Watch the Esther Wamera story: Why the elderly matter in today's society.
Monday 3 August 2015
Thursday 11 June 2015
The Missing Flamingo Photo!
A visit to Lake Nakuru National Park
promises you a picture worth a thousand words! This picture hangs in the home of
many a holiday makers in Kenya and abroad or on their face book pages!
The picturesque view of the vast Lake
Nakuru in its entire splendor covered with pink flamingos and 'you' at the
centre of it smiling broadly.
It’s a guaranteed shot- any tourist company
offering Safaris can risk their
reputation on this- an impossible shot to miss- so the song goes- practiced
over the years.
However, a recent visit to the Lake proved
this adage not so true.....
We were already in the centre of things - a
five star room at the Sarova Lion Hill hotel 'Chesternut no.17' right on the
shores of Lake Nakuru National Park- from the hotel ground we had a perfect view of the Lake in
the evening sun set amid a light drizzle that promised us an interesting morning for a game drive.
The buzz from the hotel that night was that
some tourists had spotted a lion during an evening drive and as we slept we
fancied catching up to it in the morn'.
A few metres from the hotel and we had our
first encounter with the wild – two buffaloes going about their morning biz-
whatever it is they do all day! Then the
eagle playing in muddled water, the crown bird- what is famously the 'Uganda
crane', water bucks, a family of warthogs, a huge herd of buffaloes, some
monkeys and baboons. Then a family of impalas, a herd of zebras, gazelles and one in a lifetime view of watching them
pee et al..... it don't get any better than that!
All this laced with beautiful conversations
on how a gazelle has to fight for its right to lead the pack, each displaced in
a coup d’état of sort- physical might often sealing a gazelles leadership. We
witnessed some of these deposed leaders watching from a distance, eating to regain
their strength. And when the time is right a duel will ensure they recapture
their former position, explained the ranger.
It’s the circle of life in the wild-jungle!
Click! Click! Our cameras snapped as the
van moved along the rugged terrain to reveal exotic green vegetation of shrubs
and acacia trees where a family of giraffe towered over.
It was the second time I was taking this
drive in this particular park but still everything felt and looked magical. I
had last visited in 2011/12 August and of course I promised my friend she would
capture the same pictures I did.
Kenya has been experiencing heavy rainfall
in the past few weeks and the phenomenon at the lake was nothing out of the
ordinary, so we thought.
But as the Ranger placed us squarely in the
middle of the Lake, and we huddled closely and smiled, with the tinted blue
lake and a herd of buffaloes acted as our background.
He pointed out that in the last two years
the water levels at the Lake are at their highest they have ever been,
something that even the old men in Nakuru had never seen before.
In fact, he told us that the main entry to
the park had to be relocated as well as the employees quarters following heavy
rainfall and flooding that completely submerged everything in sight to this
date the water levels are yet to rescind.
  |
| Sign post on L.Nakuru National park |
However we could not get close enough to
the shore and our limited lenses could hardly capture the far away flamingoes
that dared still to remain in the Lake.
Disappointed, the Ranger’s earlier
statement echoed in our minds.
“Most people think that Lake Nakuru
National Park only has flamingoes.”
 |
| High water levels at L.Nakuru block off the main entrance to the park |
Monday 25 May 2015
Calls for inclusion of the young and elderly voices in new SDGs
Nairobi, Friday 22 May, 2015: Archbishop
Desmond Tutu is backing young and old to demand that everyone counts when governments
agree global goals to reduce poverty at the UN later this year.
“As we get older our rights do not change. As we get older, we are
no less human and should not become invisible,” said 84-year-old Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a video released
today. http://bit.ly/1HfzM1x
“I want to tell the world that I count, that older people
everywhere count and that people of all ages should be included in the Sustainable
Development Goals,” he said as HelpAge
International hosts a global Action All Ages campaign today (Friday May 22) as
part of action/2015.
Life expectancy is
on the rise and the demographic make-up of the world's population is changing
at an unprecedented rate. Today, there are more than 895 million women and men
aged 60 and over, representing 12 per cent of the global population. By 2030,
this is projected to rise to 1.3 billion or 16 per cent while the proportion of
people aged 15-24 will be 15 per cent.
May is the month when the global campaign, action/2015, hots up to highlight the importance of all ages in the Sustainable Development Goals being set for the next fifteen years at the United Nations in September and later at the UN Climate Change Conference COP21 in December.
The action/2015 May Month of Action will feature 14 Global Action Days - organized on themes of ageism, child health, faith and climate change, gender equality and hunger and nutrition - as well as hundreds of events including marches, concerts, flash mobs, workshops and debates throughout the month.
“This year decision-makers have the chance to include all ages in their plans for the years ahead,” said Toby Porter, Chief Executive Officer at HelpAge International.
May is the month when the global campaign, action/2015, hots up to highlight the importance of all ages in the Sustainable Development Goals being set for the next fifteen years at the United Nations in September and later at the UN Climate Change Conference COP21 in December.
The action/2015 May Month of Action will feature 14 Global Action Days - organized on themes of ageism, child health, faith and climate change, gender equality and hunger and nutrition - as well as hundreds of events including marches, concerts, flash mobs, workshops and debates throughout the month.
“This year decision-makers have the chance to include all ages in their plans for the years ahead,” said Toby Porter, Chief Executive Officer at HelpAge International.
“Across the world, from the Philippines to Zimbabwe, we are joining
hands with the world’s older people, who too often go unheard and uncounted. We
want to make sure older people are included in these goals to ensure they are
legitimate,” he added.
Action All Ages events, to highlight the
importance of the SDGs, will be taking place in ten countries around the world.
(see list at end)
“I want to grow old knowing I will be listened to just as much as
anyone else, at any age,” said Avril, best known for singles,
Mama, Kitu Kimoja and Hakuna Yule.
“I have learnt so much from the older musicians I’ve worked with on this song. We love what we do because music connects people together. I know, like them I’ll be singing into my old age,” she said.
Age Demands Action campaigner in Kenya, Mama Rhoda Ngima, in her 70s, will be taking part in the day and said: “Just because I am old does not mean I am not passionate about my rights. I want this year to be the year I am heard, the year I am recognized and the year I am counted.”
“I have learnt so much from the older musicians I’ve worked with on this song. We love what we do because music connects people together. I know, like them I’ll be singing into my old age,” she said.
Age Demands Action campaigner in Kenya, Mama Rhoda Ngima, in her 70s, will be taking part in the day and said: “Just because I am old does not mean I am not passionate about my rights. I want this year to be the year I am heard, the year I am recognized and the year I am counted.”
In Mongolia, the Mongolian Women’s Fund, MONES,
is planning a ‘WALTZ DAY’ for older women and young people aiming to inspire
and mobilise communities and the public to act together for all ages.
In Zimbabwe, an inter-generational panel will
be organised to review the success and failures of the Millennium Development Goals
and come up with recommendations for the post 2015 agenda focusing on ageing.
In Malawi, older and younger people are organizing an intergenerational
public debate. Younger and older people will talk about what they hope to see
in the SDGs.
Friday 20 March 2015
Forum calls for more action on gender parity
 |
| photo/ICRAF |
The women and environment forum dubbed empowering women for sustainable natural resource management held on -4/03/2015 deliberated on how to promote gender equality in Africa and the policy and institutional interventions to enhance women participation in environmental management.
Speakers at the forum said that gender equity on land tenure, is still rooted in social and cultural constraints that continue to hinder women’s productivity and livelihoods.
Related links:
http://www.scidev.net/sub-saharan-africa/gender/news/gender-tech-empower-women-in-agriculture.html
http://www.scienceafrica.co.
Friday 23 January 2015
HIV: Using Social Media for Beyond Zero Campaign
ScienceAfricaBy Wairimu Nyambura
21 July 2014-
Evelynn Simaloi posts on Facebook: “Thunderclap am ready to say Zero to new HIV infections in newborns. I have prevented my new born from my virus this year.” –NOV 18, 2013. The post did not go viral and only managed 27 likes with a sole congratulatory comment. But for Simaloi, it was a great milestone; her eighteen- month – old, second born son Elisha, is HIV- free.
Friday 16 May 2014
Using modern farming technologies to attract youth to Agriculture
Kenya,
faced by an influx of educated youth who idle away due to lack of
employment opportunities has turned to a number of initiatives to help
curb this rising problem.
Among
many partners that have joined the government to offer solutions to the
youth include the Youth Agro Environment Initiative (a non-governmental organization based in Nairobi) which is training youth on modern
farming technologies that can enable them earn a livelihood.
One
of the crops that they chose for this project is the arrowroot which
has traditionally been grown near water bodies due to its high water
consumption.
This
requirement put off so many young farmers as majority do not live near
water sources and also find it cumbersome to practice this type of
farming.As
such, Youth Agro Environment Initiative is now teaching farmers how to
grow the arrowroots in uplands – away from the river – and still get
good yields.
Read more
http://www.entrepreneurshipafrica.com/business-resources/entrepnews/modern-farming-technologies-coined-to-attract-youth-to-agriculture.html
Read more
http://www.entrepreneurshipafrica.com/business-resources/entrepnews/modern-farming-technologies-coined-to-attract-youth-to-agriculture.html
Thursday 15 May 2014
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