Kenyan athletes shine at Deutsche Post Marathon in Bonn

Kenyans reigned at the Deutsche Post Marathon in Bonn today. I yelled my voice hoarse when the winner, Stephen Chepkopol, make an energetic run towards the finish line, his feet barely touching the ground, to break the record with 2 hours, 16 minutes and 53 seconds. Hellen Kimutai took the women’s marathon title while Nancy Koech won the women’s half marathon. Of course, as one would expect, I had to mention repeatedly (in a voice audible enough for those around me to hear) that whenever Kenyans run, the rest might as well settle for second best.  Here are my amateurish impressions from the event. And of course, congratulations to my classmate Tilman, who (I had to see to believe) can run 42 kms… just like that.

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Kenyans in the Diaspora might get to vote in 2012!

Photo by Onyango Racheal

I read in the Sunday Nation today that the electoral commission is developing guidelines that should enable Kenyans in the Diaspora to participate in the 2012 general election. This means that I could actually get to participate in the first general election under the new constitution.

Whereas I am excited at the prospect, I cannot help but throw my eyes back to 2007, when the image I had of the new post-Moi Kenya was shattered.

We trooped patriotically to our polling stations, braving the scorching sun and torrential downpours. We voted peacefully, and those of us with televisions and radios peacefully went back to our homes to watch the Electoral Commission of Kenya fulfill its mandate. We watched and we waited. We prayed and we waited. We watched the goings on at Kenya International Conference Centre (KICC) in horrified fascination.

In our eyes, Kivuitu, then Chair of ECK, the bastion of transparency and steadfastness had let us down: A hasty end to a protracted tallying process; a hasty descent into chaos and a disgraceful end to a once illustrious career. That wasn’t so long ago. Now here we are again, starting the countdown to another momentous election. I think it is healthy to have some trepidation about it.

What has changed? We have a new elections body, the Independent Electoral and Boundaries Commission (IEBC) led by Isaack Hassan, who has already been recognized for successfully overseeing the referendum that led to a new constitution and a good number of by-elections. He just got the CIO 100 Leadership Award for introducing electronic voter registration and electronic vote transmission.  Good progress I guess, but have we learnt any lessons on democracy and peace? Are we ready to open our eyes and ears and stop being hoodwinked by greedy politicians? Are we willing to make the right choices, live and let live?   I know I am. I hope Kenya is too.

On another note, I just read this from Neil Postman´s famous book, Amusing Ourselves to Death: “Voting, we might even say, is the next to last refuge of the politically impotent. The last refuge is, of course, giving your opinion to a pollster, who will get a version of it through a desiccated question, and then will submerge it in a Niagara of similar opinions, and convert them into – what else? – another piece of news. Thus, we have here a great loop of impotence: The news elicits from you a variety of opinions about which you can do nothing except to offer them as more news, about which you can do nothing.” (P. 69).

I never thought of voting that way before, though I must admit that I´ve always been a bit skeptical about opinion polls.

HIV is not an African problem

Today is the first time in many years that I did not participate in any activities to mark the World AIDS Day. This year´s theme was zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. I kind of missed the annual routine of donning a free t-shirt with the year´s message printed on it, joining other peer educators to carry out some charity events, and matching with banners and little flags. I missed the entertainment that often follows: music, poetry, drama and dance, followed by people talking about their experiences and how they have overcome them (I did not really miss the official speeches, which I listen to because they are important, but are not very entertaining). Most of all, I think I missed my own personal routine of going to the VCT.

I´m surprised by the attitude of some of the young people I´ve met since moving to Bonn. Protected sex is something of an exception and not the rule, it seems. I was appalled when someone told me he had been introduced to a nice African girl, but could not imagine ever asking her out because he knows that many people in Africa ´have AIDS´. Excuse me?

My ´capacity building´ juices started flowing immediately. I asked him, what if he met a nice white girl, who had been with a nice African man, who had done his rounds with a number of nice girls of unknown nationalities… The social network grew in proportion in my head as I explained, “I heard somewhere that the rate of HIV infection in some European countries is going up. Clearly, this is not an African problem”.

I don´t think it made any difference with this one. His eyes went all huge and round at the thought of having to use condoms every single time, and maybe it´s just as well nice African girls will be spared his attentions.