Kenyan Pundit

- Hot on the heels on the lack of decent hotels in Nairobi is this piece on Paris Hilton’s trip to Rwanda. Let’s all get together and say a prayer for her to survive Africa.

- PC Magazine’s Top 100 blogs of 2007.

- Bankelele has a great post up on Nairobi town clerk - John Gakuo - I’m sure many of us can attest to the fact that Nairobi has greatly improved during his tenure…and a key bell-weather (for some of us at least!) is the ability to hang out in town and have a drink after work with no worries…and I can’t remember the last time I saw Nairobi so well lit at night.

- Mzalendo is currently piloting an effort to build content on the site by working with constituency-based journalists and citizen reporters (who write for us for a fee), check out the initial profile of Gichugu constituency.

Was interviewed last week for a neat radio show (and not just because they had me on!) called Spark, check it out.

“The World Bank Group and its partners announce the Development Marketplace for African Diaspora in Europe (D-MADE) Grant Competition. The competition seeks innovative project ideas from entrepreneurial African diaspora in Europe that generate employment, business support, training and incomes for the poor and disadvantaged. Ten to 15 winners will receive grant funding up to $40,000. All proposed projects must be implemented in sub-Saharan Africa. The competition is open to participants of sub-Saharan African origin residing in Europe. Proposals are welcome from a broad range of innovators, including entrepreneurs, private businesses, nongovernmental organizations, foundations, universities, research entities, and individuals.”

Proposal Deadline: 4.00 p.m. Brussels time, November 23, 2007.

See the website for details.

- Challenges of getting Africa connected. What about an alternative (be sure to read the comments as well)? I’m just curious why I don’t see much attention on efforts to bring electricity to all African homes….well first, are there even focused efforts? If not, what’s the hold up?

- Nice gem from Benn Loxo du Taccu on Congolese musicians in Kenya during the 70s.

- Interesting New Yorker review of a book I’d like to read sometime (I really miss Borders!) especially as someone who is working hard to provide information to the Kenyan voter, the “Myth of the Rational Voter“.

I’m a huge proponent of building and showcasing our local (African) content rather than bitching up a storm about how neglected we are…here’s two opportunities to do so.

First, the African Cookbook Project launched by the indefatigable Fran Osseo-Asare at TED Global. Please hop over and find out how to contribute…you know when you leave home (read Kenya) even for a few weeks, after family you typically miss food the most (how many times have you dreamt about chapos, proper ugali and nyama choma, that ka-fried tilapia etc.)…so lets do our part to help record and preserve a critical part of who we are. An aside, wish we had more African cooking blogs, haven’t come across any new ones since I stumbled upon the wonderful Mirecipe.

Second, for the sheng speakers (I don’t think I qualify anymore, I belong to the sasa/fit/buda/mathree days that are almost certainly obsolete), please update the list of words on Wikipedia’s Sheng entry.

EDIT: Please check out African Writing for another great example of African content…just debuted and lots of great stuff there. Hat tip Sunrise!