26Yrs Award Winning Kenyan Chicken Farmer Lands Lifetime Chance to Meet Obama

When 26-year-old James Makini founded the One Hen Project five years ago, he had no idea it would open doors for him to meet US President Barack Obama.
Now he has been selected among 500 people set to meet President Obama in the Young African Leaders Summit in August this year .
The fellowship designed to help the next crop of business leaders includes six weeks of training at a US university then followed by the summit which Mr. Obama will personally host for three days.

James Makini

“I am excited that the simple business is changing lives and has now been recognized by Obama’s fellowship,” Makini said on receiving news of the fellowship. “I am looking forward to a chat with the US President,” he added.
Mr. Makini who set up the social enterprise in 2010 has expanded its operations from the original Kisii are to Nyamira, and Narok and hopes to extend the reach to 10 counties by the end of next year.
His project has already impacted 20,000 households in setting up poultry rearing ventures or indigenous chicken.

Courtesy: The standard.

Congrats James.While most of us who met him in campus went for white collar jobs, this guy and a friend of his went for the route less taken and its paying off.

Tana River Senator Hon: Ali Abdi bule And Security Officers - Drama @ Ea...

May be the police thought the senator was masquerading since he does not look like the typical Kenyan politician (a fat cat)

Somalis: The Kenya police cash cow.

A story is told of two Somali women who visited Kijabe hospital for medical treatment. At the gate, they met a watchman who was dressed in uniform. They underwent the usual security check up and proceeded to finish their business in the hospital. As they were waiting to start their journey back home, the watchman approached them and asked “mama ni saa ngapi? (Mum, what is the time?). One of the women opened her purse and handed him kshs 500 note. The watchman was delightedly surprised. He then said,” asante sana mama, lakini nilikuwa nataka kujua ni saa ngapi?”(Thank you mum, but I was asking about the time). The women looked at each other and concluded that he was not satisfied with the amount already given. They added him another kshs 1000. The watchman just walked away surprised at the women’s generosity. Unbeknown to him, the women were refugees from the camps who had come to Nairobi through a UNCHR program. They thought he was a police officer asking for a bribe.

PHOTO-SPEAK

4 year old Marwan who was separated from his family in Syria was found by UN Staff wandering in the Jordanian desert. He crossed the border carrying a paper bag containing some of his possessions.

With the youth in Mombasa, the government is putting out fire with petrol

The violence that rocked Mombasa in the last two days is very perturbing. The death, destruction and the desecration of places of worship witnessed yesterday will just inflame an already bad situation. it is very indicative of a leadership vacuum in the Muslim population and a government that does not know the head from the tail of the situation its dealing with. The youth themselves are not totally blameless but putting all the blame on them like everyone is doing is hugely missing the point.

I have always believed that the war on terror is terror by itself. It has made the world very unsafe place for all of us.

let me digress. You may have believed that the word terror is synonymous with Islam and Muslims but let me ask you, where were the Muslim terrorists before the 1990's?? Islam existed before 1990, right? if it's a doctrine for them to be violent how comes they were not following what their religion teaches before 1990? before 1990, the United States believed the former USSR with its Communism posed the biggest threat to its capitalism. The KGB and the Russian mafia were the terrorists. The US armed the Afghan Mujahidin, including Osama, to defeat Russia. Upon the downfall of the Soviet Union, the US turned its guns against the next potential threat to its domination of the world; Muslims. Why are the Muslims a threat, you may ask. First of all Islam prohibits interest in all its forms. Interest is the bedrock of capitalism. It ensures the poor remain poor while the rich dominate and subjugate them. Secondly, Islam provides a complete system of governance that is independent of all other systems. Its this system that the west fears. Say you want to be governed with the Islamic sharia and you automatically become a terrorist in the eyes of Uncle Sam.

Chew Miraa at your own Peril.

It is called by various names; Miraa, Khat, Chat and Catha edulis (Scientific name). In South Africa it is known as the Bushman tea. However, Most of us know it by the name Miraa or kat. I am sure we all know it. Some of us may have chewed it. I have not chewed it personally although at one time I almost did just to see how “high” people feel. I am told it is a feeling that you can only know by experiencing it. That’s how it starts for everyone. You just want to “see”. It was 2010 while on a field visit to a town in Northern Kenya. Our host had a Miraa farm and the stuff was readily available. The locals offered us fresh sticks even when we met on the roads. One day we plucked a full paper bag and went sight-seeing on the mountains. We were two Kenyans and two British nationals. Just like me my British colleagues had no prior experience with chewing miraa. They were eager for the initiation. I could not take more than one stick while my friends “enjoyed” it. They kept telling me how they felt. Up to now I can’t tell you how it feels. That is not my point.

This is why many Kenyan Somalis feel “not yet Kenyan”

A week ago Aljazeera aired a documentary by Mohammed Adow on the atrocities and systematic discrimination the government has meted on Kenyan Somalis since independence. It was very personal for him. He not only witnessed the atrocities as an ethnic Somali but his family and neighbors were victims. The shoe wearer knows where it pinches most and sometimes he could not help but break down in tears. I thank him for taking that bold step to tell the untold story.

The history of Northern Kenya is written in blood but no one has taken the effort to write it for posterity. It is meant to be forgotten. All the dailies are running chronicles dubbed “Kenya @50” in commemoration of Kenya’s jubilee year but that painful history is mentioned only in the footnotes. The only written account I have ever read about these crimes is “Blood on the runway” which documents the Wagalla massacre. However, I had the opportunity to hear firsthand accounts of the shifta war and it’s never ending aftermath while working with a British Institute on a project to document the History of Somalis in the Northern Frontier districts. The accounts were horrid to say the least.