Thursday, January 31, 2008
Kenya
I have a photographer friend (from one of my online photo communities) who lives in Nairobi. I received an e-mail from him that had a couple of stories that I thought you might want to read. I will quote directly from his e-mail. Please do what you can to help and support the people of Kenya.
From Mark: "I don't refute that many have died and many more injured and displaced from their homes, but in MANY places people are picking up the pieces. In
Nairobi where i live, businesses are open, people are trying to rebuild their lives. Many are returning the loot they stole during riots. Many are welcoming back long-time neighbours who they had chased out in irrational rage. I heard one beautiful story I want to share with you. I'm cutting and pasting it here:
"In the midst of the hopelessness that we have watched helplessly, there are rays of hope. This morning at a meeting, a friend who is Kikuyu but was born and brought up in Lugari (an area where the Kalenjin and several dialects of Luhya are dominant and borders Eldoret), shared with us a story that I wish could be heard on national radio and TV as we have only been treated to the negative aspects. After the major eruption of violence on Dec 30, his mother’s two buildings including the granary with
the year’s produce was burned and her 8 cattle and 20 goats stolen. This was horrifying as she had always been assimilated into that community though she is of a different tribe.
Their local MP, Hon. Cyrus Jirongo however decided to give leadership to his constituents. He put away his limousine and rode a bicycle to every village speaking to the people and showing them the folly of what they had done. They took the cue! They invited back the Kikuyu lady (as well as others who had been chased away) and different members of the community, in remorse and as a sign of their repentance, took their own produce and animals and restored what the lady had lost!
This is the only way for Kenya to heal back into a nation after the divisions we have seen! We need more of these kinds of transformational leaders! Pray for more! Pray too for an event on 9th Feb here in Nairobi where we’ll bring together 200 key leaders from across the political divide to commit to healing and building Kenya into a 1st world country after what we have gone through."
Monday, January 28, 2008
Angaza Photography
Well, I simply can't wait any longer to post this on my blog. I have decided to try my hand at a web-based photography business. No, this will not in any way be "full time work". It is merely an attempt to recoup some of the expense that a photography habit can incur. :-) The site is almost ready. The galleries are linked up, and all I need to finish are pages about how I can alter an image for the purchaser and specifics about how to order.
If you know anyone who might be looking to add a piece to their wall at home, or if you know someone who is looking for a collection for the office, please have them contact me. I'm looking forward to see where this goes!
Angaza Photography
Saturday, January 26, 2008
Funny....
Okay - I needed a little laugh today. Click on the link below, ignore the fact that the page is in Dutch, and wait until the page has loaded completely and starts its thing. :-) That company has a darned good computer programmer.
http://producten.hema.nl/
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
Amani in Kenya
Please take a few minutes to read the latest update from Amani ya juu in Nairobi, Kenya. Thank you!
http://amaniyajuu-news.blogspot.com/
Sunday, January 20, 2008
I don't live IN the snow belt, but I can see it from here...
Here is what I saw when I looked out my window this morning. Click on the image for a larger version, especially if you have a wide screened monitor.
They predicted snow today, but only for the "South Towns", which around here means "the Snow Belt". It's amazing how there can be a very well defined line between where the snow is falling and where it is sunny. This is one of the best defined cloud banks I've seen on the snow belt. By the way, it has been sitting there on the horizon like that for several hours now.
I have been wanting to try the "photomerge" a.k.a. "photostitch" feature on my photo editing software, so I braved the single digit temps this morning to walk across the street and shoot some shots of the horizon. What you're looking at is four separate shots. The photomerge features in Photoshop cs3 are AMAZING! It was very easy to blend the four shots into one. Voila!
Now I'm inside, staying warm and drinking lots of hot coffee!
Thursday, January 03, 2008
Please read this and the next post....
Please click here to read a brief description of the problem and a request for help.
| www.flickr.com |
Amani ya Juu
Amani ya Juu. Higher peace. In Nairobi, Kenya. Have you read the news lately about the riots in Kenya? Here is a BBC website about the current crisis in Kenya.
The photos above are from my trip this past summer to visit Amani. Amani has been closed for the time being until it will be safe for the women to come to the center of the city again. In the meantime, these women's families are in crisis. The rest of this blog post is a quote from Amani's blog with more details about the immediate needs of the Amani family during this crisis and with a request for help. Please help.
Dear friends of Amani –
Greetings from Amani in the New Year. We never dreamed we would meet the new year with violence in Kenya over the disputed elections. Kenya has always been a haven of peace for refugees for many years. Never did we imagine that Kenyans would become refugees in their own country. Hundreds have been killed, 75,000 people have been displaced, millions of dollars worth of property has been destroyed – all because of tribal differences.
We are on the brink of a civil war. The images seen on TV are frighteningly similar to Rwanda and Liberia. Kenyans are carrying machetes, wielding clubs with nails and burning people inside churches as they carry out their ethnic cleansing rampage.
Some of you have asked about the Amani women and we thank you for your concern. Many of the areas around the city where the women and their families live have erupted into violence. A number of the women are afraid to venture out of their homes for fear of being caught up in the mayhem. Ruth, who works at the Amani Café, was robbed at gunpoint when she left her home to look for food. The thugs told her to give them all her money or they would shoot her. The husband of Simprosa, who is the sales clerk in the Amani Boutique, tried to go to the local market to buy food but was accosted on the way. Thieves threatened to beat him if he did not part with his watch and money. A sister of Mary Karanja, Amani’s finance administrator, had to move from her house in the middle of the night. She had received word that gangs were going door to door killing people of her ethnic community. We have not heard from Mama Alice, an Amani cook, who lives in Kibera (a slum area on the outskirts of Nairobi where heavy loss of life and property has occurred) and are very concerned about her well being.
Fuel and food, if available, has skyrocketed in price. A head of cabbage, for example, has jumped from 25 cents to $1.25. The women can not afford to buy food at these exorbitant prices so many have gone for days already without food in the house. We need to get food to them urgently not knowing how long this crisis will drag on.
We have put a food distribution plan together and are collecting food from the productive farms north of the city, where it is affordable and available, and transporting it to the Amani center in Nairobi. Today, with $100, we were able to buy enough food to feed 10 families for two days. If you would like to help in this distribution program you can send a gift to:
Amani Foundation
P.O. Box 28133
Chattanooga, TN 37424
*Please write "food distribution" on memo line of your check.
*Or donated online at http://www.amaniafrica.org/shop/item.php?itemID=63
The whole purpose of Amani is for the women to learn how to work and live together in harmony and become promoters of peace in their communities. During this darkest hour of Kenya’s history may the women shine as lights of God’s peace.
In the power of God’s peace,
Becky Chinchen
Director, Amani ya Juu
Please click here to read a brief description of the problem and a request for help.
