Recent Kenya news ........

Update on the rhino move disaster:   
   
It would seem that the last remaining live rhino after the move to Tsavo has been attacked and killed by a lion.    The first seven or eight probably died because they drank the water they found in Tsavo, which proved to be salty, and they weren't used to drinking salty water, and probably died due to poisoning or kidney failure .... post-mortems are on-going. 

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Slum clearances:

A large area of Kibera, the biggest Nairobi slum housing anything from 250,000 to a million people, includes schools, shops and clinics.   A new road is planned to go through that part of Nairobi, so the shanty housing has to go.   People were given a few days to vacate their cardboard, wood and tin shacks, and go to ..... where ??   

The following photo is not necessarily from that area, but it does show the differences in Africa between the poor and the wealthy ..........

(Both photos from Reuters news)

Letters ..... hundreds of letters

I have been spending the last few weeks reading through all the letters written to family in the UK while we were living in Kenya.  I found the letters I wrote to my mother when I was clearing her things after her death, and they make fascinating reading.  My lovely mother-in-law gave me, before she died, all the letters written to her so I have a full spread of 11 years worth of details of trips we took, politics in Kenya in the late 60's and through the 70's, odd newspaper cuttings we send back, and also comments on the political happenings in the UK during that period.   

The only thing I wonder about is that I don't have the replies sent to us in Kenya, so questions I asked my mother must have been answered .... but who were the people she mentioned and told me about ?   I'll never know !

Anyway, I recently wrote about Barack Obama visiting his ancestral home in Nyang'oma, and read in one of the letters that Joseph (pictured in the right hand column) went to school in Nyang'oma, although his home was actually in Ng'iya, about two or three miles north.

I had forgotten so many things, places we went to, and people we met and got to know .... we bumped into Joy and George Adamson several times; Eric Hoskins the famous bird photographer was at Nakuru when we were there bird ringing, as was Peter Scott, and Prince Bernhardt of the Netherlands .... sorry, name dropping !!!

I'll continue to add snippets from the letters from time to time, and must show my oldest daughter the letters she wrote to Granny when she was about four years old ... they are all in the shoe boxes, neatly tied into yearly bundles. !


Memories .... tied up with white string .... 

Barack Obama visits his ancestral home in Nyanza

Former President Barack Obama has visited Kenya, his father’s native country, for the first time since leaving office. 

Mr Obama travelled to Kenya, for a two-day visit, to help support the launch of a sports, training and vocational centre founded by his half-sister, Dr Auma Obama, through her foundation Sauti Kuu, the Associated Press reported. Sauti Kuu aims to provide economic opportunities for young people in rural Kenya. Its new centre will help the youth acquire new skills through education and sports, the foundation’s website states. 

While in Kenya, Mr Obama visited Nyang’oma K’ogelo in Siaya County, the village where his father grew up. He also attended a launch event for Sauti Kuu’s new sports and vocational centre, where he delivered a speech detailing his first trip to Kenya, at 27 years old, and the time he spent with Ms Auma Obama. Mr Obama commended his sister for the opportunities her foundation provides the youth. 

Mr Obama can be seen dancing and later playing basketball during the launch ceremony for the centre.

(News item from The Independent)

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The first school we were posted to in 1968 was at Ng'iya Girls School for three months, while our house at Maranda School near Bondo was completed; and then after another year, we were transferred to Maseno School. So we got to know Nyang'oma K'ogelo and some of the people living there well.   Its quite likely we knew the future President Obama's father or family !

Another news item is that there have been riots and vandalism in many schools in Kenya in the last week, with students protesting about all sorts of things .... poor beds in the dormitories, the food, lack of teachers, etc.   The girls at Ng'iya Girls School even had the school closed down due to riots .... 

Bad news .....

Reports in a recent Guardian say that 8 out of 14 black rhino being trans-located to Tsavo from up country, have died, probably because the water they found there was more salty that what they were used to .... but post-mortems will determine the cause.

Donald and the elephants

Donald Trump lifts ban on importing elephant hunt trophies from Zimbabwe and Zambia. Putting politics aside this is a devastating blow to the protection of elephants.