matatu I rode

into town this morning was blasting Justin Timberlake's Losing My Way.

Can anybody out there hear me?
'Cause I can't seem to hear myself
Can anybody out there see me?
'Cause I can't seem to see myself...

Can anybody out there feel me?
'Cause I can't seem to feel myself

My first thought was how ironic the lyrics were, applied to the matatu itself. Pedestrians are invisible on Nairobi's roads - to drivers, that is. As are cyclists, animals, pavement demarcations during rush hour.........

But if anything is seen, heard and felt on Kenyan roads, it's matatus. And they know it.

My second thought was that the lyrics feed into some of the responses to Migritude's run in Kenya. People who've said it makes them angry, and what are they supposed to do with this anger, this knowledge, why do I have to dredge up this painful enraging history?

I want to respond:

How can we be seen accurately by the rest of the world, known in all our complexity, if we haven't taken in the pain of our own history? If we haven't really looked at, listened to, the schisms and jagged cracks in our own society? Claiming the truth, feeling everything it evokes in us, gives us power to name ourselves. To tell our own stories. To see, hear, feel ourselves, is vital political work.

If I were to define - which I strenuously resist doing in every interview - the current 'trend' in contemporary African art, I would quote from one of my poems that we are meeting ourselves in the mirror. We are talking to each other, instead of telling the Western world simplified stories about ourselves. Making work about Africa for contemporary Africans. Work that does not dumb down, prettify, or translate. Art that demands effort, engagement, from the audience.

nairobi arboretum

is over 100 years old. Rich with soaring trees and a fabulous diversity of native and migrant plants, rimmed by roads and high-rise apartment blocks, it has been resurrected in the last few years from a hideout for muggers and gangsters to a vibrant public resource again. A green space, in a city gasping for green spaces. A public space in a city that's turning into a collection of gated communities.

The stream that runs along one side of the periphery is liberally decorated with plastic bags and other rubbish, rank with pollution.The grass in the meadows is worn and trampled. But the whole place was alive with people yesterday. Family picnics. Open air religious services. Kids playing football and kati. And under every tree, in every available nook, young couples holding hands, lying on the grass, sitting on logs, gazing at each other or trying not to gaze at each other, making out or on the verge of making out.

This morning P, who walked the arboretum with me yesterday, sent me an article: Designing Cities For People. It's definitely worth reading the whole thing, but here are some choice quotes:

the ratio of parks to parking lots may be the best single indicator of the livability of a city

high quality public pedestrian space in general and parks in particular are evidence of a true democracy at work (Enrique Penalosa, ex-Mayor of Bogota, Colombia)

Parks and public spaces are also important to a democratic society because they are the only places where people meet as equals....In a city, parks are as essential to the physical and emotional health of a city as the water supply. (Penalosa again)

the mountain is young

the book I'm re-reading, by Han Suyin.

I discovered her as a teenager. I read The Mountain Is Young in my last year of high school. It hooked me from the first chapter. I copied passages from it into my notebook, where I collected favourite poems and quotes, drunk and dizzy with her words and the world she painted, of inner and outer awakening.

I hadn't thought of her in years. Even though, if I had to list writers who have influenced me, she'd be near the top. Then, a few days ago, I found this book, on the dusty shelf of a sparsely-stocked second-hand bookshop in Adam's Arcade, Nairobi.

I was up until 1am last night reading it. Ingested whole chunks of story I have no recollection of from the first time. Some of her passages are a little tedious to me now. She slips into philosophizing that doesn't serve the story. But I caught my breath when I rediscovered the parts I do remember, the lines and passages that flung open dazzling doors for me, years ago. Still there. Still powerful. Still throwing the shutters back in my head, to gusts of icy-champagne mountain air.

this cracked me up today

Smart Answers to Stupid Questions About Kenya

These questions about Kenya were posted on a Kenyan tourism portal and were answered by the website owner.

Q: Does it ever get windy in Kenya? I have never seen it rain on TV, so how do the plants grow? (UK)
A: We import all plants fully grown and then just sit around watching them die.

Q: Will I be able to see elephants in the street? (USA)
A: Depends how much you've been drinking.

Q: I want to walk from Mombasa to Nakuru - can I follow the railroad tracks? (Sweden)
A: Sure, it's only two thousand kilometres....take lots of water.

Q: Is it safe to run around in the bushes in Kenya? (Sweden).
A: So it's true what they say about Swedes!

Q: Are there any ATMs (cash machines) in Kenya? Can you send me a list of them in Nairobi and Mombasa? (UK)
A: What did your last slave die of?

Q: Can you give me some information about Koala Bear racing in Kenya? (USA)
A: Aus-tra-lia is that big island in the middle of the Pacific. A-fri-ca is the big triangle shaped continent south of Europe which does not...oh forget it. Sure, the Koala Bear racing is every Tuesday night in Koinange Street. Come naked.

Q: Which direction is north in Kenya?(USA)
A: Face south and then turn 90 degrees. Contact us when you get here and we'll send the rest of the directions.

Q: Can I bring cutlery into Kenya? (UK)
A: Why? Just use your fingers like we do.

Q: Do you have perfume in Kenya? (France)
A: No. We don't stink.

Q: I have developed a new product that is the fountain of youth. Can you tell me where I can sell it in Kenya? (USA)
A: Anywhere where a significant number of Americans gather.

Q: Can you tell me the regions in Kenya where the female population is smaller than the male population? (Italy)
A: Yes, gay nightclubs.

Q: Do you celebrate Christmas in Kenya? (France)
A: Only at Christmas.

Q: Are there killer bees in Kenya? (Germany)
A: Not yet, but for you, we'll import them.

Q: Are there supermarkets in Nairobi and is milk available all year round? (Holland)
A: No, we are a peaceful civilisation of vegan hunter-gatherers. Milk is illegal.

Q: Please send a list of all doctors in Kenya who can dispense rattlesnake serum. (USA)
A: Rattlesnakes live in A-meri-ca, which is where YOU come from. All Kenyan snakes are perfectly harmless, can be safely handled and make good pets.

Q: Will I be able to speek English most places I go? (USA)
A: Yes, but you'll have to learn it first.