Australia Is Baking And Chicago Is Freezing - What Is Going On? By Dr. Marshall J. Sherphard I often remind people that Earth has a split personality. As the Northern Hemisphere experiences winter, it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere. People can be so narrowly focused on where they live that they overlook this fact. It caught my eye that we are currently seeing extreme temperatures on both sides of the ledger right now. Chicago, Illinois is expected to deal with life-threatening and record cold air this week. On the other side of the planet, Adelaide and other parts of Australia are shattering heat records. What is going on? Surface temperatures for Sunday January 27th on Earth.CLIMATE REANALYZER.ORG Chicago is often referred to as the Windy City, but this coming week extreme cold makes its claim for the headlines. According to a CNN wire story on the KDVR.com website, The forecast models the weather service is referring to have consistently shown numerous days dropping to at least minus-20 degrees or colder next week. For reference, Chicago has had only 15 days ever drop to minus-20 or colder in 150 years of record keeping. There is also the potential that Chicago will see multiple days that fail to reach 0 for the high temperature — something that has happened only twice in the past 20 years, and 22 times in the past 100 years.   Life-threatening temperatures in the Chicago area this week.NWS CHICAGO VIA TWITTER The National Weather Service-Chicago tweeted the graphic above warning of life-threatening cold and wind chills in the middle of the work week. What's the cause? It is winter. Because of increasingly infrequent extreme cold events, these events definitely get our attention as they should. Meteorologically speaking,  after a low-pressure system brings wintry precipitation to the Midwest United States, a very cold Arctic high pressure system (1040 mb) system settles into the northern Plains by midweek. The low-pressure system is projected to be near the Great Lakes by Wednesday. Meteorology 101 tells us that the circulation around a High is clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere, and the circulation associate with low pressure is counterclockwise. This means the flow pattern and a difference in pressure (a gradient) will cause cold air to spill into the region along with gusty winds. If you look at the weather map for Wednesday (bel0w), you can see some of these features. To visualize the cold stream of air that will flow into the Midwest, simply follow those red lines of constant pressure (isobars).   Weather map for Wednesday January 30thNWS WPC Because the Earth's Northern Hemisphere is tilting away from the Sun right now,  it is winter there. The Southern Hemisphere is receiving more direct, intense energy from our star and is experiencing summer. A graduate school colleague of mine, Richard Henning reminded me, in his social media post, of a lyric from the song "Beds are Burning."  In that song, the Australian rock band, Midnight Oil, sings of "steam in forty five degrees." Adelaide, Australia broke an 80-year heat record with a temperature of 46.6 deg C this past week. That value converts to 115.9 deg F. The Bureau of Meteorology, South Australia tweeted on January 24th: #Adelaide is now the hottest capital in Australia, having just reached 46.6C at 3:35pm, beating the previous record in #Melbourne of 46.4 @BOM_Vic More records: Whyalla 48.5 (prev. record 48.0), Leigh Creek 46.9 (prev. 46.3), and Port Augusta 49.1 (prev. 48.9) #heatwave Temperatures for January 27th, 2019.AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF METEOROLOGY Many experts are projecting this to be the warmest January on record in parts of Australia as a brutal heatwave continues. The current heatwave has led to health emergencies, energy crises, fire hazards, and disruptions of the Australian Open tennis tournament. A stagnant area of high pressure situated over southern Australia means sinking, warming air and dry conditions. Ironically, a recent report issued by Australian government warns of increasing threats from such heatwaves. The 5th biennial State of the Climate report declared that: Australia's climate has warmed just over 1 °C since 1910 leading to an increase in the frequency of extreme heat events...There has been a long-term increase in extreme fire weather, and in the length of the fire season, across large parts of Australia. The report also warns of more hot days, heat waves and fewer cool extremes. Earth is clearly exhibiting its seasonal and hemispheric split personality, but there is something that I want to point out as I close. Extreme events are what we notice not averages. Isn't it ironic that it has become breaking news when it gets cold in Chicago? This is consistent with scientific literature that finds "extreme cold" events becoming less common. Will they continue to happen? Of course. We must look at weather extremes and climate within the proper context. There are many people that draw conclusions based on what is happening where they live or on a given day. That's a no-no. Stay warm Chicago (or cool Adelaide).   Dr. Marshall Shepherd, Dir., Atmospheric Sciences Program/GA Athletic Assoc. Distinguished Professor (Univ of Georgia), Host, Weather Channel's Popular Podcast, Weather Geeks, 2013 AMS President Dr. J. Marshall Shepherd, a leading international expert in weather and climate, was the 2013 President of American Meteorological Society (AMS) and is Director of the University of Georgia’s (UGA) Atmospheric Sciences Program. Dr. Shepherd is the Georgia Athletic Association Distinguished Professor and hosts The Weather Channel’s Weather Geeks Podcast, which can be found at all podcast outlets. Prior to UGA, Dr. Shepherd spent 12 years as a Research Meteorologist at NASA-Goddard Space Flight Center and was Deputy Project Scientist for the Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) mission. In 2004, he was honored at the White House with a prestigious PECASE award. He also has received major honors from the American Meteorological Society, American Association of Geographers, and the Captain Planet Foundation. Shepherd is frequently sought as an expert on weather and climate by major media outlets, the White House, and Congress. He has over 80 peer-reviewed scholarly publications and numerous editorials. Dr. Shepherd received his B.S., M.S. and PhD in physical meteorology from Florida State University.

Recently, an announcement regarding electricity access in Kenya was made by the World Bank. I was glad that the Kenyan government had increased electricity access to over 50% today from 23% in 2009. It is not only Kenya, but other countries within the East African region have also improved their electricity access. Rwanda increased access from 6% in 2009 to 22% in 2015. Tanzania improved from 2.5% in 2010 to approximately 24% in 2014. The improvements show that the individual governments have some form of comprehensive national strategies with regard to improving access to energy. For Kenya, I was particularly interested in the electricity access plan for the country to see if the achievement was in line with the Vision 2030. Unfortunately, it wasn’t; the access now should be 70%. I appreciate that there were challenges along the way that resulted to the shortfall. The challenges are not limited to Kenya. Take the case of Rwanda; the country is still a long way towards achieving 100% electricity access by 2020. The complexity that comes with implementation require our governments to apply more stringent measures, or apply better studies that provide more accurate projections. I want to believe that much more can be done as access to energy is a critical requirement in the achievement of most UN SDGs. The increased access to electricity in Kenya has been influenced by increased development in energy generation projects. One of the applauded projects, as many know, is the investment in geothermal power. With increased investment in Geothermal electricity, Kenya is getting global recognition as it is among the few countries with large generation capacities from geothermal. By the end of 2015, the country had a generation capacity of 600MW from geothermal contributing over a fourth of the total generation that stood at 2,333MW. Globally, looking at countries that invested in geothermal electricity in 2015 alone, Turkey set up the biggest plant at 159MW followed by the United States at 71MW, Mexico with 53MW and Kenya in the fourth position with 20MW. Japan came in fifth having added 7MW of geothermal electricity to its energy mix while Germany was 6th (6MW). Considering total electricity generation from geothermal, Kenya occupies the eighth position globally.  It is also noteworthy that the country is yet to fully exploit the 10,000MW of its geothermal capacity. The government aims to scale up electricity generation from to 5000MW by 2030. Even though the Kenyan electricity generation mix considers several renewables with geothermal being the main one, I believe that the country has largely ignored solar. Wind and solar currently contribute approximately 1% to the energy mix. I do not see this as fair considering drastic reduction of solar PV prices over the years. Fortunately, the Kenyan government is working to review its electricity grid code that will see increase in distributed generation especially on home solar through net-metering. There are also numerous solar-preneurs that are working to increase off-grid electricity alternative in the country. One notable one is the M-Kopa that provides a solar panel, LED light bulbs and rechargeable torch as well as a television set. For those that have solar firms, there is a Feed-in tariff of 12 dollar cents per kwh on solar electricity for solar farms with capacities above 0.5MW. Home solar will start taking shape hopefully in the next financial year when the new electricity code will take effect.

I am currently taking a unit on flood and drought management and it is interesting to say the least but that is a story for another day. However, this module hits home for me because Kenya is currently going through a very dry season. The water reservoirs and hydro-dams are running below half capacity and those that live in the arid and semi-arid lands are in dire need of food relief. Their livestock which is their sole source of livelihood has not been spared either and the owners have to walk for long distances in search of water and pasture. What shocks me even more is that the country is hoping that the expected long rains in April will solve this crisis. I am always left wondering why we have a meteorological department when occurrences like drought and flood seem to catch us unprepared every single year. Kenya is prone to frequent drought occurrences especially in the arid and semi-arid lands (ASALs) that cover 80% of its territory. The ASALs are home to an estimated 11 million people and 70% of the national livestock herd. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Strategic plan 2013-2017, livestock keeping accounts for approximately 90% of the employment opportunities and nearly 95% of family incomes in the ASALs. In these areas the annual rainfall is in the range of 200 to 500mm and experience frequent droughts and heat waves (Kandji, 2006). Livestock exposure to heat waves increases their vulnerability to diseases directly affecting their reproductive health and meat and milk production which the ASALs communities heavily rely on for food and income (FAO, 2016).The further vulnerability of Kenya to climate change and temperature projections suggesting a rise of 2.5°C between 2000 to 2050 present these communities with the challenge of ensuring food security, access to water and dealing with livestock diseases. The above challenges call for the development of effective adaptation strategies to minimize the effect of climate change and variability on the livelihoods of the people living in ASALs (Bobadoye A.O, 2016). The current approaches and strategies need to be changed in order to build resilience and adaptation capacity among the affected communities (Bobadoye A.O, 2016; Nicholas Ozor, 2011). These communities will be required to embrace new skills and attitudes through knowledge transfer and capacity building a role that can be effectively filled by extension agents (Nicholas Ozor, 2011). Extension agents have influence towards the decisions made by farmers and pastoralists and they therefore play a very important role in the interpretation of climate change and variability research and providing information on adaptation measures necessary to the affected communities (Bobadoye A.O, 2016; Emily Susko, 2013). Adaptation to the impacts of climate change and variability is crucial in protecting the livelihoods and in ensuring food security among the pastoralist communities (Dagmawi M. Abegaz, 2014). There is some acknowledgement by the government on the important role of extension agencies in the agricultural sector. However the livestock subsector only has 20% of the required staff quota making service delivery difficult. All these factors have created a gap in knowledge transfer and capacity development leading to dire consequences. It has not only posed a threat to food security but also presented a new set of challenges in accessing animal feed, water, exposing the livestock to diseases and heat stress and to the general economy with livestock estimated to contribute 5.5% of the country’s GDP (Ministry of Agriculture, 2015). According to the (ILRI, 2015) Corporate Report 2014-2015, Kenya lost USD 3.3 billon in the livestock sector due to drought between 2008 and 2011. As a result pastoralists continue to be pushed deep in poverty due to livestock losses which are their main source of livelihood. In conclusion the changes in climate call for the adoption of new attitudes and practices to increase the level of preparedness among pastoralists to extreme conditions like drought. The extension agencies should fulfill their mandate to carry out public education and provide information to pastoralists and promote resilience and collaboration between different stakeholders in addressing different challenges among them, climate change (Nicholas Ozor, 2011). Failure to which the ASALS will forever be condemned to receiving hand outs for decades to come.      References  Bobadoye A.O, P. O. ( 2016). Pastoralist Perception on Climate Change and Variability in Kajiado in Relation to Meteorology Evidence. Academic Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies Vol 5 No 1 . Dagmawi M. Abegaz, P. W. (2014). Extension Agents' Awareness of Climate Change in Ethiopia. The Journal of Agricultural Education and Extension , DOI: 10.1080/1389224X.2014.946936. Emily Susko, M. S. (2013). Role of Extension in climate Adaptation in the United States. Silver Spring, Maryland. FAO. (2016). THE STATE OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURE; CLIMATE CHANGE,AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY. Rome. ILRI. (2015). Corporate Report 2014-2015. Nairobi, Kenya: International Livestock Research Institute. Kandji, S. T. (2006). Drought in Kenya: climatic, economic and socio-political factors. New Standpoints , 17-19. Ministry of Agriculture, L. a. (2015). Strategic Plan 2013-2017. Nairobi: Government of Kenya.

As part of the activity of the summer school on renewable energy systems organized by the Institute for Technology and Resources Management in the Tropics and Subtropics (ITT) a delegation of students and professors from Mali’s University of Bamako recently visited UNU-EHS. You can read the news on the UNU-EHS website, ITT website, and check the pictures of the event here.      

Session 4 The first presenter for this session, Dr. Bertrand Tchanche from the International Institute for Science and Sustainable Development (IISSD), Amiens, France; presented on the “Interdisciplinary Approach to Accelerate Energy Access across Africa”. He holistically explained the disparities in energy resources at national and regional levels in Africa and the energy situation characterized by: a mismatch between the supply deficit and the surplus of untapped potential of renewable energies (wind, hydro, biomass, solar, geothermal); the polluting effects of fossil fuels (oil, coal and gas) on the environment and the impact on global warming; and the fact that energy was not taken into account as a fundamental and essential factor for sustainable development in political economy. He suggested an interdisciplinary methodology to put in conjunction with engineering and social sciences. This will help overcome barriers to energy access and contribute to sustainable development of communities through appropriate methods that facilitate the acceleration and adoption of renewable energy technologies. His method being also organizational seeks to foster collaboration between different actors and institutions (governments, organizations, communities) in order to implement a regulatory, legal and administrative framework that encourages investors and make reliable and affordable renewable energy technologies. Thereafter came the second presenter, Jerome Ndam Mungwe, from Politecnico di Milano, Italy. The presentation titled was “Sustainable Energization of Rural Areas of Developing Countries. A comprehensive planning approach” highlighted that Access to modern energy and energy related services in developing countries is a double-faced challenge with 1.3 billion people unable to access electricity and 2.6 billion relying on traditional biomass for cooking. According to him, solutions to this challenge can neither be through the isolated promotion of individual technologies nor fuel switching, but rather through a systemic approach to a more comprehensive energy access strategy, with the supply of alternative energy carriers and planning of complete energy solutions via a more comprehensive and sustainable rural energy planning. He further explained that the current approaches to Sustainable Energization do not account for the current energy balance and have not been applied in the context of rural areas. In conclusion, he proposed a comprehensive seven step rural energy planning methodology for the sustainable energization of rural areas in developing countries, which takes into account the current energy balance and integrate energy drivers in the energy services supply network. The application of this approach in a rural context shows a great improvement in the quantity, quality, and variety of accessible and affordable energy services for a more sustainable development of rural areas. The presenter that followed was, Prof Yekeen A. Sanusi, from the Federal University of Technology, Minna, Nigeria, in a presentation titled “Energy Poverty and its Spatial Differences in Nigeria: Reversing the Trend” who clearly pointed out that the high level of poverty in the developing countries is also manifested in energy. Using his home country as a case study, he said that despite the abundant natural resources in Nigeria, access to energy is very low; with attention only on hydro sources for electricity generation and other renewable energy sources attracting very little attention. He examined thoroughly, households’ access to energy, energy poverty, spatial disparity in energy poverty and established relationships between energy poverty and factors of energy access. Finally, Yusto M. Yustas, from Sokoine University of Agriculture, Tanzania schooled the conference participants on “Characterisation of Renewable Energy Resources and Energy Demand in Semi-Arid Rural Areas”. He pointed out that the semi-arid rural areas in Tanzania predominantly lack access to clean, reliable, sustainable, and affordable energy for cooking, lighting and electrification; with also scarcity in fertile lands. Thus, practices that lead to environmental degradation such as rapid deforestation due to agricultural land expansions, charcoal making and firewood collection in these areas are very common. He explained that biogas plants of continuous low solid anaerobic digestion design were introduced in the area to address the unsustainable energy supply but because of the climate in the region most of the installed plants turned unsustainable and unreliable, hence the need for more reliable renewable energy technologies such as solar and wind in the area.   @Editorial_team  

Last year we all took a module in African history and it was very enlightening and bore very lively discussions ranging from pre and post colonial Africa. Our professor was German which made most of us wonder if there was no African professor available to tell the African story. However, those hang ups were quickly forgotten and I can honestly say it was one of my best classes by far. Among the class assignments was group discussions and my colleagues and I were to discuss the politics of autochthony. Now, do not get lost in the jargon that is the word autochthony. It simply means the right to belong. According to Geschiere, 2009 autochthony seeks to establish an irrefutable primordial right to belong and is a tactic used by mostly politicians to exclude outsiders. The term was introduced to Africa by the French in the 1900’s in an effort to gain control over different groups and communities. They were therefore able to use it as a divide and rule tactic between the communities that confronted them in the territories they conquered. In recent past the politics of belonging have been used by authoritarian regimes to divide the opposition and neutralize the effects of multi-parties in the continent. Its manifestation is demonstrated through high levels of intolerance and hostility towards “strangers” who are seen as a threat or competition in access to limited resources. The xenophobia cases in South Africa are a perfect example where the fear is manifested among the lower level workers and the wealthy groups. Cases in xenophobic violence escalated rapidly after the end of the apartheid regime despite the anti-discrimination passages in the post apartheid regime which tried to introduce the idea of multi culturalism and nationalism. Sadly, the xenophobic flare ups continue to happen so often in South Africa leading to loss of lives and property for those who are considered as outsiders. After Henri Konan took office in Cote d’ivoire in 1993 he began to question the citizenship of individuals from the North. During this period citizens became “foreigners” if they did not have one parent who was born in Cote d’ivoire. By 1998 the law prohibited the “foreigners” from owning land, voting or running for public office. His predecessor General Robert Guei continued the xenophobic policies that targeted the northern Muslim minority. They were subjected to large scale human rights violation, rape, killings and discriminated against based on the way they dressed. Sadly, South Africa and Cote d’ivoire are not unique cases and the politics of belonging have been demonstrated across the continent for instance with the Nubians in Kenya and Bamileke in Cameroon to mention just a few. Curiously, the Greek meaning for autochthony means “springing from the land” which would explain why it’s politics is tied to land and the soil in the African context. The final ritual in the politics of autochthony is the burial where the dead have to be buried in their ancestral home. We may however feel far removed from these cases and yet we continue to drive the trend unknowingly. In my country, there is a popular phrase that politicians like to use whenever they are held accountable for  abuse of office. “My people are being attacked” is used to evade accountability for abuse of office and misuse of public funds. Yet this tactic continues to work in favour of the politicians by dividing the country in regions and along tribal lines. In conclusion, the politics of autochthony continue to divide the continent along tribal lines. We have allowed ourselves to be manipulated and we continue to isolate people based on religion, tribe, clans and their country of origin. Yet what value does it add to us? We miss the opportunity to learn from other cultures and find a middle ground to work together for social and economic development and well being. The vacuum left is what the politicians have filled with the politics of belonging and we continue to buy into the ideology.      References Legum, C. & Mmari G.R.V. (1995). Mwalimu: the influence of Nyerere Geschiere, P. (2009). The perils of belonging: Autochthony, citizenship, and exclusion in Africa and Europe. University of Chicago Press Jennings, M., & Mercer, C. (2011). Rehabilitating nationalisms: conviviality and national consciousness in postcolonial Tanzania. Politique Africaine, 121, 87-106. Saha, Santosh C. The politics of ethnicity and national identity. Peter Lang, 2007.

In a bid to fight global warming, reduction of emissions to the atmosphere was cited to be the most impeccable solution. Many techniques and scientific innovations have been put up by some of the world’s brilliant minds, ranging from creating all sorts of electric vehicles to converting carbon dioxide to concrete through the intervention of 3-D printing. Very interesting and truly inspiring, isn’t it? Well my innovation is also in the pipeline, I saw what global warming did to the ice cover in Antarctica and how that white bear was suffering. The point is everyone has a role to play, It’s either we stand now and fight global warming or our grandchildren live amid the direful calamities of the time.There are various ways in which companies are endeavoring to reduce the carbon footprint, as stated of particular interest in this article are the electric vehicles. What are they? Do they work when power goes off? Are they the heaven sent solution for the world’s emissions problem and hence warming of the globe? During the spring school in Germany, I and fellow energy students had an opportunity to attend a presentation by one of the electric vehicle (EV) specialists from Ford, I must say it was one of the best I have ever had about cars, one of those presentations where you feel everything has been driven home thoroughly and in the end the only question you’d ask is, “How are you?” – You know what am talking about. Some of the important points to note about EVs other than being expensive is, they’re of different types; Hybrid Electric, Plug-in Hybrid Electric, Battery Electric and Fuel Cell Electric. Those with hybrid systems use both gasoline and electricity while those without use electricity entirely and for that matter you need some charging. As I mentioned earlier these cars are quite not cheap until recently when Tesla, one of the company gurus in the EV field unveiled the Tesla Model 3 Electric car. It is said that this is the cheapest of its kind and goes for 35,000 USD. More than 200,000 customers forwarded orders, it’s cheap after all- its ok you might want to disagree with me on that. This is good news for the company (definitely they're making profits) and the world at large because at least the prices of the EVs are falling to the ones seemingly affordable.Back ground check, according to IPCC the transportation sector (14%) is in the fourth position after industry sector (21%), agriculture and land use (24%), electricity and heat production (25%) respectively, among the contributors to the global greenhouse gas emissions. I believe by these figures you can imagine how much emissions EVs are saving this beautiful world. Well you might need to rethink meticulously through it, now one would argue it out and jump to a conclusion that they don't use oil, and hence they're clean. But remember, you have to charge them and you need electricity to do that. What are the sources of that electricity for charging? Don't EVs fortify the need for more energy to fuel them? Doesn't this have an impact on the amount of fossil fuels like coal to be burnt to support the growing industry? I mean processing and manufacturing of all the kinds of cells and the vehicle materials, how much more emissions are produced? Should we say that all these emissions are compensated by the time they spend in use after manufacture? And if so, are we not biting our tails? Yes, EVs do probably contribute to the reduction of emissions but to what extent? It's possible that a bigger carbon footprint is left by these cars in the long run than the conventional cars. Let's say that is true, aren't there ways to perhaps reduce the emissions by the conventional cars and making them more efficient? May be there is or may be there isn't but it’s challenging to know now because the focus of the world on such is being shifted and oriented towards more lucrative choices. It's not evil but if in any case it involves sacrificing the generation of our children and grandchildren for profitable choices now, then it is. I think our main focus as the world should be on how to change the energy sources and use environmentally friendly sources, along with finding efficient ways to use the available energy other than looking for more ways to consume it. It’s important that we don't jump the queue of the energy chain. “I am very little inclined on any occasion to say anything unless I hope to produce some good by it” – Abraham Lincoln, I hope this write up triggers some good thinking in you about Electric cars. tonnykukeera@gmail.com@editorial_team

My name is Muthoni daughter of Kimonye and the Agaciku clan. Lately, I have been thinking deeply about whom I am and my identity as my father’s daughter and by extension as part of my community. I belong to the “house of Mumbi” which makes me a Kikuyu. I am named from my mother’s side of the family and my name Muthoni is derived from the name uthoni meaning “the place my father took dowry to get a wife.” Ironically, it is only my father that uses this name in my family. The Kikuyu believe that we all came from Mumbi and Gikuyu. They had 10 daughters but it was considered bad omen to count all your children so they referred to them as “nine daughters full” When the nine daughters reached marriageable age, Gikuyu and Mumbi could not find husbands for them so they made a sacrifice to Ngai who they believed lived on top of Mount Kenya or Kirinyaga as it was referred to back then. In response Ngai sent nine very handsome men to Gikuyu and so a tribe was born. The Kikuyu tribe is very matriarchal and all the clans that exist are named after one of the daughters of Gikuyu and Mumbi. I learned all this in my lower primary classes but sadly I have forgotten most of it and frankly the older generation no longer speak of it. The blame does not lie with them entirely but with the younger generation as well who are no longer inquisitive about their own culture. See, the Kikuyu are known to be among the tribes that have almost completely abandoned their culture for westernization. We have still retained our culture in naming children and to some extent in carrying out the marriage ceremony. Our language has also evolved from one filled with proverbs and sayings into a much simpler plain language. Most times when I sit down with my elders I have to ask them to interpret some words because I have no clue what they mean and I assure you my case is not unique. Every tribe in Kenya and by extension Africa has a story that defines them and their culture. There may be similarities if they belong to the same family like the Bantu or Cushites and Nilotes but there is uniqueness in every one of them. The Kikuyu belong to the Bantu family and I always find it fascinating that I can understand some words spoken by other Bantu tribes from other African countries. Such uniqueness and likeness should be celebrated and passed from one generation to the other. Instead our differences in culture and religion have been mostly used to divide and cause harm to those thought to be different from us. Many people will tell you that the colonial period and the contact with the outside world is to blame for eroding our culture and beliefs. That may be true to some extent but I think we have not worked hard enough to retain our systems. In my culture, a child belonged to the clan and anyone could raise them. Young boys and girls went to their aunts and uncles to be taught the way of life and what their community expected of them. Disputes were settled by the elders of the clan and the grandfathers and mothers would pass on the cultural beliefs through story telling. We had our own religion but somehow we came to believe that what we believed in and practiced culturally was archaic and wrong. Staying true to who we are as a people does not mean we will live in isolation from the rest of the world. We have so much to offer and we should not allow outside influence to take that away from us. We owe it to ourselves and the future generations to stay true to who we are and keep our roots firmly in the ground. To ask the older generation questions until we figure out who we are and gain the confidence to share it with the rest of the world.

A day ago, the world refugees’ day was commemorated, the whole world took a moment to reflect on the agony experienced by men, women and children who suffer for the crimes they did not commit! If my voice was loud enough, I would vouch for a week of commemoration to remember them. Regrettably I don’t have the power to, nevertheless I do believe that the little we can, we must do. I choose to write about the refugees’ status in Africa in commemoration of our brothers and sisters whose dreams have been shattered to merely finding a place to stay. In Africa, people have moved for the past very many years in search for asylum and security. This has become so part of us that it is viewed as the new normal. Many African countries have been blanketed in wars for the past 25 years. Somalia is one of the countries in Africa that have long suffered from such civil wars. Since 1991, the country has been devastated by the constant mass shootings and people displacements. A total of 1.1 million internal displacement camps has been registered since the latest date (December 2015). Like Somalia, the case is not any different for South-Sudan, the youngest nation in Africa. Destruction of property, loss of lives and very hard living conditions force men, women and children to trek long distances in search for better and safer conditions. This trekking is made more difficult by the poor road systems, harsh weather conditions and insecurities from the surrounding forests and bushes that harbor dangerous wild animals. According to UNHCR, over 1.69 million people have been internally displaced in South-Sudan and 0.64 million people have fled the country to the neighboring countries. For every human, survival is a virtue and a right to life is an obligation. Therefore it is imperative that refugees are welcomed amicably with open hands, a sign that gives hope to them especially the young for they are the future generation. The UNHCR and other organizations have put efforts together to set up camps as new homes for refugees. This has been done in the neighboring countries and in regions outside the warzones. However, camps cannot be looked at as the silver bullet to solve the refugee crisis that is escalated by the persistent wars every now and then. There is a need to examine the causes from the source and seek sustainable solutions. Life in resettlement camps gets difficult with time as internal and external conflicts start grooming up, shortage of medical services, food and water. In the neighboring countries, camps later become a liability as there is a constant need to finance and manage them with help from the host governments, before a decision is made to resettle the displaced back to their countries. Sometimes the wars take a long time to stop hence the need to manage the camps as long as it takes. Amidst security threats and terror that the neighboring countries are next in line, it is important to have dialogue among the regional bodies as more measures are taken to restrain what is happening around them. According to the UN charter, all countries over the world have a role to respect and protect people. The African union commission to which 54 African countries are member states, supports the above too. However, some countries have closed off borders to refugees because of alleged security threats amongst other tantalizing economic and environmental issues. Kenya closed off her borders to refugee entrance following the constant attacks from Al-Shabaab. The country also closed off the existing refugee camps leaving over 600,000 people homeless. Criticisms from a number of organizations were heard from the different corners of the world citing the act as being harsh and inappropriate. Nevertheless, it is important to examine and understand the conditions and situations over which the East African country closed its borders.   tonnykukeera@gmail.com

Last week the first students in PAUWES graduated and it was a beautiful ceremony. 26 students who arrived in Algeria with an identity tied to their countries but who now leave thinking Africa. 26 engineers in the field of water and energy ready to take on the challenges that plague our continent. Congratulations are in order, you have done well and we wish you all the best as you move to the next phase. Dance to your rhythm and enjoy life! To mark this auspicious day I had my very good friend Masharia write a little something. He has away with words, so here goes!     You have all taught me that,Fresh air, Good conversation, And a room full of intellects, Can sway any mind,   I have been bent to believing, If there's even a slight chance To be successful or happy, Risk it.  Happiness is too rare   You have this one life, Do what feels good, Take risks. Be brave, And make yourself proud   By Masharia Kanyari https://mashariakanyari8895.wordpress.com/