Activists

I've been in Kenya working with Article 19's East and West Africa offices and it's been an eye-opening experience to see at first hand how activism is done.

Keeping up with the news in workshop breaks

The workshop group included people from Kenya, Ivory Coast, Senegal and the UK. Many were lawyers, and some were grassroots activists. It was a very lively group. Two participants, Keffa and Leonard from IDPAC, a partner of Article 19, had been displaced from their homes due to political violence at election time - in Keffa's case, 3 times in 15 years. They shared stories with us of how activists they'd trained were standing up for their rights and effectively lobbying Kenyan officials to get the compensation they are entitled to.

Nairobi graffiti lampooning corrupt officials

There was some discussion of the upcoming trial of the Kenyan officials who are accused of deliberately organising the political violence and who are to be tried by the International Criminal Court in the Hague. Article 19's work is closely linked to major political issues and their work is always at risk of being derailed by new violence.

Andrew with Khadi and Bruno of the Senegal office

Even more immediate, one of the participants, Andrew Smith was tweeting and emailing his MP during the workshop and managed to get onto Politics Home, several national newspapers, the Huffington Post and interviewed on Shropshire Radio during the lunch break! Andrew had pushed his MP, a government Minister, to state his views on gay marriage (anti) - this had stirred up a storm in London since the government is officially in favour. And all while Andrew was apparently fully engaged in a workshop on project management in Nairobi! You can read his version of events and more on his views here.

It was a revelation to me how much can be done by the power of social media by just one committed person, asking a basic question of his elected representative: where do you stand?

Day out in Kenya

Khadi, Andrew, Bruno

Six days in Kenya, 5 of them working hard - and a couple of afternoons exploring.

You don't even have to go to an 'attraction', just walking around is interesting. But I was lucky to have three companions: Andrew (UK), Bruno (Cote d'Ivoire) and Khadi (Senegal). Our taxi driver, Jack, overcame our skepticism and convinced us that the Giraffe sanctuary and the Wildlife Park were good destinations. We had some doubts as we sat in traffic for the best part of an hour (you do that going anywhere in Nairobi), but even sitting there we had fun, squashed into the back seat of his car eating our picnic lunch from the hotel.

Dr Karim, witch doctor,  sorts it all out

Bruno feeding giraffe

Picnic box contents: water, juice, yoghurt, orange, pineapple, sandwich, piping hot roast chicken leg dripping in delicious gravy, bun, cheese, crackers.. and probably other things I've forgotten.

Jack regaled us with stories of his long-distance lorry driving across East and Central Africa - Somalia, Malawi, Rwanda, Uganda, Tanzania, South Sudan... in South Sudan he was taken hostage for 2 months by kidnappers extorting money from his boss. There were about 8 trucks and drivers taken - they didn't bother to lock them up, just didn't give them much food, and kept them in the middle of nowhere. His boss finally paid a ransom to free them (and the trucks, obviously).

Tree top walkway

We talked about Khadi's time in Paris, about Bruno growing up in a village hunting wild pig and trapping small animals with his father, and Andrew's experiences at Kings (Cambridge) and as an activist.  We fed pellets to the giraffes, saw strange birds, felt sorry for a captive rhino, laughed at the ostrich, and wandered along a deserted tree-top walkway looking for lions and cheetahs hidden in the underbrush below us.

Leopard

As it grew dark we were propositioned by a park ranger who suggested he could let us into the cheetah cage, but we decided against that, and headed back to the traffic jams and, in my case, a long evening at the airport.

Girls' school bus in a jam - motto "Yes we can!" on the back

Flooding around Cambridge

The Cam surging through the sluice at the Mill Pond

Grantchester Meadows (Newnham end) under water

   It feels like a Biblical Flood! Forty days and forty nights it's been raining - at least. I've never seen it so wet: this part of the country is usually very dry, and it is rare to get wet riding a bike round town (which we do every day). But this month has been different. Even Mariam has worn a raincoat to school and that's unheard of.

The river is really high and flowing very fast  - but that does happen regularly after heavy rain.

What is more unusual is the flooding on the Meadows. The river burst it's banks and flooded most of the lower lying fields on the path to Grantchester, as well as the fen just on the edge of town by the Mill Pond. We forget that they are not just there for our pleasure and so we can admire the cow parsley in flower. These fields and green spaces are also there as a flood plain. A hundred years ago, the fields flooding was a common occurrence which made 'fen skating' possible in freezing weather. 

High water near Byron's Pool

There was a flock of over 40 pink footed geese on the flooded meadows, dabbling happily in the muddy grass. Up at Byron's Pool the weir was under water, and the river had risen to cover many of the new wooden platforms and steps built recently for the reserve.

Coe Fen under water (doing its job as a flood plain)

Rare ray of light on the river at 'Dead man's corner'