KENYA HAS BEEN PUT ON THE INTERNATIONAL MAP FOR SEX HAVEN
From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
MONDAY, MAY 13, 2013
Kenya has been put on the international map for sex with dogs, on the ‘bench', for marks, sex in the cemetery, sex in the parks, sex in brothel pubs, sex in private cars, just to mention but a few.
As Mombasa Polytechnic students, Janet Akoth Omollo and Mercy Waithera Karanja and a tourist were being arrested at Mamba Apartment in Mombasa while filming a pornographic film, part of the scene involving sexual acts with a dog, Kenya Episcopal Conference were issuing a press statement condemning a Catholic group for a billboard and newspaper advertising campaign promoting condom use.
Other students were Mary Nyambura Kimani, Magdaline Wairimu Chege, Celestine Nekesa Sitati, Dorcus Melishah Indakwa, Lydia Nyaboke Momanyi, Philidelia Mawia Solomon, Anne Wanjiku Gichuki, Celilia Nzambi Katuku and Joyce Wacuka.
No one can explain exactly why foreigners find Kenya to be the easiest country where anything to do with sex is the better forum. Even the US Catholics for Choice have found Kenya to be the best country to advertise and promote the use of condoms.
As Christopher Clement Weisssenrieder - Swedish national was caught filming the girls, a US doctor was pleading guilty to sexually abusing at least 14 children over an eight-year period in Kenya working at hospitals and with aid groups in Sori, South Nyanza. John Ott, 67, faces up to 30 years in jail and a $250,000 fine when he is sentenced on July 26 after admitting to a harrowing catalogue of crimes.
This is not the first time the issue of recording and trafficking pornography has emerged in Kenya. On Jun 23, 2009, an American preacher was charged with trafficking in pornographic materials in Nairobi.
Thomas Manton of Dominion International Ministries was charges at the Kibera Law Courts. The charges stated that: “On February 25, 2009 at Runda Estate in Nairobi, for the purpose of or by way of trade or for the purpose of distribution or public exhibition, the accused made or produced obscene publication, one compact disc, tending to corrupt morals.”
In 2005 US authorities smashed a worldwide child pornography syndicate, which involves Kenyans who trade in illicit images over the Internet using sophisticated encryption. Most of the participants are the youth though people in good careers including banking, media and modeling have been mentioned as savvy actors in Kenya.
Desperate unemployed girls are also eager to be engaged at a cheaper fee. Some are paid as low as Sh.750 for a video recording of around 8-10 minutes. Girls who engaged in these acts say they do so against their conscience because of economic hardship in Kenya.
The youth seem to be the vulnerable groups because most of them are unemployed and are out to do anything to earn a living. Most of them are graduates and since they are not absorbed in the job market, they end up doing petty jobs to earn a living.
It is very sad indeed that unemployment in the country and economic hardship has forced the youth to drop their dignity and take up any job opportunity coming up. That is why many girls and boys, some underage chose to be prostitutes, even though under the Kenyan law prostitution is illegal.
A taskforce set up by then Nairobi Mayor, George Aladwa revealed that Nairobi has approximately 7000 commercial sex workers with each having at least three to four clients. That’s approximately 21,000 to 28,000 sexual activities per night in Nairobi alone.
It explains why pornography is a booming business in this city. Kiss TV’s Dennis Okari recently revealed the sex dens where orgies take place and pornography films are shot. Girls confessed to him that many of them are joining the porn industry due to unemployment and economic hardships.
No wonder why pornography has become one of the biggest businesses in Kenya, bigger than Hollywood, bigger than the major league sports. Today in Kenya, the easiest way to make a dime online is to go to pornography. That is why porn will never die in Kenya.
Analysis and statistics from the common keywords show Kenyans love to search and read about pornography than they read about businesses. This is a very worrying trend in the country were morals are decaying on daily basis.
No wonder why Kenya has been put on the international map for 'sex. It explains why it was hit with a bush sex scandal in March 2011 when several shots of different Kenyan citizens, including college students were caught on camera having physical sex in different positions, at a particular location, on a particular bench in the Masinde Muliro Garden, Kakamega in western Kenya.
The pictures captured people including students, old men, nursing mothers among others having sex at the recreational ground arousing mixed reactions from all sectors. The garden has since become one of the biggest tourist sites in the country.
Lecturers and teachers are also demanding sex from their female students in exchange for marks. These students later use their first class honours degrees to secure some of the best jobs in the private and public service, including sensitive areas such as the health sector. This puts off male students to compete in the ‘sex for marks’ arena as they do not have the requisite assets.
It is at the same time City police are at a loss on how to handle the increasing cases of couples opting for ‘green lodges’ near Uhuru Park. Police on night patrol have caught some couples so engrossed in pleasure that they forget they are in public. The eucalyptus trees opposite Uhuru Park in the Upper Hill area have particularly become a notorious ‘green lodge’.
It is also at the same time shocking details have emerged on the extent to which school girls fall prey to sexual predators — their own teachers. Up to 12,660 girls were sexually abused by teachers over a five-year period. The report by the Teachers Service Commission (TSC) says that in some cases, teachers abused as many as 20 girls in a single school before they were reported.
The survey, which captured data between 2003 and 2007, said the 12,660 girls estimated to have been abused in schools over the period were enough to fill 79 single-streamed primary schools that have an average of 40 girls a class.
According to the report, done jointly with non-profit Centre for Rights Education and Awareness, some teachers were serial sexual offenders and molested girls from one school to another because when caught they were simply transferred and no action was taken against them.
Recently a secondary school in Gilgil was closed indefinitely following allegations that the principal was having love affairs with students. The Ministry of Education ordered Eburu secondary school to be closed sending over 300 students home with parents calling for the arrest of the teacher in vain.
It emerged that for years, the headmaster in the day and boarding institution had love affairs with students and some of the teachers were aware but not report the school head. Trouble started after the students went on strike to protest the interdiction of one of the teachers for absconding duty.
This is not to mention various Nairobi pubs and clubs turning them into a den of prostitution and brothels where a number of white women entertaining clients. The locations, mostly in gated maisonettes with acres of parking space, are apparently well known to taxi drivers and residents in the neighbourhood.
The most prominent ones are in Lavington, Hurlingham, Adams Arcade, Westlands and Kileleshwa. The mostly married men who attend these parties are Kenya’s prominent people.
For a weekend of pleasure the girls offer their services to these men which include anything and everything form massage, blow-jobs, anal sex and group sex.
According to sources from a Nairobi based private university, the girls in this trade earn handsomely, anything between Ksh 10,000 and 50,000 a night (200EUROS-1000) a night.
The story of a university student Mercy Keino who died under unclear circumstances after attending a party in Nairobi’s posh Riverside estate attended by among others a prominent Kenyan politician and scores of other rich businessmen tell it all.
Group sex, which in the United States is also called adult buffet, involves consenting adults arranging for intense sex sessions.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002
Letter From Tanzania IV: A Visit to Morogoro
from: Jovias Mwesiga
This is the fourth of several blog posts written from Dar es Salaam and Morogoro, Tanzania. I’m visiting Tanzania thanks to CARE USA, which has paid for my trip with the help of a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Its purpose, for me at least, is to explore one country’s need for humanitarian aid and development assistance and to examine America’s political will and commitment to deliver on its promises.
The impact of American development aid to Tanzania, and the vast distance yet to go, were both evident in abundance during the fifth, and last, day that I spent in Tanzania.
In the morning, we flew from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro, a one-hour flight from the capital in a twin-engine Cessna but a world away. Nestled at the center of a group of five Tanzanian districts, Morogoro is a bustling town with a busy marketplace and a network of paved thoroughfares that lead to dirt roads leading in every direction. But the primary activity here, among the 2 million people who live in the five districts around Morogoro, is agriculture. When I asked Mvomero district’s Anthony Mtaka, the district commissioner—the equivalent of a state governor in the United States, though appointed by President Kikwete—what percentage of the 300,000 people in his district were farmers and peasants, he didn’t hesitate. “Ninety-nine percent,” he answered.
As in most of Tanzania, the majority are desperately poor, subsistence farmers. Nearly all of them farm tiny plots, growing barely enough to feed their families, if that, and few have any substantial surplus to bring to market.
One exception is the Uwawakuda irrigation cooperative farm. More than 900 Tanzanian farmers, including 414 women, have banded together to farm a 5,000-acre spread whose productivity is fed by a pumping station and irrigation system that provides underground water to the farm. Originally installed three decades ago during the era of Tanzania’s president and founder, Julius Nyerere, the pumps are creaky now, and thanks to a grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID) new ones are being installed. It’s a star attraction for USAID’s Feed the Future program. According to the local officials who run it, the American help will rebuild the pumps, pave an access road, and rehabilitate the drainage canal that supplies the network of rice farms in the complex. In addition, USAID has put in place a model farm that teaches members of the coop the best practices in rice farming. A phalanx of women farmers greet us as we arrive at the model farm, singing and clapping and performing a series of original songs they’ve prepared for the occasion, and one of them, Victoria, with tears in her eyes, describes a litany of gains she’s been able to achieve as a member of the relatively prosperous coop, with USAID’s assistance.
Problem is, for the rest of the 2 million people in and around the area, things are bleak.
A drought, worsened by climate change and rising temperatures, has wracked the region. When I asked George Iranga, who manages the project, what happens to the farmers outside the coop, who don’t have access to irrigation, he says that they are struggling. That’s an understatement. Iranga says that the government in Dar es Salaam would like to replicate the gains in Uwawakuda elsewhere, but there’s no money. “Our government is doing its best to look for funding, or supply it from its own resources,” he says. Mtaka, the district commissioner, himself is a farmer, and last year he lost a great deal of money on his own farm. “We have year-round rivers here, but there is no way to get the water to the farmers. What we need most of all is irrigation technology here. If the rain doesn’t come, the farmers collapse financially.” The districts have sixteen irrigation plans on the books, and no way to fund any of them.
“The demand is too high,” says Iranga. “The government will allocate each year small bits of what’s needed.” Of course, it falls far short.
Back in Washington, USAID points to prgrams like Uwawakuda as success stories, and indeed they are. But compared to the staggering needs of a nation such as Tanzania—and multiply that by dozens of other counties across the globe—it’s a drop in the bucket.
Representative John Garamendi, a California Democrat with long experience in Africa, was part of the group visiting Tanzania organized by CARE. He says that while military-related foreign assistance is popular in Congress, humanitarian and development aid is more difficult to build support for, especially in the era of sequestration and budget cuts. “It’ll be a challenge,” he says. And while he supports the idea of increasing aid, he recognizes that it’s a uphill climb.
Still, says Garamendi, “It’s easier to prevent a war or a failed state or a humanitarian crisis than it is to deal with one that’s fully born. It is in America’s interest to prevent failed states and wars and humanitarian crises.”
Tanzania, he says, has made substantial progress. “But there’s a huge need.” The United States, along with the rest of the developed world, through the so-called G-8, provide development and humanitarian aid, help build Tanzania’s roads, water systems and infrastructure, facilitate direct forieign investment, and more, he says.
Still, in the current Washington political climate, there’s little or no chance that Tanzania will see a substantial increase in US foreign aid anytime soon. Although the United States has committed to supplying 0.70 percent of its GNP in total foreign assistance, the current actual figure is a dismal 0.17 percent, less than one-fourth of what ought to be. Until that changes, the two million farmers around Morogoro will have to deal with drought, climate change and many other problems that plague them—and that condemn Tanzania to stagnation, with more than a third of its population living on fifty-eight cents a day—pretty much on their own.
In his previous post from Tanzania, Robert Dreyfuss wrote about getting more bang for the foreign aid buck.
http://www.thenation.com/blog/173078/letter-tanzania-iv-visit-morogoro#
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International Jobs - www.jobsunited.blogspot.com
IN SOLIDARITY WITH OUR PALS FROM ZAMBIA FOLLOWING BUSH ACCIDENT
From: Ouko joachim omolo
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste in images
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 2013
The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste take this opportunity to be in solidarity and prayers with our pals from Zambia following the death of 53 people killed in one of the worst traffic crashes in the nation in recent history according to officials.
The news just reaching The News Dispatch with Omolo Beste says that a bus operated by Zambia’s postal service carrying passengers toward its capital Lusaka smashed into a semi-truck and another car Thursday, killing at least 53 people. The crash happened Thursday morning near the town of Chifamba, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) north of Lusaka according to police spokeswoman Elizabeth Kanjela.
Kennedy Sakeni, Zambia’s information minister, said at least 53 people died in the crash, while another 22 had been taken to local hospitals. A sport utility vehicle also was involved in the crash, he said.
Zambia Postal Services runs the bus routes throughout the country, carrying passengers and mail through the nation of 13 million people in southern Africa.
The crash Thursday represented one of the worst for Zambia in recent years. In April 2005, a truck packed with high school students skidded off a mountain road in northern Zambia, killing at least 38 and seriously injuring another 50.
Fr Joachim Omolo Ouko, AJ
Tel +254 7350 14559/+254 722 623 578
E-mail omolo.ouko@gmail.com
Facebook-omolo beste
Twitter-@8000accomole
Real change must come from ordinary people who refuse to be taken hostage by the weapons of politicians in the face of inequality, racism and oppression, but march together towards a clear and unambiguous goal.
-Anne Montgomery, RSCJ UN Disarmament Conference, 2002
Kenya: Government Lifts Restrictions for Those Traveling to Middle East and Asia Nations
From: amenya gibson
Dear People,
After a ban that was effected in June 14th,2012 due to bad mistreatment of Kenyans going to Middle East and Asia,Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Department of CID,NSIS ,Ministry of Labour,Ministry of Immigration after frequent meetings and deliberations has lifted the demand of having all get a clearance Letter to travel to Middle East.from Ministry of Foreign Affairs ,Imagine all Kenyans were required to visit Ministry of Foreign Affairs to get the letter.
Now major changes are still being put in place on best ways to protect low skilled workers such as domestic girls and boys.
The plead by Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to review and accord Kenyans special respect was properly debated and expect new contracts come 2013.
Also is important for all going to Middle East and any other country to observe resident country rules.
Also those seeking jobs abroad try to get proper details and rules,get to know culture of some of those nations ,what kind of food they eat what they put on.
And finally always tell the truth DON'T give wrong information.
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Thanks
Gibson Amenya
WebRep
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We are calling on all the Youth to support the Youth under 35 seeking elections as Members of County Assemblies Country wide. Thanks for Supporting the National Youth Sector Alliance
nysa1@googlegroups.com
http://groups.google.com/group/nysa1?hl=en?hl=en
Kenya Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2012
From: AKR|Association of Kenyans Living in Rwanda
Dear Fellow Kenyan
Find attached the Kenya Traffic (Amendment) Bill 2012 and note the amendments. Causing death by dangerous driving can now earn you Life Imprisonment among other host of penalties !!
Take care and remain safe.
Carol
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Karibu Jukwaa la www.mwanabidii.com
Pata nafasi mpya za Kazi www.kazibongo.blogspot.com
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Kenya: new ultra modern Mbita Ferry is to promote the volume of trades between the mainland and Suba region
Writes Leo Odera Omolo In Mbita Town
RESIDENTS of Suba region have good reason to smile following the arrival of bigger and ultra-modern newly built ferry now plying the Mbita Channel from Luanda Kotieno in Uyoma, Rarieda to Mbita Point.
The arrival of MV Uzinza is a blessing to the residents of both Mbita and Gwassi districts.It will make travelling across the narrow waterway from Luanda Kotieno in Uyoma, Rarieda district within Siaya County across the Nyanza Gulf {formerly Kavirondo Gulf}to Mbita Point in Mbita district within the Homa-Bay County.
The Mbita Channel is a vital economic route for the residents of low laying locations within the two districts as ell as to the two major fishing Islands of Rusinga and Mfangano.
Mbita point is also the getaway point to tourists destined to the nearby Ruma National Game Park in Lambwe Valley and also further to the pre-historic rich sites in neighboring Gwassi district.
The passengers travelling on to Mfangano Island may now make an easy connection to small boats plying Mbita-Point Mfangano. The happiest lots are the traders who get their supplies shop goods and other cargo from wholesaler’s shops and major distributors in Kisumu.
MV Uzinza is capable of carrying 30 small cars and up to up 150 passengers. It is expected to easy congestion and scrambling, which were being experienced by travels, forcing some the to leave their vehicle on the other side of the Channel as the previous Ferry could not lift more than 8 vehicles causing also of inconveniences to the public.
The scrambles are usually common phenomenon during holidays and Christmas festivities when many residents of the region returns home from towns like Nairobi, Kisumu, Eldoret, Kericho, Nakuru and other urban centers outside Nyanza. Similar congestion were witnessed particularly during funerals of prominent men and women, when hundred s of mourners got stranded at either side of the crossing points. Such scrambles will now be things of the past. The happiest lots included the fish traders and cattle dealers from both sides.
With the completion of the tarmac king of the multimillion shillings Homa-Bay Mbita road and the envisaged construction of Mbita-Sindo-Magunga, Laknyiero and Sori road businessmen and farmers in the agricultural rich Gwassi will in the near future enjoy their sweat because they will making easy access to the market for their farm products.
The government earmarked plan for he construction of the above mention ring road around the shoreline of Lake Victoria were made public for the first time by the Prime Minister Raila Odinga when he addressed a huge crowd of mourners during the burial of former Kenya’s Permanent representative to the UN Ambassador Michael Okeyo Owuor at his Kaswanga village home in Rusinga Island, adding that with the availability of fund the road could cross into Nyatike district winding up in Muhuru Bay.
The time for traveling between Luanda-Kotieno in Uyoma on the mainland and Mbita has been cut short nearly by half short following the recent construction of the ultra modern road from Ndori to Luanda Kotieno and motorist driving fro Kisumu to Mbita could now reach Luanda Kotieno within 40 minutes or an hour time depending on the size of the engine of the vehicle one is using.
The introduction of the ultra-modern Ferry on this route and the completion of modern highways between Homa-Bay and Mbit and between Ndori and Luanda-Kotieno n the mainland Uyoma now fulfill the long cherished dream of the late Mr. Tom Mboya had predicted many years ago that this region at one time would be a potential tourists attraction under the forty years Western Kenya Tourists Circuit
MV Uzinza is a milestone investment by a private firm called Mbita Ferries Limited, which is a business flagship of a youthful entrepreneur Mr Sammy Wakiaga of Rusinga Island who is also involved in other chain of businesses both in Nyanza and Nairobi.
Ends
Photo of MV Uzinza as it cruises the waterway from Mbita on its way to Luanda Kotieno.The Ferry was welcomed with enthusiasm by the residents ho gathered in their hundreds to welcome it on both sides of the Mbita Channel
USA, OH: UPDATE: Temporary Commissioner, Bill Peelle…
from Chuck Watts (via Google+)
UPDATE: Temporary Commissioner, Bill Peelle, with a little more legal research, discovered he didn't have to recuse himself afterall, and has seconded the "transit-for-all" resolution focusing on bike trails and federal grants. Not only that, he and Commissioner Mike Curry, occupied compassion and actually voted it in. Hip Hip Hooray.
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by Chuck Watts - . In Response to the Facebook group I Love Wilmington, Ohio, Trails - Call to Action! .
An Open Letter to Pat Haley, County Commissioner
Dear Pat, .
What do the following five items have in common with bike trail grants?...
Healthcare human rights
Ethical business
Clean elections
Healthy foods
Transit-For-All
They all, including supporting bike trail grants, requires strength of character that includes empathy and responsibility, both personal and social, to promote them.
[ . . . ]
Posted on January 30, 2012
http://empathysurplus.com/2012/01/30/an-open-letter-to-pat-haley-county-commissioner/
USA, OH: UPDATE: Temporary Commissioner, Bill Peelle…
from Chuck Watts (via Google+)
UPDATE: Temporary Commissioner, Bill Peelle, with a little more legal research, discovered he didn't have to recuse himself afterall, and has seconded the "transit-for-all" resolution focusing on bike trails and federal grants. Not only that, he and Commissioner Mike Curry, occupied compassion and actually voted it in. Hip Hip Hooray.
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by Chuck Watts - .
In Response to the Facebook group I Love Wilmington, Ohio,
Trails - Call to Action! .
An Open Letter to Pat Haley, County Commissioner
.
Dear Pat,
.
What do the following five items have in common with bike trail grants?
Healthcare human rights
Ethical business
Clean elections
Healthy foods
Transit-For-All
[ . . . ]
Posted on January 30, 2012
http://empathysurplus.com/2012/01/30/an-open-letter-to-pat-haley-county-commissioner/
World: Tribunal of judges; about Bush & Blair, Iraq
Here is a news article in which judges give ruling concerning a US president and UK PM and the Iraq war.
Bush & Blare were subject of a citizen's tribunal of judges, assembled by a non-governmental organization. Its finding was that both are criminally liable for crimes against peace.
One of the judges is Alfred Lambremont Webre. The tribunal was organized by an ngo, predona international peace foundation. His conceptual foundation of this matter was that of USA federal Rico statute theory - - anti-racketeering, war racketeering in this case. Natural law forms basis for the conceptions.
He suggested that at a minimum, the published formal cizizens' organization judicial finding will interfere with the ability of those two persons to obtain travel visas when they would choose to visit or travel thru certain countries. Further, the finding was duly forwarded to other nations' leaderships & judicial bodies. Upon various occasions, the tribunal's reps approach governments, where these men travel, seeking to have these men arrested.
- octimotor -
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http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/11/22/george-w-bush-tony-blair-found-guilty-of-war-crimes-in-malaysia/
George W. Bush, Tony Blair found guilty of war crimes … in Malaysia
Agence France-Presse Nov 22, 2011 – 8:32 AM ET | Last Updated: Nov 22, 2011 9:34 AM ET
KUALA LUMPUR — Former U.S. President George W. Bush and British ex-Prime Minister Tony Blair have been found guilty at a mock tribunal in Malaysia for committing “crimes against peace” during the Iraq war.
The Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Tribunal, part of an initiative by former Malaysian premier Mahathir Mohamad — a fierce critic of the Iraq war — found the former leaders guilty Tuesday after a four-day hearing.
“The Tribunal deliberated over the case and decided unanimously that the first accused George Bush and second accused Blair have been found guilty of crimes against peace,” the tribunal said in a statement.
“Unlawful use of force threatens the world to return to a state of lawlessness. The acts of the accused were unlawful.”
Mahathir, who stepped down in 2003 after 22 years in power, unveiled plans for the tribunal in 2007 just before he condemned Bush and Blair as “child killers” and “war criminals” at the launch of an annual anti-war conference.
A seven-member panel chaired by former Malaysian Federal Court judge Abdul Kadir Sulaiman presided over the trial, which began last Saturday, and both Bush and Blair were tried in absentia.
“The evidence showed that the drums of wars were being beaten long before the invasion. The accused in their own memoirs have admitted their own intention to invade Iraq regardless of international law,” it said.
The verdict is purely symbolic as the tribunal has no enforcement powers.
The tribunal is also expected to later hear torture and war crimes charges against seven others, including former U.S. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld and former Vice-President Dick Cheney.
Posted in: News, U.S., World Tags: Dick Cheney, Donald H. Rumsfeld, George W. Bush, Iraq, Iraq War, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Middle East, Tony Blair, United States, War Crimes
Rebuttal on the Article “New Requirements for Travelers to USA”
From: Tebiti Oisaboke
HE Ambassador Demob
Your apology has been accepted though its too little and too late for the damage had already been done. Once destructive messages of this nature gets in the public domain, they spread like wildfire and retracting them really doesn't help much because the US Dept of Justice through its Nrb-Kenya embassy has already got the contents of the message. It will involve lots of explanations to clarify this message which are normally painstaking. Its a good gesture though which needs to be complimented but the manner in which it was delivered was poor and unacceptable in modern day Kenya. We don't need to spill our beans in public, it hurts the poor man more than it does the elite and well to do your Excellence.
TOI
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On July 9 2011, an article, “New Requirements for Travelers to USA” written by Chris Wamalwa (in USA) appeared in the Kenya based, “The East African Standard”. The same article has been subsequently, carried on in social networks like Mwakilishi.com, Diaspora Messenger, among others. As a result, Kenyans of goodwill have written or called the Embassy, seeking clarifications on the contents of the said article.
Consequently, Kenya Embassy in Washington D.C. wishes to take the earliest opportunity to convey our sincere apologies for what appeared in the article. Under all intent and purpose, the article totally misrepresents His Excellency the Ambassador’s initial communication with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs which was to explore possible ways of briefing Kenyans wishing to travel to USA.
Having interacted with Kenyans in the USA, clearly, majority of them are doing great in many aspects (socially, economically, etc) and there is no question about that. Maybe a small fraction is grappling to make ends meet. Many, irrespective of how well they are doing, have shared their experiences about their early lives in America, citing how long it took them to settle down, if they have. On a day to day basis, the Embassy receives many concerns about some of the challenges and difficulties that some Kenyans are going through; ranging from unemployment, drug addiction, to social distress, among others. Listening keenly, it emerges that most of them did not know what to expect on coming to America.
It is on the basis that there is no sufficient information to Kenyans travelling to the USA (and other parts of the world), as students, immigrants etc, that the Kenya Embassy in Washington deemed it necessary to initiate a conversation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, on the need to provide useful information to would-be travellers in order to mitigate some of the challenges that arise when Kenyans arrive in the USA. Secondly, some orientation of Kenyans before they migrate to any parts of the world would enable government to capture requisite data that is critical for national planning, especially in the current dispensation where the government expects tangible participation of the Diaspora in national development. Indisputably, therefore, it is the responsibility of the Kenya Government to promote and protect the interests of all Kenyans abroad. And so, the goal of the Kenya Embassy in Washington is to ensure the welfare of Kenyans in the USA.
Undoubtedly, the spirit of the article in The East African Standard does not capture at all, the well intended proposition of the Embassy; that is, to adequately prepare Kenyans migrating to the US. This is highly regretted and the Embassy would like to sincerely apologize for any misunderstandings that this may have caused.
Kenya Embassy
Washington D.C.
July 12 2011
--- On Tue, 7/12/11, Tebiti Oisaboke wrote:
From: Tebiti Oisaboke
Subject: Do we need to make it any harder than already is to secure a visa from Nairobi?
Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 3:40 PM
This is not a solution Ambassador Odembo. Prior to me coming to the Western world in search of education, I attended a two day orientation organized at the American Cultural and Educational Center behind Nat'l Bank of Kenya building in the summer of 1986. This was only to enlighten us on what to expect upon arrival in the western hemisphere but didn't give us survival tactics. We had to figure them out by ourselves. Our speakers were people from the American Embassy, Nrb-Kenya, some returning Kenyans who had schooled, lived, and worked in America. All they told us was about cultural shock something which was reinforced again during my first quarter's freshman class. The more we give hints that we cannot make it in America, the more we give the Americans a leverages to tighten visa rules. Besides the economical recession is just a temporary thing and will soon go away. Its not only Kenyans who are affected, but the native/indignant American citizens too. We are trying to run away from corruption, nepotism, impunity, clanism, marginalization, insecurity, unemployment sailing way over 100%, starvation, epidemics, lack of education because all the cash donated to educate our kids by foreigners has been stolen and many many other social issues which we the commoners have to deal with on our daily lives.
When Kenyans come to America, its a last resort. If we all had economical resources, why would we come here for? What you should advice Baba Jimi's administration is to find ways to create employment, distribute the Nat'l cake equally, provide security, water, healthcare, infrastructure, to all and not just a few chosen ones. End nepotism, corruption, impunity and above all, justice to all Kenyans including those who murdered Mercy C. Keino, Sam Wamboi, Dr. Ouko etc; and you will see Kenyans not outsourcing themselves due to economical hardships.
I have just learnt that you will be touring America's south this weekend and I'm looking forward to talk more with you about this issue. I don't want to pre-empty myself right now.
Welcome
TOI
In harry
--- On Tue, 7/12/11, Kennedy Gisemba wrote:
From: Kennedy Gisemba
Subject: Do we need to make it any harder than already is to secure a visa from Nairobi?
Date: Tuesday, July 12, 2011, 12:22 PM
From the East African Standard
By Chris Wamalwa in USA
Kenyans planning to travel to USA may soon be required to prove that they have basic knowledge of how life ‘actually’ is in America before they are issued with travel visas.
Proof, to be in the form of some kind of ‘certificate of induction’ issued after attending Basic Information sessions conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will be part of a retinue of requirements that must be presented to the US Embassy in Nairobi as part of qualifying documents when one is seeking to travel to America.
Currently, one has to show proof that they are financially able to sustain their stay in the USA without becoming a ‘public charge’. For those going to study, they must present financial bank statements from their sponsors either in Kenya or in the USA.
The move that is bound to be received with mixed reactions by a public that is wary of the many complications around visa applications for traveling abroad, is being spearheaded by the Kenyan Embassy in the USA, more specifically Ambassador Elkanah Odembo.
Odembo who first proposed the requirement through a letter he sent to his Permanent Secretary in Nairobi, says the move is aimed at protecting the safety and integrity of Kenyans migrating to the USA. In the recent past, the Kenyan embassy in the DC has been inundated by calls and letters from Kenyans living in the USA seeking help for all manner of problems.
"We are seeing too much suffering on the part of some Kenyans who came to this country with scanty information about how life actually is. We think part of the solution to this problem can be tackled when someone is still in Kenya and that is why we are proposing this initiative," Odembo said in an exclusive interview with The Standard.
He says proper information for those going to America is very key in helping them prepare financially and psychologically for the life they are bound to find there.
Odembo, who was himself once a Diaspora student in the USA, said the embassy is in the process of developing a manual containing basic information about America. This will be part of the literature that will be given to those intending to travel to the USA for whatever reasons but especially for those choosing to study in America.
"When we came to America to study long time ago, this was part of the requirements. We had to prove that we knew what we were going to do in America. Of late, this is not happening," he said, adding that the manual is a necessity and will contain not just the do’s and don’ts but also basic information
about important contacts and help centers managed by the Diaspora in the USA.
Odembo said he was working closely with the newly appointed USA ambassador to Kenya, Scott Gration, whom he described as someone who is very ‘conversant’ with these issues.
If approved and implemented by the Kenya government, this will be one of the measures aimed at tackling some of the immense challenges that the Diaspora is currently facing in the face of changing fortunes for USA, following the September 11,
2001 terrorist attacks in New York and the collapse of the financial markets.
Many Kenyans living in the USA have not only lost their jobs in the recent past but also their homes and investments as a result of the economic recession.
Some of the measures aimed at checking illegal immigrants to the USA include tightening rules for foreign students.
Many foreign students can’t find jobs within the campuses and if they drop some classes to find work to supplement their upkeep, their student visas are revoked.
Frustrations arising out of this have led to increased social ills such as domestic violence, suicides and drug and alcohol abuse.
Hardest hit are those who are migrating on the lottery visa commonly known as Green Card. Many are staying for months on end and sometimes years without finding employment