Friday, September 09, 2005

DEVELOPMENT: UNDP Human Development Report: International cooperation at a crossroads


Click on the link to gain access to part of the report and the rankings at the website for the United Nations Development Programme. (The report is in PDF format and consists of 328 pages. The ranking is from pages 219 to 222).

"The Human Development Report 2005 spells out much of what is at stake in the negotiations on the draft outcome document for next week's World Summit . . . This Report shows that, with boldness and vision from all, 2005 can be the year in which the international community sets out, with the determination and resources necessary, to free millions from poverty, save millions of lives, and build a world that is freer, fairer and safer for all its inhabitants. I urge Member State to heed this timely message, and to use next week's Summit to launch us on a global effort to make this vision a reality. And I commend the ideas and analysis in this report to all citizens, civic organizations, Governments, parliaments and international bodies who are working to achieve the Millennium Development Goals." - Secretary-General Kofi Annan (09/07/2005)

DEVELOPMENT: Kenya's poverty 'not a surprise'

Kenya's poverty 'not a surprise'

It would add tremendously to this discouraging BBC story to have a Sagam response/comment! Here is the Nation's response. See the previous post, as well as this cartoon http://www.eastandard.net/cartoon.php?topic=19&img_topic=19.

Tuesday, September 06, 2005

HEALTH: OWASA considers bold initiative on water

HEALTH: OWASA considers bold initiative on water

I hope the attached will be of interest to people in the Sagam community. It is a proposal to our local water authority here in North Carolina to take a more global approach to water issues, including bottled water. If anyone in the community has any comments or reactions, I would be happy to be sure that they are communicated to the water authority.

Following the posting of this link, the Board of the water authority met (on 8 Sep 2005) and here is a preliminary summary of their action on this item:

"The Board discussed a petition regarding OWASA tap water and commercial bottled water, and directed staff to draft an action plan for informing customers about tap water and bottled water. This item will receive further discussion in an upcoming Board meeting."

Here is the story of the OWASA Board's action as reported in the local News and Observer.

I will try to keep the Sagam community posted on further developments.

Malaria: An Everyday Story Making Headlines in Nigeria

Malaria: An Everyday Story Making Headlines in Nigeria

This story about journalism training in Nigeria might have some applicaiton in Kenya. Suppose Sagam were to propose a Kisumu-based training program similar to this one that could include a day in Sagam Village as part of the program? Or some other variation on this idea.....

Sunday, September 04, 2005

DEVELOPMENT: Why my heart bleeds for Dandora

DEVELOPMENT: Why my heart bleeds for Dandora

J.M OKINDA sent this story to me from Nairobi and asked me to post it. He is part of the Sagam Village family and is attending a conference.

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[In part one of this feature, John Okinda takes you through a journey to Dandora dumpsite where he discovers the level of neglect and extent of pollution. He shares wit the fears that visitors to site harbour as they dare to explore Nairobi’s biggest and oldest dump-site.]


The mere mention of the name Dandora sends chilling cold down the spines of many people.It is a place that has been associated with freelance lifestyle, crime, idleness and all manner of lawlessness.

Our journey to this feared and dreaded part of the city begins early noon. Earlier in the day, the tour organizers had warned us of the lurking dangers associated with the dumpsite. We are warned that we need to take caution with our cameras and other gadgets. They even recount to us a case where a ‘a mkamba’ boy on a similar kind of a trip lost track in the vast dump-site and had to be rescued by a local volunteers.

Armed with these warnings and chilly media records of what goes on at Dandora, we set to explore and witness for ourselves. The journey to Dandora from Nairobi dam takes off in earnest. On our way, we come face to face with trucks loaded with garbage en route to the dump-site. The stench that fills the air provides us with a small dose of what to expect at the site.

As we enter Dandora estate, we can’t help notice groups of idle youth taking sluggish walks along the littered streets. Others are crowded in front of shops either smoking or chewing khat.

We are finally at Dandora dampsite. Instantly, life seems to come to a standstill for us. We take a while before we embark from our van. We ensure all the windows are properly shut, we can’t leave anything to chance here. By this time, we wished we had carried some form of air filters. We are literally choking from the foul emission from the site. The air is smoky and heavy.

We gather some amount of courage and venture a few meters into the dump-site as our curiosity to witness the happenings first hand. We are cautious not to venture deep into the site for security reasons. By this time, the smell of lifelessness fills the air. The expanse of the site is breathtaking.

Just twenty meters away from where I’m standing, a group of unkempt, shrunken and haggard looking men, children and women scavenge through the wastes for either food or other products.

But wait until ‘fresh’ garbage arrives. You are treated to a spectacular scene of man and animal accommodating each other as they search for food remains. There is frenzy of activity as both animals and humans try to gather as much food as they can.


At the site, you come across all manner of garbage. Mounds of waste paper, broken bottles, plastics, hospital wastes, industrial wastes, dead animals and many.

The scavengers on the other hand don’t seem to be bothered by the foul stench emitted from the garbage site. “I have lived with the smell for the last 18 years” offers Mwangi.
As we become easy with the dump-site environment, curious onlookers and idlers begin to mingle around us. From far, they look friendly though fierce. We are a bit unsettled because of the security of the expensive video cameras, still cameras, binoculars and phones we are carrying.

We nonetheless brave ourselves and engage a few scavengers on a lively discussion, with the selfish hope that they might defend us from harassment or robbery from the site roamers.

I edge closer to a woman in her mid twenties. She’s collecting green polythene bags. I greet her but she shies off before I could ask her anything. My attempt to have a chat with her bears no fruit as she suddenly dashes and disappears in the huge mound of garbage a few meters away. A scavenger then offers to tell me that the woman who had just dashed away collects polythene bags, which she sells at a nearby recycling factory. Many dumpsite residents do the same. The wastes fetch two shillings per kilo. On average, polythene scavengers take home an average of shs.100 per day.

It’s time for us to leave the dump-site. It’s been a grueling two hours of difficult interaction with the dump-site community and the surrounding. But I have learnt useful lessons and made interesting discoveries.

The most important lesson I learnt was the huge number of dump-site dependants for livelihood, both humans, wild and domestic animals. You and I may probably call for the relocation of the dump-site, but to the dump-site community, that would be wishful thinking. They were born, breed, socialized, live and depend on the dump-site for their lives. To them, ‘no dump-site, no life’.

The dump-site community rely on it for various needs. There are those who scavenge for food, regardless of its state, as long as it is food. Others come for anything recyclable-bones, plastics, paper, bottles etc. Because of its expanse, criminals have been known to use it as a hideout.

The environmental and health implications of the dump-site are enormous and goes beyond your wildest imagination. Watching little kids of four years search for food from the site makes you feel like shading tears. Scavenging the site without any protective gear expose the scavengers to various degrees of bruises and injuries from broken glass, needles and sharp metals from medical wastes. This exposure may lead to contracting of all manner of diseases and infections.

Because of low level of income, most scavengers cannot afford quality and adequate healthcare. They end up with untreated ailments, which reduce their life expectancy with a huge margin.

It’s a harsh world to live in. It’s competition for food and valuable resources. Here, the winner takes it all. The saying of ‘ the earliest bird catches the worm’ applies here. Humans fight and struggle with animals for food. It is a place nobody cares what goes on. It is as neglected and shunned by the locals the same way it is feared by the outsiders.

COMMUNICATIONS: Daystar University to unveil degree on environmental journalism


COMMUNICATIONS: Daystar University to unveil degree on environmental journalism


J.M OKINDA, part of the Sagam family, sent this story and asked me to post it for him. He is participating in the program.


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Photo: Vice Chancellor of Daystar University Professor Godfrey Ngure addressing trainees at the official launch of a workshop on environmental journalism and communication in Nairobi.

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By JOHN OKINDA

Daystar University will soon launch an undergraduate program on environmental journalism.

Addressing a group of trainees on 28th August 2005 at the opening of a workshop on environmental journalism and communication at Gracia Guest House in Nairobi's Hurligham area, the Vice Chancellor Professor Godfrey Nguru said the University's academic community was in the process of developing a training curriculum for the proposed degree program on environmental journalism.

The university currently offers an undergraduate regular program on Bachelor of Arts Communication (print and electronic media) at its Athi River Campus, 45km East of Nairobi.

Daystar, which is a Christian interdenominational university and whose programs are designed to integrate professional training and Christian faith has teamed up with the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) to offer certificate courses on environmental journalism and communication to a wide range of environmentalists, journalists, community workers, social workers and other professions.

The training workshops, which were incepted in 2003 and by now trained more than 150 people hopes to empower local journalists and environmentalists to be able to increase the content of environment in the local media. “The training workshops are meant to develop a critical mass of journalists who can write captivating stories about the environment” said Professor Nguru.

He singled out KTN’s Eco-Journal television feature documentary, as one local production on environment of it’s kind. He urged journalists to continue ‘blowing the whistle’ whenever they saw any destruction being meted onto the environment. He said Kenyans were ashamed of their city because of the level of degradation, in form of pollution, which has reached alarming proportions.

Professor Nguru also decried the rate at which the forest cover in Kenya has decimated to less than 2 percent, a level that is far way below the global standards. “We now have to import timber for telephone and electricity lines from South Africa” he said.

The workshop that was organized by the Communication Department of Daystar University runs till the 10th September 2005 with a climax being a graduation dinner for the trainees and presentation of various awards and certificates.

According to Professor Faith Nguru, the country director of Sida-Makerere Regional Training on Environmental and Communication, Kenya chapter, the trainings are offered in four other regional institutions and universities in East Africa and parts of West Africa. These institutions include Makerere University in Uganda, Saint Augustine Sauti University in Mwanza Tanzania, Burundi Press House in Burundi and the National University of Rwanda in Kigali Rwanda.

She added that the program also offers a post-graduate diploma on environmental journalism for one year at Makerere University.