Back in 2007, both the Nokia N95 and the Apple iPhone were released - two completely different phones that were only compared on numerous blogs due to setting new standards on each segment: the N95 being a true multimedia phone with a decent 5mp cam, 640×480 @ 30fps video (albeit a mono mic), a (slow) internal GPS module and a really nice multimedia player. With the latest firmware, it even plays flash videos (YouTube & Co.) and has different applications run at the same time (sort of multitasking). The iPhone on the other hand provided a compatible device that suits Apple users - a nice user interface and all-in-one device like the N95 which unfortunately still missed some basic phone tools (MMS, Bluetooth exchange, etc.). And although both phones aren’t the only cool devices out there, they sold quite well. Even if the iPhone doesnt feature all these special goodies the N95 comes with, Apple’s phone still has the best browser on a mobile phone.

GoogleReader on my N95…

Back in 2007 I had bought the N95 because the music player on my Nokia 6230i had constantly failed (due to a bug in the firmware) and because I urgently wanted to have a new, sexy phone. Something that enables a better mobile blogging experience.

And that’s exactly the basic point here: until now, no mobile phone has actually delivered this *sweet mobile blogging* experience so far.

Back in 2007, I argued that it’s a software issue. And still believe it is. So instead of buying new phones, a systematic adjustment between the phone’s software (firmware & single programmes) and your blogging platform (WordPress, Vox, Typepad, etc.) comes into mind.

Sure, there’s this WP iPhone app some of us have tested some time ago, but still: it doesnt work that well, and it doesn’t provide a similar experience we’re having online on our laptop, surfing the net with decent browsers on bigger screens with full JavaScript support etc..

And this - I believe - is also one of the many reasons for the success of Twitter. Twitter just filled that gap on mobile blogging, phone manufacturers have failed on providing. Why? Because that special Twitter experience is the same whether you’re online via a browser window on your laptop, use it via an extra widget somewhere on the desktop, have it run as a stand-alone utility on S60 & iPhone platforms or just use SMS (for sending only, though).

You know I had a discussion with my Minister of Finance earlier this week on getting a new phone (again), and I had mentioned the new Nokia E71 and why it could be an improvement on what I am looking for (~ mobile blogging device). However, with the above mentioned discussion on mobile blogging being a software issue, I am rather confused now and think I should stick to my N95 at this point. Maybe wait for Google Android’s phone being released by the end of this year?

Another interesting developement since 2007 is the success of so-called Netbooks - which are lightweight laptops at 7″-10″ screen sizes, often equipped with an energy saving CPU, a solid state disk and enough flexibility to provide surfing the net, answering your e-mails and doing some other office work. Battery runtime still is an issue though, often only giving 2-3 hrs. Netbooks are currently sold for 300-400,- EUR in Europe and are small enough to fill that special gap the need for mobile blogging has created.

So here’s my conclusion: instead of waiting for the ultimate mobile web experience via a dedicated & maybe also expensive smart phone, I’ll bet on another setup: ppl - especially those in need in a rural Africa - will imho be introduced to the combination of basic GPRS & UMTS (3G) phones, hooked up to cheaper laptop computers such as netbooks.

Not today, not tomorrow - but maybe in two years time when basic netbooks wil sell for ~ 150,- EUR and will also be sold on the African continent in a big style. Why? Because a mobile phone is - although it is often shared with members of the extended family - still a device for a single user (despite of these new Nokias that come with multiple phonebooks). A computer though can easily be shared with others. Here’s what I had in mind:

Solar panels are already for sale in rural Kenya as well as simple GPRS-capable phones, netbooks could be equipped with a free & open OS (+ BT, serial port & USB cable driver package) and it would still cost below the amount you’d normally spend on a) getting a normal desktop pc online or b) a fancy smartphone that just still doesnt deliver the real web experience.

And the best part: this setup isn’t reduced to the needs of a rural environment, but also applies to urban areas in the US, Europe or Asia. In other words: if I had to do true mobile blogging right now, I’d go for this setup (ok, maybe without those solar panels).

Netbooks are what Twitter is used to be to SMS: added value.

BlogDay 2008 - August 31
I really like BlogDay as it’s a chance to show a little love to some bloggers that are new, really good or unique. I always tend to find at least a couple new blogs that I didn’t know existed before. All you need to do is pick 5 blogs and write a quick blurb about them with a link to their site. Simple. Easy. Effective. (I’ve already got my 5 picked out, and the post written!)

Blog Action Day - October 15
Blog Action Day focuses on a specific global issue and asks bloggers the world over to focus on that for one day. Last year 20,000 bloggers wrote with a laser focus about the environment - we did a post on AfriGadget for it. This year the conversation is focused on poverty.

Blog Action Day 2008 Poverty from Blog Action Day on Vimeo.

--------------------------------

See also: Ingenious way to sell that lifted small business to big success

Relationships: Romance without finance?

--------------------------------

Kumekucha has unearthed a fascinating deal that seems to be unfolding at the moment involving the department of defense.

The government of Kenya needs to import 10,000 rifles for the department of defense. The US government has offered the required rifles for free but in circumstances still shrouded by mystery the government seems to be already taking steps to purchase the said rifles from China at a cost $800 per unit. Incidentally the rifles being purchased are relatively new in the market. This is in sharp contrast to the American rifles which are not only being offered for free, but we are talking about the tried and tested M16 assault weapon which was severely tested in the jungles of Vietnam against the renowned AK-47s that were being used against them in that horrible war. The M16 has over the years been modified and improved to the standard where it can measure up against the very best. Little wonder that the military chiefs have advised that they prefer this particular weapon and have said that this is what should be purchased. It seems that they are unaware of the free offer.

The Chinese Norinco QBZ

However the government seems to have turned down the free offer and has instead opted to purchase those 10,000 rifles from China at a cost of $800 per unit. The rifles from China are the Norinco QBZ-97. This the export version of the brand new Chinese QBZ-95 regulation rifle. Which means that it is yet to be tried and tested.

However the news gets worse. The real cost for each rifle is $500. But the Kenya government is paying $800 per rifle.

One loophole that has consistently been used to fleece money off the public over the years is this excuse about defense and security related purchases being too sensitive for any close scrutiny. Accordingly the names that end up being involved with such deals are always extremely high profile. The names behind this China rifle deal are no exception.

Much of the trouble stems from Sheltam's lack of experience running a logistics business. The rail business is complex. Kenya Railways needed a big capital injection to strategize and execute a plan that would rapidly increase efficiency and make rail travel an enjoyable experience for cargo forwaders and consumers. Of course, executing such a strategy would have meant undertaking new projects that required a change of train carriers; I would be surprised if the deal was silent on getting the rail gauge right. To have a company that used to sell railway spare parts in South Africa as the lead stake-holder - its CEO running a complex railway network with no money, but hoping to bootstrap from its operations - is, in this situation, not really a good idea.

Read more from Peter Ndiangui here.

What you see here is the first page of a brand new textbook for 12-year-old German kids who want to learn Spanish (as a foreign language).

It starts with a listening comprehension unit and provides relatively short exercises throughout the whole textbook. Nothing really new so far, but with the difference that most pages come within a teen magazine style.

And that’s exactly the trend today: providing small bits of information which may then be served to the inattentive YouTube generation - a new generation used to max. 10-minutes videos online, single mp3 files instead of complete (music) albums, Google-able knowledge and interests for specific topics (only).

This development, however, is not as bad as it may sound in the first place. Sure, today’s kids may find a different learning environment than what we had when we were kids, and one could argue if a school should continue supporting this open, free & easy approach. But then, in today’s world where everything and everyone needs to be *special*, needs to have specific knowledge on something and thus requires much more of this *modular knowledge* (as I call it - modular, as in exchangeable), it’s very interesting to see that publishers are already starting with textbooks to adopt to new learning (teaching?) methods.

It’s not that things had really changed over the years when it comes to language textbooks. I remember having a longer discussion with my mum many years ago on such a topic where we were both wondering about the very strange and embarrassing approach in textbooks for German as a foreign language (Deutsch als Fremdsprach, DaF). Some of those exercises were just so….ouch! + *sigh* + out of this world.

The real difference between this DaF textbook back in the days and today’s “Gente Joven” Spanish textbook is that the latter is focused on the YouTube generation.

Now, if we argue that the next generation is our biggest asset - how will they perceive this world in future, how will this upcoming generation positively influence the future and in which way does their specific knowledge, paired with a healthy ambition to win competitions, contribute to the future?

In the end, it all starts with what we’re providing them with right now - as much as our own success is based on previous generations (e.g. the creation of programming languages and integrated circuits, implementation of a world-wide IT network, etc.).

Another interesting developement is the introduction of A1/A2, B1/B2, C1/C2 levels on a school level - the Common European Framework of Reference for Language (CEFR): Learning, Teaching Assessment…

… which provides “clear standards to be attained at successive stages of learning” and helps to evaluate “outcomes in an internationally comparable manner”. I wish we already had this system way back in school!

Clearly, the harmonization of (language) learning levels and setting of standards is a very good way to create a common basis in Europe. Imagine the problems I am always having explaining my German degrees to the English speaking world… and again, Europe is becoming such a modular world.

Read more from Nisha Fakir.

“You don’t need a computer, you don’t need a monthly subscription fee, you just need your mobile phone.”

He’s now looking to start a company that manufactures and installs these systems in Kenya.

[Blog link | Video link]

This story is probably 3+ years old now, but like all good stories it is still super fresh in my mind.

I know quite a few folks who read this blog are from Melbourne and probably know this story. If you do:

Ssshhhh, don’t tell who it’s about

I do hope some day to get the parties involved in this story on the phone so they can tell the story first hand. But I will do my best to tell the story as I remember it.

How You Can Use this Story

You can either use this story as a metaphor for anything you desire or want to achieve in this life or just use it as an example of how to get a member of the opposite sex to “stop being an idiot and come to you”

Engagement Party

And so it was an engagement party like any other, with food, drinks and fun buzzing up and down the room in excess.

It came time for the happy couple to stand up and tell the story of how they met.

And so, the man stood.

Brief Bio

Now this man is many things: tall, intelligent, has a great heart, but he is not a good looking cat.

By comparison the woman is short (I am talking almost Eva Longoria - Tony Parket short) and very very beautiful, so clearly it wasn’t merely that the woman looked at the man and thought he was:

“Tall, dark and handsome.”

In fact as she put it:

“I looked at him and really liked his height, but aside from that, I thought, “Your dreaming!”"

And So They Met

He had been commissioned together with a friend to help her move.

He came, he saw and he was immediately smitten and taken with her.

At the time she was going out with someone from the land of Caucasia and from what I heard she was quite happy with what was going on.

Smitten and excited from head to toe he made a choice:

I have to have her.

No Elegance, Just Persistence

This began what is probably the longest telemarketing campaign in human history. As the woman put it (I paraphrase):

“He used to call me every day. He was soooo annoying!”

But he just kept calling and calling and calling and persisting with conversation, invitations to dates and invitations to swim in the miasma of his passion for her

Thank God They Were Part of the Same Immigrant Community

Because they were invited to and some times attended the same parties.

The Brilliant Plan

During one of these parties, the heroine of the tale decided she would craft a master plan to get this guy off her back once and for all.

1) Accept his advances for the evening

2) Kiss him

3) Viciously reject him afterward thereby destroying his spirit and desire to chase.

Now any man who has been at this “chasing women” game for a while will tell you:

That’s a brilliant plan…….for me!

What the Heresay Accounts Say Happened

As he often did, he persisted and persisted and persisted. He chased her until eventually he found his window of opportunity and used it to lock lips with her.

Kiss! Kiss! Bang !

She was confused, smitten and part of a Mills and Boon novel all at the same time. She got so confused she probably left that kiss in the middle of the night to go feed ducks in the local pond. She was Rapunzel, she was Gabrielle Union to his Morris Chestnut. She fell in love.

From then on……

It was cruise control really all the way to the engagement party. And now, 3 years later, you should see their daughter, she is absolutely gorgeous.

What I Derived from this Story

Now, many of you will probably know this, but many a time, and many a situation, I am a huge coward.

Though it may seem otherwise, I always take very controlled risks and this story reminds me, though I sometimes forget the power of making a decision and going after it.

You don’t necessarily have to take the smoothest or the most elegant route. You just have to decide and go after what it is that has been placed in your heart.

As I said, this story can be used either as a metaphor for something you want in this life - fame, material success and wealth, fame, popularity.

Or maybe just maybe there is that mocha-eyed person who you need to begin chasing with the quickness

Either way Godspeed and I hope I inspired you.

Have a gr888888888 week,

Mwangi

To receive even more inspirational and useful stories like this in future subscribe to the website via either RSS or email

I heard a very troubling comment during that discussion, and surprisingly it came from Marissa Mayer of Google (found at 52:45). That was how anonymity is the enemy of trust, and that she doesn’t see a future for anonymity online. It destroys community and promotes anarchy.

To give some sense of reference, without having to watch the video, here is a word-for-word transcription of Marissa’s comments. It starts with her talking about youth and misinformation on the web leading to apathy, she stated:

“…I think it’s really important as we look at tools to think about how we can support fact checking, how can we guard against misinformation, how is there going to be established an element of authority and trustworthiness? …I grew up with the newspaper and the encyclopedia, which you could trust. And now you have blogs, which are held often as news and often aren’t factual. Or you have Wikipedia, which usually gets most things right, but there are a lot times there is vandalism or corrections that need to be made.”

“When you look at the elements of anonymity and the lack of accountability that happens on the web, it really does start to create doubt in the fibers of who can you trust. Especially when you think of why should I engage? The sense of identity. If I’m anonymous and I’m not accountable for my actions and there are other people out there putting out a lot of misinformation of which the same is true, I think it does lead to apathy and a lack of engagement, which is why I think it is important as we look at these tools to understand the effects of identity. To understand the effect of accountability, authority, trustworthiness and make sure that we’re developing tools and social systems online that encourage an element of engagement and try to fight that apathy trend that says, ‘well I just can’t trust anything. Why should I care?’.

On the question of if there is a way to hone in on the issue of misinformation, beside media literacy:

“Well, I think there are two ways to look at it, on the institutional level and on the individual level. So I think that what you’re seeing is that there are institutions that are rising up online that basically have an element of brand and credibility and standards that they apply. When you look at the Huffington Post, the Drudge Report, inherently the people who run those organizations are saying that here are stories I believe, I believe they’re verified enough that I’m willing to attach my brand and my name to it. So you can see that that’s starting to happen on an institution level online.”

“And I also think there are individual systems where people are verified or credentialed, or you have a profile that tells all about you and shows the other contributions you’ve made to the system. Just there’s greater accountability on the personal level… So I think a lot of the systems that support pure anonymity… I really believe that virtual systems should mirror physical systems. The physical world has been around for a lot longer, and in the physical world you really can’t do anything anonymously. So when you look at systems online that break that paradigm where you can be completely anonymous, or be whoever you want to be, without any since of history or of what you did last week, that’s not really reality and that breaks down the elements of trust and authority.“

That’s about where I jumped in with my comments on not being able to trust those who are monitoring your online speech. Where Marissa then answered:

“Well, I think anonymity has its place. So there’s certainly times, when you know you should have commentary or some type of act giving should be anonymous. But, by and large most systems should have accountability the same way they do in the physical world.”

Besides all of my thoughts swirling around the fact that the web really grew due to anonymity, I balked at this comment because I was surprised at hearing one of the highest Google executives speak so lightly of it.

Maybe this is where I differ a little from my American tech counterparts. You see, there’s something about growing up in a country where you can’t pretend to believe that the government really has your best interests at heart that makes one a little squeemish about not having this anonymous free speech. For, if it wasn’t anonymous, then it definitely wouldn’t be free.

We have a way of projecting our world view on to those around us. In this case, I believe Google (or Marissa) is doing just that. Having these open, trusting, everyone-knows-everyone systems is all well and good when you live in the US. It’s not so good in other parts of the world.

It’s especially not good when you ask who controls all that personal information, and how they let outside bodies (government or otherwise) access that personal data about you.

I came to terms a few years ago about having a lot of personal information on the web, open to others. That’s a personal decision, and not one that any company should be making claims to knowing what’s right to do or not. What I hear, extrapolating from this, is that it’s okay if you don’t want to be a part of it, you can always opt out - but if you do, you also opt out of any meaningful part in the discussion. Frankly, I find that troubling.

Below is the video archive of this talk on Media and Civic Engagement, and is about 1.5 hours (browse the “on demand library” and it’s the 6th from the top on the list):

[Rachel Sterne of Groundreport created a great backchannel platform for viewers to discuss these items in real-time, and there was some direct discussion happening between online commenters and the participants in the room.]

The only country that is worthy of a seat next to Kenya is Jamaica. As for the rest of you, you can steal our athletes with PetroDollars, LegoDollars and MacDollars but until you start eating ugali you haven’t got a chance.)

In other news

our dear (younger) brothers from Uganda, this is what we meant last time. Hehe ati dethrone Kenya in Nairobi. Never talk badly again!

(Balanced, non jingoistic, rational coverage continues after the Olympics etc)

© Mentalacrobatics for Mentalacrobatics, 2008. | Permalink | One comment

Add to del.icio.us

Search blogs linking this post with Technorati

Want more on these topics ? Browse the archive of posts filed under Kenya, Rugby, Sport.

1) One Thing We MUST Begin Doing NOW As African Immigrants

2) What Every African Immigrant Ought to Know About Recording and Sharing Success

This article has been written to give?? you some ideas about areas where we as African immigrants need to share useful information with each other on a mass scale. It has two parts:

1) What I personally think is more important and what I value. MORE IMPORTANTLY:

2) What I have observed we as a community need to learn

Getting Started Making an Income

Here folks need all the help they can get. There are a few situations when it’s especially necessary:

a) When a young adult arrives in a foreign country never having worked or been job searching a day in their life.

b) When someone comes from a poor family who put all their financial resources to send them abroad and have left them on their own.

c) People who are transferring over to a country to pursue an occupation but have a long transition, preparation and “one-more-damn-form-to-fill” period between their overseas arrival and working in their job.

Here people need to know where they can begin making money instantly. Not necessarily a lot, though if you know how, do tell. Just enough to get by.

One of the aims of this blog is to explore “alternative and unique” ways this can be done so that this is never a problem.

Material Success

Once people do get a job and begin working, and if their visa is in order, there is a tendency to get very very comfortable and stuck in a rut. You’re not growing. You’re not making as much of a contribution as you can to your community. You are not even close to maximizing your potential.

This is where people who have succeeded materially at an extraordinary level need to begin writing autobiographies and how tos so that they reignite the passions of the comfortable and give them a new pinnacle to aim towards.

Relationships

This is the area we’ll ask for the least help in and yet know the least about. One of the worst consequences of losing our tribal societies is we lost a sense of continuity of education in this area of relationships.

This world is constantly changing so fast that the rules that governed our parents aren’t the same rules that govern us and probably won’t be the same relationship rules that govern our kids. (As a sidenote, have you ever stopped to think about how weird, or probably repulsive, a lot of our generation’s sexual habits would be to our grandparents….we have changed A LOT as a people)

As long as there is this thing called man, and there is this thing called woman, majority of us will always be sexually attracted to each other and feel kinda incomplete if we don’t at least have some relationship with members of the opposite sex.

Why something so quintessential to the human experience isn’t part of the everyday school syllabus but logarithms are is beyond me.

As an immigrant it’s even worse. Not only were there “no solid rules” to begin with, but now you are in a country where the rules are entirely different. A world where people are more and more about “private space” and “individual ambition” as opposed to “just sitting connecting and sharing”.

When I began writing this section, I thought I was just talking about romantic relationships. I have realized I am not, even platonic relationships. If you have any sort of rock solid bond with another human being abroad in spite of the circumstances, you need to share this.

Marketing Impulse Control

We need to sit down and teach future immigrants how to avoid constantly jumping on the next material trend and entering themselves into debt so that they can live like a rich man on a pauper’s salary.

This is just my personal issue though. I don’t see why you should be buying leather seats, a plasma screen TV and a sports car when you have to work 14 hour days just to pay for all of that. Shouldn’t you build your financial foundation on a life of frugality first and then once you actually HAVE an excess of capital, live like you do?

Eating Healthy

Next time you are in an African function, look to your left, then look to your right and then look to the center. Tell me how many of those people have love handles that can only come from excess junk consumption or if not how many have a very high metabolism that pretty much gets rid of any signs of junk in take.

We eat like crap more often than not. We need to eat better. We have greater access to information and are much smarter than that.

Unique Immigrant Experiences

If you have gone off the beaten path and done things that people thought were undoable abroad, record your tales and share them with your fellow immigrant and enlighten us that we constantly remember that no life is not static and human life is indeed a fluid concept.

All breakthroughs and great innovations come from outside of the boxes, mental or otherwise that we chose to live within. Share your insights from outside this box and help the people within it expand.

Can you think of any other areas we need to record success? Have any thoughts on the matter? Leave a comment below.

In the next, and me thinks, final edition of this series, I will share some quick ideas on just how to present your message to make it most compelling and useful to other African immigrants.

Ladies and gentlemen if you have not, please sign up for and give me feedback on:

The Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter

If you are a fan of this article or blog, I encourage you to join and give me feedback ( ) on my Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter by putting your first name and email address in the boxes below.

In newsletter, once a week I send you short emails that give you actionable tips that you can immediately apply to make your immigrant experience better including tips on:

i) Making friends

ii) Finding employment

iii) How to stay healthy on the run

iv) Things to prepare before you immigrate

v) Staying in touch with people from your home country

vi) Tips on how to transition from a student to a permanent resident and/or citizen in Australia etc etc.

So please join, and give me feedback, by putting your first name and email in the boxes below:

Be blessed and bless others,

Mwangi

he laughs it off
says she jests
in her heart she knows
where once was love
only ashes remain

Re-posted for D.M.

ShareThis

It is a fact that those who know the president well will tell you that right from the referendum of 2005 the decisions made by the Kibaki they have known for years is just not him. In a long career in public service, this is a man who has always come across as a very sober political player with a sharp mind and sharp wit to go with it. Hardly the president who blundered his way through his first term so much so that there was a time most Kenyans did not believe that he would complete his first term. He actually limped along and even had to ask for the help of retired president Moi to steady things along.

And this is one of the reasons why when well known political analyst Mutahi Ngunyi predicted as early as 2003 that there was no way that Kibaki would have over power peacefully if he were defeated, he caused an uproar and even many die hard ODM supporters at the time found this assertion ridiculous.

Kibaki admirers insist that all this is clear evidence that he never really recovered from that horrible accident of late 2002 that almost took his life. There are those who strongly believe that that road accident denied Kenya an excellent president who would have had a very different term of office indeed and Kenya would have been a different country.

Instead, president Kibaki will not only go down in history as the president who has overseen the most massive tribalization of the Kenyan people in the history of the country, but he will also be remembered as the president who insisted on going for a second term when clearly he had not even been physically fit to handle his stormy first term.

His two terms will also be viewed as a stormy period in the history of the country when may things went wrong because there was no clear leadership at a time when the country needed it badly.

Sadly there are many politicians and Kenyans who think that the office of the president is one comfortable office of honour and glory. They refuse to see the pressures of the office that made Moi age so fast in the years after the re-introduction of multi-partyism. The same office has taken it???s toll on president Kibaki who was already weak and on a wheel chair.

In conclusion it is rather obvious that the president is not healthy or fit enough to handle the demanding pressures so rather than continue to tarnish his image built of many years, the most honorable things and continue to carry out OR gimmicks to hoodwink Kenyans, the most honorable thing for his to do would be to resign now. He would be able to prove his critics wrong, who aver that he has never done a single courageous thing in his long political career.

Today we’ll expand on just how we might be able to go about this

Mwangi What’s In It For Me

I wish I could tell you that your doing this will somehow make you a millionaire or the King of the World, but it won’t.

In doing so, you give back to the community from which you came and help raise up?? future generations-or rather a future boat load of immigrants -”to your level” quicker so that all our boats can rise together and we can become the economic and social powerhouse that we know we can be.

I don’t know about you, but personally, I know I would not be as far along as I am in my life had people not taken the time out of their busy day to invest in me and my future.

Mwangi I Have No Expertise

That’s the wash of a hog, that is. If you are in a foreign country and you have a roof over your head, then you have a skill a future African immigrant needs to know about. If you have any form of hard earned income coming in, you have something to share.

If you have a rock-solid relationship in this Western world where everyone is a commodity, you have something to share. If you have had trials and tribulations and overcome, you have something to share. If you have been abroad and the culture shock has not driven you mad, you have something to share.

Alright, Alright, Alright, I Accept, I Have a Tip or Two to Share: How Do I Do It?

I think the primary principle we should remember is:

The information and the intention are most important. The Internet, blogs, telephone, letters, newspapers, radio etc etc are all just distribution tools.

The tools are not the ends in and of themselves.

These tools are used to disseminate information guided by a particular intention - e.g. the intention to see future immigrants do better. (Please tell me in the comments section if this idea is too abstract and I will describe it in another way that will make it clearer)

Here are a couple of ideas on how to do it:

a) Share on a blog: You knew I had to give this tip. Blogs are free to start up and if you want to host it yourself, it’s so cheap there really is no reason not to.

Speaking from personal experience, the greatest advantage that blogging provides, if you choose to follow in my footsteps or the footsteps of people like Thinkers Room, is that it strengthens and proliferates your brand and your name within a particular community both online and offline. Not a bad side effect for doing something positive.

b) Community Forums: Almost every African country, and in many places we as a continent have an online community. Whether its a forum, social bookmarking site, blog aggregator or just a blog where many people gather. Head on over there and assist anyone who might be making the move to a new country or is a newbie immigrant that needs some tips.

c) Get some penpals: If you know that someone in your community is about to immigrate over, start talking by phone, email or letter. Let him know how he can do things that you did. Give him some tips, some shortcuts, some ways to go around, under, above or through obstacles.

d) Give lectures at immigration organizations: If you are visiting your home country, go to the institution that helps people immigrate and just offer yourself up to give a talk during their lunch break about the pitfalls to avoid and the opprtunities to be seized abroad.

e) Write free reports: This is a tactic from the world of Internet marketing. You sit down and right everything you know about a particular topic that can be of use to other people and compile it into a free pdf report. Help that report circulate online.

I intend on doing this in the very near future so if you have no idea how to do this, check back in a couple of months and hopefully we’ll have a succesful model.

f) If You Know People from Mass Media Centres: Then go on the radio, tv or newspapers and just talk to the journalist about what future boat-crossers need to know.

For examples of this check out the Displaced African Press and Media Appearances page, and also check out SARFM radio every 2nd Saturday of every month where as of yesterday, I will be doing just that.

g) Youtube: It’s the 3rd most popular website on Earth, according to Alexa, and all you need to do to join in the frenzy is buy a cheap web cam. Check out the Displaced African Youtube page here. For examples of succesful African Youtube pages check out:

i) Ikahara

ii) AfricanRemix

Quick tip: If you can find a way to mix in music into your Youtube page that is a sure recipe for success. Poll after poll, article after article and simple observation will reveal that music is hands down the most popular thing on Youtube.

h) Podcasting: Again, an incredibly cheap and easy to implement endeavor. Put your podcasts on Itunes and they are accessible to millions.

Some Examples of What This Would Look Like

Not all these examples are specific to African immigrants:

1) Kelly’s article on Interview tips: Now picture this, tips for interviewing for a job in the States.

2) How to immigrate to Australia within a week guide.

3) Tips from an African Woman Who Started and Sold a Business for Six Figures.

4) Acolyte’s guide to apartment hunting.

5) Mwangi interviews Tabitha Togoi from the African Leadership Academy

6) Gal africana talks a bit about holiday visas

7) Nelson Mandela’s autobiography

Mwalimu.com

9) Dan Kennedy’s Google Videos

In the final part of this series, I will talk a bit about the areas that I feel we most need to record and share our successes so we can take this concept and talk about where we can immediately apply it.

The Newsletter

If you are a fan of this article or blog, I encourage you to join and give me feedback ( ) on my Immigrant Survivor Guide Newsletter by putting your first name and email address in the boxes below.

In newsletter, once a week I send you short emails that give you actionable tips that you can immediately apply to make your immigrant experience better including tips on:

i) Making friends

ii) Finding employment

iii) How to stay healthy on the run

iv) Things to prepare before you immigrate

v) Staying in touch with people from your home country

vi) Tips on how to transition from a student to a permanent resident and/or citizen in Australia etc etc.

So please join, and give me feedback, by putting your first name and email in the boxes below:

2 Days in Paris - a wonderful movie on sex, food and relationships.?? And this although it beautifully covers the clich?? of both the French & American’s inability to communicate in any other language then their own, the clich?? of the French(wo)men always talking about sex & food, racist tendencies in a multicultural Paris (~ taxi driver scenes), the freedom of soixante-huitards and all of this embedded into never-ending neurotic conversations between all actors.

If you already liked Before Sunrise & Before Sunset, you’ll definitely like this one.

Here’s the final scene:

I especially liked it being in both French & English, even the German version is in German and a subtitled French (that’s btw one thing I will never understand about Germany: dubbed movies. They usually dub all of them - which is also why most Germans have such a bad pronounciation of English words. If you never get to hear the original version, there’s no real comparison possible…sigh).

President Kibaki in recent times has displayed behaviour even in public which most Kenyans have missed. Few have been aware that they were witnessing subtle clues that clearly tell us that the country is in very dangerous waters indeed. However any trained medical eye will tell you a lot of things, mostly things no Kenyan would like to hear. Least of all now, when the country is desperately trying to recover from the mishaps of last December and January.

But in private within the precincts of State House Nairobi, which the president has made his home, things are even more worrying.

The president has problems waking up in the morning. No big deal about that, you may think. But when you compare him to former president Moi, you begin to understand the possible repercussions. Moi was always up at 4 am in the morning and would start by going through all the newspapers of the day. By 5 am when those Kenyans going to work early are beginning to stir, he would have already made lots of notes to act upon. This was around the time Moi would usually have his breakfast, if he did not have a breakfast meeting later that morning. On most mornings what would follow would be a briefing from the intelligence. Little wonder that as corrupt as he was, he always seemed to be on top of things.

Several sources have also told this blogger that the president has serious problems these days remembering stuff. On several occasions he has even forgotten the names of his own children during introductions. Now, pray tell me, how does a person govern when they cannot remember things. How on earth do they even make decisions, let alone quality decisions?

Another even more worrying symptom is the fact that the president repeats himself a lot when talking. Incidentally this has also come out in the public most notably when he addressed parliament during the historic debate on the Anan-peace bills that created the current grand coalition government power sharing deal.

In private he mutters things to himself a lot as he hobbles around State House. Interestingly this habit emerged in public shortly before last years??? general elections in a most fascinating incident. A BBC journalist asked the then incumbent presidential candidate about his options should he lose the elections. Kibaki muttered almost under his breath in Kiswahili something to the effect that he wondered whether the journalist had a brain. Several journalists present heard and understood what the president had muttered almost to himself. None dared report it. Only the Standard carried a description of the incident tacked away in a small paragraph deep inside the newspaper. In the excitement of the general elections then many missed it.

So what do the doctors say about the president???s condition? Indeed because of the lack of information, all sorts of rumours have been flying all over the place. Still one doctor told this blogger that the symptoms described are what one would expect as the aftermath of a stroke. The doctors confirms that in that kind of condition one is clearly not capable of executing the duties of a president let alone handle the pressures of the office.

Analysts paint a very grim picture of the possible repercussions and they do so by taking us back to the events of last December. Decisions were made then that led to the blood bath we saw in January this year. Even when the crisis began there are many decisions that were not made which would have saved numerous Kenyan lives.

You see under the current constitution the presidency in Kenya is all powerful and whatever decisions are made or not made at State House, they impact on almost every Kenyan irrespective of their political affiliation.

The president???s handlers knowing very well what is happening have instead chosen to carry out several PR antics to fool Kenyans about the president???s true health status. One such gimmick is the recent decision to have the president honour many of engagements at his Harambee house office. Another one is the purported inside story leaked to a daily newspaper that suggested the president is very good friends with the PM Raila Odinga and is voluntarily ceding and delegating a lot of things to him. The truth is that increasingly the president is not fit to govern and is only too happy to get all the help he can from the energetic Raila Odinga.

However this has led to what is shaping up to be a fierce power struggle within the top echelons of Kenyan leadership where VP Kalonzo Musyoka is now fighting with everything he has to hold onto the presidency even as a looming cabinet re-shuffle places his fate on the balance. The truth is that Kalonzo???s political usefulness to Kibaki and PNU ended with the formation of the grand coalition government and now more pressing political considerations, like the Kibaki succession have made their way to the top of the agenda, leaving the VP very exposed indeed. We will discuss that in more detail in my explosive post tomorrow.

In my latest Kumekucha Confidential issue I give a sneak preview of some of the detailed inside information on the man who could easily rise to the presidency as per the constitution id president Kibaki was declared unfit to handle the office. Most of this information will leave you numb with shock and it is free. Subscribe now by Sending me a blank Email right away

If you haven’t been to the Mara during the spectacular migration, then you might find it hard to imagine our frustration - try rousing 5 kids and 4 adults at 5 am, pack them and lunch and head off to the Mara River to witness for the first time in our lives, the crossing of thousands of wilderbeeste, zebra, gazelles, lions, - images of crocodiles leaping for the bleating calves … adrenaline racing with anticipation…..and then “poof”, a flat, right at the edge of the Mara reserve.

No big deal right - just change the tyre and continue. Five minutes delay? No, 3 hours later,?? we’re screaming at the rental agent because the key for the spare tyre’s lock does not work! Aaarrrggghhhh

With second car we head to Talek hardly expecting to find an outfitter who can repair tubeless tyres.

This is what we found.

Finding punctures in a converted wheel barrow - there were 15!

A modified wheel barrow full of silty water and a bit of detergent to find the holes. We stopped counting a?? 15 - it was very depressing! I don’t even remember?? going over a thorn bush either!Should have been my first warning - these tyres were seriously worn and thin.

The air compressor system comprised a tank and engine and a compressor unit - the last part was an adaptation from an airconditioning unit off a vehicle! Very creative.

Modified compressor

In the end we had to opt for converting a tubeless tyre into a tube tyre - and this is the gizmo that was used to remove the tyre. It was completely home made and very effective. We found an old inner tube with just about the right dimensions at one of the tented camps, 350 shillings and 3 hours later we were on the road again!

Once back on the road Mara never fails to impressWe witnessed the crossing

Wildebeeste crossing the Mara River

It was well worth the hell to get to the crossing point - and of course this is where we experienced puncture no. 2! Crazy place for a puncture as you aren’t allowed to step out of your car while animals are crossing. Hours later It was back to Talek jua kali puncture repair for us!

Yeah, the predators were in good form too

After 3 days of stunning experiences we headed back to Nairobi on what may easily be described as the worlds worst road. That was where the new tubed tyre went totally bezerk on us and exploded ripping the tube completely in half! Turns out the tyres were so worn that the wires in the tyre?? simply ripped the tube open. Nice one!

We discovered that the spare lock could be opened with a good whack! with a tyre spanner and off the lock fell. Away we went.

Words of advice to anyone renting a 4×4 to go on a major trek to Mara or anywhere in Kenya - check everything?? before you go, take rental company managers personal cell no with and make sure you have credit and full phone charge, take a second car if you can, and a fundi (without my brother I’d probably still be on the road side - thanks a million Dom!). Despite the annoying hassles of the rental car and the unbelievable road, the trip was well worth it. I refused to pay for the lost day and was so glad to see the back of that damn rental car - the agency didn’t quarrel.?? Gonna buy my own safari car now.

If You Have any Questions You Would Like Me to Answer

Then please read this post, where I talked about this little question and answer session.

Tony asks:

Which is your favorite website?

My Answer:

This really depends on what I am after. I learn best by watching videos and so you can find me on Google Videos looking for videos on all sorts of topics all the time though I am currently obsessed with finding Timothy Ferriss and Jay Abraham videos. Some sites I can’t mention here

Considering my freelance work as a blogging consultant and freelance writer and all the projects I have to get done, I spend huge amounts of time on Rentacoder.

I also spend a lot of time on:

a) The Blog Mastermind website and forums.

b) Yaro Starak’s latest posts on blogging.

c) Searching for podcasts on Itunes.

d) Reading stories by a man called Jon who I met a while back.

e) Leaving comments on gal africana’s and Kelly’s blog.

f) Searching for information by Jay Abraham and Timothy Ferriss and so on and so on and so on.

Tony asks:

Which is your favorite movie?

My Answer:

I actually did a post on this some time ago on 7 Movie Classics. Add to that list:

a) Get Smart - Steve Carell is pure comedy, pure comedy, no one else can make fun of himself so well with such a serious face.

b) Pretty Woman - Go fig, I am simply drawn to this storyline.

c) Short films by Roy Ston Tan : I got a chance to catch this guy at the Melbourne International Film Festival two years ago and adored his work.

d) Great Happiness Space: Tales of an Osaka Love Thief: Any movies that explain succesful relationships or relationship tips that can help men, I like. There is a lot to be learned from this movie about “hosting clubs” in Tokyo.

e) La Vie En Rose: Not this movie specifically but movies like it that take me back in time and draw me into a world separate from my own. That having been said, La Vie En Rose was pretty powerful…….

Tony Asks:

Where are you going to spend eternity?

My Answer:

If there is indeed a hell, I think the way I live is a clear indication that I am going there. As I go, I will be thankful for all the blessings I received while alive, but I think if we are to peruse the good book on all the verses that discuss how to get into the “Book of Life” I am clearly not on that guest list.

I find it hard to believe in an eternal hell, I must say. A temporary hell, yes. But a permanent hell, when there is a God who is pure love and made us in His own image……this might be outside of my own understanding but the concept of hell just doesn’t add up. Here’s to hopping that John was just a raging schitzophrenic.

Mo Ma Asks:

What is an incubus and how exactly does the state of Woody Allen’s over-easy omelet threaten world peace as far as the Solomon Islands and Elephant Seals are concerned?

My Answer:

See you Monday.