Poisoning Kenyas lions

It amazes me that an American firm can sell a pesticide so deadly that it’s banned in USA, to Kenyans and say that its needed to solve the perennial food shortage.

Carbofuran is not safe enough for Americans, and not safe enough for Kenyans. Join us at WildlifeDirect, ban carbofuran. For more information on what we are doing about the poisoning of wildlife in Kenya follow our Baraza blog and Stop Poisoning Wildlife blog

Should we brush Kenyan media gay bashing behaviour under the carpet?

A number of people have said ‘enough said’, and ‘it’s an old story’, ‘move on’, and “Caroline  didn’t really mean it”  as well as “don’t trust the media”, “don’t try to change the media” with regard to media attacks on Kenyan gays in my last 3 blog posts.

I know that Caroline can’t really think it’s ok for radio to be gay bashing but what I don’t understand is her defense of fellow gay bashing presenters, and her failure to step in and show some leadership. She is after all the most popular and loved of all Kenyan presenters.

How temptingly delicious – wouldn’t it be great if we could just pretend that it didn’t happen and maybe the furore and bad feelings will magically go away.

Great for who I wonder? The media, Kenyans or Kenyan gays?

I’ve been seriously thinking about brushing this gay bashing issue under the carpet, after all its eating into me and affecting my sleep patterns….Hmm….I’m juggling ideas here…

Brush it under the carpet

or

Get  a conversation going.

hmmmm….I’m having a light bulb moment. Isn’t that what we said should not happen in Kenya after the post election violence? Maybe we don’t need a truth commission after all.  Yes, let’s just forget the post election violence (and ignore the little problem of victims and the remaining IDP’s after all they are minorities right?).

Friends I wonder if it’s our collective failure to speak out, to discuss, to analyse, and to understand issues that makes our community unable to comprehend how something as ‘small and insignificant” as gay bashing on radio. Is it a reflection of our collective psyche  that we are unable to admit when we make mistakes, to apologise and seek forgiveness? Perhaps that’s why the aggression and violence keeps escalating.

I don’t know about you but if the response from Caroline Mutoko at Kiss FM and Marcus at Classic FM is anything to go by, then we are in for a disastrous time during elections come 2012. If we accept gay bashing then what about tribe bashing, religion bashing…yes lets hit out at whatever and whomever we have an issue with.

Brushing the ethical issue of allowing gay bashing on radio under the carpet is a crisis behavior – just peek underneath and you’ll find that the hatred is breeding and it will eventually pop out again, this time with teeth.

I think that we need to deal with these issues that affect Kenyan Society up front and I still maintain that radio is the best and most powerful medium to bring about this change in Kenyan society. But first the radio personalities have a big responsibility and to be credible, they must have moral authority.

Moral authority it seems is in short supply right now on our radio waves. But that need not be a long term problem. It can be fixed with a simple apology.

Thanks to all of you who have made your opinions known on this blog and your own, as well as through twitter. Keep the conversation alive and remember, its not about your opinions on gays, its about how the media are stirring up hatred. We need a thoughtful examination of what we expect of the Media – perhaps then they will understand and change…just maybe.

Speak out or you will be responsible for letting horrible people do horrible things.

Have a great day.

Stop stirring hatred and violence – a message to Kenya Media houses

When the marriage of Chege and Daniel hit the Kenyan headlines, media houses went to extremes to attract viewing audiences. KTN even invaded the parents of Chege and behaved in a way that can only be called cruel and despicable.

This blog is a continuation of an issue that’s bothering me -the irresponsible hatred aired on radio and incitement to violence. I started with a podcast and in my last post shared correspondence with Caroline Mutoko of Kiss FM who surprisingly defended gay bashing DJs on Classic FM. I’ve had further correspondence with Caroline Mutoko in the last 24 hours which went something like this

“Dear Caroline…I hope that you find these comments useful and have it in your hearts to take them seriously. We are a country in pain that is in dire need of healing. You should be the first ones to step up to the plate. It would be a great step if you could apologise to Charles and Daniel as well as all people of different sexual oreintation to yourselves. I think your listeners will applaud you”.

In response Caroline wrote

“Paula;
There is hunger, floods, cholera, Swine flu and other more important issues to deal with.
I’m bored with this nonsense about gay people. I have The World Cup Trophy to deal with
And Tusker’s new brief, Zain’s tariff to execute and serious sales to create for Air Kenya, the people
Who pay our salaries and keep us in business. My day will not be taken up by the drama about
A few homosexuals, I don’t care how livid some people maybe.

If you are disappointed with us, fine. But I really need to do other things with my time.
On my list of priorities afew gay people, are not that important. Yes, I’m being brutally honest….”

and “….Honestly, you’d think I don’t have gay friends!! I do, but enough!”

I totally understand how busy Caroline Mutoko is, hell who isn’t busy these days?  But she doesn’t seem to hear what the listeners are saying. I am not protesting her or Classic FM DJ’s opinion on gays, I’m protesting hate reporting, and incitement to violence.

Classic FM and it seems Kiss FM seem to have a fixed mindset about programming vitriol to attract listeners, and will even use the radio platform to promote hatred and xenophobia. This is what I’m up in arms about.

Kenyans deserve more ethical approach and more relevant programming from all media houses.

We are a country steeped in grief over post election violence. What we really need now is deep healing, and radio stations have the most important role in this.

As the most influential radio presenter in Kenya it saddens me that Caroline Mutoko cannot find time to think deeply about this, about the impact of Kiss FM and Classic FM programming on the public mindset and especially on stirring hatred and calling to violence. She was one of the most listened to voices during the Post election violence. Afterwards the public fiercly defended the media houses during the Media bill fiasco. We trust our radio presenters and we permit them to influence us. That’s a big gift, why don’t they cherish it?

So my question to you readers is how can we influence the media and get them to apologise and reform?

Who can we write to and complain about media irresponsibility in order to change this irresponsible and plain dangerous trend? Leave a comment. Thanks

Caroline Mutoko supports gay bashing DJ’s on Classic FM

Friends,

This is another post about gay bashing in Kenya – listen to the previous podcast here . I’m speechless at the response from Caroline Mutoko to my letter (see below). Caroline is one of Kenyas most listened to and respected radio personalities and she runs the morning show on Kiss FM which is a sister company of Classic FM.  I wrote to her to complain about the gay bashing program. I expected at the very least for these folk to air a public apology. What I got was far from it, indeed it seems Caroline isn’t quite as  moral as she had me think.

Here how she responded.  Judge for yourself why we have such a homophobic society. If leaders like Caroline think that gay bashing is fair game in Kenya, then perhaps we need a totally new crew of radio presenters in the country. People who think before they present, and use their intelligence to move society away from the negative and hurtful. At this time more than ever before, Kenya needs healing, not more divisions. Radio is such a powerful medium through which our presenters can catalyze change – sadly they are just having ‘a good Time’ as Caroline puts it.

Well if gay bashing is fair game then so is sharing her letter. Friend please write to Paul Illado and air your complaints

Paul Illado – paul@classic105.com (In charge of Classic FM)

Also write to the having too much of a good time gay bashing Marcus Kwikiriza – marcus@classic105.com

27 Oct 2009

Dear Caroline,

I am disgusted with the way that Kenyan journalists have covered the marriage between Charles Ngengi and Daniel Gichia, the two Kenyan men who married in London.

Nick and Marcus of Classic FM, your sister company were for calling Kenyans to ‘slap gays’. This is the most irresponsible journalism that I’ve heard in a long time – it smells awfully similar to what happened during the election crisis.

Please send me Paul Illados phone and email address so that I can complain.

Thanks

Paula

–
Paula Kahumbu
Executive Director WildlifeDirect
P.O. Box 24467 Nairobi
Kenya

Dear Paula;
Please find Marcus’s response below and I have listened back to the session and wile I accept that they had too much of a good
Time, at the expense of the gay people amongst us, they handled the issue pretty well.

Let’s also not be pretentious, this is Kenya and we are more homophobic that any other nation in the region.
Marcus and Nick are simply exerting their masculinity above all other men and standing to be counted.
The majority of their audience expect nothing less and yes the majority of their audience is the average Kenyan
who finds the whole gay marriage issue unpalatable.

Caroline Mutoko.

—— Forwarded Message
From: Marcus Kwikiriza
Date: Tue, 27 Oct 2009 15:20:10 +0300
To: Caroline Mutoko <
Subject: RE: Gay bashing on Classic FM MUST STOP

Well, I guess they are listening.

Plus the question was, Is it a natural thing(which we shall respect) or is it ujinga that can be cured by a slap? It was a question opened to the public. She could have called and given her two cents……FYI

Gay is ok – Congratulations Daniel and Charles

I am disgusted with the way that Kenyan journalists have covered the marriage between Charles Ngengi and Daniel Gichia, the two Kenyan men who married in London.

Listen to my podcast titled Gay is OK: hit back on Kenyan journalists about my response to Nick and Marcus on Classic FM who were gay bashing and calling Kenyans to ‘slap gays’

Why have I done this podcast? Because when good people stay silent bad people can get away with doing horrible things.

Don’t be silent – complain to the Classic FM station master Paul Illado (20) – 4447404

Fax +254 (20) – 4447411 Paul Illado (station master) and complain about Marcus and Nick for gay bashing program that calls viewers to slap gay people.

Be a proud Kenyan, Say NO to xenophobia, racism, bigotry, chauvinism, homophobia in Kenya.

Processing PopTech -what does it mean for Kenya?

Andrew Zolli (curator of PopTech) is a genius. Anyone who is attending PopTech and writing about it needs to think about how the sessions have been curated. . Speakers have passionately talked about their areas of expertise from youth speaker Erica who told us to wake up to the Millenial generation and the auto maker with a difference– design and build your own car. It has been super impressive and everyone is excitedly blogging.  I find that most are telling the stories as told by the speakers –  I think  they are wasting their enormous talent, we’ll have the videos for this, what we need the clever writers to do is to have a deep digestion and analysis of the meaning of the talks. This cant be done in minutes, it happens over discussions at dinner, lunch, breaks, it’s an examination of the questions . Are people listening to Andrew Zolli’s questions – he’s leading us in a direction. ….lets not get caught up in details. I think know he has a cunning plan to change America. The amazing bloggers on Poptech like Ethan Zuckerman are capturing every talk as they happen, and in detail. But something is missing… I really think that as bloggers we need to get beyond classroom notes and start analyzing and digesting what’s really happening at PopTech.

Challenging conversations was a session that hit me like a train. It started with one of the most thoughtful speakers I’ve heard in a long time was Robert Guest who writes the Lexington column in the Economist. His thesis is that we should stop worrying about Americas place in the future world. America is a great country because it attracts the best of the best and this is because it is the land of opportunity. He posits that people love America and are quick to adopt America  and feel at home here because of the freedoms everyone has here. He says it’s the only place where democracy is real – people can say anything and do anything, and if you listen to radio or TV you’ll quickly agree it’s totally true.  Robert believes that the freedoms afforded to all in America will continue to drive the massive inflow of people and talent from the rest of the world, guaranteeing that America will be great for a long time to come.

But when Rinku Sen came on stage she said the opposite. Born in India and came to USA at age 5 she struggled to feel American. She had to actually try to fit in, she talked about discrimination and how it’s holding back the talent. From her talk it was clear that many  immigrants do not feel as if they belong – look at the labour markets made up of Mexicans and latinos ‘illegal immigrants’ who play a central role in the economy of this country.

Who is right Robert or Rinku?

I think Rinku is right, but so is Robert, and that’s why Reihan Salams presentation was so brilliant. America is the land of opportunity, there are no second generation bus boys (for all u Africans bus boys are guys who wipe tables in restaurants). As a result there is massive immigration and Reihan suggests that the demography of the new America is diverse, made up of many immigrants in mainly immigrant neighbourhoods. He says that the racial, cultural and religious intolerance is leading to conflicts, and warns that the future of America will be filled with conflicts. That is a terrifying conclusion.

All of this made Paul Van Zyls talk the most important piece of the puzzle. He was an anti-apartheid organizer in South Africa. When Mandela became president, Paul became the executive secretary of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and he showed us the most harrowing video clip of victims explaining how they were tortured, and the story of  Joyce Ntenkuda who got closure after the killers of her son Sipiwe revealed how and where they did it. Finally she could say goodbye and bury him respectfully even though his ashes had been dumped in a river.

Pauls message was not lost on the audience. America needs a Truth commission to help everyone know what happened, understand why it happened and therefore agree that the torture that the US military has been committing is not acceptable and should never happen again. The American public need to hear from the victims about how they were treated.  We need to feel their pain. We also need to hear from the perpetrators. We need to hear them say that they did the wrong thing. It’s not for our sadistic viewing pleasure – the exercise is mostly for them. Imagine the relief they will feel even if the result is a life of punishment by the way we look at them. If they don’t come clean they will live with this horrible information locked in their hearts where it will fester and grow into a cancerous knot.

If the American people do not know how they helped the perpetrators, by not only standing by, but by agreeing with the crazy Cheney approach. By accepting that things should be done secretly, by rewarding these bastards. America needs to purge – feel the pain of the victims, and re-imagine its self as a moral leader. If it does not go through a truth commission torture will continue to be an accepted way of getting information and every single American will know deep down hat he or she will never have the any moral authority -without it America cannot be a world leader.

America can re-imagine its self by taking advantage of the talents of people like Paul van Zyl who is now co-founder and EVP of the International Center for Transitional Justice. The country is ready for this – I can feel the awakening. But everyone is scared – and that’s ok too. Its not easy but that that has never held back anyone. Accepting a truth commission will prove to me that America is truly great.

Paul van Zyl is a genius. If America won’t use him then can we please have him back in Africa. I know at least one country that needs a truth commission right now. Paul, Karibuni Kenya bwana! We need you badly.

If you want to follow Poptech live join us live for the last day and follow the exploding twitter feed @poptech

Purple Death!

STOP WILDLIFE POISONING

People, please help us to kick Carbofuran out of Africa. Support October 14, 2009 Posted by paulakahumbu | Uncategorized | | No Comments Yet

I thought Cormorants were from Africa!

A cormorant on a dingy in Rockport Harbour

It rained the first 24 hours and the second day has been absolutely beautiful and sunny in Rockport Maine. While out on the water we came across this lovely cormorant. Wait a minute I thought these fish eating birds were from Africa!

In Kenya you’d be lucky to get within a few hundred meters of a Cormorant. Well, I got to touch this fellow who was sitting on a rubber dingy in Rockport Harbour, Maine.

Getting this close to the bird was amazing – it has super blue eyes and fleas all over it’s  feathers!

No wonder it was feeling poorly and keep grooming itself. Well it only too a few moments to call in the “bird lady” as the Harbor Mistress called her and he bird was rescued.

I can’t believe I got to attached to him – I think I’ll call him Chuck because he kept chucking up mouthfuls of water, and besides, Chuck is a good American name.

Awake at 3 am in New York or About to blow my brains out

It’s 3.30 am and I can’t sleep. I’m in a cafe across the street from Starbucks waiting for SB to open so that I can get onto the internet.

I love NY at night

New York at Night

The conversation yesterday got me so mad that if the energy could be captured, Nairobi would never have power cuts again.

After the Jackson Hole Film Festival and everything wild  we celebrate about our amazing continent, the views I’ve heard here in USA reveal that We are doing a superbly crap job of Branding Africa.

“You can’t save wildlife without tourism but how can you convince people that Africa is safe?” by little old lady

“the reason why people are starving in Africa is corruption” by someone I respect (ed)

And my all time SFG (Super Fume Generator)

“The problem with Africa is tribalism” by the same guy I respect Ggrrrrrr

And the statement that pushed my tolerance beyond blood boiling to geyser eruptions

“racism is genetically hard wired into us”, by someone who is funny most of the time – but not anymore

I had a light bulb revelation – Americans think in epiphanies – Our enemies want to destroy our way of life, and “It’s the axis of Evil”. George bush isn’t a moron, the man is a genius. He deserves  a frigging medal.

I was told that nobody can say America is racist, look at our most powerful marketing icons “Magic Johnson”, “the …what are their names, the Tennis sisters”, “oh, and  whatever Ophrah touches turns to Gold”, “We aren’t racist, but the problem with African Americans is they can’t stay out of jail, it’s because most of the men were raised by neurotic women  who had been molested by a relative in the past, they are breeding and raising psychotic children”.

Oh my head hurts …

So now you know why I woke up at stupid O’clock in search of a Starbucks. It’s not in search of a caffeine hit, it’s not even because I’m a twitter addict, but it is because I need internet access. I dressed and packed my back pack to impersonate a hobo and left my flea ridden hotel in search of the nearest spot.  The first Starbucks opens at 5.30 am…so I kept walking. The second at Times Square looked more hopeful – open 24 hours it says on the door. There’s actually a woman in side but there is a distinct absence of the homely Arabica aroma …as I try to get to the door by edging around the bins, she looks up, waves at me and mouths ”NO”

So It take out my camera and capture the photo – open 24 hours – I want to photoshop the words in a bubble “psyche!”

She sees me and opens the door but asks me for 5 minutes as she starts turning on machines. There isn’t a seat in that place –it’s like a standing up café …well at least they will have internet right? Wrong – I’m told that to get internet I first have to buy a Starbucks card and then I have to go somewhere else and get onto the internet in order to sign up and use the Starbucks internet card. Sound bizarre? I bet she was just trying to get rid of me. So I’m  skulking in a different café across the street from the Starbucks of choice like a vulture. Feeling guilty about just ‘using the place’ I bought a cup of herbal tea sat down and pulled out my comp – only to find out that there’s now power plug in the entire café and it’s a huge place. My battery is on about 1%,  I COULD SCREAM!

Maybe I’ll wake up and still be in my warm bed….no, I’m still here and that pinch hurts.

Despite the hour, NY is awake-  I passed a hobo who had perfected the art of sleep reading – sitting on a bench in a position that suggests he’s reading but it’s totally dark.

In the café is a group of youths who have clearly just met each other. God young people are so stupid. It’s impossible to ignore the loud South African dark haired blonde. She’s flirting with a gang of predatory NY dudes in a coffee shop at 4 am. She’s saying rubbish like “the guys over here are so friendly”

And “I’m a lawyer. What do you guys do? Oh you’re a bum. And you? You sell sunglasses? Oh I need sunglasses. Where can I get some – the Sunday street faire – but I’m leaving tomorrow..?” Oh God my head hurts even more now

Painful as it is, at least they aren’t just making friends on twitter. That’s what I’m dying to do!

57 more minutes to wait for Starbucks to open…time to start thinking of how to Rebrand Africa – I need a strong coffee for that – send me your thoughts

Lions and cheetah in Nairobi Park

Visiting Nairobi Park every day has never become droll, inf act things just get better and better

Here are some of my favourite animals seen this week – Big cats!

And there are still cheetahs around!

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