Friday 16 May 2008

What's It For?

As I sit here, writing my blog entry, I wonder "Why?"

Why am I doing this? Is anyone actually reading this?

Of course, no blogger knows whether their work is being read unless they get comments from the readers. I have had a couple, but they are few and far between.

So, am I wasting my time writing this?

Then another question pops up. Does it really matter? Why did I start writing a blog? Why does anyone?

In my case, it was to put down "on paper" my frustrations and fears over Kenya and my desire to return to the country of my choice. In which case, does it matter whether any one else reads it?

No. I think I am writing this to let off steam, to put my thoughts down wher I can see them and maybe make a decision, or at least see a problem more clearly.

So then, why not a diary, written in Word or similar? Or even, a real diary, you know, pen into exercise book?

OK, the last comment is ridiculous. I am left-handed and get cramp in my poor old hand after writing two lines. Then it becomes unreadable, not tht it would be a problem as no one would read it anyway.

Is there a little vanity in bloggers? Do they hope that someone will read their blog and maybe even award one of those little badges that so many seem to be passing around to one another? Maybe.

Do I really care if no one reads my blog? Probably.

Would I be happy if someone awarded me a "Good Blogger" badge? Definitely, but at the same time, seeing the quality of other bloggers, I would be surprised.

Oh well ...

Contact Lost

It is a few days now since I have had any contact with antone in Kenya. This is unusual. I usually have contact with Vincent in Kisii at least three times a week. I usually get an email from Nairobi, and Mzungu Chick usually posts something in her blog.

But, nothing!

I know it has been raining hard in Nyanza Province, and that may have kept Vincent at home (he has to go to a cyber café to contact me). Then again, I heard a rumour that the cyber café that he works in is closing down - no more free Internet!

So I really don't know what is going on in Kenya, at grass roots level, at the moment. Still, no news is good news - isn't it?

Tuesday 13 May 2008

Christian Aid

Our Rector's wife came round this evening, collecting the Christian Aid envelopes. Unfortunately, our dog had eaten ours, and as she rummaged around in her bag for another one, I told her that I was disillusioned with them.

During the PEV (Post Election Violence) in Kenya, my organisation had the partial responsibility for nearly 3,000 displaced people who had fled the violence. I could do little from here (the UK) but contacted the Red Cross, Oxfam, Christain Aid, etc. to notify them of the plight of these people and to ask for help. I got a couple of replies, but no aid for these people.

The reason, we guess, was that our town is off the main Mombasa-Nairobi-Kisumu-Eldoret route, and were therefore a bit more difficult to get to.

But surely this is not the point.

Oh, what the heck, I've already blogged about this and I don't want to go through it again.

In the end, I put my loose change in the envelope. I am Christian, after all. And they are only human.

Fallen off the Radar

On the face of it, it should be a good sign, Kenya not being in the news for a while. Due to the Burmese crisis, the China earthquake, the Zimbabwe (non?) election, there is little if anything relating to Kenya on any of the International news websites.

But thre is a lot going on in Kenya. Food is short and prices are rocketing. Fertiliser and seed prices are also up. The Government is forcing people presently in IDP camps back to their homes, regardless of the risk of violence erupting and dissent bolstering the Mungiki.

The new coalition government is knee-jerking and any measures taken about just about anything seems to be short-sighted.

Is Kenya ever going to get back to the relative stability it enjoyed before the Presidential election debacle?