There have been many things happening so far in my world, many texts many realities, many media representations, many interpretations and many meanings. Ofcourse, the latter has been shaped by my background in the school of life.
But the patenting of the Maasai gene, the Kenya visit of Iran's and Turkish president, the nomination of Dandala, Mugabe's birthday party, and all my facebook tagged photos, (I love the ones by Omosh, Edward and Kate) are among the leading texts in my meaning grappling mind hence my realities.
The other day I met Shaun at the Ratz in Melville and the most interesting text he uttered, after swallowing a long sip of Amstell lager, was Serengeti. Serengeti is this lavish tourist destination in Tanzania, he also mentioned Maasai Mara in Kenya at some point (how the hell could he not have done so). He had this orangish t-shirt written 'I am not drunk', I cannot remember the graffics but it had something to do with drunken drinking or drinking and getting or not getting drunk, you could read it in so many different ways. The way you liked. There is always another way of seeing or understanding almost everything you see arround you, dont you think so?
By that time, Luke (my tallest American friend) was impatiently waiting for his ex-girfriend to show up. They had a date it seemed. We were chatting about reggae Music, he dissapered later. I am not sure whether the lady showed up. I think I should check to ensure he is fine. Infact, he forgot his groceries in the boot of my car. You see, it was a very Random outing. Luke was planning to cook dinner...god bless the coffee shop, junior, shallom, rhumba and all the congolese.
That's life, very random at times. My friend Elke from Austria just confirmed me as a friend on facebook after almost 10 years of silence. The last time we were having Tuskers, the leading Kenyan beer, was before my Dad passed away. She loved sweet bananas from Maseno and was competing the local monkeys in banana consumption at the local banana market (stores). I did not know why Elke loved Kenyan bananas but ever since I came to South Africa, I know that genetically modified bananas are a big joke. Not tasty at all. Oh! almost forgot Astrid from Germany. She is now busy doing PR and journalism job..ofcourse, its not a permanent one, who gets permanet jobs nowadays anyway. Who cares, she is looking for one though, in this era of global financial turmoil the thought of a job is realy really enough to make us catch a finacial flu. She recently posted nice pictures of her children on facebook, I love them.
Political relationships in SA are changing, COPE just nominated a real moral matchup to JZ. A journalist friend just informed me that Dandala was living in Kenya for the better part of the years serving the church. What's wrong with Rihanna, she is back with Jay Z (I don't mean Jacob Zuma) only three weeks after they fought. The last time I checked she was in a bikini, apparently, healing in a private Island... she wanted to be left alone or to be alone obviously but she loves the camera. I wonder what Chris Brown was doing. Back in Mzanzi, DJ Sbu finds himself in trouble again after crushing someone's car. Publicity seems to be very expensive, thanks to the media, but not for the local DJ. The youthful firebrand politician, Julius Malema, knows that 'one eateth where one worketh'.
The world, oh sorry my world, not in the sense of ownership, perceptualy I mean, is realy changing.But, honestly, there are new relatiosnhips being built everyday. I think it's worth it as long as these relationships are based on mutual respect. Kenya has openened up a new chapter in international relations, welcoming new partners like Iran and Turkey. Surprisingly these partners are Islamic nations and dont get it twisted, I have nothing againist Muslims and Islam. Infact, the Iranian president occassionaly reffers to Jesus christ's comeback, for peace and justice to prevail in the world, he did so in London. I remeber reading it on the Daily Nation Kenya's biggst daily online.
Iran and Turkey are considered enemies of the US and the West but that should be blamed for the relationships they have with the US and the West and not Kenya. Ofcourse, it has never been smooth for both Iran, the US and the West. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is willing to forge new relationships with the current US president Barrack Obama and he insists, as long as it is based on mutual understanding, then it's all good. He seems to be looking for new friends in Africa and Kenya seems to be very lucrative for business and expansion in other parts of Africa-It better be based on 'Mutual respect'.
Ofcourse, I do the same thing with my new found relationships, it comes naturaly. But who benefits from the patenting of a Maasai gene? I read a story about this on, once again, the Daily Nation. The first paragraph read "Maasai morans may not know it, but they are at the centre of a global scientific controversy over a patent application for their genetic capacity to drink lots of milk". It continued that "The row broke out a fortnight ago when South African researchers complained that the University of Maryland in the US had patented gene mutations collected from Kenya, Tanzania, Sudan and South Africa"
According to the article published March 02 2009 the study in question has now identified the responsible gene mutation, more prevalent in pastoral communities such as the Maasai. Scientists using advanced biotechnology developed a process which could be exploited for industrial purposes. It is this process that is being patented. While milk seems to be a universal product, a lot of people actually cannot tolerate it as it will resort to upset stomach and other unpleasant digestive side effects. Theoretically, the new discovery could lead to new medical diagnostic kits to identify those with milk taking disorders or perhaps develop enzymes that could remove milk intolerance.
Well,the patenting issue is interesting but the question here is: how will the Maasai benefit from such patents? Are they aware of such scientific discoveries and can they claim something out of it? Again, you can read such texts whichever way you want but how can a Maasai possibly read it?
I saw Mugabe swallowing a piece of cake at his 83rd birthday party, ofcourse the unity government is something to celebrate and at least the party was for a good course, raising funds to jump start the ailing Zim economy. You can syntagmaticaly substitute Mugabe's picture in the article with maybe, Morgan Tvangirai or Tendai Biti because afterall, they eat from the same plate now that they have formed a coalition government. But Bob should give up the land seizures, it will make a huge difference.
Kibaki and Raila are reportedly the pillars of the Kenyan coalition, although it is said they respect each other, they have never reached and agreement concerning their salaries and they will never voice their opinions explicitly about taxing cabinet ministers. Like in Zimbabwe, they also eat from the same plate. If you cannot beat them join them so they say. But, history shall not be kind to those who do not respect human life in Kenya, Africa and any other part of the world. I was actualy impressed that Gadaffi was elected the AU chairperson, you see the world is changing. I hope Gadaffi will fast track the idea of a USA- I mean the United States of Africa.
As for the battle between ANC and COPE, "someone must come out of it with a bleeding nose" not literally though, at least according to a story I read in the Sunday Times yesterday. Who will you vote for? Almost forgot, I realy like the pictures of me posted by my friends on facebook, they realy capture the momments. Hey, Shaun and I know that the beuty of facebook is that you can put your face and invite friends and they will decide whether they want to relate to you or not depending on how ugly your face is. You can also get invitations and do the same thing, the point is, you are the one to decide whether you need to accept someone's invitations. Then you can get rid of them or block them later if they become a pain in the ass. That's how it is.
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