I never posted about this but better late than never. A short story I wrote called ‘The Giraffes of the Desert’ was selected as one of the finalists for the inaugural Re-imagined Folk Tales Contest in 2016. Here’s the background to the story. I used to manage communications and social media for a heritage nonprofit called the Trust for African Rock Art in Nairobi. What I loved most about…
I am hosting a crowdfunding campaign to raise the fees for participation in the Global Environments Summer Academy (GESA) 2018, hosted by Global Diversity Foundation in Oxford, UK. GESA brings together 18-21 environmental professionals, students and activists from around the world “whom they believe have the capacity to become environmental leaders who impact academia, civil society, the private sector and government”. The 3 week programme involves discussions, networking, collaborative work,…
I got caught out on this post when the Supreme Court annulled the August election results after I had drafted the post and all…. The annulment [and everything that followed it] resulted in an extra-long election period and collective holding of breath accompanied by lots of intrigues (threats, insults, name callings, arrests…. With all that happening I didn’t feel like I could post this…. Ironically, because I start by talking…
I interviewed Joseph Lentunyoi, co-founder of the Permaculture Research Institute-Kenya and the permaculture demonstration site where I did my Permaculture Design Certificate course, Laikipia Permaculture Centre. “What is permaculture to you? I would define permaculture in a general way as sustainable human settlements in a holistic approach, so that everyone can take it up. Here in Laikipia, for example, we’re talking about building peace, livelihoods, and about degraded landscapes, so…
I had a conversation with my good friend and inspiration, Wanjiku Mwangi about her path to caring for nature and the environment (she doesn’t like this word though, see below). In particular we spoke about the spirituality of nature which is what drives her work with communities to recover their heritage and ecological mores. What is nature to you? When we talk about nature there’s two main parts, the seen…
1. It’s a misnomer that excludes (further). First word, Arab: there are more ethnicities than Arab in North Africa. Hold up, I’ll say that again. North Africa is not made up of Arabs alone. Tuaregs, various Amazigh communities, Nubian communities and many others, all live in North Africa. Some were there before the Arabs. Saying “Arab Spring” manages to disappear all of these people from the record and perpetuate their…