18 September 2018
On Saturday I went for lunch with the lady who cleans my apartment and her sister at their home in Kibera: one of the big informal settlements in Nairobi. The conversations and anecdotes that came from our afternoon were rich with the colour of the lives they’ve both lived, and the families they’re raising. On […]
1 September 2018
Bit of a mixed bag this week. Last weekend I went on a hike out of Nairobi to a place called Elephant Hill. Upon telling this to people who had been in Kenya the past few months they mentioned that was “where the plane crash happened“. I hadn’t heard about it, but a light aircraft had […]
23 June 2018
A couple of days ago was the summer solstice, which means for everyone in the northern hemisphere the nights are now drawing in until Christmas. It does, however, still mean that it gets dark very late – I walked the dog yesterday and it was still bright gone at 9:30 pm. This concept feels alien […]
5 May 2018
So last weekend I went to Northern Kenya: an area called Turkana (after the big lake there) which by all measures ranks lowest on development for the country. The trip itself was fascinating, seeing a completely new topography, and consequently the way of life. Arid In short, it’s a desert. We were there in rainy […]
14 April 2018
No, I’m not in Somalia. I did, however, read a book about the largest refugee camp in the world, which is in Northern Kenya and houses a mostly Somalian population. The depiction was vivid, and the characters intimate. It really opened up a world that felt both close and far, as well as giving context […]
6 April 2018
Over the Easter weekend a good friend (Ben) and I spent a couple of nights an hour out of Nairobi. Despite the primary goal of “getting a way from it all”, the short excursion ended up showing several aspects of Kenyan culture not always visible from the day to day: The Chinese influence, a hangover […]
10 March 2018
On Tuesday The Economist came to Nairobi to host an event on innovation in Africa. I went along (as part of the sponsorship deal for the podcast) and wanted to share some of the key things covered. Unlike other conferences I’ve been to, there was a refreshing level of debate between panelists which facilitated getting to the […]
10 March 2018
On Tuesday The Economist came to Nairobi to host an event on innovation in Africa. I went along (as part of the sponsorship deal for the podcast) and wanted to share some of the key things covered. Unlike other conferences I’ve been to, there was a refreshing level of debate between panellists which facilitated getting to the […]
24 February 2018
This week I’ve been in Rwanda. It’s been for business, attending a conference on Banking/ Finance at the plush Convention Centre that sits atop one of the many peaks in the undulating terrain. Rwanda was the place where the East Africa adventure started 18 months ago, and so it has been nice to be back amongst […]
10 February 2018
A slightly strange series of events last week led me to be boarding a helicopter for the first time. Near Lake Victoria was the funeral of a grandmother of a friend of a friend of a friend. The middle friend in the chain was both willing and able to take the trip by helicopter and, […]