about kenya
Kenya is a land of contrasts. From varying beautiful sceneries in sandy beaches, snow capped mountain, wildlife, one of the world largest fresh water lake, many cultures, many languages, highlands, varying climatic conditions and many more but also a contrast in fortunes. Kenya is one country with one of the widest income disparities ranges) in the world, reputed to be second in this infamy to only Brazil
Nairobi the capital city of Kenya is a marvel more less the same like the other great cities of the world like New York, Washington, London, Kuala Lumpur, Los Angeles, Lisbon, San Francisco, Paris, Johannesburg, Kampala, Stockholm Tokyo etc. Nairobi has also a rich history stemming from the 19th century. It is also beautiful and with modern facilities like international airport, modern businesses like international banks, insurance, manufacturing firms, infrastructure and so on but also another city of contrasts. It is the haven of super rich and very huge and very punitive slums. For instance the biggest slum in Africa
is in Nairobi. Kibera slum houses over 1 million people who live with extremely meager resources and indeed nowhere near a dollar a day.
Nairobi has one of the fastest growing capital markets in the world and amazing. It is the home of very many nationalities, very hospitable people and some of the super rich of the world. Yet more than half of the population lives in very filthy slums. It is a tourist haven and with super modern hotels and restaurants and some of the fastest growing companies in the world such as Safaricom a subsidiary of the British Vodafone, in the telecommunications sector. Indeed it’s much anticipated Initial listing in the Kenyan Stock Market; Nairobi Stock exchange (NSE) is likely to be overwhelmed in with too much oversubscription by Kenyans and overseas investors.
A land of contrast indeed. Nairobi happens to be the capital city of Kenya. It is the seat of the government and where the Kenyan
parliament seats. Kenyan members of parliament are some of the world’s well remunerated MP’s. One of the major achievements of the last parliament which was dissolved by the Kenyan president in October 2007 was the revolutionary Constituency development fund (CDF). But what did the revolution achieve? So much but a lot of these funds is
alleged to have been misused by the MP’s and their cronies.
Kenya as said is a land of great and endless opportunities but with a lot of political, economical and social challenges. The tourism industry in Kenya which is reputed to have the potential to completely wipe out poverty is on the rise. With so much beauty one wonders why Kenya cannot surpass France which receives over 80 million tourists per annum. Blame government polices, poor infrastructure, past political problems and so on.
Poverty is a country’s waking nightmare! Why so much poverty amidst plenty of opportunities achieved and missed! A very strange and contrasting phenomenon! To remind Nairobi has the following among others big slums; Kibera, Mukuru kwa Reuben, Mukuru kwa Njenga, Mukuru kwa Maina, Mathare, Kitui Ndogo, Mathare, Kangemi, Kware (ongata Rongai) etc. These slums provide some of the world’s most human degrading conditions. Lack of food, lack of social amenities,
lack of space, lack of privacy, lack of hope you name it! The current government has tried a lot in giving free primary education, but it can only do much. The people in slums are living worse than the famous Kenyan wildlife by very far.
A visit in one of the slums Kitui Ndogo reveals some scaring if not pathetic conditions. It took none other than a Portuguese
Philanthropist Laura Vasconcellos to see for herself people living in very pathetic and sorry conditions in a country famous for many things among them wildlife, athletics and a growing democracy not to forget a country which has provided the world with some of the best brains in many fields and a very hard working population inside the country and in the Diaspora.
Laura Vasconcellos President of ADDHU a Portuguese based International humanitarian organization visited the country in October to review a fact finding mission organized by her organization partner in Kenya called Capital Youth Caucus Association (CYCA) led by Mr. Armstrong O’Brian Ongera who took her to visit Kitui Ndogo slums among other areas in the country. What see saw must have baffled her!
On 20th October 2007 she and Brian visited the slum and made various donations to Orphans and sanitary pads to teenage mothers and on 28th of the same month before Laura flew out of the country her with the company of O’Brian and some other officials visited an Orphanage in Kitui Ndogo and made some donations.
What must surprise many in the developed world is that in Kenya where MP’s live large there are people in all of their 210 constituencies (currently) who only work is to vote at the appointed time but whose lives are just too miserable completely out of range with the life styles of the MP’s and the rich in a poor country.
It is worrying how many donors the poor in slums and villages in Nairobi, in Kenya, in Africa, in Latin America, in Asia and many other poverty stricken areas of this world are needed to lift the masses out of the present day miseries. How many donors we dare ask? How many CDF’s probably? How much of free education do we need? How many UN? How many African Union?
To the Laura and O’Brian Ongera’s of this world we wish them well. A fair guess is the world needs many of these! But if the political and trade systems of the world were made fairer the world can be better!
