Archive for January, 2006
Nyama Choma at Olepolos
The Kenyans love their goats. And they like them grilled and chopped up into little pieces. They call it Nyama Choma - grilled meat.
Yesterday, I headed with some friends to a place called Olopolos (pronounced olepolo) south of Nairobi in the Ngong Hills. You won’t find this place in a tourist guide, but it is [...]
Kenya reflects on the building collapse
The building collapse of last week is history, relegated to the inside pages of the paper. The international rescue teams and their sniffer dogs - from Israel, USA, and the UK - have returned. A total of 14 people are confirmed dead, with many still missing. All that remains is to clear the rubble now.
The [...]
The Incentives of Development Aid
The longer I stay here, the more skeptical I am of development assistance.
Examples keep emerging of the perverse effects of development aid. In the refugee areas of Nairobi - such as Eastleigh (where Somali refugees have settled) - donor dollars provide health services, water, and infrastructure. While the neighborhood is not heaven, what does this [...]
A Culinary Delight - Kenya
Yesterday, after a long time planning, I finally made it to Tamarind - a seafood restaurant in downtown that came highly recommended. Now, it was my boss - an Italian with a good taste in food (he likes Indian) - that recommended it, so I had high expectations. At the same time, I had eaten [...]
The IOMBA on the Net
Hmm…I was going through the statistics for my website, and saw people coming here searching for the word IOMBA. So I did a little search of my own. I always knew the IOMBA was meant to be a great program, but still surprised at how quickly word spreads.
Someone named Natalie Grant is doing a great [...]
Building Collapse in Nairobi
A six-storey building still under construction collapsed yesterday in downtown Nairobi. The casualties so far - 10 dead, 75 injured, and at least another hundred still trapped under the rubble.In a town the size of Nairobi, this makes news fast, and everyone from people on the streets to my cab driver were talking about it. [...]
Another UN Meeting
Jesus H. Christ!!! Yap yap yap - thats all people do! What is it about people that get together in a room that everyone thinks everyone else wants to listen to them?
Sorry, I just got out of a UN meeting. I’ve been to some very engaging meetings, but it must be something about UN meetings [...]
A Tourist in Karen
For all my travels in Kenya, I have spent precious little time in Nairobi itself. So today I played the unabashed tourist, spending the afternoon in Nairobi’s expat mecca - Karen.
This serene suburb of Nairobi is named after Karen Blixen, who lived here from 1914-1931, and brought Kenya to the ‘civilized world’ in her widely [...]
