My First Blog

This post is an extended introduction to the history and lifestyle of Pumwani- Majengo. I am very thankful to Salim Nyambu, who provided me with this information. He originally intended it to be his thesis on 'The Socio Economic Impact of Miraa Chewing among Muslim youth in Pumwani-Majengo Location, Pumwani Division of Nairobi District'.

I however felt that the problems that he addressed were widespread; they were not just limited to the Muslim community. An excerpt of his thesis is here, where he provides an introduction to the demographics and geographical aspects of Pumwani. This post will be extended in future articles, as I unearth more interesting details from his thesis.

"Pumwani-Majengo location is located in Pumwani Division of Kamukunji constituency in the Eastern side of Nairobi about 5km from the city centre.

The area is located in what is popularly known as Eastlands.  This area notably neighbors the informal Gikomba market, the home of used clothes business and retail of agricultural food crops.  Also bordering at a further distance is the emerging and vibrant Eastleigh area which is fast becoming a business hub.  Of note is the Pumwani Maternity Hospital, the largest referral maternity institution in the East African region and the same is located within this principality. The current Member of Parliament for Kamukunji constituency is

Hon. Simon Mbugua and the current Majengo councilor is Mr. Kenneth Irungu.

The general housing condition in the area consists of semi permanent mud and iron structures with a small part of the area droning some low cost flats that are part of the slum upgrading project initiated in the area way back in the 1990's.  The dilapidated structures used as residences and lack of planning and basic infrastructure qualify the area to be termed as a slum settlement.

Pumwani - Majengo is reported to be one of the earliest known organized settlement areas in the city of Nairobi, the capital city of Kenya.  The original residents of the area were returning African soldiers who had been engaged by the British authorities to fight on their behalf in the numerous military adventurers of the British colonialists worldwide. This fact is evidenced by the inscriptions made on the entrance of Pumwani Social Hall constructed in the early 1900. The inscription relates "kwa watu watukufu waliokufa vitani". This is a Swahili phrase seemingly honoring those who would have died in the numerous wars that African soldiers fought on behalf of their British Colonial masters.

Pumwani is a Swahili name that connotes to exhale and so was the case for the returning soldiers.  They settled in this area to literally take a rest and recover from the fatigue and torture of war.  With the settlement of the soldiers there was some facilitation that was organized by the British colonial authorities to ensure for the comfort and easier assimilation of the soldiers into civilian society.  The facilitation entailed a secretive and scandalous program whereby women of pleasure from a neighboring country were brought in to provide pleasure and comfort. This phenomenon has led to the ill repute that the area has earned over the years as the same practice continues to date with the women providing the same services as commercial sex workers.  Apart from these, there was still a need to find an activity that would pamper the target group as well as consume most of their time and little energy left, given that they were vulnerable to horrific war memories and idleness due to lack of meaningful and gainful employment.  With such a scenario at hand, the introduction of Miraa emerged as an ideal solution.  Engagement in Miraa chewing ensured that lots of the idle time was now accounted for.  The hallucinogenic effects of Miraa accounted for the suppression and erasure of the memories of war.  With this, the history of Miraa in the locality was born.  It bought along a culture of leisure that inadvertently bore the identity of the locale.

Pumwani had many attractive qualities; it was close to the city center, housing was cheap and there was an ever present allure of pleasure. With the attainment of independence in 1963, rural urban migration assumed new levels with Africans invading the urban centres in search of employment since most industries were located there. Thus the migrants who most offered unskilled labor needed affordable accommodation commensurate with their meager earnings so as to be able to accumulate savings which they could send back to their families in the rural areas.  Thus Pumwani- Majengo became a choice destination for many as it fit the bill in a number of ways.  The trend ensured that the population of the area grew in bounds leading to other new challenges. From an organized, humble Swahili settlement, the area was turned into a disorganized, rough cosmopolitan slum outfit given the simple existent planning and public utilities had been compromised to cater for the population outburst.

With varying economic fortunes that kept on fluctuating, the presence of  substances like Miraa that provided 'relief and escape' from the day to day frustrations of life became quite handy.  Also in attendance were the traditional liquor popularly known as busaa and the highly potent chang'aa famously known as 'kill me quick'.  Thus the combination of Miraa, sex, alcohol, cheap accommodation and a crowded population created a typical slum sociological set-up.

Interesting to note was the brotherhood that enveloped among the residents of Pumwani.  The original Swahili population was bound by their common heritage and when other people of diverse communities migrated into the area, they received them with open welcoming hands and truly bonded with them.  The new group still adopted the existing tag of Swahili of Pumwani and highly identified with Pumwani as opposed to their rural originations. This was occasioned by the fact that they found the resident population welcoming and were highly enchanted by their culture.  A tightly bond multi ethnic community emerged; yet all were comfortable being addressed as Swahilis."

I just came across this outrageous article about the makers of a popular variety of cranberry juice hoping that more people would fall sick in 2009 of urinary tract infections, thus driving up their sales. The whole news report is here. The article is short and here is what it says:

The nation's leading cranberry juice producers announced Monday that they are banking on a record number of Americans suffering from urinary tract infections in 2009. "If our projections are correct and current trends in rough, dry sex continue, we'll see a spike in sales starting in mid-January," Ocean Spray CEO Randy Papdellis said during a press conference. "We don't want to get ahead of ourselves, but several factors also indicate that bathroom hygiene amongst women is due for a significant downturn. This could be the breakthrough we've been waiting for." Pharmaceutical manufacturers, who carefully observe Ocean Spray's projections, are also optimistic that the vast increase in cranberry juice consumption will boost the sales of over-the-counter antidiarrheals.

I was shocked to read it. It took a while for the idea to sink in and now I see it everywhere around me. Classic cases for schadenfreude, where we secretly find pleasure in other's misery. In this case, the company is finding both pleasure and money.

In fact, I came across this article while reading yet another tirade about Christmas and its celebrations. Granted, that the celebrations have gone way too far and have almost replaced the spirit of fervor that should have formed the bulk of the celebrations. Even so, the author Christopher Hitchens in his article shows his extreme intolerance for everything about Christmas.  The article is all about tweaking concepts of totalitarian mindset, monotheism and religion in general to form one big rant about why we should not celebrate Christmas. And to jump on board the wagon of financial woes just like everyone else, he starts by saying that Christmas this year is expensive to celebrate. This just goes to show how he totally missed the essence of this beautiful festival of hope and joy. And it is more the reason why we should celebrate our faith and our festivals. Merry Christmas!

 Kiss the Son, lest he be angry
       and you be destroyed in your way,
       for his wrath can flare up in a moment.
       Blessed are all who take refuge in him.

Psalm 4:4-8 

I can't stop wondering what happened to our soccer in general. Sometime back Harambee stars were just unstoppable in the East and Central Africa. The mention of names like 'JJ' Masiga, John 'Bobby' Ogola, Mahamoud Abbas, Wilberforce Mulamba, T9 , 'Golden boy' Ayoyi, Controller, Zangi (R.I.P), Magongo ( R.I.P) among others would instill fear in the whole region.  

As a kid I enjoyed watching these big names every November/December in the local tournament called 'Kothbiro' which was organized in Ziwani. The tournament used to be so entertaining and it used to bring players with talents from far and wide. Many other tournaments like this were held in various locations like Jericho, Kibera, and Kawangware etc. It was so easy to tap talent and identify good players. Many recruiters from companies who were registered in the Kenya Football Federation (KFF) sponsored leagues would come to these tournaments and recruit players. Although not every recruited player got employed eventually, but some did and those who did not at least left home with some allowance after every soccer match.

Apart from players, we had very good organizers who were also driven by the love of sports. People like 'Oti Father', 'Ochiemi', 'Isa Kapinga', 'Chairman Gondi' and many more used to take their time to organize tournaments that would pull in crowds. I wonder what happened to tournaments like Kothbiro in Ziwani, Impala 7 Aside in Impala and Pendo Moja in Jericho. There has to be a way of reviving these tournaments.

In Pumwani, we had Councilor Kenneth Irungu 'Clr. Irush' who dedicated his time and resources towards supporting the team and the players. We had dedicated young coaches like Coach 'Dini', Coach 'Otiena', Coach 'Orantes' among others who spent their time in  molding young talents. You will be surprised to learn that our sensational striker Dennis Oliech came from a local team called Sakayonsa, which was coached by Coach Dini, before he moved to Mathare. We had dedicated people like 'Camacho' aka Gwija who'd organize a talented team with talent from all over; it was like our local Harambee Stars. This team used to be called Black Stars.

Soccer used to give players a sense of livelihood. With the small allowances, players used to abstain from so many crimes. I remember we used to go for soccer practice Monday through Friday and then we would play on either Saturday, or Sunday or both days.  It was the love of this sport and the commitment of our sponsors that made us keep on going.

In Pumwani and its vicinity, we had our local teams like Pumwani Sportiff, Shauri Moyo Sportiff, Mamba FC, Umeme Bees, Gwangi, Riverside FC, Eastleigh Sports, Mathare United, Bedjos, among others. I just wonder where all these teams went; I only hear of Mathare United which by the way are doing excellent in the Kenya Premier League (KPL). I was so proud to learn that they are the current league champions after a very long time. Now this time is going to represent Kenya in the most coveted African Champions Cup.

I was recently in Kenya and I had a chance to meet with Councilor Irungu and our area Member of Parliament, Hon. Simon Mbugua. They expressed a desire to revive all these football teams, which was very encouraging. Doing this will give young men from Pumwani and around a chance at a healthy lifestyle and keep them away from the crime that lingers in these neighborhoods. They will have a chance to expose their talents and who knows, maybe some day land spots in premier soccer teams in Kenya and around the world. Just like Oliech.

We have to go back to the basics where we coach or promote young people for the love of sport. The elected officials of KFF seem to have abandoned this philosophy of promoting teams and sports in areas like Pumwani for the betterment of the players. These players if given a chance and the right circumstances can face better prospects like getting draft picks, good jobs or at the very best, international exposure in the best soccer teams in Europe and beyond. All it takes is the will to promote the sport for the good of the people with an aim that it will lift at least one person out of the harsh environment in Pumwani and its like.  Once a player makes it upward, the exposure that he gets and the publicity generated can help talent scouts recruit and pick talented players from Kenya. Rather, the focus of KFF officials is on gathering support from people on false promises of reviving the soccer days of old, so that they get elected and then they forget all about the promises.

How can you reduce poverty?

One answer is sustainable fisheries. Read about this effort by the World Wildlife Fund to reduce poverty in Kenya.

I played this game on their website, What fish are you?

A series of 7 questions revealed that I am a swordfish.  

Have you ever wondered how we get the reports on wildlife? The quick answer is yes: there are these crazy scientists who devote their lives to the study of maybeone or two species documenting everything from their food habits, to their habitat and their numbers. It is these dedicated people who truly understand the importance of every bacteria, fly, and whale in maintaining the delicate balance of life on earth.

I picked up this amazing book yesterday: Back Road To Crazy: Stories From The Field'>The back road to crazy - Stories from the field edited by Jennifer Bove. The book is comprised of 38 chapters, written by field biologists. In each chapter, a field biologist talks about his/her experience on the field, be it funny, embarassing or sad. I read about 10 chapters, and I loved the book thoroughly. Every one of the authors is an authority in their field, and they candidly write about their fears and apprehensions of their jobs when they initially started. It is definitely hard to do research in a lab setting working with a set of quantities, but it is harder still to do it in forests and lakes, in foreign countries and with wild animals. It is hardest to do it when you are in fear of losing your life to that tiger who is passing under the tree where you are documenting its movements, when you are squarely facing a bear or when you have to tag elusive, nocturnal animals who don't leave traces behind. The common strain in all of these stories in this book is that every field biologist fiercely believes that their efforts can help a species survive and thrive, bring back vanishing forests and help the earth. Though I have always loved watching documentaries on the Discovery Channel, this book sheds a whole new light on the life of a field biologist. Each story profiles a different animal, most of which I have never heard before and it is simply fascinating to see people dedicate their lives to the study and conservation of these species. Here is an excerpt from the book in a chapter by Eric Dinerstein. He wrote about his first experiences in the conservation of tigers in Nepal.

I often wonder if there are people who live charmed lives in which nothing wretched ever happens and they and all those they touch somehow live in a state of uninterrupted happiness. There may be a quorum of such blessed souls, but for the rest of us who are less fortunate, I learned a priceless lesson that all young people must discover in their own way: when life knocks you off your horse, or in my case your elephant, get back on and cross the damn river.

A new study at UC Berkeley revealed that the effect of poverty on children's brains were identical to that of a stroke. An excerpt from the new article is as follows:

"It is a similar pattern to what's seen in patients with strokes that have led to lesions in their prefrontal cortex," which controls higher-order thinking and problem solving, says lead researcher Mark Kishiyama, a cognitive psychologist at the University of California-Berkeley. "It suggests that in these kids, prefrontal function is reduced or disrupted in some way."

"For the new study, researchers used an electroencephalograph (EEG) to measure brain function of 26 children while they watched images flashing on a computer. The children pressed a button when a tilted triangle appeared.

For more about this study, you can click here.

My reaction was that of utter shock. While it is intuitive that poverty stricken children do not have the resources to go to school, learn and play as well as children from higher income families, and hence suffer from lack of education, it is appalling to know that poverty can hurt the cognitive functions of the brain. Poverty and its related afflictions of stress, hunger, sub-standard quality of life can rob a child of his childhood and force him or her to learn survival skills in an unforgiving environment.

Take the case of a bus station in any city in a developing country, say Kenya. In addition to the people waiting for the bus, you will find children begging for food. Often their container for money has an image of a god/goddess in the hope that a person might put a  coin ( a few US cents) to show their devotion for the god. These children are frequently in the age group of 5- 15 and the girls can be seen carrying a baby in tattered slings, once again hoping that the sight of a hungry and poor mother and child would inspire people to donate. While most of these girls are not carrying their own babies around, sexual abuse can lead to a girl carrying her own baby and begging for money.

 Another scenario is that of young children playing the harmonium, and moving from one compartment of a crowded train to another, begging for money in return for the music. Very often the children are blind and have learnt how to navigate the crowds in trains with the help of a friend. These people are so poor that they cannot even afford a place to live in the slums. They are seen sleeping in public places, huddled at night. And not to mention, the sight of people with severed arms and legs, possible due to leprosy or infections. Some of them are severely disabled due to disease, and sit in one place everyday with a stretched cloth in front of them where people can throw coins.

This is not to suggest that people in the slum are slightly better off. Sure they have a roof and maybe 20 square feet to pack a whole family. But their life is a constant struggle. Sanitation is virtually absent, and the neighborhood breeds nothing but distrust and hatred. Most slums are located on the edges of rail tracks and sprawling outwards in the city. It is common for the people in the slums to throw stones at passing trains, hurting people or even rendering them blind (local trains do not have doors) and people are packed like sardines spilling out of the train and hanging on to a rod for the whole journey between home and work or school.

This is just a snapshot of a developing country, where as the GDP of the country and diposable income of the people grows, the dividing line between the rich and poor grows faster. Poverty has never been so shocking. Sure there have always been poor people from the beginning of civilization. But at no time, I feel, has poverty reached the depths that it has now. And it continues to reach lower depths. As global warming increases, and nations continue to war, the people who are hit first and the hardest are the poor. It is the houses of the poor that are washed out in floods, it is the children of the poor who are deprived of education and are forced to earn their living by begging, stealing and robbing and it is the life of the poor that is stolen from them. It is as if the world is not a place to live if you are poor.

In the light of this snapshot, the results of the study of poverty on children are truly justified. When a child grows up watching his family beg for food, wear tattered clothes and live on the streets, the stress of this life can badly affect the brain development and cognition. While cognition for a normal 8-year old might mean coloring so that the color does not spill out side the lines or learning how to spell, for a poor child on the streets cognition takes on a whole different meaning. It might mean how to run when you see a cop, how to beg for food and avoid being beaten. Cognition for them, is a challenge for survival.

All is not lost. We can pull atleast one person out of poverty, we can give atleast one child a shot at education, food and shelter. This Christmas we can donate a few cans to the pantry at the local church, give out unused clothes to keep someone warm and give a toy to a child. And don't forget to thank God for all that he has given you in His mercy.

This post is about the effect that mass media has on the popularization of products and services. Never has been the importance of advertizing and its reach so widespread as it is today.And when the timing is right and the product is great, mass media has the effect of synonomizing the brand with the product, thus creating primary grabbers. Primary grabbers are the companies who grab the whole market share for their new product, simply because there has been no significant competition yet. This creates a scenario where the consumer equates the brand with the product. One might argue that it is people who are uneducated about brands and quality and prices who contribute to such a phenomenon. But in my experience this phenomenon is all-encompassing and takes no consideration of age, education or gender. Even if the ultimate decision to buy the product of a brand may vary depending on the circumstances, the phenomenon of primary grabs has thoroughly populated vocabulary.

For example, many elderly people in my family, would refer to toothpaste as 'Colgate'. Even if it is not Colgate. It is rooted deeply in their understanding that toothpaste is Colgate.

What brand comes to your mind as you think of the following?

1. Bleach
2. Detergent
3. TV
4. Water
5. Shoes
6. Perfume

My answers were in this order:

1. Chlorox
2. Tide
3. Sony
4. Poland Spring
5. Adidas
6. Polo

What were yours? My answers are not representative. However, they sure made me think. This also makes for a great game, where people are asked to think on their feet. Make it rapid fire, and most people will love the thrill of blurting out whatever is on their tongue.

And in the spirit of Christmas, please take some time and effort to donate, volunteer or help some one. If you have no ideas, here is one:

The Frances Jones Abandoned Baby Center in Kenya helps abandoned babies get a chance at life. The founders of this wonderful organization started this center to take care of babies, whose families who could not afford to raise them or were stricken by disease and poverty. The foundation asks for simple donations, such as

$12 which helps as abandoned baby with food and care,

$24 which helps 2 babies with food, medicine and shelter, and other levels of contribution which can make a huge difference in the life of a child. Please visit their website at

http://www.feedthechildren.org/site/PageServer?pagename=abc_homepage

and help a baby. There is no greater fulfilment than to help a little child. God bless you!