Category Archives: Kenya

Kenya calls for help in fight against rising sexual abuse by foreigners

Posted on by

Anti-trafficking organisations say widespread trust in white outsiders makes children an easy target for abusers from the west

Child protection organisations in Kenya say more needs to be done to protect young people from exploitation by overseas perpetrators, as the country reports a rising number of abuse cases.

The warning follows the arrest of Gregory Dow, a 61-year-old missionary, who last month pleaded guilty in a US court to sexually abusing girls at an orphanage he ran in Kenya.

Continue reading...

Balcony churches: Kenyans find new ways to worship in lockdown

Posted on by

With no date set for religious buildings to reopen, an innovative priest brings his own brand of musical service to apartment complexes

The children hang over the balcony railings on Sunday morning, parents clutching on to their coat collars to keep them from tumbling over. In the parking lot below, a four-person band test microphones and practise harmonies.

A moment later, the group break into an upbeat chorus, filling the Mirema apartment complex in Nairobi with music: “I’m happy today, so happy. In Jesus’s name, I’m happy.”

Continue reading...

‘My land is now owned by lions’: Maasai farmers offer Kenya’s wildlife a lifeline

Posted on by

Kenya has lost 70% of its wildlife in 30 years, but conservancy schemes could halt the decline – and benefit local communities

Parsaloi Kupai’s home, situated on the edge of Ol Kinyei conservancy near the Maasai Mara game reserve, is no different from any other Maasai homestead – oval-shaped huts with an almost flat roof and walls plastered with a mixture of water, mud and cow dung. At the centre of the homestead is a cattle boma, an enclosure where his livestock spends the night, safe from the many predators that roam the area.

Kupai, 47, and his two wives chose to live here after they surrendered 69 hectares (170 acres) of land to the 7,500-hectare conservancy. He is among 240 landowners who gave up their highly valued grazing land for the project.

Continue reading...

Boris Johnson says we shouldn’t edit our past. But Britain has been lying about it for decades | George Monbiot

Posted on by

If we really shouldn’t lie about our history, as the prime minister says, let’s finally open up about the atrocities of empire

When Boris Johnson claimed last week that removing statues is “to lie about our history”, you could almost admire his brass neck. This is the man who was sacked from his first job, on the Times, for lying about our history. He fabricated a quote from his own godfather, the historian Colin Lucas, to create a sensational front-page fiction about Edward II’s Rose Palace. A further lie about history – his own history – had him sacked from another job, as shadow arts minister under the Conservative leader Michael Howard.

But, Johnson tells us: “We cannot now try to edit or censor our past. We cannot pretend to have a different history”. Yet lies and erasures are crucial to the myths on which Britain’s official self-image is founded, and crucial to hiding the means by which those who still dominate us acquired their wealth and power.

Continue reading...

Why coronavirus has placed millions more girls at risk of FGM

Posted on by

As lockdowns linger and economies falter, girls who are out of school are at increased risk of being cut

Covid-19 has exposed just how much work remains to be done to wipe out female genital mutilation (FGM) around the world. Two million girls who would otherwise be safe from the practice are believed to be at risk over the next decade as a direct result of the virus.

As lockdowns linger and economies tumble, many families have been spurred into action over the fate of their daughters, using school closures to cut them and marry them off, campaigners say.

Continue reading...

‘They have killed us more than corona’: Kenyans protest against police brutality

Posted on by

Peaceful demonstration in Nairobi a response to increase in violence and killings during the coronavirus curfew

Photographs by Ed Ram

A crowd of up to 200 people peacefully marched through Mathare slum in Nairobi on Monday to protest against police brutality and an increase in extrajudicial killings in the Kenyan capital.

The march was organised by three grassroots organisations from the area in response to a rise in the number of police killings since a dusk-till-dawn curfew was enforced in March to mitigate the spread of Covid-19. It was also organised to show solidarity with movements worldwide to protest against police brutality. 

Continue reading...

‘Rolling emergency’ of locust swarms decimating Africa, Asia and Middle East

Posted on by

Unseasonal rains have allowed desert pests to breed rapidly and spread across vast distances leaving devastation in their wake

Locust swarms threaten a “rolling emergency” that could endanger harvests and food security across parts of Africa and Asia for the rest of the year, experts warn.

An initial infestation of locusts in December was expected to die out during the current dry season. But unseasonal rains have allowed several generations of locust to breed, resulting in new swarms forming.

Continue reading...

‘The water will come back’: why Kenya’s struggle against flooding is far from over

Posted on by

Record-breaking rainfall has devastated communities – and with thousands displaced and more rain predicted the picture is bleak

Using a short piece of nylon line with a hook at one end and a long thin stick on the other, a mechanic and a nightclub doorman have only caught one small fish all day.

“I’ve never been a fisherman before,” says Erick Ochieng on the edge of a flooded creek in the port city of Kisumu on the banks of Lake Victoria. “I used to work as a bouncer but nightclubs have closed. Sometimes my family sleeps without eating.”

Continue reading...

From Kenya to Bangladesh mask-making has become a thriving cottage industry

Posted on by

Charities, NGOs and garment factories are adapting to provide protective gear, generating income and keeping communities safe

From crowded informal settlements to conservation areas teeming with wildlife, cottage industries have popped up around the globe producing and distributing face masks for frontline workers, taxi drivers, market sellers and more. Usually comprised of two fabric layers with a disposable filter, mask-making enterprises are stoking local economies and helping communities.

In Bangladesh, where there have been over 25,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, shopping malls are once again open, and garment factories – which provide 84% of the country’s total exports – have resumed operations despite worker claims that mask-wearing and social distancing are not enforced.

Continue reading...

Kenya’s pastoralists face hunger and conflict as locust plague continues

Posted on by

As herds are devastated and crops destroyed across east Africa, there are fears of violence as competition for grazing increases

Tiampati Leletit had heard tales of massive desert locust swarms darkening Kenya’s horizon. But when they hit his farm the devastation was all too real. They ate everything.

“I have never seen anything like this. When the swarms of locust invaded, they consumed everything and all the vegetation was gone. The livestock had nothing to eat,” says the 32-year-old. In January, he had 80 goats. Today he has four.

Continue reading...

Fighting a locust plague amid Covid-19 in east Africa – video

Posted on by

The recent coronavirus pandemic is only exacerbating the problems currently facing herders, also known as pastoralists, in Kenya. They’ve seen their livestock devastated and crops destroyed after the worst locust invasions in 70 years and vlllagers are bracing themselves for another swarm, 400 times larger if left unchecked.  With less vegetation for grazing, herders can sometimes infringe on neighbours land, causing violent conflict.

We follow Josephine Ekiru, a peace-builder, who is trying to help as economic insecurity caused by the pandemic fuels attacks

Continue reading...

The coronavirus murals trying to keep Kenya’s slums safe – video

Posted on by

A street artist called Msale has taken it upon himself to create giant murals bringing public health messages directly to the overcrowded Mathare slum in Nairobi. With half a million people living in such 'a squeezed area'  social distancing is quite impossible to achieve, says Msale, so he is providing information for people on how to keep safe in the 'simplest, clearest' way he knows

Continue reading...

Kenyan police officer charged with murder of former Leeds student

Posted on by

Emmanuel Ambunya Oyombe pleads not guilty over fatal shooting of Carilton Maina in Nairobi in December 2018

A Kenyan police officer has appeared before a Nairobi court charged with the murder of 23-year-old Carilton Maina, a former Leeds University student, who was shot dead in December 2018.

The charging of police constable Emmanuel Ambunya Oyombe marks a significant milestone in the Kenyan government’s commitment to tackling its issue with questionable police shootings, and to speeding up its justice process in bringing those accused to trial.

Continue reading...

‘Will we die of hunger?’: how Covid-19 lockdowns imperil street children

Posted on by

For millions of young people, coronavirus restrictions have made access to food, water and shelter even more precarious

Timothy, a teenager on the streets of Mombasa, wonders how he will eat. “Rich people can stay home … because they have a store well stocked with food,” he says. “For a survivor on the street your store is your stomach.”

However, says another, if the rumours are true and street children are arrested in the city during the Covid-19 crisis, he’d be happy to go to Shimo women’s prison, because there “you are sure to get free food, shelter and medical services”.

Continue reading...

Kenya is mobilising against coronavirus – but like the rest of Africa we need help | Kennedy Odede

Posted on by

Homegrown efforts are boosting preparedness, but they need to be strengthened before the pandemic gathers force

When Covid-19 hits Africa, will we be ready? This was a distant thought just one month ago. Now, as cases climb, we are braced for impact.

As the crisis deepens in the world’s largest economies, taking up most of the media bandwidth, Africa hardly makes the headlines. In international news outlets, the idea of crisis in Africa is met with resignation, not outrage. It is almost as if the media perceives crisis as the status quo in Africa, something expected. Unavoidable.

Continue reading...

‘Shoot them dead’: extreme Covid-19 lockdown policing around the world – video report

Posted on by

As coronavirus lockdowns have been expanded globally, billions of people have found that they are now faced with unprecedented restrictions. We look at some of the extreme strategies governments are using to police their citizens – from teargas and death threats to beatings and chemicals

Continue reading...

Teargas, beatings and bleach: the most extreme Covid-19 lockdown controls around the world

Posted on by

Violence and humiliation used to police coronavirus curfews around globe, often affecting the poorest and more vulnerable

As coronavirus lockdowns have been expanded globally, billions of people have found that they are now faced with unprecedented restrictions. Police across the world have been given licence to control behaviour in a way that would normally be extreme even for an authoritarian state.

Related: ‘We can’t go back to normal’: how will coronavirus change the world?

Continue reading...

‘We fear, but have to work’: isolation not an option for the poor of Nairobi

Posted on by

As coronavirus arrives in Kenya, retreat behind closed doors is only an alternative for those who can afford it

All photographs by Duncan Moore

Benson Kinyale is a security guard who works the door at a luxury apartment complex in the Parklands neighbourhood of Nairobi. While residents of the building have started to hoard supplies and stay at home because of Covid-19, he continues to make the 80km commute by bus from his home outside the city, six days a week.

He knows standing outside and opening doors all day is now a high-risk activity, as is travelling on a crowded matatu minibus almost every day. But he has little choice.

Continue reading...

Fish ponds and water harvesting: climate-smart farming comes to Kenya

Posted on by

Unable to rely on the catch from Lake Victoria, locals are finding success with new and sustainable agriculture methods

It might not be clear why a fish pond project should take root in a region surrounding the great Lake Victoria. After all, as the second largest freshwater lake in the world, it should be able to support the fish and the people that depend on its resources.

But the fact that fish farming is fast expanding here highlights a worrying trend – that the fish population in Lake Victoria has been in steady decline and the quality of what is being caught has been going down too, jeopardising the livelihoods of millions.

Continue reading...