annasblog

Morgon-safari, dag 2

2012-01-08T14:53:00.004+01:00

Morgon-safaris är inte heller dumma! Man kör ut när solen går upp, när djuren är som mesta alerta och jaktsugna.

Kilimanjaro. Nu är det några år sedan vi stod på toppen av berget! Fortfarande lika mäktig att se på.

Så här kan det bli ibland när ett lejon är i sikte!

Amboseli

2012-01-06T15:15:00.002+01:00

De här bilderna är från vår tur till Park Amboseli som ligger precis vid gränsen till Tanzania, vid foten av Kilimajaro. Det är en ganska så lång resa dit och sista delen av vägen rätt så skakig. Men väl värt det! Särskilt om man gillar elefanter!

Amboseli betyder "sandstorm" och om ni tittar riktigt noga på bilden nedan så ser ni några stora sandvirvlar i bakgrunden. Ella var mycket fascinerad av dessa och ställde tusen frågor om deras effekter och hur man bäst skyddar sig mot dem - vi hamnade faktiskt mitt i en virvel som drog fram när vi spanade in lejon. Tyvärr fick jag inte med några av lejonen på bild, men vi lyckades se en hel lejon-familj, eller "pride" som det heter på engelska. Det var mäktigt!

Det svarta som liknar myror i bakgrunden på bilden nedan är elefanter! Det fullkomligt kryllar av dem i Amboseli. Helt fantastiskt!

Och sen bestämde de sig för att korsa vägen framför bilen. Så det var bara att gilla läget och stå där en stund. Sämre underhållning kan man ha, det måste jag säga.

Om ni kollar noga så ser ni hur den här gruppen försöker skydda den lilla baby-elefanten i mitten.

Förutom solnedgångarna i Tofino på Vancouver Island, så är soldnedgångar på savannen i Kenya de absolut finaste och mest magiska som jag vet! Det kommer jag sakna den dagen vi flyttar härifrån. Något som måste upplevas när ni hälsar på!

With the Kjellströms in Nakuru and Naivasha

2012-01-06T14:36:00.002+01:00

I slutet av oktober - början av november fick vi fin-besök ända från Stockholm! Sara, Johnny, Samuel och Ella kom och hälsade på. Jag var lite nervös inför deras resa eftersom det hade regnat konstant en hel månad innan de kom, samt eftersom Kenya precis utropat krig mot Al-Shabab i Somalia och UD utlyst diverse varningar ang. resor inom landet. Men så fort de landat sken solen, och kusten var ju ändå inte på deras rese-agenda, så det var ingen fara! Vi spenderade några härliga dagar ihop, trots att både jag och Joe jobbade en del under tiden. Vi hann med både en resa till Amboseli och Nakuru ihop, samt lite pool-häng. Att vår pool är mer som en is-vak hindrade inte Ella och Samuel från att kasta sig i vattnet. Och solen sken för det mesta, om än lite skurar här och där. Vi fick en massa fina presenter också, inklusive två Tin-Tin t-shirtar och en kaffe-kopp med kronprinsessan och Daniel på för att dryga ut våra samlingar....mycket uppskattat!

Turen till Nakuku startade tidigt på morgonen så vi var alla lite yrvakna. Här har vi gjort ett kort stopp för att beundra utsikten över Rift Valley, vid den hårt trafikerade vägen till Naivasha.

Johnny försökte förhandla sig till småländska priser av en envis försäljare som aldrig gav upp.

Familjen Kjellström spanar in fåglarna vid Lake Nakuru. Sjön är känd för sina många rosa flamingos som brukar häcka vid dess kant. Vi tog mängder av bilder på fåglar som vi på avstånd trodde var just flamingos...men sen kom Sara på att det var pelikaner istället!

Men här lyckades vi faktiskt få syn på några flamingos - ni ser de rosa fåglarna som flyger i bakgrunden...fast mest pelikaner alltså..

På hemvägen stannade vi till vid Naivasha Country Club för att käka lunch. Planen var också att ta en liten båttur på sjön för att spana in flodhästarna som häckar i vattnet, men Sara fick tyvärr jätte-ont i magen så det var lite dålig timing. Fast inget allvarligt som tur var. Vi fick kolla på närgångna och kaxiga apor istället, vilket var minst lika underhållande!

Day trip to Siby - Part 2: A Study in Rocks

2012-01-06T12:59:00.001+01:00

In the afternoon we walked up to some rock formations - a GIANT arch - outside of Siby. I had no idea what to expect - it turned out to one of the coolest and most beautiful spots ever. This is truly a very special place which blew my mind completely - if you ever get the chance to visit - do it!

Afterwards we walked back to the village, through the beautiful mango tree orchards as the sun went down. A fantastic day!

Day trip to Siby - Part One

2012-01-05T19:03:00.001+01:00

On Sunday we made a day trip to Siby, which is about 1.5 hours away from Bamako.

Our first goal was a place with water falls which I forgot the name of (but they are totally worth a visit) that you reach after a bit of off-road driving. Alternatively you could rent to bikes on a day when the sun is not oh-so-hot. Thank goodness we had such an trustworthy car..! Eh. No, but seriously, this little dinky Chinese car kept on tracking and never failed us. Come to think of it, some of the best day trips I've done in my live have been in a yellow car / taxi - I am thinking for example of Simon in Albania, point in case!

It could even go through mud and water. We were actually five persons in this little car. Alright, alright, I know this was not very smart. I would not have liked to be stuck out there with a broken car. Next time I'll probably travel with a bigger one.

Ida and I, and our "guide" who unfortunately I have forgotten the name of. He is kind of a friend of Ida's and since his dad used to be and important Elder of the village of Siby and its surroundings, we thought it would be nice to invite him along (although we of course had to give him a small fee at the end of the day).

To be honest, he didn't tell us much at all about the places we visited or what was going on around us, and he did take the front seat in the car without hesitating, while we were squeezing three pretty tall persons in the heat in the back seat during a very bumpy ride, but what the heck.

Ok, I swear I didn't notice the wet t-shirt guy in this picture until much later.

And here is Steve and Julie, with their girls Sophie and Adele - they happened to visit the waterfalls on the same day! I normally have dinner or hang out with them each time I go to Bamako. As you may know, they are old friends of Joe's and they all used to work together for the United Nations Association in Ottawa many years ago (in fact, that is how Steve and Julie met!). Now, after spending some time in Afghanistan (before the girls were born) they moved to Nairobi - and in 2006 as we moved to Nairobi as well, we discovered that we were in fact neighbours, living in the same compound! Amazing. And today they are living in Bamako, so I still get the chance to see them every now and then - they are great, and it feels almost like visiting family when I'm in their house!

Next time you order that bowl of peanuts in a bar (pee nuts?!), think of this place - this may be where they came from! Or probably not. The women who worked here explained that most of these peanuts are for consumption in their villages, and that some women have in fact organized themselves into a agriculture / peanut cooperative of some sort in order to become more effective together and gain more money from their harvest and hard work. Peanuts are grown throughout the country but are concentrated in the area around Kita, west of Bamako, and much of it is indeed exported, to Europe for example.

Of course I had to try. And failed miserably. It may look easy, but it bloody hard to balance it!

Inspecting the cotton field. You may know that cotton production is VERY common in West Africa - in Burkina Faso for example, it is huge! But the environmental impacts of it is not very clear, and some are definitely harmful in the way it degrades the soil because of all the pesticides it requires, and also it has negative effects on the biodiversity. So this type of production is not environmentally sustainable. But cotton, together with gold, and livestock make up for almost all of the export earnings in Mali. Of course this in turn makes them very vulnerable to reductions in the world market prices of these commodities.

We made a short stop in a typical village that is living of small-scale traditional farming. This type of agriculture is definitely dominating this sector in Mali, about 90% or so. It became very clear to me that people in this village are really only surviving because of this subsistence farming of cereals, such as sorghum, millet, and maize, and perhaps some cattle - they are totally dependent on this, still today, in 2012. There is no doubt about that they remain extremely vulnerable to the negative impacts of climate change, and especially to droughts. In case of a drought, and if they loose their harvest, they are in very big trouble, and risk to starve. I travelled here a couple of months ago, but already then, we noticed that the harvests, the corn for example, looked very dry, and everyone was hoping for the rains to come soon! Early warning systems showed worrisome signs in December, such as low rainfalls and water levels, poor harvests, lack of pastures for the animals, increasing food prices, etc. And now, in January, millions of people in Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Burkina Faso and Chad face a serious food crisis that the Government and international humanitarian organizations are responding to. Swedish SIDA took an initiative to do this already in August, for example. This type of humanitarian aid for sure saves lives, but it is certainly not addressing the root causes of this problem, that keeps re surging year after year.

Spending a day in Bamako

2012-01-05T12:16:00.000+01:00

Last time I was in Mali, I decided not to work during the week end, but instead to explore Bamako and its surroundings a bit. Ida was kind to drive me around in her car the whole day.

We bought some fruits from this woman and when she found out that I did not yet have a "Malian name" she insisted to help me and came up with a long list of typical names (apparently it is fairly common for foreigners to be assigned a new name...). I picked the following: Aminata Balo :) - Aminata is the name of the Prophet's mother, and Balo is the traditional family name of black smiths in Mali. Later on I also realized that it is the name of one of our main counterparts at the Embassy / SIDA in Mali, which is our main donor....hehe, I guess he cannot resist to give us funds for our programme now, since we are now sharing the same family name, right?!

I had a juice in a river side restaurant. This one is very popular - a mix of hibiscus and ginger, pretty strong (and somewhat laxative...) so you gotta be careful

There are fantastic artifacts and textiles, etc. in Mali (more interesting things then in Kenya I found) such as this sun mask for example. I think it is from Burkina Faso, you see this type of masks there all the time. I bought a smaller version, although I wanted to have a BIG one. I especially like the whole with the somewhat pointy razor teeth, and the fact that you get dizzy if you are staring at it too long. Since I have no where to put it at the moment, it is currently resting in the back of my wardrobe, I hope it is ok with this - you never know about the power of these masks....

We were approaching the celebration of Tabaski and therefore goats were EVERYWHERE! They were simply taking over the city. Sometimes in a pretty cruel fashion, like these poor goats who probably had been strapped to a bus roof in the hot sun the whole day...animal rights anyone?! Naeh!

A boat trip on the Niger river

2011-12-19T19:33:00.000+01:00

These are some photos from a boat ride I took with my colleagues in Bamako, as the sun was setting. Very relaxing, and a good way to see how people are living on the banks of the Niger River. Mostly poor fisher communities. Here are two of my colleagues, Ida and Mariam, who is a super smart Programme Officer. Interestingly, she undertook part of her studies during the 80's in the Soviet Union, so she speaks a bit of Russian. As you know, Ida and I happened to study political science in Lille at the same time, as ERASMUS students. I believe that was in 2002 or so and after that we lost contact with each other. But, we happened to end up with the same employer in 2010. She's great, and not only does she speak French - she has managed to learn how to speak the local language Bambara - something which of course is really useful if you want to get to know the place and people for real - very impressive!

This is Julius - he is Kenyan. We are sharing offices in Nairobi, where he is helping me out with the financial and administrative matters of my job. We have travelled a lot together to the offices in Mali, Burkina Faso and DRC this year, so we know each other very well by know. I couldn't have asked for a more competent, funny and kind colleague!

Mariam, Julius and the children of Pedro (the logistics officer of our office).

A painter was sitting by the water, working on a piece that had been ordered by a French man. He had a photo of the man, with the instructions which explained that this fine man, he is writing on his great novel and he likes to smoke. I had to ask about the woman standing behind him in this painting - who is she? The wife of the great writer perhaps? The answer was not very clear, something like "they also told me that he is fond of women, so I added her to the painting" - why not?!

If it wasn't for my sumo style hair-do, this would have been quite a lovely photo...

Bamako, one week in November

2011-12-19T17:26:00.002+01:00

A one hour rendez-vous with Ron

2011-12-18T18:59:00.001+01:00

We were lucky to manage to squeeze in a quick lunch with Ron before he was off to work. He is normally working as a election observer and trainer for the OSCE in various places in the world, but this summer he was home in Vancouver to ensure a smooth management of a Sikh temple election.

Bye bye Canada, see you next time...in 2012 hopefully!!

Tourists in Vancouver

2011-12-18T16:52:00.002+01:00

Ahh...if only public art could look like this more often...Outside of the Vancouver Convention Centre - Douglas Coupland's Digital Orcha.

Now this is a dedicated family photographer! I think that girl was jumping up and down about 20 times before he was satisfied with his picture.

I give you the Olympic torch, which was originally lit by Wayne Gretzky during the opening ceremony of the Olympics 2010.

Getting a bit touristy - visiting the suspension bridge - which was totally over crowded!! Don't go there at the end of July.

BBQ with Jocelyn and Mike in their garden

2011-12-18T16:00:00.002+01:00

Tua and Jocelyn enjoying the evening sun

Atlin in his tree fortress

Meeting up with Greg

2011-12-18T12:51:00.000+01:00

Meeting up with Greg, down town Vancouver. He recently moved back here from Ottowa and we haven't seen him since Christmas in Whistler 2009 so lots of catching up to do!

The view from Greg's apartment!!

Back to Vancouver..!!

2011-12-18T08:27:00.000+01:00

Watamu, Day 2

2011-12-14T19:42:00.003+01:00

The last day was rainy

And I had a perfect opportunity to try out the various functions on my new camera, see below

This is not your everyday roof

Our guard dogs

On the way back we stopped in Mombasa to have dinner, a perfect one if you ask me!

Watamu, Day 1

2011-12-14T19:12:00.001+01:00

Watamu Evening 1

2011-12-14T18:47:00.001+01:00

From Mombasa to Watamu

2011-12-14T18:27:00.003+01:00

A couple of months ago (my concept of time has been a bit blurry lately...) we took a flight to Mombasa on a Friday afternoon and headed for Watamu - a place not far from Malindi. It was a very scenic car ride which I would love to do again, although it took a while to get out of Mombasa because of the traffic jam. Joe had invited a new friend he met in his work - his name is Lars, he is Danish but currently he's living in Malmö (he is one of those Political Refugees of the xenophobic Denmark you know...). Turned out, he is also a big whiskey collector and a fan of Tomas Ledin - this is why we at some point found ourselves in the middle of the night, it was pitch black, we were sipping whiskey on plastic chairs, listening to Tomas Ledin, on the Kenyan coast, with that salty and warm breeze in the air...so far from home - yet somehow close, that night.

Week end in Malu

2011-12-13T19:09:00.000+01:00

These are some photos from a couple of months ago when we spent a week end at the Malu Lodge. It is about a 90 minutes drive away from Nairobi. It was really relaxing and quiet and peaceful, and great company - but I would probably not return there - all in all a bit run down and the food was nothing special...but a nice house dog!

On the way back we made a stop at Lake Naivasha, where we rented a boat with Anne's parents and went hippo watching. We also went for a short walking safari on Crescent Island.

Dinners at Brew

2011-12-13T18:04:00.001+01:00

Here are some photos from various dinners we've had at Brew and Bistro - my favourite restaurant here in Nairobi.

This is Melanda, a fun colleague of Joe who is Canadian and also from Vancouver.

Elin and Eirik are from Norway and recently moved back, sadly enough...but we are hoping to visit them in Norway sometimes soon!

Why is it always the same when a person tries snus for the first time? Here below you have Anne during the first 5 minutes, pondering what are the effects. Are there really any effects? Nah, I can't feel anything...

....followed by the WOAAAH!!

Dan's Birthday

2011-12-02T17:17:00.001+01:00

Surprise Surprise!

2011-12-02T16:56:00.001+01:00

The fun thing with Nairobi is that is sort of a hub for people working in the area of development, humanitarian aid, etc. Sooner or later they all come to Nairobi, even if just for a workshop, or on their way to some other country in Africa. This time we got an sms from Ron - Joe's friend from Vancouver (some of you may remember him as the "umbrella boy" at our wedding, or as the "Kennedy look-alike" as my mother said) - saying that he just landed in Nairobi and was heading to a house just next to ours! Since we already had a dinner with Jess and Erik he joined in with his friend Alexa. The last thing I remember from that night was that we emptied the bottle of snaps..

Haven't seen our friends in a while...

2011-12-02T16:52:00.001+01:00

Home sweet home

2011-12-02T16:33:00.001+01:00

One of many dinners followed by drinks with Erik at our place...

Trekking in snow in July

2011-11-26T22:46:00.001+01:00

One of the last days in Courtenay we went trekking 30 minutes away and upwards from the centre of the town. Can you imagine all this snow?! This was at the end of July and still most of the paths were covered. It totally ruined our plan of a one day hike, since we could simply not see where we were going, but we hiked around for two hours and it was really relaxing..

Comox harbour

2011-11-26T22:30:00.001+01:00

Courtenay cowboys

2011-11-26T22:15:00.001+01:00

Taking the dogs for a walk

2011-11-21T20:46:00.001+01:00

Something else that is new is the Karuna forest a short car ride from where we live. I know, I know, it is kind of lame to first take the car and drive 20 minutes before you finally get to walk, but that's often the story here. Except for that before there was not really any forest for us to walk in. But now there is, in fact it is gated, but it is big and you don't notice after you pay your 200 KES - 15 spänn - and start walking. There are some nice water falls as well, and some old caves. If you are lucky you can tag along with friends who have a dog which makes the walk a bit more animated. Or in this case, friends who have three dogs...Joe was very happy, surrounded by his best friends!

Eating Chinese - how to spend a good few hours in Nairobi on a rainy day

2011-11-21T19:46:00.001+01:00

Thanks to some very cool and fun Korean colleagues of Joe, this year we have discovered a number of tucked away Chinese restaurants in Nairobi, managed by Chinese owners and mostly frequented by Chinese people working here.

I am not revealing the location of this one...but here below we are having a traditional Chinese "hot pot" - simply a big pot with a nice bullion (one side is spicy, the other not) which is kept really hot by the gas cylinder that is attached to the table. Yep - right under you basically, there is a small fire burning and a fully loaded tank of gas...but that is what beer is for: to make you forget all these small details!

So what you do is to put all sorts of good things into the pot, a half crab in a shell, beef, prawns, tofu, noodles, small porky meat balls, etc. etc.. But of course you need a dipping sauce on the side: it is important to get a nice blend of chilli sauce, peanut sauce, sesame oil, fermented fish, chopped garlic, etc.

This particular night was extra cosy since the electricity went out - who cares, we have a big gas tube under our table! - and we lit candles all around us (ok, not so good considering the gas after all..) and since it was rainy and cold outside we just kept eating and drinking and eating and drinking for many hours.

And this is another really good one in Westlands, where they serve small, very sweet and delicious warm pumpkin buns for dessert with sesame seeds sprinkled around it. Gah! I could kill for one of those right now...

Saucing in Cumberland

2011-11-19T20:50:00.001+01:00

CUMBERLAND...

...apparently used to be something of a "dead end" according to Joe (20 years ago I guess...). Now, things have certainly changed here, let me tell you!

We spent a little more than an hour, and during this time, we enjoyed many essential things such as:

Having coffee at the "Wandering Moose Coffee Shop"where the owner CAME OUTSIDE to offer us a REFILL! We'll be back, definitely.

Hrm....yes, I like it!

We were watching motorized vehicles.

Eine kleine Stadtruntfahrt

A walk-in acupuncture in the crypt

This photo makes me cry. WHY WHY WHY DID I NOT BUY THE GIRAFFE??!! What were the arguments against this, I do not even remember. Probably a space issue. But we were upgraded to business class on our way home for god's sake! I could easily have brought it back with me, and tucked it in behind my seat. I clearly need to follow my instincts more.

And then we discovered the other side of Joe

And I fooled Jens to take a picture of a fake eagle!! But the sea gull below is for real. Amazing photo! (by Jens, of course)

Joe inspecting the catch of the day

And then we BBQ:ed salmon on a cedar plank.

BBQ with Grandpa Don

2011-11-19T19:45:00.001+01:00

Dreaming myself back to Canada. Imagine, it was only a few months ago but it feels like one year. These photos are from the BBQ at Joe's grandpa's house in Courtenay - a nice old tradition that we are always looking forward to when we visit. Sadly enough, this was the first time without Mable, Joe's much loved grand mother.

On the menu: Steak, Peaches and Cream corn on the cobs, mushrooms and lots of micro brew.

Maggie was there.

Stina and Ginni were there.

We inspected the latest renovations, which this time included the small house in the garden, which Ginni may be using as an atelier.

Rounding it off with a short walk down to the river.

Lindgrens i Shanghai

2011-10-17T20:21:00.000+02:00

And here is a post card from Micke and Hedda in Shanghai. Irene and Lars should be on their way over as I write this. And in a few weeks Andreas and Sophia will visit as well. I wish I could do the same..! But we'll soon have some V.I.Ps visiting as well...just keep on checking my blog and you'll find out who...

Fishing

2011-10-17T20:17:00.000+02:00

Here is a very nice photo of my brother, probably from the 80s. This is very much how I remember him back then. And he still likes to fish by the way :)

RV-ing it in Courtenay

2011-09-25T20:55:00.001+02:00

Arriving in Courtenay, Joe's home town, we went out for a dinner with Ginni. A French restaurant over on the Comox side. It was GREAT to see her again! Check out the turquoise stone necklace I bought for her here in Kenya...

Suburian deer

Then we had a RV party.

Lastly, I should mention that the neighbour was not very impressed by our party.

Day 3 - leaving for Courtenay

2011-09-12T20:10:00.001+02:00

Peaceful breakfast. This was just before I spilled a litre of milk all over the window.

A little forest walk that led us out to the ocean

Jens' photos from the same day:

Whale watching

2011-09-12T19:56:00.003+02:00

The second day in Tofino we went whale watching. I've done this once before in Canada outside of Victoria - but that time we "only" spotted orchas (späckhuggare). This time it was more exciting, since we saw both hump back whales (knöl-val) and grey whales. And we came really close. Besides this we also some some enormous eagles and stinky orange sea lions that were basking in the sun in the middle of the sea. A lovely day - blue skye and sun, a really fast speed boat and a good photographer on board - Jens (see his photos below).

Strike a pose in your cool overall, hehe

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Tofino

2011-09-11T20:49:00.001+02:00

What an amazing place. Great company. Eating fresh crabs by the beach house. Watching the most incredible sun set. Enough said - I mean, just look at it:

Vancouver Island

2011-09-11T20:36:00.000+02:00

Vancouver Island! We were flying from Calgary into Victoria where we rented a car and headed for the Southern tip of the Island - Tofino. On the way there we made two quick stops - one at the small water falls and another in Cathedral Grove. This is one of my favourite spots in the world I think...

Cathedral Grove and the ancient cedar trees

Calgary Stampede

2011-09-11T15:00:00.000+02:00

Calgary Stampede - or the "Greatest Out door Show in the World!" as they call it. We spent two days at the Stampede, which is indeed the biggest in the world and attracts the most skilled cowboys every year, competing for A LOT of money. Here are some photos taken by Jens and Joe. Day 1. Of course you need a hat! I bought one made of straw which will be perfect for the beach in Kenya...

Piggies! Almost too cute to eat

Day 2. Rodeo time! We had great seats at the outdoor arena.

Challenge: Try to find Jens

Bull riding

The chuck wagon race was really fun to watch! The Show in the evening was something else...

Menengai Crater this week end

2011-09-04T19:20:00.014+02:00

We just came back home from a nice break at the Menengai Crater two hours away from Nairobi. Great company, great food and good wine. In the evening we were sitting on a terrace overlooking the Crater with a rain and thunder storm rolling in over the immense fields of old lava...very relaxing! Unfortunately its Monday tomorrow.

Swedish Erik and American Jess. Normally living in Somaliland. We met Erik back in 2007 when he was living in Nairobi and used to work for Diakonia.

And these are some photos I took earlier this week when we had dinner at their place. I am still trying to figure out how to take good photos without a flash with my new camera, so they are a bit blurry. Could also be the effect of too much red wine though..

Jens photos from Lake Louise

2011-08-15T19:12:00.009+02:00

Fresh grizzly dump!!

Lake Louise

2011-08-15T19:01:00.024+02:00

After a night in Kamloops we travelled to Lake Louise which is in the Rockies and about an hour away from Banff. We stayed at an hotel with an amazing view over the glacier lake.

This was the view from our hotel room - I am not kidding!

Stina, Jens and I decided to dip ourselves in the freezing lake. People were stopping to watch and cheered us on, it is apparently not the normal thing to do - go vikings!

View from the surrounding mountains

This is Lake Morraine - we did a few small treks in the mountain.

We were in the middle of Grizzly land. That means you need to be at least four persons in the group, you need to make a lot of noise (we used the music on Jens' iphone and clapped our hands). After 20 minutes of walk we found a fresh claw print of a grizzly in the mud...we continued to walk, although a bit less sure of ourselves....until we ran into a fresh pile of grizzly pooh! That was it - we turned around immediately!!

Besides this, Stina and I went horse back riding one day, and the last day we also went white water rafting - that was fantastic! I would do it all the time if I could. I should mention that the water was freezing cold, really high and rapid, but we were wearing wet suits and rain jackets. Despite this, we were all pretty much soaked by the end of the 60 minutes ride. Below is a video from the river - Kicking Horse River, just to give you an idea of how amazing it was.

River Rafting Kicking Horse River

Kamloops and the Rockies

2011-08-10T21:12:00.014+02:00

We rented a car in Vancouver and started our trip into the Rocky Mountains. Joe was driving, Jens was the DJ, and Stina and I were catching up on the last six months.

Our first stop was Merritt - a small town almost on the border of the province of Beautiful British Columbia and Alberta - Beef Country. Merritt is a tiny one of a horse type of town where people are making the living mainly from logging. BUT - they also have a yearly Country music festival which apparently attracts some of the BIG ones - and thereof all the murals on the walls (Jens' photos below).

After a quick stop for a burger at the A&W in Merritt we continued further into the Rockies...

...until we reached Kamloops, where we made a stop for the night. Turned out that the Bed and Breakfast we had booked had a lovely location, just overlooking the river, with a hot tub and an amazing view of the small mountains on the other side.

...including a rope swing! You just grabbed on to it and made sure you threw yourself upstream - cause the river was very high and fast - after that you had about three seconds to make sure you grabbed onto the jetty (brygga) - or you would continue down the river in rapid speed!

What can I say..? The water was really cold and I was not particularly in the mood for a bikini shot...

In the evening we took a walk along the river "down town" and checked out the people of Kamloops, before we had dinner. Oh, we also caught a glimpse of the loooong Rocky Mountaineer Train that we travelled on back in 2008 with my parents during our "honey moon."

We finished off the evening in a colourful disco- blinking hot tub overlooking the river - but it only lasted 10 minutes since there was a thunder storm approaching and lots of lightning in the air.

The next morning we had a nice breakfast in the kitchen. The same kitchen were Joe the night before thought he saw a really cute puppy!! He asked the owner about the name of the puppy, etc. after which he walked back to us and said "super cute puppy up there, really!" --- only problem, the puppy was fake. hehe. That's my husband!

On the road again...

Vancouver in July

2011-08-10T17:05:00.007+02:00

Vancouver! How I have missed you. And Stina and Jens - how I have been longing for you! So the combination of the two together was pretty amazing. Joe and I arrived two days before and settled into the Cork screw Inn in Kitsilano before me moved down town together with Stina and Jens. They started their Canadian adventure by a dip in the pool on the 10th floor of the building, before retreating back to our room on the 31st floor! Pretty amazing view from up there!

View from the hotel

At this point I had bought a new camera, which I photographed with for 10 days - just to found out that all the pictures I'd taken had been deleted for some reason. So, most of the photos I have from the first part of the trip (up to Courtenay) were taken by Jens, Joe and Stina. Kind of them to let me post them here! It was great to have Jens by my side the whole trip, since he is an incredible photographer and could teach me a trick or two - besides the basics that is...you will have to bear with me in the future now, since I am still very much learning how to take photos with my new camera....

The first two days we just hung out in Vancouver, trying to get rid of our jet lag. From Nairobi to Vancouver there is a 9 hour time difference, so you could just imagine what that does to your body...

Stina is curing her jet lag with a beer and a big plate of nachos! In Kitsilano.

After this, we took a quick boat ride to Granville Island to pick up some candied salmon and fudge. I also found Kalles Kaviar there! We took a long stroll along the sea wall, and finished off with a delicious dinner at the Sand dollar on Granville Island, before we walked over the bridge back to down town. I took some amazing shots from there, but unfortunately - they are all gone...

The famous Japadog - a hotdog but Japanese style! A perfect symbol of the food in Vancouver - a unique blend of West and East!

Japadog

Holidays in France - Morzine

2011-08-07T09:25:00.008+02:00

At the beginning of July it was finally holiday time! We were looking forward to spend a whole month away, first of all a couple of days with my parents in France, and then go to Canada together with Stina and Jens. Looking back, it turned out to be one of our best holidays ever. Since I did not have my own camera with me, the photos below were taken by Joe and my dad.

This is me, the night before leaving when I am heading over to Dan and Anne for a BBQ. I was literally counting the hours...what a joy!! This holiday was long overdue and I was seriously wiped out after an incredibly busy 6 months on my new job, and also, the fact that I've been on antibiotics for 60 days at that point did not help. I was pretty exhausted!

We flew into Zurich where we rented a car and traveled to France - Morzine, a village/town high up in the mountains between Geneva and Chamonix. One of the reasons for this was that we are actually hunting for a place to buy, a place easy to get to and where you are guaranteed to have good snow and skiing in the winter. So, we did spend quite a few hours on very narrow and winding roads in the alps (to my mom's great delight - not!). We checked out a few places but nothing felt quite right, so no luck this time. Still, we had a lovely time with mom and dad who I had not seen since January.

We made a stop for lunch at shore of Lake Geneva

We stayed in an amazing old house - the oldest one in Morzine actually - with a beautiful garden that we had all to ourselves since we were almost the only guests there. I am guessing it is much busier in winter time.

We received some long wanted gifts from Sweden as well, including Kalles Kaviar, Cheese Doodles, and this super cute Princess Tårta made by Emma!! This is Joe's favourite cake....

We took some nice day trips as well, and had lunch by a beautiful lake.

Joe is enjoying his cheese fondue

We looked at a place close to Chamonix as well. Ah...Mont Blanc in the sun is a view hard to beat!

After a couple of lovely days, we had to bid a sad farewell, hoping that we would meet again very soon! After that, Joe and I jumped on the plane to London that would take us to Canada - Vancouver. But that is a whole other chapter...

Mali in November 2010

2011-06-22T20:31:00.010+02:00

Here are some photos from my first trip ever to Mali, in November 2010. I've been there one more time since then. This is the place I stayed at in Bamako, the capital. Despite the fact that Mali is one of the world's absolutely poorest countries, it is still surprisingly popular with tourists and you can find some quite nice places to stay in.

Here is my colleague from Mali and my Swedish boss outside the hotel in the morning

The nice thing with Bamako is that you can easily walk around down town and observe people going about their daily business as usual, and also stop to talk and visit shops and tea kiosks, etc. It is thus very different from Nairobi where you have to be on constant garde and keep looking out for yourself and your things wherever you go.

On this day we went for a couple of partner visits to some small villages / towns not too far from Bamako, an hours or so by car. Normally I am not meeting our partners very much since I am mainly working to support our staff in the country office while I am visiting, including paying visits to donors and other international NGOs to coordinate our programme and to raise funds, and present our ideas and the organization, etc. But this time was different, and it was really good for me to get a better feel for how people actually live, and exchange ideas in person with the communities where we are implementing our programme.

This is a visit to a school where we support a human rights education project, in combination with some community development projects.

Here we had a meeting with the community council to discuss ideas for future support and also how we can better link up with the local government to make the projects more sustainable. It was mostly men speaking (except for me and my female colleagues) but in the end some of the women also took part in the discussion. This is always a problem I find no matter what country I work in. So you always need to have a specific strategy in place and make extra efforts to make sure that women's concerns and needs are part of the discussions and the analysis of programme as well.

After this we paid visit to the oldest man in the village - this is what you are expected to do if you are visiting a village in Mali. He was sitting under a tree and indeed looked like he was 100 years old. But I did not take any photos.

Niger River

My luggage did not arrive so I did not have anything to wear. Luckily Joe has some very good and old Canadian friends - Julie and Steve - who are now living in Bamako with their two girls. And since me and Julie have exactly the same size, I borrowed some clothes from her. So here I am, in borrowed clothes by the Niger River which floats wide and beautiful through Bamako. It gives off a nice and much needed breeze as well. And the fish is quite delicious!

Down town Bamako

The capital is full of weird big statues of animals, preferably in the middle of cross roads. Some of them are offering shade to tired pedestrians as well it seems...

And this is a nasty hotel room where I stayed in Addis in Ethiopia on my way back. Besides this, and the airport, I haven't seen much else of Ethiopia unfortunately.

Easter break in Lamu

2011-06-22T20:08:00.017+02:00

This is the old Swahili style house we rented for a couple of days

Skeleton from a very big fish!

Stockholm december 2010

2011-06-20T20:25:00.008+02:00

Här kommer lite sent påkommet bilder från julen i Stockholm 2010. Tyvärr var min kamera på väg att dö när jag tog dessa bilder så de är långt ifrån tipp topp, men håll tillgodo!

Snön var något av en chock för Joe som betedde sig som en katt vid vatten

Utsikt från rummet på fina hotellet Skeppsholmen som Jens tipsade om - kan rekommenderas! Fantastisk frukost också

Lisas lilla söta Hedda som inte är så liten längre och som i dagarna faktiskt blivit storasyster!

Rille chillar under julstjärnan i Emmas och Mickes fantastiskt fina hus i Saltsjö-boo

Min lilla gudson Didrik chillar i sin liggstol..

Emma i sitt esse med Moeten i högst hugg!

Mycket vackert - som Joe sa. Med tillägget "synd bara att klockan endast är 14.00"

Hej jag heter Joe, jag är sju år och åker båt för första gången

Hedda hjälper sin pappa att skruva ihop IKEA-hyllan.

Micke fick ett sent infall och gick ut och högg en julgran

Säg mig var silverräven slutar och Anna börjar...?

Jag och pussgurkan

Joe och Sophia på nyårsafton

Hedda vet inte riktigt vad hon ska tro..

Samuel och Hedda lagar till en gudomlig måltid

Ta - da!!!

Jag i AnnaMarias nya fina lägenhet

Jag och Nicholas (kollega som jobbar i Zimbabwe) i Åre

Marsha i liften, fy fasen vad kallt det var

Tillbaka i solen i Nairobi

Ha ha ha! Klockrent om hovet från Strage

2011-06-04T10:08:00.004+02:00

Hovet maximerar sitt underhållningsvärde

”SILVIA UPPRÖRD på TV4-inslaget om kungen & NAKNA KVINNOR”, står det på Aftonbladets förstasida. Den lilla damen som står framför mig i kön på Ica skakar på huvudet. ”Journalister är ett pack”, säger hon. Jag snurrar runt och lägger en roundkick i huvudet på tanten så att hennes löständer landar i charkdisken. Nej, det gör jag inte. Jag ler milt och tänker: ”Vi får i alla fall valuta för våra skattepengar.”

Tidigare har jag alltid tyckt att monarkin borde avskaffas. Nu är jag inte så säker längre. Under det senaste året har hovet maximerat sitt underhållningsvärde. Vi förknippar inte längre kungahuset med dammiga livrustkammare och sömniga ceremonier utan med gangsterbossar, porrklubbar, Slitzmodeller, nazister, löpska handbollsspelare, kaffeflickor, ölmadamer och Army of Lovers.

För tre år sedan beskrev journalisten Kjell Häglund kungafamiljen som ett ”sönderavlat Simpsons”. Det må vara sant – en uppenbar likhet är att äldsta dottern i respektive familj är smartast – men Bernadottes har mer kreativa manusförfattare. Den 192:a säsongen har varit den bästa hittills, trots att man inte lyckades toppa seriens pilotavsnitt, där den blivande Karl XIV Johan bland sina revolutionära, franska polare svär att ”till min dödsstund bekämpa alla rojalister”.

Kungafamiljens öden och äventyr är spännande, komiska, patetiska, surrealistiska och romantiska (fjolårets bröllop må ha varit en absurd ritual men när Lisa Nilsson sjöng Kents ”Utan dina andetag” för brudparet blev jag varm i hjärtat). Att kungligheterna skulle vara några sorts förebilder, eller göra bra reklam för Sverige, är förstås nonsens (Robyn och IKEA tar hand om den biten) men vill vi verkligen lägga ner något som roar oss så mycket?

Jag vill se vad som händer när Silvia, som utlovat, börjar nysta i sin familjs nazistiska förflutna. Tänk om Walther Sommerlaths hjärna har sparats av nynazistiska forskare i ett hemligt brasilianskt djungellaboratorium. Tänk om serbiska maffian kräver beskyddarpengar av högvakten: ”Trevlig slott ni har här. Det vore tråkigt om något skulle hända med det.” Tänk om kungen firar nationaldagen på klubb Privé. Intrigmöjligheterna är svindlande.

De 125 miljoner kronor som pumpas in i det kungliga spektaklet varje år är en relativt blygsam summa. Charlie Sheen, för att nämna en stjärna vars privatliv är lika omsusat, fick 288 miljoner per år när han gjorde tv-serien ”2 ½ män” – mer än dubbelt så mycket som kungafamiljen, alltså, och då är hans busliv tämligen förutsägbart jämfört med Bernadottarnas.

Kungahuset bör betalas efter förtjänst. Storleken på dess apanage bör stå i proportion till hur många löpsedlar man ger upphov till per månad. Rojalisten Henrik S Järrel sa nyligen i DN att kungahuset bör ”satsa mer på sin hemsida” och ”ha egna filmteam”. Han föreslår att man ska ”öppna upp hovet lite mer” och det är bara att instämma.

Genom att montera kameror i alla rum på Drottningholm, direktsända webb-tv dygnet runt och förse familjen med ett eget biktbås – där kungligheterna kan tala ut om de senaste snedstegen – kommer vi att få en storartad show för Sverige i tiden.

Publicerad i Dagens Nyheter 06:00, 3 juni 2011, Fredrik Strage
http://www.pastan.nu/bloggen/inlagg/strage-hovet-maximerar-sitt-underhallningsvarde.3600

Chez nous - les Hooper-Bengtssons

2011-05-08T15:38:00.018+02:00

Boxes arriving from Bratislava

Joe with a broken toe

I am very pleased with this arrangement - it looks very Scandinavian!

Joe is scared of the big bird!

Anne sipping wine on our little balcony - please not the Fläderbuske / Elderberry plant in the back corner of the picture

More random ones from my phone

2011-05-08T15:19:00.004+02:00

Dinner at Dan and Anne's place. They live just around the corner from us and have a lovely garden where they make the best BBQ. Dan is from British Columbia in Canada just like Joe, and Anne is French speaking Canadian from the East of Canada - we met through Pip and Tony and that's something I'm really happy about cause we've had a lot of fun together!

I went to an animal orphanage with Anne one day to get a cat for her. Pretty sad with these pups.

Monkey outside my office window

A trip to the coast before Christmas

2011-05-08T15:12:00.002+02:00

Random photos from my mobile phone

2011-05-08T14:39:00.008+02:00

Florin our Romanian friend that we got to know in Slovakia came for work and stayed at our place. It was fun to see him again, but too bad I only got a photo of his neck

We took him on a day trip to the lake in Naivasha

They tore down the cute and old little stone house that used to be in the garden opposite from our house. The building boom of Nairobi has reached also our little neighbourhood...

View from staff day at the rim of Mount Suswa crater

Leslie visited for a day!!!!!!

the kitchen in my office

finally something is flowering on our balcony - we don't have enough sun there for anything to bloom it seems

A grilled fish that looks more like a little pig

On my way to work on one of the many dirt roads I drive every day

Old against new - guess who will win?!

Went to Lamu for Easter. This is Kristina (American) in a boat with a Swedish flag. The joy!

We met a local Omar Sharif who has three donkeys: Beyonce, Shakira and Puff D

Going fishing without any luck. Tony and his New Zealand army hat that every young guy on the island wanted to buy from him.

Apart from that, we didn't do much...mostly swimming

and sleeping.

A cute card, a lizard and an apple

Turkey Dinner November 2010 at Tony and Pip's place

2011-05-08T13:59:00.008+02:00

This is certainly a tradition we are keeping alive no matter where we live. November means turkey time - sadly enough we are very hesitant to have people over for dinner because of our small and miserable kitchen. Cooking for more than two persons is so stressful since we lack the equipment and space. How lovely then to have good friends with grand kitchens big enough to hold a gala dinner. This time we were at Tony and Pip's place. I am not sure I have explained this, but we actually got to know each other in Slovakia when both Tony and Joe were working for UNDP and luck had it we ended up in the same duty station again! Pretty cool. So, here we are, preparing the turkey, which you know normally takes half a day....

Pip preparing the veggies

Please note the Kristianstad Spirit of Food foreskin

Sean the Irishman preparing the very very dangerous fruit punch

it was evil in fact. spiked with about a litre of vodka

because of the punch I do not remember having taken this photo

But apparently Erik joined in for the dinner (normally he lives in Hargeisa)

and then came the aliens

Photos from Regional Meeting

2010-12-10T07:01:00.009+01:00

One a year our office has a regional meeting where all the staff working in Africa get together to exchange best practices and lessons learned, get updated on new policies and guide lines from Head Office in Stockholm, and also attend some form of training (this year 2 days on HIV and AIDS mainstreaming into programmes). It was neat to meet all my new colleagues, although we had to travel 6 hours (!!) on a bus on bad roads to get to the actual place... It was pitch dark when we arrived, and about 02.00 o'clock in the morning...

This was the sight that met me as I opened the curtain the first morning

...when you travel for 6 hours you can stay at places like this, and apparently also get a really good package deal (according to my boss)! We were in the middle of the Samburu National Park.

My colleague Bony from DRC and Salamata from Burkina Faso, they also just started

This is from one evening when we had dinner outside on a hill

This is Julius - we share offices and he is the Financial officer for Mali, Burkina and DRC so we try to integrate our work as much as possible. And yes - I think I was the only person wearing jeans

Anna and Stephen, they work in Nairobi just like me

Teddy from DRC and Fanta from Mali (gotta love their names!!) and Josephine

Kudos to my boss (who says that white men can't dance..?!)

This is Ida - and to make a long story short - I met her first time when I was an Erasmus exchange student in Lille, like 100 years ago. After that we kept running into each other at Eden in Lund as we finished our Masters in Political Science, and then we lost touch. And now it turns out she is working as a Regional Advisor in Mali - so we are in the same spot again! Quite funny.

At least I've seen it!

2010-12-10T06:52:00.005+01:00

My first meeting with the Great Lake Victoria. Which looked more like a sea to me. I know, this road shot does not transmit this feeling very well...on the way to the airport in a big rush!

The baobab tree

2010-12-10T06:43:00.005+01:00

..."passing through an avenue of baobabs so formidable, gigantic, lofty, monumental, we might as well have been driving among the skyscrapers of Manhattan. Like elephants among other animals, so are baobabs among trees: they have no equals. They are from some other geological era, from another context, from another nature. They cannot be compared with anything else. They live for themselves, and have their own individual biological program."

From Ryszard Kapuscinski, The Shadow of the Sun

A couple of more photos from Kiwayu

2010-12-10T06:27:00.007+01:00

View from breakfast table

Kiwayu first day

2010-12-10T06:03:00.005+01:00

"3000 bottle tops, took 6 hours to collect"

Ouch, I hurt my head!

Ouch, I hurt my heel!

Lala salama (good night in Swahili)

More photos from Kiwayu

2010-12-09T18:32:00.006+01:00

Going to Kiwayu...

2010-12-09T17:58:00.007+01:00

Kiwayu is an island not very far from Lamu, but it is much smaller and there are not many places to stay for tourists, maybe just one when I think of it. It feels very remote and peaceful, far from the stress of Nairobi and the mad traffic. And great food, lovely beaches that we had basically to ourselves (some people might find that boring though, I know), and small crabs dancing around at the water edge...just perfect for a couple of days off! The only down side is that it is more expensive than the places we normally go to (apparently Robert de Niro once stayed there..haha) - but it is totally worth saving up for! Very special place indeed.

It didn't start very well though...I could not stop reading work stuff in the airport...quite excited to be back in an office again, and to work with programmes again!!

And Joe just received his iphone from Canada...and was like glued to the thing!

The air plane after landing on the island

Car picking us up

Joe still mesmerized by his new best friend

Until he saw this view...

Strategic Planning work shop with NGOs in Uganda in September

2010-11-06T08:22:00.014+01:00

This is the first up date in quite some time, but I have been busy settling into my new job.

1 September I started as Programme Manager for French speaking countries in Africa, and more precisely Mali, Burkina Faso and DRC at the Regional Office or Africa. Since these countries are located in West - and Central Africa I will for sure travel a lot the following year to come...and speak French!! These first few months I have had a very good introduction into the organization, its policies and procedures, and I have been in a lot of trainings (anti-corruption training, leadership training, regional meeting, etc.) I've done a lot of reading etc. to learn more about the programmes as well as of the policies and requirements of the donors (in particular SIDA) and the context of the countries. I also visited Mali and Burkina once (more about that later...).

It has been a bit of a mind shift for me, coming from a UN back ground where all your efforts tend to go toward strengthening of public institutions, State actors and state policies, to start thinking instead as a non-governmental organization, the role of civil society, etc. So I learn a lot. Also about management, and especially human resource issues and how to motivate your staff, and build your team etc. which it quite new for me...but oh so useful!

So, these are some shots from a work shop in Uganda in September for NGOs there (as part of my introduction training kind of as I am not working with Uganda). The purpose was to bring together some of our key partners in Uganda, as well as potential partners, to get their feed-back on the new Country Strategy for Uganda (all Country Offices are in the middle of a strategic planning process). Many of the participants were front line human rights activists who fight a battle on daily basis to get through with their work, which is constantly obstructed by government officials who accuse them of "working for the opposition" - while they are in fact working for the realization of human rights in their communities.

This guy who works for a Youth organization was unfortunately watching the World Cup final in football at the big stadium in Kampala when the bomb planted by al-Shabab went off that killed 74 innocent Ugandans. He is lucky to be alive as two of his closest friends died. He had a scar on his jaw where a piece of bone from one of his friends had pierced through. How awful. He is seeing a psychiatrist every second week now. And he is doing an amazing job with his organization!

Now THIS is what I call a programme Objective...hrm...still lots of thinking to do..

My beloved Joe's Birthday

2010-10-19T20:11:00.012+02:00

For Joe's birthday I surprised him - got him into a taxi and took him to the Go Kart race track outside Nairobi for a spin. Followed by some champagne in the bar next to the track, and then a dinner at Carnivore. This restaurant is mostly for tourists, although it's true that the meat is delicious, but it was also convenient cause it is located right next to G Kart place. I had my new colleagues from Congo an Burkina Faso visiting Nairobi for the first time, so I invited them as well.

Anne and Dan, Pip, me and Joe

My Congolese colleague Bony sang the coolest Congolese Birthday song for Joe at Carnivore, actually he made everyone sing along. Apparently he just re-interpreted the latest big hit in Congo and turned it into a song for Joe in the spur of the moment!

Mattias and Bony

My colleagues Tove from Sweden and Luther from Burkina Faso

Joe and his B-day cake

The return to the wonderful island of Lamu

2010-10-14T19:38:00.007+02:00

Last time we were here was in 2006 with my mom and dad. I was thinking of them as we landed with the plane...I know they loved being there, although at that time of the year it was really hot. This time it was a lot cooler, even with some rain showers...but you could still go swimming

Our friends the horny bills

2010-10-14T18:29:00.002+02:00

A trip down memory lane...1

2010-08-20T22:35:00.003+02:00

Joe in Austria 2009

2010-08-20T22:29:00.002+02:00

This is the man I love!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My birthday!!

2010-08-11T21:39:00.006+02:00

Some photos from my B-day on the 3rd of August

Joe surprised me with 100 red roses which he toted up the stairs to our apartment on the 5th floor despite his broken toe, very sweet!

You're 33 - time to wake up and smell the roses!

Champagne of course :)

Tony enjoying champagne (with a glass of beer at the same time)

And so did Dan and Anne

We had bought big rock lobsters that we prepared at home - super easy, and delicious

Kenyans Approve New Constitution

2010-08-06T12:59:00.001+02:00

Kenyans Approve New Constitution

By JEFFREY GETTLEMAN

NAIROBI, Kenya — With a new Constitution overwhelmingly approved by voters, Kenyan politicians are now talking excitedly about their country’s golden future.

“Kenya has been reborn,” declared Kiraitu Murungi, the energy minister, shortly before final results were announced Thursday showing that the new Constitution had passed, with 67 percent of Kenyans behind it.

No doubt, the new Constitution and the remarkably peaceful way in which the referendum was conducted Wednesday was a much-needed boost of self-confidence for the country.

It showed that Kenya can run a clean election without a violent aftermath, that the losers can graciously accept defeat, that their supporters can move on peacefully and that the police and security forces can be deployed to maintain stability throughout the country. It was a stark contrast to the last election, in 2007, which erupted in ethnically fueled tumult that claimed more than 1,000 lives.

On Thursday, President Obama called the vote “a significant step forward for Kenya’s democracy,” while the nation’s president, Mwai Kibaki, held a boisterous victory rally in Nairobi, telling a crowd of thousands that the new Constitution would be “our shield and defender as we strive to conquer poverty, disease and ignorance.”

“I see a great people ready to build a new and prosperous future,” he said.

But the voting patterns from the referendum also show that even at this crucial turning point, Kenya is still dogged by its old political maxim: follow your leader.

“I’m really relieved that everything has been peaceful, but I have this little feeling in my stomach,” said Maina Kiai, a former human rights official in Kenya who now runs his own civic education organization. The results, he said, prove “that it’s still all about group think and tribal affiliations.”

“Look at the figures from Nyanza,” he said, pointing to the lush province along Lake Victoria where Kenya’s pro-Constitution prime minister, Raila Odinga, is from. “It was completely, overwhelmingly ‘yes.’ ” I wonder how many of these people knew exactly what was in the Constitution. It’s a bit worrying.”

Kenya has a long legacy of ethnic rivalries. It has more than 40 different ethnic groups and the British colonizers shamelessly typecast them: the Maasai were the guards; the Kikuyu the farmhands; the Luo the teachers; the Kamba the bureaucrats; etc.

After independence in 1963, Kenya’s ethnic divides were exacerbated under a winner-take-all political system that vested enormous powers in the presidency — and led to staggering levels of corruption. Kenya’s new Constitution aims to fix this by devolving more power to local governments, giving Kenyans a bill of rights and paving the way for land reform.

Yash Pal Ghai, a constitutional scholar in Nairobi who has been working for years to help get a new Constitution passed, said this election showed that ethnic identities held more sway than religious ones. One of the most divisive issues in the new Constitution was a clause that says abortion was not permitted except in a few circumstances, including if “the life or health of the mother is in danger.”

There are millions of anti-abortion Catholics and evangelicals across Kenya, and Kenyan church leaders implored them to vote down the Constitution, saying it would pave the way for “abortion on demand.”

But as Mr. Ghai observed, Catholics and evangelicals in the Luo and Kikuyu areas mostly ignored that call, while Catholics and evangelicals in the Kalenjin areas voted against the Constitution. The reason: Most Luo and Kikuyu leaders were urging their people to vote “yes,” while the most influential Kalenjin leaders told their people to vote “no.”

“This was largely an ethnic vote, but not absolutely,” Mr. Ghai said of the referendum. “Kenyans are getting more conscious of these things.”

After the violence of 2007, many Kenyans strove to de-emphasize the importance of ethnic identity. Still, Kenyan analysts say that voters are likely to continue voting in blocs, and that to win the presidency in 2012 a candidate must carry at least three of what many Kenyans call the “big five” ethnic groups — the Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo, Kalenjin and Kamba. That is now where the political focus is shifting.

“These guys are already putting their heads together and beginning to play their games,” Mr. Kiai said of the nation’s politicians.

The referendum feeds into this. No one benefits more from the Constitution sailing through, analysts say, than Mr. Odinga, a loquacious, colorful career politician, full of contradictions, including the fact that he comes from a Marxist-leaning family and named his son Fidel Castro but is also one of the richest men in western Kenya.

While other politicians equivocated for months, Mr. Odinga embraced the new Constitution early and passionately, leading rallies dressed head to toe in green (the color of the “yes” camp). In 2007, he ran against Mr. Kibaki and claimed he was cheated out of winning the presidency, which set off the fighting. But now the two are chummy, having worked together on the Constitution. Mr. Kibaki, a Kikuyu, cannot run again for president because of term limits, and if he threw his support behind Mr. Odinga, many analysts believe the presidency would be Mr. Odinga’s to lose.

Another factor: Mr. Odinga’s top two rivals — William Ruto, a Kalenjin and the leader of the “no” campaign, and Uhuru Kenyatta, a Kikuyu and Kenya’s finance minister — are both widely believed to be top suspects in the International Criminal Court’s investigation into the previous election violence. Mr. Ruto is suspected of instigating the first wave of killings, and Mr. Kenyatta of organizing reprisals. The International Criminal Court may issue indictments by year’s end, but supporters of the two men have vowed not to let anyone touch their leaders.

“If the I.C.C. asks us to hand them over, whoa, that’s going to be a critical moment,” said John Githongo, one of Kenya’s most prominent anticorruption activists. “That’s when we’ll stare the beast in the eye.”

Source: New York Times, 5 August, 2010

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/06/world/africa/06kenya.html?src=un&feedurl=http%3A%2F%2Fjson8.nytimes.com%2Fpages%2Fworld%2Fafrica%2Findex.jsonp

One photo a day

2010-07-29T13:26:00.007+02:00

I continue in the tradition of Jens' "one-photo-a-day"...

(Sand?) Castle on Lamu Island...

Åhus beach?

Another of Joe's childhood desserts: caramel pudding!

Shot from our pool at Tipuana

Went to a restaurant where Obama eat before he became President ( this photo is inside the menu)

Joe framed a big map

Giving a training in Garowe / Puntland

2010-07-26T13:29:00.018+02:00

Sweet to be back in Somalia again - alright, Puntland to be correct, and the "capital" of Garowe more precisely. Over two years have passed since I was there last time with UNFPA (see here and here for example, and here and here for other parts of the country). In case you want to see photos from Somalia watch these cause below you will not see very much - the security for foreigners has gotten worse apparently (hostage takings are more common today), partly because people see how the pirates are making big bucks in this way along the coast, and partly because of the war in the South. So, I didn't get to see very much of the community and I did not get out in the evenings - curfew at 18.00. Many UN staff who visit Garowe basically go from the air plane into a vehicle waiting for you with and armed escort (Special Police Unit) and then straight to the guest house in a large convoy of many cars. Not very low profile I would say. But I guess it is necessary. And that is how you move around during your job there.

From what I saw along the road the town of Garowe has not grown very much, but the housing looked better with improved roofs and buildings, and there was a lot of business and hustling and bustling going on in the streets and the shops during the days. Things calm down in the evening and you wake up during the night to the call of prayer which is so beautiful. The pasture for the goats was very green and there were lots of camels surrounding us as we entered the town.

I was there to give a five day training of NGO staff from all three zones of Somalia hired by UNDP to undertake an evaluation of 4 HIV/AIDS prevention programmes. As such I have developed the methodology, the evaluation tools (questionnaires, guide lines for interviews, and focus group discussions, etc.) as well as the data management tools for the analysis. The second part of the job was to give this training in Somalia for the NGOs which will roll-out the activities inside Somalia. The last part of my job will be to analyze all the data and write the final report. Here I am, a bit nervous on the first day of the training, trying to get my head scarf to look alright. Not so bad huh?

It was a great couple of days in Garowe, although very hot, and the team was fantastic! Below you see two photos (some persons did not want their pictures taken) from the last day. It was sad to say good bye - especially to the members from Mogadishu, because I know what a hard situation they and their families are facing everyday, although they live in the areas controlled by the government. Their kids cannot play outside very much because of the risk of being hit by mortars, they are basically just waiting for the "big war" to break out as one of them put it. Awful. It was hard to say good bye knowing that I would go back to the safety in Nairobi and they were returning to Mogadishu.

We stayed in the "Pink house" which is next to the UN guest house (where UN staff who are permanently based in Garowe are living). It is actually much nicer than the UN guest house - especially as you can sit outside in the garden in the evening - which is not allowed in the other place. Back in 2007 there were more international staff based in Puntland and I remember we had a BBQ on the roof top of this house.

Yes it feels a bit like being a prisoner...

...but there was a nice pool table!

I wonder who sculptured these amazing birds?!

And delicious mango and grape fruits from the South of Somalia - perfect breakfast!

And then getting into the car....(this is Ruth, a colleague from IOM)

...passing the security barriers outside the house

...the UN guest house in the right hand side of the photo (we stayed there the last 3 nights)

Passing the bridge over the very dry river bed with a settlement in the far back

And two minutes later we arrived to the place of the training - the white building you can see in the back of this photo behind the little kiosk. It is actually the Puntland Library and Resource Centre - a very impressive place with thousands of books, an internet cafe and a outside garden where you can have a tea and discuss for hours (I only saw men there, I guess that is according to the Somali culture). It seems hugely popular!

Ruth doing her radio check - you do this every night at 19.00 - for the guys in the radio room make sure that you are ok.

On the way back to Nairobi we had to take a really small plane for 10 persons only. I thought that was bit freaky first but then I got used to it. When you travel to Puntland you somtimes end up spending almost a whole day: departure Nairobi - first landing in Hargeisa (Somaliland), then up to the coast of Puntland (Bosasso - where it was 40 degrees) and then finally to Garowe - that means you area landing 3 times, on quite bad air strips. The return trip was a bit shorter as we used World Food Programme's jetplane from Hargeisa to Nairobi.

British Columbia - artikel i SvD - Joes hemtrakt!!

2010-07-12T09:55:00.002+02:00

Hela världens mat möts i British Columbia
Kanadensisk röra
Publicerad: 9 juli 2010, 10.48. Senast ändrad: 11 juli 2010, 20.41

I British Columbia i sydvästra Kanada möts matkulturer från hela världen och traditioner blandas till en härlig och nyskapande soppa. Dessutom pågår här en passionerad utveckling av ekologisk och närproducerad mat och dryck.

Att äta sig runt hela BC skulle ta en evighet. Kanadas tredje största provins rymmer lätt hela Tyskland, Frankrike, Schweiz och Österrike. Stora delar består av prärie, berg och vildmark – ett guldland för dem som vill vandra, segla, fiska eller leva cowboyliv. Oavsett var man befinner sig är naturen överväldigande, storslagen och ständigt närvarande. Och maten överraskar, från den enklaste chili till stjärngastronomi.

Matresenärer startar lämpligast i Vancouver, denna sjudande stad som var värd för vinter-OS 2010. En vänlig storstad, lätt att promenera eller cykla i, med The Coastal mountains i öster och Stilla havet i väster. Den som har tur kan få syn på både säl och späckhuggare som trivs i de iskalla vattnen. Trivs gör också fisk, musslor och allehanda skaldjur som nästan sprattlande färska kan avnjutas på alla tänkbara sätt, och de små ostronen från Denman island är godast tänkbara.

Maten i BC består av en mångkulturell mix, en spegling av invandrare från hela världen som tillsammans skapar en känsla av ”strunt samma var vi kommer från – nu ser vi till att få ihop det”. På en och samma gata kan du köa för nyindiskt hos Vijs, äta klassiska burgare tvärs över gatan och på Tojos titta på när Hide kazu Tojo skapar sin egen världsberömda sushi.

– Många av mina landsmän blev först mycket upprörda och tyckte att man inte får behandla sushi som jag gör. Men som konstnär kan jag göra som jag vill med de råvaror som finns här, säger Tojo samtidigt som han lägger upp sashimi på ett isbottnat snäckskal.

Sitt i baren och låt honom kreera tills du själv säger stopp. Det blir dyrt, men ljuvligare sushi har sällan smakats.

Via hyrbil och färjor är det enkelt att ta sig ut på de närbelägna öarna. Vi börjar med Vancouver island, som är något mindre än Danmark. Lilla huvudstaden Victoria är som en engelsk karamell där den ligger i en vik med The Fairmont empress hotel i mitten, där man kan serveras te av en tea lady och äta scones och snittar. Lite turistigt, väldigt engelskt och mycket charmigt.

Engelsmännen var bland de första kolonisatörerna i början av 1800-talet och i deras fotspår kom kineserna. I stans pyttelilla Chinatown kan man låta en kinesisk läkare undersöka ens blod och besöka Silk road tea company för temassage och teprovning. Allt utsökt och ekologiskt förstås. British Columbia har kommit mycket längre än Sverige när det gäller hållbar matproduktion.

– Mellan 70 och 80 procent av vad som produceras äts också här, säger Brian Storen, som driver Sips artisan bistro, en vin butik där man också bjuds en gastronomisk vinprovningsmeny komponerad på temat If you grow it, we will eat it.

Klimatet med varma somrar, mycket regn och milda vintrar är perfekt för vinodling och de senaste tio åren har antalet vinproducenter ökat från tio till 38. Viner på bland annat druvor som pinot blanc, pinot noir och pinot gris slår kännare med häpnad.

I långsam takt reser vi från den ena mat- och vinproducenten till den andra. Fisksoppa och nybakat ekologiskt surdegsbröd äter vi till lunch i söta fiskebyn Cowichan bay village. Så följer middag med övernattning hos Philip och Frederique Sinclair på Sooke harbour house. Detta lilla gömställe av vitt trä var från början ett bed & breakfast och är nu ett av Nordamerikas mest romantiska hotell, där varje rum har badkar på balkongen och utsikt över havet. Allt som växer i trädgården kring huset kan dyka upp på tallriken.

– Vi lagar modern ekologisk och närproducerad mat med influenser från indianerna. I kväll kommer ni att få mycket svamp, säger Philip Sinclair och visar en korg som han själv har fyllt samma morgon.

Nya smaker exploderar i munnen: kryddig trädgårdssallad med melon och rosenblad, musselsoppa med alger skördade av en kvinna på stranden nedanför, friterad bläckfisk slungad i en glaze av tamari och karamelliserade hasselnötter tillsammans med inlagd hummersvamp och aprikossås. En kritvit hälleflundra lindad i svamp och omgiven av romanobönor, linser och en coulis gjord på knallgula begonior. Mums.

Morgonen därpå följer vi med kvinnan som plockar alger. Hon visar oss de vackraste vattenväxter, växter som vi inte visste fanns. Havet är så rent att algerna hon samlar är kravmärkta. Med vatten upp till stövelkanten hör vi ett tungt sus genom luften – i en tall landar en vithövdad havsörn.

För den som hinner – resan genom ödemark tar sin tid – är det lilla före detta hippie- och nu surfparadiset Tofino väl värt en resa. Stränderna är fantastiska och naturen orörd tack vare kamp från bland andra indianstammarna i området.

Om och om igen letar sig en suck fram, i sällskap med tanken ”vackrare än så här blir det inte”. Men det blir det. Lilla ön Salt spring island, en halv timmes färjefärd från Vancouver, slår det mesta. Ön är berömd för sin bondemarknad som hålls på lördagar. Folk flyger segelflygstaxi hit från Vancouver för att köpa öns produkter, allt från mörklila paprikor, lavendelhonung och blåbärsfoccacia till indianhantverk och nydrejade ting, liksom för att äta lunch och kanske ta en tur på öns kringelikrokvägar och passa på att fylla vinterförråden av frukt och grönsaker.

Nybyggarandan och kärleken till naturen (här blev den första nakenkalendern till, producerad av öns kvinnor för att förhindra kalhuggning) liksom kvaliteten fascinerar. Till denna oas har människor flyttat, och flyttar, för att arbeta med jorden. Vi möter kvinnan som bakar de ljuvligaste bröd i ett bageri mitt i skogen, osttillverkaren som dekorerar sina getostar med violer, lavendelodlare vars olja används för sin läkande kraft.

Tillbringa en natt i ekobönderna Michael och Jean-Marie Ablemans gamla stugor uppe i bergen. Till middag levereras en korg med nyskördat. Du får själv laga maten och efter middagen rekommenderas ett kvällsdopp i gårdens skogsjö. Sedan sover du ovaggad i absolut tystnad.

Källa:
http://www.svd.se/resor/nyheter/hela-varldens-mat-mots-i-british-columbia_4964489.svd

Trekking in Ngong Hills and lunch at Pip and Tony's place

2010-07-09T11:08:00.011+02:00

A couple of weeks ago we drove 40 minutes outside of Nairobi to some of the surrounding hills called "Ngong Hills" meaning "knuckles" because of their shapes. Our plan was to trek for a couple of hours but we were told by the park guards that to go all the way we needed armed escort which would cost us 3000 Kenyan shillings (about 36 US dollars / 270 SEK). The thing is, we were a pretty big group and as such we felt fairly safe, and also, you never know if it is just a scam or if there is really a need for armed guards. In the end we decided to go without but to make a shorter trek in the "safe area" only...but looking back I wish we had paid the sum cause now we ended up walking for only 1,5 hours. Very short.

Here is Joe in the house of the park guards

Pip on the move with her walking sticks which were not really necessary for such a short trek

Me pretending I am back in Austria - almost fooled you no?!

Nice view over the Rift Valley

Not bad - I managed to take a photo just when everyone was chewing on macadamia nuts...

And this is where the "forbidden territory" began where we apparently could not go without armed escort. Too bad cause it looked just lovely...

Instead we retreated to Pip and Tony's big terrace for a delicious lunch prepared by Pip - including great BBQ prepared by Tony - these Aussies and New Zealanders also know their BBQs (it's not only Canadians...). Not sure it was such a bright idea to drink as much wine as I did under the burning sun, but it felt like a good idea at the time...

Pip and Eugenie

Eugenie is from England and an anthropologist. Not only is she hilarious, she is also doing some incredibly interesting things in her job: As I write this she is spending a couple of weeks in the North of Kenya living together with a community of people in the district of Turkana, who are nomadic pastoralist - to help improve the community health programme of MERLIN in this area. Looking forward to her return to hear more about it.