show up to those schools; pay attention to those teachers; listen to your parents, grandparents and other adults; and put in the hard work it takes to succeed."

"So today, I want to ask you, what’s your contribution going to be? What problems are you going to solve? What discoveries will you make? What will a president who comes here in twenty or fifty or one hundred years say about what all of you did for this country?"

Don't we Kenyans wish our own president was half as inspiring as Obama?

You know you're Kenyan when...

I got this from some guys am following on tweeter and damn were they funny! Some hard truths that I think, uniquely defines being a typical Kenyan. This are my top five:
1. You know you're Kenyan when you used to eat the wrapper of a queen cake as a delicacy.
2. You know you're Kenyan when theres slight cloudy so you dress your child in so many jumpers it can't move its arms & a knitted balaclava. Hope my wife is reading this.
3. You know you're Kenyan when you're stuffed but that soda has to go down! You paid a fortune for the combo.
4. You know you're Kenyan when you ride on a bus called "MASH" and use mortuary services at "UMASH". Are these guys doing business for each other?
This one is my favorite one, things we do naturally;
5. You know you're Kenyan when you chain your dogs up all day to make them even more dangerous. Turning that mtaa coyote into a doberman. Mbwa kali!

Kenya’s high speed trains!

“The prospect of this dream becoming a reality in Kenya grew on Monday when Kenya Railways Corporation advertised a tender for a standard gauge line to run from Mombasa to Malaba. Such a line would shorten the train journey from Nairobi to Mombasa from 10 to only three hours.”

Call me a cynic, but don’t these high speed trains run on electricity? We don't have enough power to light our homes leave alone trains. Speeding through Kibera laini saba slum where an accident with result in rowdy youths uprooting the railway line! Whenever I see those old depilated RVR trains with myriad of technical problems, I can’t imagine the technology that comes with the high speed ones. Some one joked that engineering in our universities still based on 1985 syllabus, so there goes out technical support. Am I a case of a pessimists, who prevent the country from developing and then blame the government for lack of foresight? Or a case of a realistic Kenyan, ranting on an impossible dream. What happened to mass rapid transport light rail to for the city? Oh, it was an old forgotten dream. Can’t wait for another one of those dreams, this time the technocrats should try an airport in Thika. That I can dream.

McDonald Vs McCurry

Al Jazeera left me curious on who between the fast-food giant McDonald's versus Malaysian restaurant McCurry would win. McDonald's lost an eight-year legal battle to prevent a McCurry from using the "Mc" prefix, as it infringed its trademark. McCurry opened for business in Kuala Lumpur in 1999, and serves Indian dishes, including fish head curry and breads including tandoori naan(already salivating).

I found the ruling fair! There was no evidence to show McCurry was trying to pass itself off as part of the McDonald's empire. The logo (two thumbs up chicken) was creatively done, far better than McDonalds. Who on earth would patent "Mc" , I think this goes to far. To my usual ranting, if it were back home the multi national would definitely have won.

Traffic jams vs new school term

After experiencing one of the worst traffic jams ever (the presidential motorcade had nothing to do with it), I concluded that must have been the start to the new school term. The last three weeks the roads have been 'nyweee' as my grand mother would say. Smooth as the buttocks of a new born. Leaving the residential areas at 7 am and making it to other side of town in an hour time. Less traffic equals less fuel equals a bit of saving. But come to think of it, how many of the school buses are there? Could it be the teachers' personal cars? If both contribute but why are fridays less congested... I think Nairobians panic too much. From smell of rain to speculations of happenings in CBD. The general assumption that a new term means traffic jam results in panic mode. I just wish 'we' would all analyze the situation my style and maybe 'we' don't have wake up so early.

Lion Sculptures in town

Saw a guy on TV yesterday arguing out he doesn’t see the importance of those wooden lion sculptures in town since the “Government is not providing him with food and so the lions are a waste of time”. Though I won't like to take his line of thinking, I was left wondering if this is another misplaced priority. Yap, am still talking of the lions! After watching an item on NTV News on putting some GSM/GPRS tags on lions necks. Wasn't it humorous when one of the lions woke up from the sedatives as the KWS guys were busy taking some samples...
... Back to my rants, I beg to wonder; wouldn't the awareness be more productive on neighboring masaai community who kill lions for culture or conflict? A Nairobian experiencing power/water/LPG rationing has a lion as an issue least of his/priorities.

Sites of Death!

Kenyans are known for the unique 'peculiar habits' from mobile phone etiquette to driving madness. Most of these 'peculiar habits' have been accepted as a social norm. But there is one I'm wondering if its one of them habits or a natural human instinct. Today morning while trying to avoid the ever congested Muranga Road, I divert on Desai Road. A few meters I encounter a huge crowd that doesn't seem to be in a hurry on a monday morning. My fellow motorists also join in my causing another traffic jam. As I get closer to the crowd I get to visualize the subject matter. A corpse of a mugging victim with deep bruises on the head, the usual being hit by a blunt object theory. As I drive off I wonder what could be the gain of standing for hours just looking or imagining the 'what could have happened' theories. Is it our own kenyan habits of always flocking to accidents scenes or its a human nature?

The sad case of Mau

As a born city I never thought I'd ever have an opinion over environmental issue leave alone Mau. My trip to the Masaai Mara through Narok was like a blow to my environmental ignorance. The burnt out hectares of what was once lush indigineous forest was heart breaking. Numerous questions of why, how did it get to such levels of destruction, was I could ask myself. With the politicization of Mau reforestation and the visible tell tale signs of years of depletion, am genuinely worried for my year old son's future. I frankly pray that our politicians preferably the president would make such a trip and who knows, maybe he'll get worried for his grandchildrens future... and who knows, the beginning of Mau Forest afforestration!