Five Days of Earthquakes?

Nationmedia.com | Daily Nation | NEWS | Tremors shake the country again: "Earth tremors shook several parts of the country intermittently for the fourth consecutive day yesterday as local experts conceded that they were yet to gather enough data on the unusual occurrence."

Originally I was going to comment on this story to say that I cannot believe that there have been earthquakes here for four days and I never felt any of them!

Then, while I was writing that last post, the ground started shaking under my feet and my desk started shaking too. I heard a low rumbling sound and it hit me! My First Earthquake!

Others were reported as being less than excited about their earthquake experience:

“From midnight, we had a restless night after the first tremor. We had all moved out of our five storey building with our belongings and entered into our vehicles prepared to leave,” a resident of Parklands Aqilah Kauser said.

Nairobi Explosion

So, a day after a rather unpleasant experience, an explosion went off in downtown Nairobi.

The Nation reports the following:

“By any standards, it was a very small explosion. We are not down-playing the incident but it even did not blow up tyres of a vehicle that was just two metres away.”

So far, preliminary investigations have showed, according to police, that no combustion or high explosives have been detected from the scene.

Now, I don't know that exploding tires should be the determining factor of whether an explosion is big, but I absolutely agree it wasn't nearly as large as first reports made it out to be. One person has died and about 40 people were injured.

Some interesting things to note:

1. Suspicion falls on two groups of people: suspected Mungiki members and Somali radicals. Initial reports talked of suicide bombers with dynamite. That was clearly an over-reaction, and pure speculation.
   
   
2. Location, location, location. Yes, this is a semi-busy bus terminal. But it is far from the busiest. As a terrorist attack, the less-than luxurious Ambassadeur Hotel seems an odd choice. Furthermore, the explosion seems to have happened outside of the little-known City Gate Restaurant, an unlikely place to try to impact a maximum amount of casualties. Whatever the target was, it was not the sidewalk in front of the City Gate Restaurant.
   
   
3. I happened to be in town at the time of the explosion. I was coming from the police station, where no one seemed concerned about what was happening, walked about a half-block away from where the explosion was and boarded a bus--all without hearing a thing or seeing any panic.
   

An Open Letter

10 June 2007

Dear Guy with the Big Puffy Navy Blue Jacket, Jeans, Baseball Cap Who Kept Looking Over His Shoulder and His Three Associates,

I wondered what you thought of Anna Karenina. Not an easy read, huh? As I'm sure you'll soon discover, Tolstoy is an amazing author. The way that he can get into a person's head, and interpret their most trivial emotions is just breathtaking. His powerful command of language to accurately convey feelings, thoughts, and emotions is, I think you'll agree, pretty much incomparable.

You'll notice that I only had 90 pages of the book left to read. (wink) I've long been aware that the book ends tragically. Now I'm just not sure how it happens. Perhaps you can write me a brief explanation? Did you see it coming?

If not, I'll understand. It's a real time commitment! (LOL!) And English is probably not your first language anyway. (Nor Russian for that matter!)

K.W. Wamitila's Mayai Waziri wa Maradhi na Hadithi Nyingine may be more up your respective allies. This book of Swahili short stories is truly unique. I put in that black bag next to Anna Karenina just the other day because I wanted to read the title story by E. Kezilahabi again. “Eggs Minister of Diseases” is the literal translation. It's a bizarre title and the futuristic dystopia, of a governmental minister haunted by bad dreams, his own shady past, and the fears and paranoia inspired by his autocratic government, definitely threw me off.

Though my memory is hazy, I wouldn't quite say that it had the same effect as the choke-hold, take-the-guy's-wallet-phone-and-bag-on-a-busy-street-on-a-Sunday-morning did. (Smile!)

While it's a bit more of a political science-y kind of book, I wonder what you all might think of Illicit: How Smugglers, Traffickers and Copycats are Hijacking the Global Economy. Is it inspirational for guys like you?

By the way, did you get to read that special on Mungiki in the Sunday Nation I had? Do you guys think Mungiki is as widespread as some people fear it is? Can the government really bring it down? Is the government being too harsh on suspected Mungiki?

As for the wallet, did you see my driver's license there? Isn't that just a ridiculous picture? The strange shadows made it look like I had a mullet! While I kinda wish I had it back, I won't mind never seeing that picture again!

You're probably slightly annoyed that I did that whole “phone lock” thing where when you switch the phone's SIM card, it asks you for the password. Probably meant you had to pay someone a couple hundred shillings to reset it. Sorry! I'll give you a hint: it starts with a 7.... Even still, the Sony Ericsson T610 will probably fetch you two or three thousand shillings.

Altogether it should mean you end up with something like 4,000/-. (Unfortunately, most Kenyans aren't big into reading so you probably won't get more than a couple hundred shillings for those books....) Divided between four people, it comes to about $15 per person.


I'd ask you if you thought it was worth it, but I'm assuming you're not all that disappointed. Sure it's a fraction of what you hoped for with a white guy, but the chances of anyone catching you are pretty slim. I went to the police station and someone told me I'd have to pay a private investigator 10,000/- ($150) for them to try to catch you. As you may have guessed by now, I'm not the kind of person who can afford that!

Oh, and by the way, you don't have to worry about returning the ATM card! Instead of troubling you all, I just decided that it'd be easier to cancel it and order a new one.


Anyway, if we do get the chance to meet up again, I hope it's under better circumstances! If you let me keep my wallet (hint, hint), I'll buy the four of you cups of chai and some light and fluffy maandazi! Otherwise, it'll have to be on you!

Nairobi's Monuments

I had a meeting with a Peace Corps Volunteer on Friday and had the opportunity to show her around Nairobi Saturday. So, for a walking tour of city center, what's there worth looking at?

1. Jomo Kenyatta statue: This statue, of the majestic-looking first president, is quite easily the best monument in all of Kenya. Kenyatta sits, wearing a traditional hat, kingly robe, and holding his horse-tail-cum-fly-whisk. It is the statue of a king. I don't think there's another one more awe-inspiring in Kenya.

The monument is located right next to the Nairobi Law Courts (now re-named "The Judiciary"?), which is the home of Kenya's highest court. Unfortunately, to get there, you have to talk to a guard and ask to be let in, or you have to through a parking lot and a back entrance, with no signs or introduction or anything. You kind of get the feeling you're trespassing.

2. Dedan Kimathi statue: This is probably now the second best statue in Kenya, which is pretty much in line with Kimathi's stature locally. Kimathi stands holding a home-made gun in one hand, and a knife in another hand. He stands defiant, resilient, a proud symbol of Kenyan resistance. (For more about Kimathi, see here.)

Erected just the other day, I must admit that, while the statue is great, the overall placement and accessibility of the monument leaves much to be desired. It's placed in the middle of the junction of Kimathi Street and Mama Ngina Street. There's no place to really stand up close to it, without dodging traffic. Also, again, no signs, no detailed explanations. Just a plaque that singles him out for his bravery and nationalism. Nothing in depth, just a snapshot.

3. Parliament: The structure itself isn't really all that amazing. There's a tower with a clock next to two unimpressive conjoined rectangles. Blah. Anyway, considering how often parliament is actually in session, it's usually pretty empty. A friend of mine wanted to take a picture, but the guards quickly put a stop to that.

(One time Halako walked by and saw a guy who was sitting on a bench near parliament get pulled off and beaten by guards as he held up his hands in self-defense. Did he do something wrong? She didn't know. All she knew is that the beating was definitely unprovoked.)

4. Uhuru Park: Former Tanzanian President Mwalimu Julius Nyerere supposedly called Uhuru Park "a little piece of Europe in Africa" (not an exact quote; uhuru, again, means "freedom"). If he actually did say such a thing, one has to wonder if it was true when he said it. It is clearly not true today. The park area is still nice, the artificial ponds are inviting. Yet the older monuments, such as the pyramid structure marking the pope's visits in 1980 and 1985, is falling apart. A large fountain nearby hasn't worked for years and is hardly inspiring.

Across the way is the Nyayo Monument. (Nyayo means "footsteps"; Kenya's second President Daniel arap Moi promised to follow in the footsteps of Kenyatta; pictured to the right) This monument, which apparently cost a million dollars to make, is still impressive.

5. Jomo Kenyatta's Mausoleum: What exactly is a mausoleum? I just looked this up on wikipedia for your benefit. I seemed to think that it had something to do with preserving the body (embalming), but that's pretty wrong. It's really just a tomb--maybe like a small stone structure where the body's buried.

Anyway, Kenya's first president (and the only one who's passed away) has a mausoleum and it's right next to the Parliament building. It's also across from the statue of Kenyatta in front of the Law Courts.

The other day we stood off in the distance a little and I explained that that's where Kenyatta was buried and that they won't let you inside or take pictures. Also that guards dressed up in these great red uniforms keep watch, though I didn't see any at the time.

Just then a guard came out of a small structure to let a worker through the gate. He called us over and asked what the problem was. Yes, standing outside of a national historical site prompts a "What's the problem?" We had none and walked away.

But it's interesting how the same president who kept Parliament and the Courts weak happens to be identified so close to those institutions....

6. War Memorial Statues: On Kenyatta Avenue, you'll find a statue of three African soldiers standing next to each other. Unfortunately, this monument is even less visible than the others. It's in the strip of land between traffic (what's that called?) and getting to it involves weaving through parked cars, dodging traffic, winding around a tree and crowding right up next to the thing.

But it's a memorial for the Africans who fought and died in both World War One and World War Two. I don't know those figures, and I'm not really sure if they're recorded as such. But the British colonial government definitely did recruit Africans to participate in that war (particularly the Asian front, to my understanding). Needless to say, those soldiers who survived the war were devastated to return home and find themselves still treated as third-class citizens.

7. Bizarre Monument to a White Man Who Devised the Road System in Kenya: I love this monument because I really don't understand it. It's also on Kenyatta Avenue, right next to the main post office (GPO). It's a box like structure that features engraved markings of the routes he devised and their distances. I don't remember the guy's name and neither does anyone else, actually. On top of the box is something like a globe, I think.

Anyway, the whole thing is enclosed in this black cage structure with a sharp edged top to keep out vandals, I assume. Did anyone ever think that this was a good structure?

8. Bookpoint and Prestige Bookstores: Yes, I'm nerdy. But it was a valuable visit because I got my friend some books on Dholuo, one of the most commonly spoken languages in Kenya, but not very commonly read or written. Hope they'll be useful in boosting her fluency.

9. Kenyatta International Conference Center: This conference center (pictured on the right) calls itself something like Africa's best. Umm... Maybe. Probably the best in East Africa, but I imagine there's better in South Africa. Besides, while the building is closely identified with Nairobi, It's actually pretty ugly, along with the strange cone-shaped structure that reminds me of a vehicle designed to land on the moon.

Note: I published this Monday and did some updating Tuesday...