Click the photo above for a larger image.
Seriously. Do it. Then come back.

Remember when I said I needed supplies? Well, I sent out a little email with a list about 2 weeks ago. Yesterday, after packing just half of the donations received along with my own supplies, I nearly toppled over trying to lift my bag. How am I going to sling this thing on a bus when I leave Accra?? Just hours after asking myself this question, I received a check in the mail that would afford a second rolling duffle to redistribute the weight and cover the extra airline fee. Can you believe it? The universe has finally aligned in the name of a greater good! (Sounds nice, right? Just don’t ask how it has so thoroughly screwed up my vaccination schedule.)

Today, when lunching with a friend who added to the collection, I was overcome with emotion at the outpouring of support from so many people. Yeah, I got all teary eyed and forced myself to breathe before I had a public meltdown. I’m SUCH a baby. But really, this list is incredible… If only you could see it all in person!

School Supplies

5 Webster’s International Dictionary Notebooks
700 sheets loose leaf paper
12  72 page writing pads
672 pencils
35 pencil sharpeners
20 pencil-top erasers
184 pens
24  assorted highlighters
24 rulers
48 name tags
1 solar calculator
40 chalk sticks
1 bag sidewalk and board chalk
1 booklet of reward stickers

Books

TopReaders Stage 1 : Wild Places
TopReaders Stage 1 : Wild Plants
TopReaders Stage 2 : Jungle Life
TopReaders Stage 2 : Things with Wings
TopReaders Stage 3 : Earth’s Surface
TopReaders Stage 3 : Lizards
Magic Tree House Series #6: Afternoon on the Amazon
Magic Tree House Series #26: Good Morning, Gorillas
Flash Cards: Numbers
Flash Cards: Sight Words
Flash Cards: Alphabet Fun
Flash Cards: Addition
The Little Ballerinas
Learning to Read with Clifford
1 Oxford Dictionary/Thesaurus
1 Eats, Shoots and Leaves (English Grammar Guide)

round two of incoming donations

Puzzles and Games

Alphabet wooden puzzle
Jungle Animals wooden puzzle
Sea creatures wooden puzzle
Noah’s Arc wooden puzzle
Madeline puzzle
Kittens puzzle
Totally Horses 6 different Jigsaws Book
Nemo Memory Game
2 decks of cards
2 Pick Up Sticks
1 Connect Four (travel size)

Craft Supplies

600 sheets assorted 12 x 12 colored craft paper
200 sheets assorted 4 x 6 colored card stock
3 boxes colored pencils
1 bag lightly loved colored pencils
13 child scissors
6  Scotch tape rolls
24  glue sticks
1 box of 3,000 1 x 1 colored craft paper squares
3 boxes of 64 Crayolas w/ sharpeners
50 lightly loved crayons

round three

Medical Supplies

2 medical kits
60 Non-latex exam gloves
2 digital thermometers
300 thermometer tip covers
750 count Ibuprofen tablets
150 count Ibuprofen
2 Ibuprofen ages 2-11 (4 oz.)
2 allergy liquid ages 2-11 (4 oz.)
3 children’s pain reliever ages 2-11 (4 oz.)
2 infant Ibuprofen (1 oz.)
2 infant Tylenol (1 oz.)
2 Neosporin + Pain Relief (,5 oz.)
2 Benadryl Cream (10 oz.)
2 Bacitracin (1 oz.)
1 antibiotic ointment (1 oz.)
100 Benadryl Antihistamine Tablets
1 Vaseline (20 oz. for treating scabies)
1 bottle calamine lotion (12 oz.)
1 Aloe Vera (12 oz.)
20 Pepto tablets
1 box Imodium tablets
1 Vaseline (20 oz. for treating scabies)
1 bottle calamine lotion (12 oz.)
1 bottle hand sanitizer (12 oz.)
100 Centrum Chewable Multivitamins
2 Vitamin C 500 mg 250 tablets
2 Vitamin C 500 mg 60 chewable tablets
325 assorted bandages
1 First Aid tape
1 medicated body powder (10. oz.)

Dental Supplies

48 Adult toothbrushes
12 children’s toothbrushes w/ caps
72 Colgate trial size toothpaste (.75 oz.)
8 Crest toothpaste (6.4 oz.)
1 Colgate Toothpaste (6.4 oz.)
4 mint wax dental floss
1 Listerine to sterilize toothbrushes

Miscellaneous

12 mini mag flashlights (AA batteries, extra bulbs and belt holsters included)
1 small bottle bleach to sterilize bath water
2.5 gallon solar shower
2 small sewing kits
9 emery boards
10 nail clippers
Cash donations to cover overweight baggage fee

1 giant rolling duffle (in addition to my own) to transport all supplies - The new bag will be donated to village to transport clinic, school or library items by foot.

Teaching wardrobe: the required skirts, blouses and dresses
which will be donated to village women and young girls when I leave

THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!
THANK YOU!

My infinite gratitude goes out to all the amazing folks who helped create this list so far:

My darling husband, Tim, for all those long hours he’s worked to pay for my airfare, village fee, vaccinations, gear and supplies
Peg, Phil, PJ, Andrew and Nick
Rich and the winged things
Andrea, Dirk, Sidney and Lindsay
Jeanne, Diane and the rest of the bunch
Mo, Dan, Kaitlyn and Jenna
Nan and Tono
Frank and Melanie
Cliff and Suzie
Erin and Roger
Philip, Aleida and Theophilus
Bob, Nina and Ilana (Your note was much appreciated!)
Dawn, Philip and Nathan
Lisa, Thomas, Mina and Bela
Michael and Lauryn
Catherine and her dentist

More to Come

More is on the way, but I’m asking for a cut-off for new supplies. Aside from having reached the Airline’s weight threshold fee for at least one of the bags, I don’t need a new 9 volt battery and the bathroom scale to know that I’ve certainly exceeded my personal strength threshold. With two giant L.L. Bean duffels and a back pack, I can carry no more - even with wheels. What’s that? You say you didn’t get to partake in time? Hark! Do not fret!

You Can Still Help

If you would still like to participate, please send further donations to Village Volunteers and ask to support EDYM, the NGO that is hosting my stay. Village Volunteers will absorb the cost of wiring the funds and 100% will go toward the project you designate. Your gift is tax deductible and the Federal Tax ID is at the Village Volunteers link above.

Again, Gracias… mucho.
(Sorry. I can’t speak much Ewe yet.)

Although she can’t read this yet, thanks also to Linda for blogging about her departure for Kenya a week before my own trip. I’ve picked up some great tips from the queen of sorting and packing donations. She has also posed some interesting questions about donating culturally appropriate reading materials that I have kept in mind while purchasing my own.

Linda is the first Village Volunteer to resume the program in Kenya after the post-election violence, and she is such a fabulous person to be making the maiden voyage. She spent 2 weeks there last summer teaching the girls at the Pirrar School and the past few months sharing her stories, political concerns and news of villagers with me. One day, Linda, we will have to actually meet.

When I first planned to travel to Kenya, I knew what my lodgings looked like, what language was spoken, what weather to expect and what my mission was. I had spent about 8 months doing research on the culture and political climate by reading every blog and book I could find and sitting in on an African Lit class.

Switching gears so quickly after Kenya’s outbreak of post-election violence, I had little lead time to research Ghana well. I didn’t even know the name of the village I would reside in until my invoice came three weeks ago. It’s absolutely my own fault. I had been so distracted by finals, graduation, time sensitive home improvement projects and family responsibilities that I failed to address what this shift in plans meant. It was time to get a serious move on.

The Environmental Development Youth Movement, listed as recipient of my village fee, is a sustainable organic farm in Have, Ghana. Curious, I visited the website to read about the wonderful work they do. The mission statement alone says a great deal:

To mobilize, and train the youth in rural development to conserve natural resources through sustainable agricultural practices and reforestation programs

This sounds fantastic, certainly something I’ve been interested in from the get-go, but it also seemed a bit strange. I had mainly intended to implement my ideas for the Memory Box Project, helping parents and their children to create, save and share special moments and memories before being divided by the terminal stages of HIV/AIDS. Would I be able to continue this project in Ghana?

Asking Shana Greene, the Executive Director of Village Volunteers, whether I was still on task for my original plan, I received this reply:

AIDS does not have the same impact in Ghana. In Kenya, people are identified and in groups so it’s easy to find people to interview. If someone is HIV+ in Ghana there isn’t the same support system because there are many fewer cases. The project is geared to mothers who will most likely die before their child grows up. It’s a small village so I doubt this would be a project there unless perhaps Paul can think of someone. Bring it along and perhaps you can talk to someone at the clinic but I have doubts…

I’m certainly sad that I won’t be doing what I had been planning for months, but I’ll adjust. The question then becomes, what will I be doing for four weeks in a foreign country with no alternate plan?

I spent some time on the phone with Shana learning about Have’s ongoing village projects. EDYM will likely be harvesting, which I am welcome to help with, and the newly renovated library requires books to be filed according to the Dewey Decimal System. There is also a local school which affords me the opportunity to teach.

How I decided to teach, I will never know. I jumped at an opportunity to do the one thing that scares the beans out of me. I get sick when public speaking, I have never taken a single education class, nor have I ever led any youth groups on my own. Sure, I have often been a student which might lead one to believe I can teach but would it be wise, for example, for a person who has been sued to practice law? I think not. In fact, was I thinking at all??

Of course, I knew that teaching was the one thing that would have a lasting impact and be most valuable over the long haul. Still, once Shana and I hung up, I freaked out. I felt like I had to know everything. (Trust me. I am fully aware that I do not.) I had more questions than answers and, in an attempt to find concrete ideas, I pored over the Village Volunteers guidlines to leadership training. I then cheated and searched though the Peace Corps documents and teaching aids. Nothing and everything seemed appropriate.

Overwhelmed, I took a break to watch the short online film THEY COME IN THE NAME OF HELPING by Peter S. Brock, a Skidmore College student. Peter’s message stems from a quest for an alternative perspective:  

I traveled to Sierra Leone, the world’s second poorest country according to the UN development index, and began to ask young students about the effectiveness of foreign development programs. As I had expected, the opinions I heard differed substantially from the hopeful and often self-glorifying accounts given by NGO reports and UN documentaries. These are their stories.

The majority of interviewees commented on the fact that they can identify the problems within their own culture and don’t need outsiders limiting the ways in which they spend financial support. Amen, Brother. I can’t tell you how much this has reinforced what I already know (until I suffered from amnesia as a result of my anxiety).

What is it about the term “teacher” that places so much weight on having all the answers?  I could never have enough answers to fix Have’s problems. Who am I to judge what is and is not a problem anyway? What I can do, and probably do well, is teach my students to analyze their own situations and come up with culturally viable solutions deemed appropriate from within. But of course, this has been the answer all along (and one I often argue pro-actively and with a vengeance). This was why I aligned myself with Village Volunteers and their similar philosophy to begin with.

So, now that I’ve sorted that out for myself, what on Earth am I going to use for lesson plans? I’m going to need some supplies…

It has been an overwhelming two months with final papers, graduation, the never ending basement reconstruction and family responsibilities galore. Through it all, I have been scrambling in preparation for my trip to Ghana, a rush that began on May 23rd with the following introduction from Florinda at Village Volunteers:

Please help me welcome Kim Clune to Village Volunteers International Organization.

We should all be honored that Kim has chosen to volunteer with Village Volunteers and be a part of your village family. We know the camaraderie and friendships that develop between community leaders, villagers and volunteers will enrich all of our lives and keep us all connected for years to come…

Kim is a writer/photographer with a passion for genealogy. Kim has traveled the world as an international flight attendant. From a young age, Kim had the desire to join the Peace Corps but her family strongly dissuaded her. When she first read about the Village Volunteers memory box project, her heart fluttered.

Kim knows the joy and healing that can be experienced through remembering (having healed rifts and mended false perceptions in her own family through a genealogical photo preservation project). Kim would like to help empower young girls by allowing them to see their own self worth and potential, allowing each child to realize together that they hold the power to change their lives. Spending a great deal of time in her own garden with no fear of getting her hands dirty, Kim’s interest in learning environmentally sound/organic farming, water preservation and solar technologies is strong. Homeopathy is something she knows little about but has a desire to assist with.

PLEASE NOTE: Kim is a vegetarian

Next came a letter on May 24th from Paul Kpai, director of the Environmental Development Youth Movement in Have, Ghana where I’ll be staying.

Hey Kim,

you are warmly welcome to Ghana. I promise you that, every minute of your time will be enjoyed and you will come to realise that your time of stay is rather short and you will begin to think of extending it.

Be ready to hike the mountain, visit the volta lake and if you desire, paddle the canoe yourself. You would also be told a story of the people of Have and dance to the tune of Borborbor a popular local dance. About the farm, my only worry is the number of blisters that might come up your palm. But don’t worry we would take good care of you .

Clear your mind and feel very very free since you have made the right choice to come and volunteer your time with EDYM. You are once again WELCOME !

Paul.

On May 27th, I received another letter:

Hi,

My name is Gunadiish, the In-Country Coordinator for Village Volunteers and your weekends tour guide whilst in Ghana. May I welcome you to the culture and the village programs in Ghana. I have read your itinerary very well and think everything is perfect for us, as they sound very well. I want to assure you that there is a wonderful experience awaiting you here in Ghana and that the people that you’ll be working with in the villages are accommodating and will assist you achieve your aim here in Ghana. When you are in the village, we welcome your initiatives, contributions, advice, criticisms and innovations as a great step for us towards providing you, and the others after you, with a memorable experience during your village volunteering. Same also applies to the organized tours. Do not hesitate to let us know if you have any problems at the village. I will do my best to make sure it is resolved whilst you are still available with us…

Can’t wait to meet you at the airport.

Peace to You.
Gunadiish

Having been away on a family cruise with no email access, I wrote back as quickly as I could. I told Paul I’ll be glad to pack my hiking AND dancing shoes. I also forwarded Gunadiish a photo in order to identify me at the airport. In response, he said, “Your picture is very nice with your cheesy smile. :)” Shana told me that these guys were characters. I can’t wait to meet them in person. This is going to be an amazing journey!!

I have just received the following story from Kevin Sudi, the volunteer coordinator at Kenya’s Common Ground Program. Kevin asks that anyone willing to repost this article will do so freely.

IN NEED OF HUMANITY

At the base of the majestic Parc de Volcanes mountain in the north-western part of Rwanda, in the town of Musanze, is a household headed by 19 year-old Aisha. She always has a smile on her face but a talk with her provides a glimpse to a life that would be near-impossible for some of us to even fathom.

I was introduced to Aisha and her siblings by Mr. Elie Nduwayesu, a modest man with a big dream for the poor children of Musanze.

This is Aisha’s story:

“My siblings and I lived with our parents up to 2004, when my father passed away. My mother later confided in me since I was the eldest, that my father had died of the disease called HIV/AIDS. She asked me not to tell my siblings so as not to cause them any discouragement and worry. Later in 2005, my mother too succumbed to the same disease. It is then that I became the provided for my four siblings, who, by then, were aged 13, 11, 9 and 7.”

Aisha looks pensive as she talks of her family, as though it is a distant memory that she has to delve deep to retrieve. She speaks in Kinyarwanda as she is most comfortable with the only language she knows.

“After my parents’ died, I left school in class 5 to fend for my siblings. It was really difficult and my younger sister, Sophia, also was pushed out of school to help support the family.”

 

Kevin with Aisha during the interview. In the background is the structure that Aisha, her siblings and her 4 month old Blessing have lived since birth

The three other children go to school since primary education is free in Rwanda, but their lack of school materials and uniforms is a psychological war they may soon lose. They stand out in their classes due to their situation. Their lack of food also hampers their concentration. They run home anytime it becomes unbearable.

Sophia, the second-born, told us that sometimes when she was in school, she would be so hungry that she would be unable to even stand, leave a lone concentrate on her class proceedings.

At home, they sometimes find vegetables in an adjacent garden that is not theirs, so they can only pick wild growing plants, nothing else in this garden with a lot of plants, vegetables and root crops.

“A couple of months ago, someone raped me. I became pregnant and gave birth to Hirwa.”

(Hirwa means “blessing” in her native language). When asked about the name, she says it wasn’t the child’s fault that she was raped, so she named him blessing to keep the pain and trauma away from her relationship with her newborn baby.

Aisha and her 4 month old baby Hirwa

Elie has been immensely supportive of Aisha. With a MSc. in Psychology, he has been counseling Aisha and helping her recover from the trauma.

To support her siblings and baby, Aisha sells charcoal, and when business is low she also doubles as a public phone attendant and could make between 500 and 1000 Rwandan Francs a day (less than 2 US dollars) on which the six of them are dependent.

“This charcoal and the public phone don’t bring enough money, and I would like to learn other skills to increase the daily income to support my family. Since the small profit I get cannot support us, I cannot save any money, and even sometimes we use the capital, and business is stops for a while until we recover.”

Aisha by her small stand, where she sells charcoal

Their latest predicament lies in their housing. The structure that Aisha and her siblings were born in and have always called home is actually not theirs. Some months ago the apparent owner of the land told Aisha that someone had paid a deposit for the land, and as soon as the rest of the money was paid, she would be forced to vacate the land. Supposedly, Aisha’s parents had a friend who allowed them to settle on the land, but he later died. The land went through the traditional inheritance process and the new owner, a relative to the deceased initial owner, has already sold the piece of land, oblivious of the repercussions this move will inflict on Aisha’s household.

I asked Aisha to tell me what she wanted the world to know about her child-headed household, and this is what she said:

Children who are heads of households did not volunteer for the tasks they face everyday. They are just victims but have to live with the responsibility. We have the will to support our siblings the best way we can but the means are just not there. We want our siblings to be lead better lives in the future but how can we makes sure they do? We would be very, very grateful if anyone comes to our help.”

The structure the 5 siblings and the little Hirwa live in is, in reality, a death trap. The mud walls are worn out badly, the roof leaks and the siblings relocate several times to different corners of the house when it rains. Aisha told me,

“I can’t even sleep at night because I get dreams of our house falling on me, my siblings and my baby.” I also can’t sleep because I worry about the owner of the land. If he tells us to leave, where will I take my siblings and my baby? My heart is not calm because for three years, I have not found a solution to this problem.”

	Views inside the house that Aisha lives with her 4 siblings and her newborn baby

This is just one of the many child-headed households that Elie’s study found. There are a massive 94,207 children living in child headed households around Rwanda, where USAID estimates show the country has the highest percentage of orphans under 15years in the world. Elie Nduwayesu’s study identified 1575 vulnerable children in Musanze that he aims to incorporate in recovery and self-development through his Fair Children /Youth Foundation (FCYF). Without a single donor or sponsor, Elie has used almost all his monthly income to set up this project, and for a good course.

Sitting on an old tire outside the house, I look at Aisha and wonder how one person could have gone through all this, how she and her siblings were living each day, and what I could do to help them. The only way I could do this was to use my network of friends and hope that through them, the world would know and someone’s heart would be touched enough to reach out to this forgotten family.

We already found one friend that paid for the health Insurance of Aisha, her baby and her siblings. This is just a start, and we hope this sign of goodwill will continue. No help is so small.

For information on the fair children/youth foundation, please contact the founder and Director, Mr. Elie Nduwayesu on enduwayesu@hotmail.com, or contact the volunteer who sent this story on kevinsudi@gmail.com

	Mr. Elie Nduwayesu, FCYF founder/director and the man behind the child-headed households’ development project shares a light moment with baby Hirwa while Aisha looks on
	Kevin Sudi, the Kenyan volunteer, at the back of Aisha’s and her siblings’ house, with its low, rusted roof and see-through walls

About the author:

Kevin Sudi is a volunteer coordinator at a Kenyan Non-Governmental Organization, the Common Ground Program (CGP), based in Kitale, KENYA

From Cecile Richards, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America: 

Our Kenyan partner clinics are overwhelmed by need and lacking supplies. Please, help Planned Parenthood get condoms, emergency contraception, and medical care to the victims of sexual violence in Kenya — and to women and men around the world. Thank you.

In the aftermath of the unimaginable chaos and sexual violence that gripped Kenya for months, Dr. Sarah Onyango knows exactly what to do. The only problem is, there aren’t enough supplies or resources to do it.

There aren’t enough post-trauma counselors, pregnancy tests, condoms, or emergency contraception.

Normally, I write to you about how to help Planned Parenthood Federation of America and the women, men, and young people we serve surmount challenges here in the U.S. But the reports coming out of our Africa Regional Office in Kenya are beyond comprehension. And that’s why I’m writing you today.

Right now, I need your help to ensure that critical reproductive health services continue to be available to the millions of Kenyans who need them — and that we have the funds to continue our work around the world. Please help.

Talking to our Africa Regional Director, Dr. Onyango, I could hardly believe her composure given the challenges she’s facing. Her update spoke of progress, but against odds that I can’t even imagine. She told me that her staff members who feared for their lives have been successfully relocated; the health care provider who was shot is now recovering; the health clinics that were burned down or destroyed are nowhere near being rebuilt, but the nurses and counselors have found ways to continue to treat rape and trauma survivors; and health workers continue to distribute what contraceptives they have left however they can.

Just as the whole nation of Kenya is looking to Kofi Annan’s recent power-sharing agreement with hope for peace and resolution, health care providers and their patients in Kenya are looking to Planned Parenthood. Our International Program partners with local organizations — in Kenya as well as more than 15 other countries — to enable them to provide critical reproductive health care.

Right now — today — we can be there for them. You can help make the difference in the lives of the hundreds of thousands of people who rely on us.

• $25 can help provide 100 male condoms.
• $100 can help provide emergency contraception for a week’s worth of patients.
• $500 can help provide hours of post-trauma counseling for survivors of sexual assault.
• Donate now.

Now more than ever, reproductive health care has become a matter of life and death in Kenya’s most affected neighborhoods and communities — communities where we know Planned Parenthood can make the difference.

Thank you for standing with us today. I’ll keep you updated as the situation in Kenya evolves, including ways you can continue to help.

Sincerely,

Cecile Richards
President, Planned Parenthood Federation of America

P.S. You can read more about the situation in Kenya here.

It’s official.
I bought my ticket to Ghana!
My happy dance scared the dog.

This happened on Tuesday. Wednesday was spent ironing out travel insurance. And today I’m faced with how to handle the blog.

This space has been dedicated to Kenya from the start. The name Alfajiri is a Swahili word. The banner and almost all my posts have been central to this particular country and I’ve been somewhat struggling with how to transition.

I looked up words in Twi, the language of Ghana, for a new title. But I like my original title. I made a new banner that read “Destination Ghana.” Once uploaded, I felt a strange sense of abandonment for all that had come before, like I’m cheating on Kenya. Today I took it down. It wasn’t until I considered the bigger picture that I found a solution.

I have been so fortunate to have the resources to become increasingly more aware and  interested in the entire African continent, not just one country.  My interests (not to be mistaken for full-blown knowledge) have extended to a wide variety of cultures, politics and histories. I thought of my favorite bumber sticker, “I love my country but I think we should start seeing other people,” and decided to broaden my focus from the literal journey between two nations to the journey that has been more internal and emotional thus far…

 So, I welcome you now to ”Destination Africa.”

(Some day I’d like to see that read “Destination World.”)

Mere moments ago I received the following news:

With the continued unrest in Kenya, Village Volunteers finds it necessary to cancel the Kenya program for the remainder of 2008. If you would like to volunteer with one of our other programs – in Ghana, India or Nepal – or if you would like to postpone your trip, please contact our office.

I’ve known all along that this decision would have to be made for me, having refused myself consideration of alternatives in the name of hope. Now that the choice is out of my hands, I feel oddly numb.

Just announced on The Today Show:

Today Kenya’s ruling party and opposition agreed to form a joint government in an effort to end weeks of post-election violence there that’s killing more than a thousand lives. The two sides are still discussing which roles each party would play.

A quick news search produced the following results:

Voice of America

Kenya’s ruling party and opposition agree to form joint government The Canadian Press - 9 minutes ago NAIROBI, Kenya - Kenya’s ruling party and the opposition say they have agree to form a joint government. However, the two sides are still discussing who … Violence rages on after “rigged” presidential election in Kenya The Broward Times Last updated: 2 minutes ago Daily Nation all 299 news articles »

Rueters.com has updated their post-election chronology but has yet to mention this development.

A new form of post-election unrest, the Kibaki Tosha Tena Virus and the Odinga Raila Pop-up, has reared its ugly head, infiltrating technology, breaching Kenya’s borders and adding more frustration to the already troublesome mix.

As for the first virus, PreciseSecurity.com says:

Seeing this “KIBAKI TOSHA KIBAKI TENA” message during Windows logon means that you have been infected with W32.Baki.A. A worm that spreads via local, network and removable drives. It is known to promote a presidential candidate in Kenya and has a full message of:

“KIBAKI FOR PRESIDENT VOTE KIBAKI FOR A BETTER FUTURE. We need a person who have thought of tomorrow and willing to salvage our country .Kibaki have done so in the past five years. KIBAKI TOSHA TENA”

While both spread through local networks and removable drives, they have not been confined within Kenya’s borders. Uganda is also affected and other nations are likely to join the list. As Henry Lutaaya of the Uganda Science Journalists Blog explains:

Two viruses named after the two presidential candidates of Kenya Mwai Kibaki and Raila Odinga are causing mayhem and exasperation among many computer users, while at the same time undeniably creating jobs for several others – read technicians who sell and install anti-virus soft-ware.

So, what does the viral message mean? Rob Crilly, a freelance journalist in Kenya blogging at South of West, says, “My Swahili is pretty poor, but I think it means something along the lines of ‘Kibaki is enough again.’”

In response, Nzibi monga Nzibi agreed and added, “in the Swahili (or Kingwana) of the eastern DRC, this slogan would obtain the following translation: ‘Kibaki Get It Out Again.’”

Sprinkling a bit of humor on the situation, Xs adds, “For now all we care about is HOW DO WE REMOVE THESE WORMS? (The viruses i mean)”

Antivirus software has since gained ground, adding tools to remove the problem files. The best advice, as always, is to keep your software up to date… and the worms out of Office (as in Microsoft.)

David Kobia just went live with his new brainchild, I Have No Tribe. This site is dedicated to positive discourse on the Kenyan conflict from around the world and it has been met with great response in the form of debate, poetry, hope and support.

In early January, Kobia contributed to tech development of Ushahidi, a forum for civilian reporting on acts of violence through electronic means during the Kenyan government’s (recently lifted) ban on media. That project was the brainchild of bloggers Kenyan Pundit, White African, Afromusing, and Mentalacrobatics.