As much as I love talking about deployers, digital volunteers and mapping, I still get a bit nervous seeing videos of my talks. I was honoured to speak at TedxSilkRoad on April 11, 2012 in Istanbul, Turkey.
You can tell I was talking fast when “Non-government Organizations” suddenly got renamed “Non-Government Associations.” The presentation has 2961 views.
(Also see: Map it, Change it (blog post).)
When we think about maps and Ushahidi, it is often easy to get caught up in the technology. But, the biggest change is with the people who are deploying and building communities with Ushahidi. These brave souls are trying out new methods to tell map stories. Often, their efforts to break new ground in their communities and countries meet resistance. Some of the risks that they take to amplify issues of human rights, corruption, women’s rights and more are simply breathtaking. Yet, they persevere and create. When I meet these brilliant people, I am in awe of the change that they are trying to build. Their passion and drive to use map stories to be involved in their world is infectious and truly inspiring. Each demonstrate the potential of citizens to be truly engaged.
On my own journey, I meet Ushahidi community members online and in person. Often, I have the rich opportunity to watch them learn and build their projects. Our community mentors them, and they, in turn, mentor us. Whenever I am asked to speak at events, I have the honour to share Ushahidi community stories. I firmly believe that Ushahidi is a vehicle for other people’s social change. We may be part of that movement, but really, we are giving them a place to germinate ideas, unify and coordinate, model and build. Last week I had the opportunity to do this in Istanbul,Turkey for TedxSilkRoad. I shared the following stories with them:
As part of the journey to TedxSilkRoad, we held our first ever Ushahidi meet-up in Istanbul. So far there have been two deployments in Turkey: Van Earthquake (Al Jazeera) and Mechul Orgenci (student activists). It was exciting to have them join us to share feedback and talk about future plans. Orkut Murat Yilmaz and Can Unen, who are creating an OpenStreetMap community in Turkey, also joined us. This is Orkut’s laptop being Usha-stickered.
Aksam (A Turkish newspaper) interviewed me about Ushahidi. I hope that this will inspire others in Turkey to use maps to connect. (article in Turkish)
Thank you to the community members in Istanbul, to the TedxSilkRoad fellow participants and organizers of TedxSilkRoad.
Kenny Rogers is huge in Kenya. I’m back in the land of smiles to co-work with my Ushahidi colleagues. It is Saturday and the Internet was down at the cafe. So, what else to do? Go to the grocery store after reading my book. The Best of Kenny Rogers was blaring at the Nakumatt. During my previous visit, it was all about Dolly Parton at the Ostrich farm. It warms my prairie girl heart to entertain my family with comparisons between Kenya and Saskatchewan: Music and warmer demeanor (for the most part.) Even if I am not a fan of country music, I still smile at the quirky country music fans who push their carts and hum along.
Last night the neighbour was blaring the best of the 1980s from Janet Jackson to Dire Straits interspersed with African sounding dance music. It made me smile. This is not as much fun as the Spanish soap operas dubbed in English that seem to be playing everywhere you go. Ah, Kenya, you amuse me.
I’m not sleeping much as usual. The upside of this is that I appreciate the 4am loud birds singing alarm. They sound unlike most that I have ever heard. I almost want to download a bird app to identify the cheerful lot. But, the cost is a touch prohibitive compared to asking someone, once they awake. Sadly, around the same time of the morning the mosquitoes come in for a big bite.
My suitcase will be full of Pete’s Coffee and tea when I return as well as Tropical Heat’s Tea Masala mix.
I finally tried Tree Tomatoes and am hooked. It is somewhere between a tomato and a tart plum. Even though it is summer here, all the other tomatoes were green. These will be hard to find in Toronto, but I will try to find the juice somewhere. I’m also hooked on Cassava chips. They are better for you than the super yummy, salty potato chips and are full of calcium and gluten-free. My coworkers will mock me, but these are so going in my avocado, red pepper, and hummus sandwiches. Oddly enough, the cassava chips have the same pattern as the counter. Food camouflage!
Walking around in Nairobi is possible, but not recommended with a bag full of tech on a hot day. So, the alternative is to take taxis everywhere. The costs are relatively cheap for this. Nothing replaces freedom of exercise and movement. Tomorrow I may ditch my bags, cover my hair and go for small walk in my neighbourhood. It is a very safe area, but I am hopeful that my hosts will advise that it is ok. As for security, it is everywhere. I went to a shopping mall today to run errands. The place was a bit of a fortress. Guards search the internal of the car and under it, every shop has a guard and the mall is full of guards. Then, there are the guards at the entrances of all the apartment building complexes and restaurants. There are walls, gates, and high wires around each of the complexes. It makes me very aware of every movement. Maybe I won’t walk and just do in-house yoga.
When people talk about tech in Kenya, I often highlight the sweet phones and mobile apps. The challenge: compare the telco service received from Bell versus Safaricom.
On Tuesday, I spent two valuable hours on the phone with Bell Canada and was sent to four different departments only to be hung up on by the Loyalty department. Sure one of the Bell reps was helpful, but the other three that I was transferred to and from due to their separation of departments (internet and mobile) were not so customer-oriented. All the trouble stems from the fact that Bell has archaic billing systems and inane processes. And, while I use both services, they could not talk with me as one customer who has been loyal for over 12 years. The change I wanted to make could take up to 3 months to be effective. I asked if they would like me to walk the paperwork between the departments. The billing problem was still not resolved and they have not called back. I’ve been their customer for over 12 years and have spent $1000.00s on services. I gave up and decided to deal with Bell when I returned home and likely switch providers. Their disdain for money leaves me with few other choices. And, just to add to my shock, Bell SMSed me a customer service survey. I responded to the five SMS questions how dissatisfied I was and why. Brief, but to the point. They still have not called me back.
Arriving in Nairobi I found that my sweet Ideos Android did not activate data, could not receive SMS or make outbound calls. So, instead of calling I went to the Safaricom Care Center. And, boy did they care. Three helpers tested the phone, reactivated my SIM card, added $2.00 CDN/$200 KSH, and more. I have a phone data balance of a mere $10.00 CDN or $821 KSH which should last me the next three weeks. The HuaWei rep (Anges) was on site. It turns out that since I had not used the phone in 6 months that they deactivated the account temporarily. Only after they fixed the phone within 30 minutes did I tell them about my Canadian Telco customer service experience. I told them how amazed I was that they were giving me such attentive service for merely billing change of $200 KSH. Anges responded that for Kenyan companies every dollar matters.
And, that in a nutshell is the difference between Canadian and Kenyan Telcos. Sure, Safaricom probably has wrinkles. But, they want my business and work at it more. As they say in .ke: pole sana
Flowers for mom:
A wet morning welcomed me as I drizzled my way into the car for the journey to the Elephant Orphanage. It is only open from 11:00am – 12:00pm EAT. Work was crazy busy for the past week, so I was happy to have some quiet time to visit another of the Kenya wonders – Elephants.
The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust takes care of abandoned or wounded elephants. If I was not already choked to see such beautiful creatures up close, the stories got me. The giraffes were gorgeous and peaceful, but the Elephant Orphanage knows how to put on a show with storytelling and a call to action. I wanted to adopt one. We really have a responsibility to care take all the creatures, and, most of all, let them alone. The Orphanage website has amazing content about the fostering program, the milk they feed them and more. I like that they set them back into the wild in a park once the animals are of age.
Not my video, but at least it captures the elephant movements.
In one hour, we met two groups of Elephants of different ages. Plus, they told us much about their lives and the project:
I’ve posted all my unedited deck of photos on picassa (kenya or ke 1 – XX). I don’t have time to edit and label them right now, but if you are reading and want to get a sense of the life and the projects I am in Nairobi for, this is your window.
Heather
Deep-fried fish…the whole fish. Two coworkers gleefully took us on a journey to Nairobi fish heaven. Dale wrote about Mama Oliech awhile back. Nairobi streets are a bit of a maze for me still, but the flowers are pretty which makes for a colourful walk on a warm Friday afternoon. It is winter here, so warm is about 22C with a bright, high elevation sun. I am so doomed when I return to NA.
This meal was a bit of a production and worth it. 
Step 1: wash hands
Step 2: regard the plates of fish (we basically ordered the same thing)
Step 3: Name your fish. My what scary eyes you have. While I normally name things, like scary spiders in my apt “Henry”..
Meet my coworker, Henry, and Sharon
And, Dale and April
Step 4: Devour. Yummy fish fry, almost as good as my Dad’s. You are not given utensils so it is all about the bread and fingers.
Step 5: Then, see how they are made. Discovery channel needs to visit.
Step 6: Double, Boil and trouble.Um, grease is the word, but yumm
Every country I visit, I have to hit a supermarket. I’m fascinated by the food, marketing and the fun stuff you find. It is an hour to kill as a tourist and worth it for the humourous questions.
Tropical heat appears to be the brand of choice. It is on juice (tropical carrot), chips and spices. My one North American coworker asked me to locate Tropical Heat Chai tea. After a meeting with Mozilla Kenyan Rep, Alex, I asked him to take me through his supermarket and pick out his favourite snacks and tea.
I’m taking Fanta orders now:
What nots. Um, “I will eat…what not”.
Free or mostly free entertainment for the curious.
h
On Sunday, I kidnapped Charl, my South African coworker, for some trains and then some.
First stop, the Lunatic line. Canada built the railway to populate the country. Kenya designated a country because of the railway.
I love the story of the official who decided to coax the lion into his carriage only to fall asleep. Anyway, we got to climb on steam engines and troll through the early century cars where dreams of romantic Kenyan adventures were baked in the sun.
After we got good and lost in our wanderings only to end up at the Muthurwa Market. Apparently, the number of people that we thought was many was 1/3 the actual street foot traffic of the neighbourhood. Our taxi driver told us that tourists don’t go to that hood. We were pleased. It was busy, but safe. The story of the market is actually fairly important to the city too.
Oh, earlier in the day at the Maasai market, situated close to a posh shopping mall, two men offered to pay me to touch my hair and one man gave me this in honour of it: 
I bought a bracelet from Lou as thanks for this picture of her beadwork.
Giraffes. Of all the exotic creatures that traverse the lands of Africa, giraffes were top on my list. Beautiful graceful animals that seem to teach us a few things about calm demeanor, the swagger and patience. Yes, I hope to see more animals after the big work stuff is completed.
When I arrived at the Giraffe Center (such a tourist hub), The Giraffes were eating out of people’s hands. Then, they left just as I walked up the stairs. For 30 minutes, I wandered around the center and watched the giraffes way off in the distance.
Where are the Giraffes: (I expect my nieces and nephew to memorize this map.)
They took their sweet time, I mean, ate grass and napped.
With a pail-driven food racket, they returned.
Eyeballed:
After the giraffes, I tried to go to Kazuri beads to see the factory for my mom. They were closed. So, next week. Instead, I went to Karen Blizen’s estate. She was the author of Out of Africa. Many a female in my life swooned about Kenya and learned about the country’s colonial history via the Pollack movie. Apparently, the movie rubs off some of the true nature of the book and adds some “North American mainstream movie tone.” The grounds were beautiful.
Nairobi: two worlds.
Last night I had dinner with a few NGO and Tech friends. Two Nethope staff are en route to Daadab and were in the middle of planning logistics. Car, gas, airplanes, supplies. All the while we were eating Ethiopian food and talking about volunteer technical communities and how to bridge the gaps between NGOs, volunteers and the formal organizations like the UN. Each of us has had varied experience with these discussions. By the end of the dinner, the two humanitarian workers had the logistics set up and were off to northern Kenya. I am in awe of their work and really hope they can broker the next steps. Inspiring. Every bite of food felt like a triumph. We have so much in our world.
I woke up this morning to my happy hosts kids presenting their prize catch. They live with so much joy.
The sun is starting to set in Nairobi and iHUB is still full of people working away on their respectful projects. Innovation labs like this are incredibly special. I am souped up on Pete’s coffee and adrenaline from an afternoon of getting to know my colleagues and working on an event project.
My new tech boyfriend named IDEOS:
Someone is blaring decent electronica while we work away. Great vibe. It is helping me keep alert. The trees and flowers are gorgeous. The roadside paths scatter around the city with many people walking. I hope to see more tomorrow. Though, I suspect I may wake up disoriented after days of no to low sleep. One thing I have noticed is how much people smile here. I mean really smile with the whole of their being in a genuine way.
One of my coworkers gave me coveted Kiptagich Tea, which I will give my mom. Another coworker suggested that I fill my suitcase with Tea Masala. Done!
Ihub, Nairobi Kenya
Linda: she who burns the midnight dev hours and loves Oreos
Tosh and Marie relax-working
And, there is a Fooz ball table:
Today is World Humanitarian Day 2011. Every day these people change the world one step at a time.
h