Shiko-Msa

Ok, so Zuqka has graced our blog with a mention in their pull out magazine in the Daily Nation and I quote: Wanjiku reckons that if ever there are to be oscars for the dandiest things then one should be spared for a secondary school in Kericho. Category? Highest number of un-wanted pregnancy hits. “Out of 25 girls who joined Form One this year, 24 are pregnant”, she blogs.

I get the feeling that she writes about everything under the sun that scorches her. In her Banks Behaving Badly blog, you’ll know that she clearly has a lot of distaste for ‘this bank that clears pavements whenever their manager is going into the bank…” As she points out, the banking street (Kimathi Street) has episodes when security guards cordon off busy pavements. What bugs her most seems to be this particular bank that forces pedestrians to either wait or walk on the road until the manager is safely in the bank – every working morning. She’s got lots of advise for these managers and their egotistic security guards on her blog.

Thanks Njeri Kihang’ah.

When did you last use a Kenyan 50 Cent coin? Nay, when did you last see a Kenyan 50 Cent coin? Chances are not any time in the recent past. Like the 5 Cents, 10 cents and many other denominations of coins before it, the little coin is fast getting edged out of use. Only this one is not being officially taken off circulation by the Central Bank but by market forces.

According to the Central Bank, the 50 cent coin is still legal tender which every Kenyan is obliged to accept and use if given. But the situation on the ground is quite different. It’s use has all but ground to a halt. From small scale vegetable vendors to shopkeepers, nobody wants anything to do with the coin that just a few years back could mean the difference between affording or not affording something. Some time back there were numerous complaints by Tusky’s customers that the supermarket was issuing too many worthless 50 Cent coins as change. The customers in turn have nowhere to take them. I guess that was before they (Tuskys) discovered sweets.

When many of us were growing up, there was such a thing as 10 cents. The big copper coin that could get you 2 sweets each costing 5 cents. Then there was the smaller 5 cent coin which even big retail shops and supermarkets incorporated in their pricing. You could get an item for say Kshs. 29.95 or Kshs. 39.15. Not any more. For current generations that sounds like ancient history.

It’s not by choice that people are shunning the little coin. It’s the cost of living that is rising by the day. The shilling still has some life although it is not as important as it was in yesteryears. That’s how come somebody can sell something worth 99 bob and not bother to give you a bob. And you don’t bother to follow it either.

I’ve come to realize that Ethiopian Cuisine has quite a following locally. The first time I sampled Injera, it was at a Food Court along Mama Ngina Drive Mombasa. It was a bad experience to say the least. I’ve since concluded that that was just another restaurant masquerading as Ethiopian. Only the Injera was fully Ethiopian and even then it was awful, a fact I only came to realize after having what I’d call reall Ethiopian food a few weeks later at Injera Habasha, a restaurant along Moi Avenue Mombasa. This time round the food was just superb and I got to appreciate why it is  so loved.

Language Barrier:

The manageress/head waitress, infact all the staff members we dealt with, mostly spoke halting English and Swahili. Needless to say, we count not speak a word of Amharic. But order we did. The pictures on the menu said it all. In any case, we already knew we wanted the big Injera with the many attendant sauces on top, and steam in your ears chilli.

Courtesy:

Mombasa is generally a courteous place but at Injera Habasha they beat us hands down. Every few bites and someone was on hand, first to find out whether we were okay and second to serve even more Injera. Of course we were Ok. Just 2 Injera bites away we assured you we were good. Other than enjoying the food thoroughly, nothing else has happened since.

All in all a visit to this particular restaurant is always a good experience.

Ever wondered what bloggers do in their other lives?

Meet Our Kid. When he’s not doing his day job or spreading craziness on blogosphere, he’s running OUR KID FOUNDATION, a charitable trust formed with the intent of nurturing friendships among kids and bringing communities together through them and their parents.

According to the organization’s website, the Foundation was formed with the intent to use the world’s most popular sport, football, among young members of the community to develop solid friendships and enhance peace in their neighbourhoods irrespective of the various social, religious and ethnic backgrounds. The organization has a membership of over 150 kids who play organized soccer under a qualified coach.

I stumbled upon this information almost by accident when I needed Our Kid to run an errand for me in Nairobi and he informed me that at that time he was engaged in football training. To say I was pleasantly surprised to learn of the organization is an understatement.

Says Our Kid, ‘the idea was born when I had gone to Kibera with what one may consider a privileged kid whom I mentor and he saw some kids playing football. The boy asked me if he could join them and I allowed him to. After he was done playing, he suggested that we help out his new friends who didn’t even have football boots or proper balls’.

The rest as they say is history.

‘There was overwhelming interest by the kids and now we have 150 members who have completed registration and more have applied. We have a few volunteers who man the small office we opened. Having seen the kind of work that they have been able to do, it is quite impressive and I’m certain that this organization is going places’.

In summary,

• The kids are mentored by speakers who visit the training grounds or join in tours to talk to them.

• All kids maintain a journal and can write about anything though sometimes they get written assignments

• They have taken part in football tournaments and visited parts of Nairobi that most underprivileged kids only hear of, despite the fact that they are from Nairobi.

Change in the kids is noticeable and this is what one parent had to say during an Open Day, ‘when your son says he wants to help out in the chores because he appreciates the things you do for him, that counts for something. Who would have imagined that joining a football club would make him do that’!

Our Kid is philosophical about it, ‘I may not change the world’, he says, ‘but if I can get to make over 150 of our kids happy knowing that they have an opportunity to do what they love – which is playing football, then that makes me happy’.

True he may not change the world, but some of the kids are changing and it shows.

Well well. The guy is not so crazy after all.