changing the world: collaboration needed

by dunk - as above Tue Jan 23, 2007 18:23

Tariq Ali makes a good statement on Znet:

"And so the WSF like a big feel-good travelling road show came to Pakistan and went. What will it leave behind? Very little, apart from goodwill and the feeling that it has happened here. ............."

http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?ItemID=10023
which is linked from the imc-org feature (2006-pakistan)

be good to hear irish views, after our own 2? irish social fora and the few local regional ones that happened: south east and derry i think...?

anyway more to think about

and new up on imc-kenya
The WSF, the wider SF movement and the re-writing of history!
http://kenya.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/522.php

"I just had to publish this article from the U.k Guardian, it is by a elite 'aid worker' Conor Foley and while it may describe where the World Social Forum and the wider Social Forum movement is currently sadly at, it completely ignores the movements from below that helped create and sustain the WSF/SF movement, and imo, is an insult to them. I have also posted a reply from an irate reader who robustly challenged this piece..............."

and reaction in kenya, what i could find anyway:

infos of WSF in news :
IMC-ORG down, IMC-RADIO down, IMC-IE, IMC-UK up, IMC-BCN up, IMC-KENYA up (21.01.2007 )
https://publish.indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/360309.html...64904

by x Tue Jan 23, 2007 18:30

Simply dumping a request on an internet list doesnt work - and by now Dunk you should know that it doesnt, most if not all of your projects that you build in this manner are ignored and end in the same way with a post like the one above, because they're impersonal mass mails. Then you get pissed off when people dont respond - as if somehow its their fault that a project you have taken on on your own without doing any real serious organising falls apart at the last minute. You build up stuff that will 'happen' without actually checking if it can go ahead first - instant recipe for disaster and failure.

This isnt meant as a personal dig against you, but at this stage of the game you should take a step back from your methods of organising and doing projects, and ask yourself why nobody seems keen to get involved. I also suggest that you start writing your articles with correct punctuation and capitalisation, and stick to it forever (its the most basic writing skills that everyone learns in school and you are well capable of it) - reading text that isnt properly formatted becomes very tiresome, very quickly. You wouldnt expect it in a newspaper or journal, so dont expect others to read it in an email that contains requests for help and important information about the WSF.

by dunk - fuspey@yahoo.co.uk Tue Jan 23, 2007 19:27 fuspey at yahoo dot co dot uk

But having thought on those above correct criticisms regarding organisation and language I have attempted to be better organised and from that I think I have succeeded. I say this as I am now working physically with some great people here in Barcelona who also have worked their holes off to attempt to make this project a reality. Also, this project is quite a difficult one: a big ask, and not too many people see any value in it. When first proposed at an imc-ie meeting around 3 years ago in the front lounge (one of the few physical imc-ie meetings there were in my years invovled) it was immediatly not accepted on the grounds of something like (excure my memory here) "theres no point in trying to do something like that...". For me there was a point, i tried to seek support, didn get any, but still believed in it (0). I do believe in attempting something before outright refusing it: testing is a healthy way of learning on many levels. Giving it a blast, learning from your mistakes, taking it from the mental idea to the physical action or attempt from which comes learning and different sorts of knowledge.... From that I did finally manage to find collaboration to explore this area: streaming and its affects on communication systems as well as physical spaces and communities. That experiment ended up in the unofficial "indymedia irelands first live stream" (1) which only happened by "believing and trying" by fellow experimenters; Revolt video collective and seomra spraoi (2). That documentation of the process was turned into the 4 minute film "streaming from the gaff" (3), which subsequently went on to be screened or perhaps streamed on a network TV system in the states, which ended up with revolt vid collective getting a nice mail and cheque out of the blue, such are the somewhat chaotic things which come out of this type of process: a result of more fluid communication.

Regarding the language and mail structure, again I have tried to improve things. without being able to hyperlink here I have added the ()´s for ease of reading. Spelling, grammer and english were never my strong point and I dont sit down and spend a lot of time structuring and editing my mails. Quite a bad habit so I think ill need to slow there in regard to the point you made, thanks for contstructive criticism.

The above post is a request for help on the Irish end of things, here in Barcelona we have organised nearly everything. Yes it was a bit rushed due to the amount of things needed to pull this off, Im currently trying to sort Barcelona, Naorobi and Dublin. Dublin is proving the hardest and as stated above: I did try a lot to seek colloboration over many months with revolt and seomra spraoi - 2 collectives I was part of and still see myself being part of. Ask them about my requests for the "gaff" to be connected in time for the WSF, perhaps you "x" are also in one or both of these, who knows?

Anyway, I do take what you have posted on board. But I think you will find that I have been more "professional" in my approach since my Irish days. (OOOOPS nearly forgot the full stop as I read over for the last time, thanks again X) For example see the imc-org feature or the Macharia interview, links above. Perhaps they would only get 6 or 7 out of 10 in English class but thats not where I am. Im here trying to help a friend in Kibera whose people need help: help by others hearing about their reality of just trying to exist. Unfortunately indymedia radio is down, here you can listen to the 100´s of hours of audio documentation I have made over the years of what for me, and the people i interviewed, were critical dialogues. Perhaps Im fonder of Audio as a medium then the written word, I find it easier to speak than this clickity click task (such a bother, but its necessary...) I often wonder does anyone listen to my audio, i dont think so. On leaving home I told my collective, seomra sproai, that I´d be a roving reporter of sorts for them. And so with that I made many interviews with people in ohter social centre projects, Ive the feeling no-one listened to them? who knows? (4)

Anyway, sorry for rushing but I have to ring Kenya and Ireland, in the slim attempt of pulling this off. At least we tried here in Barcelona, it has been a huge learning curve and hopefully it WILL lead to future "global listening nodes" projects between here, La Quimera in Barcelona, and there, Seomra Spraoi in Ireland. Im sure that will happen and when it does I think you X will end up having fine days and nights of events, actions, discussions, whatever due to a tiny little bit of organisation.

ill end by again, directing you to a link, the space where I have sumarised the "Irish" situation in this streaming adventure. (5)

By the way will you be tuning intomorow, as there will be a show on, a first of sorts for this type of activism.

Dunk

(0) - global civil society - how things can be in the future (Saturday May 08, 2004)
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=64936&sea...civil

(1) "indymedia irelands first live stream"
http://www.indymedia.ie/newswire.php?story_id=72507

(2) - http://www.seomraspraoi.org/ http://revoltvideo.blogspot.com/

(3) - "streaming from the gaff"
http://video.indymedia.org/en/2005/11/199.shtml

(4) - Cities, radical urbanism, sqatting, social centres : Indymedia Radio
radio.indymedia.org/news/2006/09/11489.php

(5) - Dublin, Ireland (Republic of / Eire)
https://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/WorldSocialForum..._Eire

Changing the world in the Network Age

by Wag Tue Jan 23, 2007 19:39

"I do believe in attempting something before outright refusing it: testing is a healthy way of learning on many levels."

Like our ability to fly from tall buildings using yoga-super-powers? Or ending world hunger by by driving SUVs? Nice one.

by Chill Tue Jan 23, 2007 19:40

You " cannot 'sort' Barcelona, Dublin and Nairobi", its impossible.
you must be where you are- and live there and learn to use the resources
open to you- People get offended if you attempt to push a vision that they
not be ready for on them.

the job is to reflect community and people in bcn, dublin and nairobi
actually have resources and use them efficently enough- even if you
do not agree- so slow down a bit.

when you go to nairobi, you will doubtless hook up with people
who will share resources and knowlegdge with you- it is about
community- and you take your lead from the community-not impose
your desires on them- this can be translated as patronising.

good luck-

by dunk Tue Jan 23, 2007 20:48

Community is not limited to physically where you are and the "communioty" I am presently working with is a diverse one at present, many I have never seen but only talk on the phone or emails, these were the ones who had a gun stuck in their face last night. Others like my friends in Genoa know a tiny bit of the reality of what life is like in Kibera, after spending many hours talking with my friend Macharia, watching a disturbing 5 minute film (1) from the place and reading up on it. (2) and others are the people in my physical world here in Barcelona who I see, attend assemblies with, bounce ideas and work on computers untill the early hours of the morning and also drink an occasional beer with and laugh about the funnier things in life, or maybe play a bit of our Sunday evening fotbalin league. Life is amazing here in Barcelona, perhaps I have been lucky, perhaps not as some things have been very difficult, but in terms of trying to work on this project I have got to meet great people and together it took off. Thats been tough, tiring, frustrating but also a joy because we all feel it matters.

As for me, back in Genoa I said to my friend Macaharia that I would do what I could to help him and thats what Im doing now. Id like to add a piece I wrote on Jan. 11 (3). Its such a pity that the audio is not accessible at present.

anyway, why bother?....
(and just before i go, none of my above posts were sarcastic in case that impression was given....it was sincere, i was thankfull when i included oops...)

Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya is one of the largest slums in Africa with a population of over one million people (estimates range widely). The name "Kibera" is derived from kibra, a Nubian word meaning "forest" or "jungle." (1) Although over a million people live there the government recognise it officially as as a "squat" or illegally occupied land, this allows them to basically do nothing for the inhabitants.

There are 3 public schools, no running water, no running electricity, 5 toilets and 5 water pumps which both have to payed for. As a result there is huge illeteracy and education problems, crime is seen as the only way to survive. Due to the lack of toilets, people shit in plastic bags which are then flung onto the terribe smelling pile of previous peoples work; this is known as the flying toilet. Needless to say rivers of shit and piss and who knows what else flow from these piles of waste, these rivers run into the nearby river causing massive pollution. Despite this locals still wash, drink and take fish from this river to eat. There are widespread disease epidemics, along with Aids and the other usual diseases. People from rural Kenya still come to Kibera to live, believing like so many others around the world that the city will give them the chance in life to make it, to own the big house and the big car and all the rest that "they have in the west". Landlord exploitation and lack of basic law means profits and no justice in court should there be any issues of land use or ownership, oddly enough, although officially the government sees Kibera as an illegal settlement, many of its ministers are getting rich as they are the landlords in question. (2)

(1) - 4 minute film made about the Tenderfeet project by their US grassroots partner; LAHASH
http://www.lahash.net/mov/kibera-visit.html

(2) - wiki http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibera

(3) - Macharias journey: Kibera and a story of Hope : http://kenya.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/450_comment.php

Harambee hoo - the West African call for solidarity and support, as best you can...

by ((i)) Africa - WSF 2007 IMC-radio support Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:01 imc-africa at lists dot indymedia dot org

WE ARE BACK ON THE AIR! ... RADIO HURU is broadcasting within the World Social Forum as a demonstration project, after being robbed at gunpoint two nights ago. Everyone is safe, but lots of equipment was stolen including a laptop from a French indymedia activist with a lot of data. Three indymedia women were told to lie on the floor while the robbers took what they could carry and then locked them in the studio. Luckily they were found within the half hour by a Kenya IMC member.

more found at link..

Tek support is happening as I write. In Ireland, tek tools offered, physical support, time generously offered and much appreciated. All criticisms taken onboard, perhaps in future we can work together in more organised manner to make the :: Dublin, Barcelona, Oaxaca:: listening node happen.... its possible. When todays tek end is pulled together we have the system, then comes the next stage.... where to make a physical open public space for such acts of listening. I heard theres a lovley cozy room down by the river that is starting to develop its own lovely story....

by patient type Wed Jan 24, 2007 11:53

& what language will the radio people talking in Dunk?
Are you up to "organising" gaeilge, english, catalan & the sort of castillian they speak in the Mexican mountains ( or do they speak some indiginous language there) ? Coz very few people are.
And when you're quoting global list emails from other people describing how they were robbed - why not use "quotation marks"?

by dunk - tonights internation 3 way radio show Wed Jan 24, 2007 12:20

yes apologies for forgetting inclusion of the ""

another update in from the french node Marseille:

"We are in a zapatist space in Marseille, a local event
for make some nodes with the wsf in Nairobi. In this 3
days we have many discussions about the
altermondialist network, and the diffusion in the
local level. Media Activist from Nawak collectif make
project for films with the inhabitant of Noailles....."

from link
http://lists.indymedia.org/pipermail/imc-africa/2007-Ja....html

and posted on imc-org
http://www.indymedia.org/en/2007/01/878667.shtml

regarding language:
Like the real world, people live and learn by mistakes, trying and finding common ground:
bits of each language, whatever is possible:
same as when a physical real world convergence happens: many people many languages, people grouped into little islands of language: french corner, english corner, spanish corner........
the translators doing the trojan work of listening to the speaker speaking, relaying it in real time (no time for stopping to think and assess) speaking it to that language island. and trying to keep aware of situation in both the language island and the main assembly...... having been in these situations, not as translater, but as one who was translated to: its very tiring for the translater, but a critical part of the process to make things work. of course stuff gets lost, but the gist is relayed, and somehow it works

therefor, just as we deal with language in real world, we can similarly deal with in digital/ virtual when it used as an extension of the convergence model described above.....
think about it: what if we really push this....... whats a WSF going to be like in 4 years: 1200 radio channels all buzzing with connected assemblies on 1200 different themes, all critical for those participating in each one. all this archived. all this freely accessible......
thats a lot of listening

so what happens after the listening.......
what do we do from there........

just got mail from nearfm:

"If you are able to record material at the WSF and send it to us we can look at using it on "Global Solidarity" which is broadcast every Sunday 5pm - 6.30pm.
Let me know what your status is."
http://www.nearfm.ie/index.html 90.3 fm, the new frequency

and update on our own progress, partly included as an example of the process:

Re: imc-chat update 2 - 12.55 : leaving now to call again

rom imc-chat : working to make the "international radio show" stream for tonight 7pm Gmt : http://chat.indymedia.org/
http://chat.indymedia.org/cgiirc/irc.cgi?Nickname=fuspe...+Bush

[11:47] fuspey [fuspey@che.indymedia.org] has joined #gln_radio
[11:47] @candela fuspey
[11:47] Channel created on Wed Jan 24 10:12:03 2007
[11:47] ola candela,
[11:47] fuspey here
[11:47] all things are going good
[11:48] dave and K are collaborating: time, tek equipment, physical support
[11:51] https://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/WorldSocialForum..._Show is the link for tonights radio show
[11:52] perfect
[11:52] i am going to see if i get the audios for barcelona
[11:52] i go out to buy tabaco and telefon card
[11:53] ask them to come here as soon as possible
[12:06] they are getting here
[12:06] ill keep on it
[12:06] i asked in infoespai for spell check of catalan poster
[12:07] no one to check yet, E said theres a website to use, im presuming you know of this or used it already
[12:09] i used that web
[12:16] i am in the audio
[12:16] one song will be "marca barcelona 2 "
[12:16] i go to look it on internet
[12:20] update:
[12:21] dave, R and K are the 3 people working in dublin to make the show happen
[12:21] will happen from --------
[12:21] k has loads of tek tools to give,--------------
[12:22] dave lives near r and waiting for him to call r
[12:22] k will also call r
[12:22] and give tools when possible
[12:22] maybe dave might collect, 10 mins on bike
[12:22] text gone out to all that r is up and awaiting assistance
[12:23] r states that usb headphones are required, not sure if k has thes
[12:24] seems that r has mikes, im not sure exactly of the tek end of this
[12:24] ill ring dave and k again soon, in attempt to get them to call each other ASAP : as soon as possible
[12:26] usb headphones? no they dont need them if they have 2 computers
[12:27] thing to be printed: print them before infoespai close, please
[12:38] dave has second computer, requesing its use
[12:38] from his housemates
[12:43] sent prints through, will check
[12:43] i go to quimera 1.15
[12:43] talked with andrea
[12:47] ok
[12:47] i will go too
[12:47] when do you think we will do the test?
[12:47] do you think africa will be able to do stream?
[12:52] will need to get working on the audio when i get there, i will need to open the ftp that they sent me and dowlon
[12:52] good see you in la q
[12:53] called africa, they said that no net connections-
[12:53] still might be able to get, use or squat the official media space communications systems
[12:53] steph was pulled away,
[12:54] told her id call later and look for the 2 6 min audio pieces and 2 5 min music pieces
[12:54] over phone call
[12:54] will call macharia too now
[12:55] no text back or call for situation update from ireland
[12:55] will call them again to see
[12:55] stressed urgency

by dunk Wed Jan 24, 2007 18:59

tune into http://r23.cc/interface/ site and the channnel will be up in 2 minutes

nearly there

near will replay later on terestrial radio

by dunk Wed Jan 24, 2007 21:32

A success, of sorts...

5 listeners, thanks to those who did support work on the IRC-channel for helping sort glitches, like when we forgot to turn on the mike button. Anyway, we did it. Thanks to all collaborators both here and abraod, but all here on this funny little rock.

-The show went out and lasted the 2 hours. It was not perfect, the Dublin node didn´t come through in the end and it a whole host of other things. We will have that sorted for next time, this is not an end but a begining. Hopefully the next show with Ireland will have the nodes connected, with better organisation and collaboration it will happen. Strong new links have been made, its something to build upon.

We did manage to connect Naorobi and Barcelona, if only for a short while to have Macharia give us an update over a mobile phone held to the mic to give us an update from the ground where we got more bad news today: that the youth of Kibera had taken to the streets in protest against the lack of openness of the WSF and the fact that the fee to enter was too high for them. The old story again: the big boys roll into town and they dont want to have to listen to the whinging of the masses from the slums. Last time people were shot dead by the police, who knows whats happening as I type.

Unfortunately we were unable to get a recording of the broadcast made, which is another disapointment but we move on from it. Tomorow the show was supposed be rebroadcast on a net radio show from the Canaries. But we will take what we have done and broadcast another one, perhaps with another node. It was a great experiment.

The programme of the show was roughly the following:

Topic: Housing
show length : 2 hours

---------------------------------------------Africa : Naorobi : Kibera
Spoken interviews:

2 - Pastor Nick Macharia - a story of hope from the slums of Kibera - 50 mins (broken into 2 sections of roughly 7 minutes each)
1 - Pastor Nick Macharia - Kibera and the impact of the WSF - 6 mins : frustration from 2 days ago, before the riots on the streets
1 - Pastor Nick Macharia - short live interview via mobile

Music audio :
1- Maasai music : http://www.laleyio.com/music.html : 10 minutes
http://s117794305.onlinehome.us/mp3/rhythmmx.mp3

---------------------------------------------Ireland, Dublin, Sheriff Street, Cloughjordan
spoken interviews:

1 - Mary Cummings, North Wall Womens Centre, Sheriff Street, Dublin Docklands. : 8 mins
2 - Robbie Synnott- how radio and future media can positively affect community : 4.35 mins
3 - Davie Philip, Cloughjordan eco village, : 7 minutes

Music audio :

1- Luke Kelly and the Dubliners : the town I loved so well - 6.26 mins
found on YOu tube at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtbA1CKo6-M&mode=related...arch=

2 - Planxty : cliffs of Donneen 3.45 mins
found on you tube
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uc5911S3JAw

3 - Lynched : Grafton Street - time 2.20 min
found on my space
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.vi...32185

4 - Warlords of Pez : Padre Pio - 2 mins (to tie in with the docks theme: the story of the pigeon towers
http://www.warlordsofpez.com/pez.html

---------------------------------------------Ireland, Dublin, Sheriff Street, Cloughjordan

1 - Live interview with members from V de Viviendes and Neu 21
2 - Okupa movement

audio later

have to run

by x Thu Jan 25, 2007 09:31

Sorry this reportage is unreadable again. Why is there a complete copy and paste of a tech irc chat up on the newswire? Seriously? It adds absolutely nothing to the "report" and is completely unncessary. Again there are no capital letters and no proper punctuation. I get no overall clue of what was going on. In all honesty, the talk of nodes and such is completely unclear. I get no feeling for how many people were involved, what the programme was about, what the atmosphere was at the WSF, or any background information. Bad, bad journalism/reportage.

Rather than taking your time to put together a decent report, it reads like its just been quickly hashed together just so it would be out as soon as possible. Makes what could be an interesting topic instantly a target for the 'back' button. Again not a personal attack but if you're going to write about stuff, you really have to go back to the drawing board, read up on English grammar and sentence construction, as well as paragraph/idea building and writing styles. Please stop with the one sentence paragraphs with no punctuation, they're terrible.

by white man's burden Thu Jan 25, 2007 13:17

5 listeners is really impressive. Bob Geldof probably started with less, & he ended up doing very well off the white man's burden . Mr Dunk will have honorary university degrees & be on MTV in no time.

by Mapengu Fri Jan 26, 2007 01:18

Would like to play some of this stuff on community radio in Cork, I'll contact Near FM directly

unity

by ((i)) - #GLN_Radio : ((i)) WSF International Radio Fri Jan 26, 2007 12:11

Audio interview and transcript:

The impact of the World Social Forum (WSF) on the people of Kibera: "People think it is quite a failure"
radio interview with Pastor Nick Macharia, PEPKAG and Tenderfeet

#GLN_Radio interview by phone, ((i)) WSF International Radio show : Barcelona, Dublin, Naorobi.
date : Monday 22 January 2007
Apologies for poor sound quality, interview done with audio recorder held to earpiece of phone in call shop in Barcelona

((i))Africa - Ok so im on the phone here with pastor Nick Macharia who is speaking from Kibera, in Nairobi, in Kenya. The world social forum is on at the moment. Macharia can you tell us about the impact of the World Social Forum in Kibera, what people think about it, are they being listened to, are they getting a chance to tell their story to the world and can things be improved also?

M - People think it is quite a failure, the impact has not been felt in the slums because one, the participation of the people in the slum has not been realised. Because apart from the organisers, they are buying some tee-shirts and taking them to the slum "Kibera for peace" and marching, there isnt much. Because people on the ground dont know even what the world social forum is for and the ideals, and again the occasion the _____________________ its very far away from the slum. If people from the slum have to participate they have to pay more than a hundred shillings 2 and 4, and they are not able to raise that money because they live below the povery line, less than dollar a day, so if you tell these people to give 2 or 3 dolars to attend that meeting, then it does not bring anything to them. Initially we thought that the best way was to take ask at a meeting where the problem is. we dont see the need of people going outside kibera to speak about the problems of Kibera and there is space and everything is there in Kibera. I think if are to make impact the organisers will see the importance of going to the people who really need these services and cutting off those people who only want to make cash out of the situation.

((i))Africa - And is there talk of some of the independant media people coming out to Kibera?

M - Independant media - Yeah i recieved a telephone call from Daniela and she they told me about the kind of people who will be coming to Kibera to _________________ among the peole there and to see for themselves what we are doing there. And Im glad because _____________________________ in the afternoon, they told me we will meet here in town and go there and they are waiting to do some interviews and perhaps to give our overview over the whole thing.

((i))Africa - Aswell as the situation, what message can come from Kibera or is coming from kibera? Has Kibera something to tell the world, has it something to offer the world in terms of people working together or solidarity, or just trying to deal with situations as best you can?

m - I think the message is very clear that these people feel abused. Now that we are living in times when the information is accessible to them and now they know what they need and they can be able to ___________ more clear because they are more informed than they used to be. I think the message is if people are sincere to come and help the Kibera people they should come directly to them and give land assistance directly. But when that assistance goes through other stages sometimes they feel people are using them to make ______________ as they want.

((i))Africa - In terms of the housing situation, are things getting better or worse for the people in Kibera?

m - I think it is not right to even use the word house because houses are not there in the slum. You should call them ghettos or something because as far as i now from the stations of the courts? this a crown land, nobody can own a house there. They are not houses they are only some ineffectual things and these are not owned by the people who live in them,
they are owned by people who are wealthy. Because this is the only place which is near the town, many people move from rural areas, they want to come and look for greener pastures in the town, they will choose to come to Kibera where they can walk to the town to look for greener pasture and because of this you find that the issue of housing is not there becuase you can find one room with so many people living in the same room. Its quite pathethic because even toilets and other things like bathrooms and what have you, are not there.

((i))Africa - Ok, well we will do as best we can to try to get that message from Kibera out to the world and hopefully people will listen and find out more about Kibera and from that offer support more support or assistance or whatever in the future. So Macharia, thank you for your time and tell the people of Kibera that we are thinking about them and waiting to hear from them.

m - Yeah, thankyou very much.

relateed info about Kibera :
Macharias journey: Kibera and a story of Hope
http://kenya.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/450_comment.php#459

Pastor Nick Macharia working in KIbera

Kibera : squalor, disease and death

The impact of the World Social Forum (WSF) on the people of Kibera: "People think it is quite a failure" 0.82 Mb

by iosaf Fri Jan 26, 2007 18:36

But I wouldn't have expected it to be anything else.

At most it offers readers in Europe an opportunity to read about Kibera... one slum of many slums. I recommend visiting this site which is well written, counts on many illustrations & shows some of the ideas for architectural improvement which have come from Kibera's own residents. Which I presume is the thing which attracted Dunk to this project (he studied architecture in Dublin).
http://www.affordablehousinginstitute.org/blogs/us/2005....html

It is worth remembering that the issues raised by slums in Africa & more specifically the land ownership issues & thus the responsibility of the post-colonial states to improve conditions are completely different from those (perhaps more studied) in Brazil of other South American states. Neither Kibera in former British ruled Kenya or for that matter the former shantytown suburbs of Harare which were cleared in 2005 by Mugabe (c/f "Operation Murambatsvina (No Tolerance to Filth)" reading material http://www.indymedia.ie/article/70209 ") In former British Africa notions of "the commons" as understood in English common law dating back to feudalism were allowed when there was a specific political imperialist incentive . Kibera is a good example of this, ["The slum originated in 1920 as a Nubian soldiers' settlement. The British colonial government of the time allowed them to squat on a hillside outside Nairobi, primarily because the British felt the Nubian population could be trusted during the Kikuyu-dominated Mau Mau movement of the 1950s...]" but ["the British never gave the Nubians the title deeds to their new land. The soldiers built homes, and set up businesses. But they were squatters - with no legal rights. They called the place - Kibra, meaning jungle. Over the years, other tribes moved into the area. Some managed to carve out their own plots of land. But most became tenants - renting their huts off the Nubian landlords."]

as we read on wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibera "After Kenyan indepedence in 1963, however, various forms of housing were made illegal by the government, rendering Kibera unauthorised on the basis of land tenure". This post-colonial pattern of land ownership was repeated throughout former British posessions but not in the former French states. For the curious the land ownership rights of many Latin American slum communities rest on the vague legal concepts of terra nullis .

African housing issues are thus "very" African concerns. The World Social forum has offered global activists opportunities to build strategies & campaigns on global issues. I imagine WSF in Kenya might see progress on agreements on fair trade at international level or other themes such as joint peace keeping actions by the AU. But on the question of housing - It is an African who is renting these slums to his fellow Africans. Pity we can't seem to get such a landlord on the telephone to Dublin or Barcelona & ask him the questions..,

by dunk Sat Jan 27, 2007 15:04

The show is being recorded again this evening and will be broadcast next week on Barcelonas two main activist radio stations. (both terrestrial and net)

http://www.contrabanda.org/contrabanda/
http://www.radiobronka.info/

here are the links to the Irish audio interviews:

((i))radio : gln : housing: Dublin :

Mary Cummings (North Wall Womens Center Sheriff St) (en)
http://netjuke.r23.cc/play.php?do=play&val=11178

Davie Philip (Cloughjordan eco village) (en)
http://netjuke.r23.cc/play.php?do=play&val=11179

Robbie Synnott (media activism)
http://netjuke.r23.cc/play.php?do=play&val=11181

from R23´s netjuke
http://netjuke.r23.cc/search.php?do=list.tracks&col=al_...rt=al

R23:
http://r23.cc/interface/

by dunk Tue Jul 17, 2007 14:49

Due to imc-kenya network being down i am uploading the article i wrote there, here.
( It was linked in initial post : 5- Macharias journey: Kibera and a story of Hope http://kenya.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/450_comment.php )

A man came from Africa to Europe looking for help. He has devoted his life to improving the lives of his fellow country men, women and especially children in his native Kenya, in the slums of Kibera, Pastor Nick Macharia is his name and help is coming. Heres his story.

"I love you all for your great concern and I wish you God's blessing as you think about Africa and what you can do, particularly in the Kibera slum."

These are the words Macharia left to then newly forming "Kibera support group" in Genova, Italy last September on the last day of his his risky adventure to Europe, his first time out of Africa.

It was a strange few days for many people who were lucky to meet this funny, good humoured, passionate, strong, clever and extremely hard working man who has devoted his life to bettering the lives of those around him. Those whose situation in just trying to survive is so hard to imagine living here in the luxury of Europe, where although there are many problems, seem tiny in signifigance to those who face the daily battle of staying alive. I was lucky enough to meet Macharia, after arriving back to the Buridda social centre late after a long train journey after some time working in Venice, I was told "Welcome Dunk, theres a man from Kenya in the room you will sleep in", tired and plugging back into things I soon met a well dressed man in a light brown suit and a bright red tie with a big smiling face, little did i know then how important a friend I was going to make. We both briefly outlined what we were doing but as I was tired I soon needed to sleep, before bed I told Macharia that I worked with community and independant media and would like to do a radio interview with him the following day, he was very excited about this, as that was exactly the reason he had traveled from Africa: to tell Europe and the world about the situation in the slums of Kibera, to tell us about the work he was doing with the Tenderfeet project and try to seek assistance in what ever form it might come to assist him and his people. The following morning, we got up, made breakfast and hot chocolate and sat down on the couch in the social centre, I took out my little audio recorder and I did my first of many radio interviews with Macharia - It was a sad tale of a people living in miserable life situations, but it was also a tale of HOPE, as Macharia knows that things will change, that local people doing little things can make a difference and that this story just needed to be brought to the next level.

So heres his story and the story of Kibera...

Macharia left his job as an engineer over 20 years ago as he felt a calling to become a minister of the church, his father had been a church minister and I think tried to dissuade his son from what he knew would be a very difficult life. But the young Macharia was committed and driven and took up his religious studies and soon was out in the field of action as he saw it. His work took him to the prisons of Nairobi, as there was or perhaps still is a law that if somenone is sent to prison and they are responsible for a child, the child is put behind bars also. He set up a charity group to take children out of custody and try to give them an education and accomodation outside the prison system in the hope that their situation could be improved. He questioned the root causes of why there was so many people in prison, at that time 90% of the prison population was from Kibera, so he said to himself that he must go to and work in the slums of Kibera.

Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya is one of the largest slums in Africa with a population of over one million people (estimates range widely). The name "Kibera" is derived from kibra, a Nubian word meaning "forest" or "jungle." (1) Although over a million people live there the government recognise it officially as as a "squat" or illegally occupied land, this allows them to basically do nothing for the inhabitants.

There are 3 public schools, no running water, no running electricity, 5 toilets and 5 water pumps which both have to payed for. As a result there is huge illeteracy and education problems, crime is seen as the only way to survive. Due to the lack of toilets, people shit in plastic bags which are then flung onto the terribe smelling pile of previous peoples work; this is known as the flying toilet. Needless to say rivers of shit and piss and who knows what else flow from these piles of waste, these rivers run into the nearby river causing massive pollution. Despite this locals still wash, drink and take fish from this river to eat. There are widespread disease epidemics, along with Aids and the other usual diseases. People from rural Kenya still come to Kibera to live, believing like so many others around the world that the city will give them the chance in life to make it, to own the big house and the big car and all the rest that "they have in the west". Landlord exploitation and lack of basic law means profits and no justice in court should there be any issues of land use or ownership, oddly enough, although officially the government sees Kibera as an illegal settlement, many of its ministers are getting rich as they are the landlords in question. (2)

When Macharia arrived in Kibera many years ago the situation was not as bad as it is today, but it was still bad. After an early incident being mugged, he was soon respected in the community due to the work he put into bettering their situation, he set up a church mission and that has gone from strength to strength, he now walks through his area with his people and working together they do what they can to improve things. Some years ago he set up the Tenderfeet project, as he believed that the youth had a right to basic education and some food every day, he set up a school, the community rented a small shack and one of the parishinors, Mama Margeret became the main teacher. The government soon got suspicious of Macharia and felt he was trying to subvert the government, they made his life hard and examined all his work to look for unlawful activity. AAs well as Macharia´s social work, he is a very astute man and he knew what might lie in store for him, so ontop of all he was already doing, he studied law at night and became a lawyer. He soon had to defend himself and his work in the courts, he was successful though but it was a tiring time. During this time one "legal procedure" procurred the community school for "development of a road", but once the deal was forced through the "use" changed, the school was knocked and higher priced housing units were erected. The law protected this "legal" government action.

For a long time Macharia and the Kibera community struggled to make ends meet, to provide education for the youth, to continue to survive in their harsh world. Macharia also set up job training workshops as an alternative to crime in Kibera. There is a word that escapes me now, its a word that describes someone in Kenya who chooses to stay in prison for their life rather than face the battle to exist outside in the streets, perhaps many of these people grew up as children institutionalised by the kenyan child prison law, this puts things in perspective a little bit as to how difficult things must be. A little while back though, Macharia and the Tenderfeet project got a lucky break, the US grassroots group, LAHASH, happened to visit Kibera. Lahash International was created to encourage grassroots movements of compassion providing relief for those in desperate situations in East Africa and they mostly work in Sudan and Uganda, but what they saw in Kibera shocked them and they offered to make a short film and to do what they can to highlight the situation (2).

Then a few months back Macharia proposed what he felt might have been a crazy or stupid idea: that they raise funds to send him to Europe so that he can spead the word and to seek wider assistance. They pooled together and after some time finally had the money to get Macharia to Europe for a little while.

Prior to this he had met an Italian man who told him to come to Italy sometime and that he would help him. Nick arrived in Milan airport and rang the number he had been given, he recieved bad news: his friend had "left the country and was no in France", no invitation was given to Macharia to visit the only address outside Africa he had in his possession. What was he to do? He got a taxi from the airport outside Milan into the train station, the taxi driver took all of Macharia´s money. In the train station, Macharia went to the police for assistance. After he and all his documentation was checked out and many questions asked of him, they told him there was little they could do for him. He was feeling frightened, alone and a angry at this stage, had he wasted all the money from the community that had been spent on getting him to Europe, that money could have fed a lot of children and bought more resourses. Then the next strange part of this story happened, while Macharia was standing dejected and alone in the station a white English man approached him and asked him about his s¡tuation, Macharia told him his story. The English man responded "This is not a good place for you, Milan is not a good place, you need to try to get to Genova, thats where I´m going, there are people and groups there who will help you. There are places where you can live for free and they will take care of you." So Macharia went back to the police in the situation and told them he had been offered a place to stay in Genova, they gave him the money for a single train journey to get there and he soon arrived in Genova.

When Macharia arrived in Genova, again he felt helpless and dejected. He arrived off the train with the name of the English man and a time to meet him in a days time outside the station. He came out of the station and sat on one of the benches, he saw what he thought to be a church and decided to call in and seek assistance. It turned out to be an old Genovese residence and no welcome was given for him. He sat back on the bench and was really feeling miserable and foolish for wasting his communities money and for also being in what was now becoming a dangerous situation. He sat and sat. Then a young Genovese girl approached his bench and asked him in English if he was ok, he explained his situation, she listened and then said that she would do what she could to help him. She called her boyfriend and when he arrived they took Macharia somewhere to eat and then sorted him out with a hostel for the night, they very generously covered all the costs. The next day they met him and talked with him about their life in Genova and Europe, what their worlds were about and soon the 3 became friends. Macharia was lucky in this situation, many people arrive in places far away from home and dont meet such luck and generousity, then again perhaps the old saying "what goes around, comes around" has some truth in it, who knows? The couple brought Macharia back to the station for his appointment with the English man who then brought him to the Buridda social centre, which is a very large squatted building that used to house the "Genova school of economics", but that now houses young people invovled with the anti-capitalist movement.

For two weeks this was Macharias home and it was here during the second week that I met him, we spent nearly all that week in each others company exchanging stories about life and struggles in different part of the world including mostly, Kibera. I did a series of interviews with him about Kibera and his work there, one of which was played on NEAR FM, an Irish community radio station that has a great programme "majority world". That interview went out on local Dublin radio but also over the internet, and we tuned the internet radio in Buridda into the station for people to listen to the interview. Macharia and myself did not get to listen to that interview as we had made an appointment with one of the local Catholic priests for a meeting in which Macharia was going to explain his work in the hope of some assistance, when we got to the church the priest quickly exited the scene and his secretary made appologies "Oh, we help so much in the world already", I was livid by this, he didnt even have the decency or bravery to speak to Macharias face, another example of the church letting down the people. Macharia told me not to be so hard, he forgave. I didnt, but after I said to him that perhaps trying to find assistance from big bodies such as the Catholic Church was not going to help Kibera, and perhaps more local grassroots groups would be better at helping. From this we met up with his first friends and from this groups of friends grew the "Kibera support group" which organised for people to come and listen to Macharias story and to make a small financial contribution, being mosly students it was small but the group said that although without much money themselves they have the resourses to create events to bring in money for Kibera. At present a musical concert is being organised in Genova, as well as some more small donations sent out for the children for Christmas. Also while in Genova, his friends brought him to a small Protestant Church where he was invited by the priest to talk to the congregation, who were mostly old British expats, but they listened and they too also made a collection for the children in Kibera. So at the end of it all, did Macharia feel it was a waste of money, a foolish journey based on false hope? No, he left even more strongly committed to his work, now with the knowledge that people outside Africa knew about it. He also had a deeper faith in human kindness after going through his dark hours.

So that was Macharia´s adventure, of course there was a lot more about his views of Europe and especially what he sees as a hopelessness that forces the youth of Europe to turn to drugs. He feels that Europe can help Africa, but so too that Africa can help Europe, that it can show a way of Hope.

It was an absolute pleasure to meet Macharia, we hope now as the WSF (world social forum) approaches that the next part of the story will happen, and that his offer to let the Kibera community tell the world their story will soon become a reality.

- References

(1) - WIKI info on kibera -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibera

(2) - 4 minute film made about the Tenderfeet project by their US grassroots partner; LAHASH
http://www.lahash.net/mov/kibera-visit.html

- Audio interviews with Pastor Nick Macharia:

Kibera slums, Tenderfeet and a vision of hope for Kenya and Africa
http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/imgp4447.wav

The Tenderfeet project in Kibera, Kenya http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/imgp4458.wav

( Interview 1 with Pastor Nick Macharia was aired on the Irish community radio station NEAR FM, on the great show : majority world
http://www.nearfm.ie/index.html )

links:

Pastor Nick Macharia, Tenderfeet project, Kibera:

Tenderfeet - organisation in Kibera set up by Pastor
Nick Macharia
http://www.tenderfeet.org/

4 minute film made about the Tenderfeet project by
their US grassroots partner; LAHASH
http://www.lahash.net/mov/kibera-visit.html

"Two Faces of Nairobi B4 the K-Liberation"
from Jo French's website : tumbalamwezi
- Essay with photographs about Kibera and Nick Macharias great work there.
http://tumbalamwezi.blogspot.com/2006/06/two-faces-of-n....html

Macharia´s visit to Europe
photo album found at
http://www.flickr.com/photos/83297929@N00/

WIKI info on kibera -
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibera

Information about meeting Macharia on Indymedia Ireland
indymedia.ie/article/78360

World Social Forum
http://wsf2007.org/

Global listening nodes project:
https://docs.indymedia.org/view/Global/WorldSocialForum...Nodes
the above story appears on indymedia kenya:http://kenya.indymedia.org/news/2007/01/450.php

by dunk Tue Jul 17, 2007 16:01

found on below link:

by dunk Wed Jul 18, 2007 12:27 fuspey at yahoo dot co dot uk

Harambee Hoo : the west african call for help and solidarity. Macharia explains the origins of the phrase and how its still in common use today: football teams, need help cooking, political usage....
http://netjuke.r23.cc/musiq/candela/global_nodes_housin...e.ogg
2 mins

audio interview made with macharia found at
http://netjuke.r23.cc/musiq/candela/global_nodes_housin...a.ogg
50 mins long, about the tenderfeet project, the slums of Kibera and the wider situation in Kenya and Africa

2 videos from the project
the 2007 LEHASH video tour of Kibera
http://tenderfeetkids.org/video_tour.html

the 2005 LEHASH video tour of kibera
http://www.lahash.net/mov/kibera-visit.html
also on youtube at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EIKKoHCFGdI

Macharias journey: Kibera and a story of Hope
http://indymedia.ie/article/80584&comment_limit=0&conde...01479

Harambee project - helping and working with Africa
(Nov 30, 2006)
http://indymedia.ie/article/78360&comment_limit=0&conde...77865

Tenderfeet - organisation in Kibera set up by Pastor Nick Macharia
http://www.tenderfeet.org/
http://tenderfeetkids.org/

main person working on the ground with the kids: Mama Margaret
Mama Margaret Wanjiku Nyabuto
(254)-0724-788-482
P.O Box 26403
Nairobi- Kenya
mamamargaret2005@yahoo.com

to make a donation to tenderfeet, via lahashs website
https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_flow&SESS...a490e

audios are from found on global listening nodes project, imc-radio support for world social forum 2007, which happened in Naorobi, Kenya and in which we attempted to get the story of Macharia and Tenderfeets project out to the world, and from that to seek a wider HARAMBEE
http://netjuke.r23.cc/search.php?do=list.tracks&col=al_...rt=al

we hope to build on this work soon in Ireland....

by dunk Wed Jul 18, 2007 13:12 fuspey at yahoo dot co dot uk

Last February we made the radio show from Barcelona about the topic of housing, it went out live over the net, and later rebroadcast on Barcelona radio. Since then there have been 993 different downloads of the show, perhaps some of these ended being played on terrestrial radio? and also 796 downloads of the discussion with Macharia about the situation in Kibera. There is a group organising to do a fundraising event in Dublin soon to assist the Tenderfeet project, which Macharia founded. If people are interested in collaborating on this project, email me.

related:
supporting a school in Africas largest slum
http://tenderfeetkids.org/join.html

full wsf2007 "housing" radio show
http://netjuke.r23.cc/musiq/%28%28i%29%29%20radio/globa...9.ogg

a lovely bit of traditional music from the Masaii tribe in Kenya
http://netjuke.r23.cc/musiq/candela/global_nodes_housin...l.ogg

and lastly, a treat to some: an Irishman in Barcelona on the blower (the red telephone) to the pope, as part of the radio programme, inquiring about whether his holiness might help with the housing situation
http://netjuke.r23.cc/musiq/candela/global_nodes_housin...n.ogg

Tenderfeet education centre, Kibera slums of Naorobi, Kenya

by dunk Tue Dec 01, 2009 15:34

Radio show: Macharias journey: Kibera, Kenya and a story of Hope (old WAV files upgraded to MP3)
http://www.radio4all.net/index.php/program/37783

A man came from Africa to Europe looking for help. He has devoted his life to improving the lives of his fellow country men, women and especially children in his native Kenya, in the slums of Kibera, Pastor Nick Macharia is his name and help is coming. Here's his story.

Both recordings made in Genoa, Italia September 2006

1 - Macharia - Kibera slums, Tenderfeet and a vision of hope for Kenya and Africa - 50mins
2 - The Tenderfeet project in Kibera, Kenya - 32 mins

1 - http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/macharia.mp3
2 - http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/Tenderfeet_project_i...a.mp3

http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/macharia.mp3

Macharia - Kibera slums, Tenderfeet and a vision of hope for Kenya and Africa

http://radio.indymedia.org/uploads/Tenderfeet_project_in_Kibera.mp3

The Tenderfeet project in Kibera, Kenya