Not yet alien

I had a somewhat frustrating time in Nairobi this morning and am, as yet, not yet fully an alien in Kenya. My registration card still isn’t ready. Even if it had been I would still have had a frustrating morning because of a paper work issue. In keeping with my positivity policy (outlined in yesterday’s blog) I will not dwell on the downside of the situation. The guy who issues the cards was very apologetic about the problem and said that he wished the process could be made more flexible.

I was able to make it to Kisumu this afternoon and am writing from St Anna’s guest house (a previously advertised establishment). I’ll be travelling to Kosele first thing tomorrow.

It’s been a fairly slow news day from my point of view today so I thought I would share a couple of snippets from The Standard, one of the national daily newspapers. This might take some time as there is a power outage locally following some recent work on an electricity pylon and the generator that the guest house is using keeps tripping in and out.

Snippet one is about a fairly common occurrence in Kenya and a cautionary tale for any would be thieves. This is from the Quick Point section of the paper.

The headline reads “Gucha Suspect burglar lynched. A suspected burglar was lynched by the public in Ogembo town, Kisii county, while two of his accomplices escaped narrowly. (Kisii is a town about 45 minutes drive from our place). The suspect had allegedly broken into a house belonging to a policeman in Ogembo town and stolen eight chicken, sugar and bulbs. The officer is said to have woken up the following morning only to find the poultry missing. Residents later recovered the chicken from the suspect’s house before setting him ablaze. Gucha OCPD (Officer Commanding Police Department) warned Gucha residents against taking the law into their hand.”

The second snippet is a spelling mistake that is probably an accurate reflection of the current graduate employment crisis that the world seems to be facing.

The headline reads “Coffee fund unveils new employment initiative for youth………..The idea entails establishing coffee shops in major urban centres. This will assist in expanding the local labour force market by targeting young people to work in the outlets. ………. The various jobs to be created in the coffee shops include coffee barristers who prepare and serve espresso based coffee drinks.”

If these young people can get away with charging the same hourly rate as lawyers they should be set up for life!