Oh, Kenya. Gotta get hold of your chickens!

In today's paper, there is a very interesting, but sad article. It's about dead chicken and Kenyan policemen in a town called Nanyuki

A former street boy sees a van offload a sack at a dumping site. When he goes closer to the vehicle, it speeds away, suspiciously. The bag is bloody. It smells bad, really bad...like rotting flesh. He calls the police, tells them that he thinks fetuses. Why? Because of the smell, the blood, and the license plates of the van were kinda concealed.

The policemen came and took the bags away to a mortuary. They booked the bags as two bodies of twins aged 2 months.

Yep, without even opening the bags!

That was on 27th December. On 28th, 15 hours after the 'fetuses' were brought to the mortuary, the attendants took them out of the refrigerator to wash them.

On opening the bag, there lay 10 chicken carcasses.

Good job guys!

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Teaser in Caracas

I'm in Caracas... I have been for a few days now. For some reason I have forgotten how to count days of the week.

I'm overseeing post production of this feature  film...


Togetherness Supreme Teaser from Hot Sun Films on Vimeo.

This is the film that has virtually occupied my waking and sleeping time for 10 months now (well, and Nate). It was directed by Nathan and Produced by yours truly.

The plan is to premiere it in Kenya in March next year. Meanwhile, enjoy the teaser. You can also follow the progress on the the films blog page here.

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Hearts of Gold

It was Sunday, Nate was still far from finishing the work he needed to, and he was leaving that evening for China. He was stressed, and anxious. We both knew that if he went to his office, the next time we would see each other is at the airport. So we decided to both go work from his office to be next to each other. We were driving down James Gichuru road, less than 10 minutes from our house, when we saw a man lying on the curb, his head partly on the main road, on the other side.

At first i thought he was drunk, so did Nate. But we slowed down nevertheless.  His arms were raised in what looked like rigor mortis and he had white foam coming from his mouth. We immediately knew that he wasn't just another drunk, he was sick, probably epilepsy. All the while people kept walking by him, other jumping over his body. He looked as dead. There was one of those rapid security response van less than 200 meters from where he lay. We drove to them and asked them if they would call an ambulance. They looked at as like we were crazy. We backed up our car to drive back to the man, and some Indian guy also stopped to talk to the security guys. He also asked for an ambulance. The security men went on lying in the back seat of their van.

Nate drove back to the man as i called Safaricom directory service to give me the number to Kenyatta or Nairobi Hospital. As i waited for the phone to be answered in Kenyatta, we sat in the car... scared. What if he is dead, Nathan asked me. I don't know... i said. What do we do? He asked. Do we take him to hospital? I think we call Kenyatta and tell them to come for him. If they pick their phones... I said. Nathan responded 'Or we call a taxi and pay them to take him to hospital.

Kenyatta picked their phone what seemed like 5 hours later. I told them about the man and the foam in his mouth. They told me they had no car to send. WHAT? anyway, i don't know what i had expected. Nathan saw him move. He was getting up.

We got out of the car and went to him. He sat down shakily, looking around him like he was lost.  I asked what his name was, whether he was sick...

He told us that he had just been released from Muthangari Police Station. He was walking home to Kawangware (approx 10km). He showed me his epilepsy pills, told us that he had already taken them but he had not eaten for days and thought that is why he got the attack. He did not even know how long he had been lying there. He then asked us if we had any bread.  It was around 11am.

Nathan gave him 500 shillings and told him to wait in the shade. We got into the car and drove to the gas station's hop. We got him milk, bread, lucozade... When we handed him the food, he looked at us with a look i have only seen in a child. He made to gave Nate the money back, Nathan told him it was his. All of it? He asked. Yes, Nathan said.

We left him eating and drove to Nathans office. As i sat next to Nate in the car, i couldn't help but think what a good man i have, and what a prefect match for me. Despite the fact that he was backed up to a corner with work, yet to finish packing for a 4 pm flight, he still made time to stop, check up on man he did not know and help. I have a heart for suffering people. Its gets to me so much. Many are the times when i have taken my jacket off my back and covered a sleeping kid on the street. In 2003, while in college i used to walk home, almost for a year so that i could buy food for this family that used to sleep outside Kenya Archives. The mother was sick, she had 3 kids. The oldest was 7, the one i first met. She asked me for money for food, i told her if i give to her she would use it for cobblers glue. She told me that she was not like the rest. And if i didn't believe her, then instead of giving her the money, but the food myself. So i walked with her to Kenchic and got 2 packets of chips. That's when a packet cost 25 shillings. Thus a tradition was born.

Every evening, on my way from college, i would stop by where her mother usually slept, talk to her (i might have looked crazy sitting next to this family), hold her youngest who was about 6 months old and watch people walk by, other without as much as a glance. At 7pm, i would go with the 7 year old to Kenchic, get french fries and sit with them as they ate. One evening, about 9 months later, the family was gone. City Council had made a surprise visit and taken all the street families (the ones who could not run fast) and locked them up. I checked to see if they were back every day. They never came back. Till now, when i find myself near Kenya Archives, i find myself checking...just in case they came back.

When i thought of the kind of man i would like to spend my life with, that is one thing that i always thought i had to compromise on. A heart for people. The capacity to deny yourself for the sake of another. For me, it comes effortlessly. Maybe its a curse of my name. A good curse, but also one that places a heavy burden upon me every time i see suffering and have no way of helping. It keeps me awake at night. Makes me cry just by thinking about it. Most people i told about how much people suffering hurts me could not understand it.  So i kept these little things i do for the helpless to myself and never told anyone. Until Nate. Because i saw the same struggle in him. The strong guilt of having while others don't, and not because you are more deserving.  The man who would understand and share with me the need to help others, to go out of your way to be the angel someone has been asking for. And that Sunday, we both surprised each other. He couldn't stop saying how much he felt that he had fallen in love with me all over again, and i was feeling the same too. He had showed me a side i knew he had but had never seen. And i knew i had found that man. And he had found that girl.

We talked about Andrew, (who we had just helped). Maybe he was thief, maybe a gun-wielding robber. But that did not matter, he was a human being at that moment. We had helped save a life and that all that mattered...

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Religion and (my) Children

Over an year ago, a very good friend and i talked about having kids and the what to do when it comes to religion. Today, going back to our conversation, i found this mail that i wrote in response.

Teaching about God and teaching religion are two different things. Religions have rituals, and special formations that define them as such. I will  strive to teach my kids about as many religions as possible rather than stick just to the dominant religion in my / their fathers' culture. All of these beliefs should be explained side-by-side, even including the beliefs from ancient religions now usually treated as mythology. If i favor , lets say Christianity, by taking them to church and such,then they become biased.

Bringing up kids ignorant to religion makes them easy pawns for doomsday evangelists and other weirdos. I would not encourage fundamentalism and dogmatism. I see a study of religions, from the beginning of each, how it came to be, who is Buddha, Mohamed, Hare Krisha, the seven faces of Lord Vishnu, Jesus and who these people are to their respective religions, what their significance is. We would discuss The Order, Jihads, Reincarnation, Papacy, Pilgrimism , the crusaders.

What many religions try to  do is to get people who practice some other religion, to quit and join their religion. This is called "converting" someone to your religion. When you think about what these religious people believe -- for example, Christians, who believe that if you don't believe in Jesus, you will burn in hell forever after you die -- you can understand why trying to "convert" others to Christianity seems like the right thing to do, to them: they feel that, if they do not get you to convert, you are going to be sorry after you die, so they feel it's for your own good that you should become a Christian too. The problem is that some people get so excited about converting others, that they end up doing things that are unfair, like making people believe that if someone is a Pagan who worships older gods, they are really a Devil worshipper, and evil (when really, the Wiccan religion, being an Earth-loving religion, is actually quite a gentle belief system).

I like Buddhism - Buddhism is the only one I know of that will actually let you practice whatever religion you are now, and Buddhism, at the same time. This is because the Buddha taught that his followers should not just accept what others say and believe, letting everything rest on "faith" -- but they should study and consider and try things, and when they find what they believe to be true and right and they can see from watching those who are wise that it is true, and right, then they should follow that path.

I want to encourage critical thinking. which does not only apply to religion, but to life in general. I used to have a problem with the fact that my boyfriend (now ex) is an atheist. Until i got it that atheists don't attempt to base their values and principles on the commands of any gods — nor is such a foundation necessary. Atheists may rely upon any number of different foundations for morality, but a common one will be empathy for other human beings - which is shared across all religions.

Empathy for other human beings is hugely superior to basing morality on the alleged commands of an alleged deity/ religion because if a child merely learns to obey orders, then he /she won't learn enough about how to reason out moral dilemmas in new situations — a vital skill given how technologies such as the biological sciences and discoveries  keep advancing and creating new explorable  possibilities for us. Empathy, never ceases to be dominant and is always crucial when it comes to evaluating new dilemmas.

Religion is not necessary for explaining who we are and why we are here. I think kids are indoctrinated with religious dogmas that are contrary to reality. Why do i need to instill fear? I need to instill free thought and a thinking mind that evaluates, other than one that is frightened and coerced into beliefs. Simply because fear is what makes people do things, i don't necessarily think it's the right way around things. Let me digress a bit... Fear is what makes you not do the things you want to do in life. It's what holds you back. What forms our religious backgrounds constitutes into the people we become as adults. The fear of tribulation goes beyond hell fire and brimstones, it boils down to fear of experimentation and breaking through barriers to see what lies beyond what you know, what society has.

I will encourage my kids to go to church, synagogue, mosque, temple...all of them. I will let them see how other worship, the rituals..., why they believe what they believe, it's not about having a Sunday tradition for me to be carried on like a family name.. You taking them to church, as i said earlier, does not indicate a willingness to let them choose. It's setting them free,  but having a long invisible rope around their legs. They can only get so far, before the going to church biases them into Christianity.

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African Girls Wanted - The african girl Experience

A few years ago, after blogging too much and spending too much on the internet, after meeting all the wrong men and dating most of them, I decided to re-join a dating site. I graduated from the 'try anything once' school of thought. So i signed up, hoping to learn what goes on there, if there was really something to it. I even added my picture and put in all the truthful details. I was not looking I had just come out of one of those relationships that almost makes you turn gay (not that its a bad thing). I had joined a dating site prior to this while in college, but that was to chat to pass time. I went ahead and dated, forgot about the site for that period and when that relationship kaput, i remembered the site.

I had formed friends in there. Most i never met but we continued to chat over more familiar IM's. We updated each other on life as real friends do. When i went back to the chat room, most of those old friends were there, still looking, or given up. Thing is, if you join a dating site and are still searching for 3 years, time to close it and go to your plan B. On of the most interesting things about dating sites is the weirdos you meet, the wacky profiles you read and to top it, the conversations you have with these weirdos. Pity I never saved those chats. Most would be in the lines of, Do you want to be my slave? Can i come and rescue you from Africa? I'm looking for an African wife... in which case I would tell them ' there are many African wives....slight problem is you will need to talk to their African husbands'

I use Skype a lot. But primarily for business and to talk to Nate even when were are 30 minutes away from each other. A few days ago, i was talking to a girlfriend of mine on Skype when all of a sudden she laments. 'I'm sick and tired of these weirdos!'  Which ones, I ask. These random Skype chats! So she sends me an excerpt of her conversation with some man called Hakan_6494. I have changed her name to V.

19, 2009 2:12 PM] V: [1:23:01 PM] Hakan_6494: hi
[1:44:02 PM] V: hello
[1:46:03 PM] Hakan_6494: hello how are you ?
[1:46:30 PM] V: am well u?
[1:46:41 PM] Hakan_6494: thanks
[1:46:48 PM] Hakan_6494: my name is Hakan .
[1:46:55 PM] Hakan_6494: your name is V ?
[1:47:21 PM] V: yes.
[1:47:31 PM] Hakan_6494: nice to meet you V
[1:47:34 PM] Hakan_6494: (handshake)
[1:47:45 PM] V: nice to meet you too
[1:47:56 PM] Hakan_6494: your old 29 ?
[1:48:11 PM] V: no much older
[1:48:27 PM] Hakan_6494: how old ?
[1:48:48 PM] V: 39
[1:48:53 PM] V: and u?
[1:49:21 PM] Hakan_6494: 33
[1:49:26 PM] Hakan_6494: r u married ?
[1:49:41 PM] V: yes. but i cheat occassionally
[1:49:47 PM] V: where are u from?
[1:49:54 PM] Hakan_6494: Turkey
[1:49:56 PM] V: ooo
[1:50:02 PM] V: too far
[1:50:09 PM] V: and u? married?
[1:50:24 PM] Hakan_6494: no
[1:50:49 PM] V: by 33 was two years into marriage.
[1:52:06 PM] Hakan_6494: ı looking a african girl for marry
[1:52:49 PM] V: whatever happened to love and romance?
[1:53:08 PM] V: n africa? is it the trendy thing to do?
[1:53:23 PM] V: you are interesting!!!!
[1:53:34 PM] Hakan_6494: why ?
[1:54:15 PM] V: a white girl from africa? or a black gal?
[1:54:27 PM] V: or an asian african?
[1:54:42 PM] Hakan_6494: i like african girl
[1:55:05 PM] V: all those races i have described (and much more) can be found in africa
[1:55:39 PM] V: the logical conclusion is that you perceive black as african!!
[1:56:05 PM] V: there is much more to this continent
 

Clearly, this man wants anything with 'African' in it. Which is what most men , (on and offline), especially from Europe are in search of. African girls have become what black babies are to celebrities. An acquisition to get you status and to look trendy. The next Louis Vuitton bag. The next chihuahua in that Louis Vuitton bag. It might sound harsh coming from me, who is dating a white man, but if ever i had the slightest inkling that he was with me for the 'African girl experience, I would dump his white ass faster than he could he could say Kunta Kinte. 

It is sicken really.

But these ones from India did make me laugh

South African muslim male looking for indian girl for marriage    

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Location : International » International

Posted on : 21-Jul-2009

Salaams. i am 32 years old, and live in South Africa, i am a born South African Indian.I am planning to go to India in January 2010 to find a girl for marriage and get married there, then return to South Africa.I am seeking a humble,timid, muslim girl from a poor and common muslim home.I promise and offer a comfortable home back in South Africa, and my family and all are very welcoming and there for me. My family is Urdu speaking,and i understand urdu, and can speak a little of it.Any sincere girls interested in this, can email me .I can also chat on microphone and web camera if you wish and let fate take its course if we find we have something special..i am serious to marry in January.

Related to : seeking humble, poor muslim girl from India for marriage

Contact : Anwar

Tamil Viswakarma    

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Location : Tamil Nadu » Chennai » North » Villivakkam

Posted on : 22-May-2009

Hi,

I am a Mechanical Engineer by profession, a confident and career oriented person, with a strong values and good sense of humor. I am easy going but socialize selectively. Worked in India, Syria and Singapore. Currently working in Malaysia. I hold B1/B2 visa to USA and also hold PR status in Singapore. Visited USA for business and personal reasons. I like to watch drama and action movies, like music very much, not much interested in sports but like to keep fit. I am a straight forward and understanding person...but very sensitive and serious when it comes to the matter of love and affection. Looking for a partner who will be a friend, willing to stand by me at every stage of my life. should be very understanding by nature.

Had fifteen days of married life in ninety four. No encumbrances, For more details please call or email me.

Wish you good luck......"

Profile ID: M1436292   

Related to : Viswakarma, Goldsmith

Contact : Kumaran

Phone : 017954143

Notice  he is....very sensitive and serious when it comes to the matter of love and affection but had fifteen days of married life in ninety four.

Viva las  Chicas Africanas!

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Support the Kibera Film School.

This is a project that my lovely Nate dreamt of a while back. The need to give an opportunity to the lovely youth of Kibera a chance to tell their stories. The need to get off the television the negative images of Kibera. Yes, there is poverty, yes, the sanitation is zero, but yes, there is so much talent its unbelievable. He founded the Hot Sun Foundation, which enabled them to make films and work in little projects. Now it is a reality. The Kibera Film School is up and running, one month and counting.

The instructors are drawn form the Kenyan film industry, practising professionals who are dedicating time and resources, and knowledge to give these kids a chance to tell their stories, make films and earn an income.

So you are wondering what you can do to help? How about donating as little as $10, or as much as you want. $10 will buy lunch for 10 students. What would you have done with that $10?

1. 
   
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3. 
   
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That was meant to be for you to state the things you can do without that you spend your $10 on. Now, this is what we spend the $10 on:

1. $10 - Buys a nutritious lunch for 10 youth trainees at the Kibera Film School. Yep, $1 for each trainee!
2. $25 - Buys filmmaking materials for one youth trainee at the Kibera Film School.
3. $50 - Provides a youth filmmaker trainee with a monthly stipend. Remember, most of them are the breadwinners. As much as they love and want the chance to train at the Kibera Film School, they have to provide for theirs siblings. To keep them in school, we provide a monthly stipend for them that will at least help them in taking care of their home expenses as they come to school
4. $60- Buys a rechargeable video camera battery
5. $100 - Buys fuel to a generator to provide electricity for one month. Given Kenya's current situation, no rains, no water, hence no electricity as this is generated by water... the govt has resulted to power rationing. The school, which runs from Monday to Saturday, gets power twice a week, which means that we have to use a generator on the other 4 days. This is costly, given the price of fuel in Kenya.

I encourage you to visit this the the Global Giving site - link on the widget below- to see how else the money is used.

Go on, support this worthy cause...invest in the future of a youth that is determined to change the way you look at slums.

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A girl and her man

This is the title of  my new blog. As if i dont have enough already. But this is purely about Nate and I and all the stuff that comes from being love. That was, instead of subjecting all you loveless creatures out there to mindless rant about what he said, what I said and how much sex we are having, you get to chose whether you want to know that or not. Not that this blog does contribute to your mental growth anyway, but that might give you pointers. Yeah you know what I am talking about. Occasionally, maybe Nate himself will post. Who knows. I don't, you dont...

So, in case you cant keep your curiousity in check, here's introducing (pause for effect, drum roll and confetti)

A girl and her Man!

Horray! Now sit...thank you.

Yeah, its also open for comments. Except when you wnat to hate on us. Then you can go to hell. Without sunblock and a plan B.

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