Travel and Personal

Drought and Ice Skating

By Dweep Chanana ⋅ December 22, 2005 ⋅  Email this post ⋅ Post a comment

This news probably did not make it to the headlines. Northern Kenya is in the middle of a famine. After another year of poor rains, many children in the northern ‘up-country’ are starving. The news made it to the front page of the local papers, but BBC News had no mention of it.

In a stark contrast, I also learnt yesterday, that Kenya will soon have its first ice skating rink. Exciting, and appropriate, isn’t it? The mzungu can now pay 800 Kenyan schillings (Ksh) for an hour on the ice. Right across the road from Indian owned Pinnari Hotel, which will house the rink, is Kibera, the largest slum in (East?) Africa.

There is no direct linkage, and one is probably not a reflection or a cause of the other. The ice rink may create jobs, and will manage to take more money from the overpaid and willing foreigners - so why not. Still, it is a sad commentary on the priorities of society.