Swahili Village Bar and Restaurant – Beltsville, Maryland

Swahili Village Bar and Restaurant

There is a new restaurant in the Washington DC area that is satisfying the masses’ cravings for Kenyan fare.

Swahili Village Restaurant opened its doors and has been doing a thriving business. Particularly popular are the Tusker beers and the fish (that fish is REALLY good). People have been lining up to eat at the restaurant. For those who want to take some home, there is a great carry-out menu.

I was pleasantly surprised to see my favorite junk food on the menu -Bhajias.  Not only were they well done, but they were as tasty as I remembered them.  The seasoning was wonderful.  The decor is tasteful and the staff friendly.  If you are ever in the Washington DC area, pay them a visit at 10606 Baltimore, Avenue,  Beltsville, Maryland 20705.  To make reservations or make inquiries, call 240-965-7651.  You can join their Facebook page too.

Pina Ercolano, South Africa

Pina Ercolano is considered one of the rising stars on the Kenyan swim scene.  Often part of a team consisting of Jason Dunford, Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, David Dunford, Amar Shah and Akshay Shah, she is in great company.

She won the bronze medal in the African Championships in South Africa and is plugging forward with an eye to the 2012 Olympics to be held in London. She was unable to compete in the 2008 Olympics as a wildcard entry because both Jason and David Dunford had qualified, eliminating her from the running.

Keep an eye out for this rising star.  Her journey is just beginning!

Achieng Ajulu-Bushell, Plymouth, United Kingdom

Achieng Ajulu Bushell

Achieng Ajulu-Bushell represented Kenya in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

An incredible swimmer, she has got great poise and presence for a 15-year-old. She has broken several records including:

1. Swimming the 50m breaststroke in 32.22 in the 2008 FINA World Championships.

2. Swimming in the 50 metres breaststroke, the talented Achieng swam in 32.64 to set a new meet record at the 2008 Africa Senior Swimming Championship

3. She set more than 30 Kenyan records, including Open standards over 50, 100 and 200m freestyle as well as 50m breaststroke and butterfly at various South African meets in 2006 at the age of 12.

There are more records and she is young, so I am sure she will be providing lots of fodder for great stories on remarkable acheivements in the swimming arena.  The daughter of Professor Rok Ajulu, and step-daughter of the new South African Minister of Defence, Ms. Lindiwe Sisulu, she is making her own history and promises to be a name that will be repeated in awe in swimming circles around the world!

Rok Ajulu, Capetown, South Africa

Prof Rok Ajulu and Judge Fikile Bam (left)

As minister for Defence in the cabinet named by new South African President Jacob Zuma, Ms Lindiwe Sisulu is undoubtedly one of the most powerful persons in the African powerhouse.

Ms Sisulu is the wife of a Kenyan, Prof. Rok Ajulu, one of the academics who fled the country at the height of the Moi repression targeting independent thinkers and perceived dissidents in the early 1980s.

Prof Ajulu told the Daily Nation on Tuesday that he was not surprised about the appointment since his wife was a fairly senior minister already.

“You are aware she has previously held very senior positions. Having been minister in the Intelligence docket, she has a feel of the happenings in the Defence ministry,” he said.

Prof Ajulu was in Kenya just a month ago, and while visiting prefers to stay in his rural home in Bondo “because it is cheaper”. His wife will accompany him home for a Christmas party later this year where they intend to spend over ten days.

Despite his long period away, Prof Ajulu has never forgotten his Kenyan roots. He has been a regular visitor since the fall of the one-party regime, and maintains close contact with his compatriots from the days of the struggle, including Prime Minister Raila Odinga, Lands minister James Orengo and Health minister Anyang’ Nyong’o.

His daughter from a previous relationship in England, Achieng Ajulu Bushell, retains close ties with Kenya. An international swimmer, she opted to represent Kenya rather than England or South Africa.

The new Defence minister and her husband are both children of and veterans of the struggle.Ms Sisulu is a daughter of freedom struggle icons Walter and Albertina Sisulu and an icon of the anti-apartheid campaign in her own right. She was arrested and faced a life sentence at 24!

Prof Ajulu took the mantle from his father Stephen Odero Ajulu, who was a political activist in the 1960s under the then opposition Kenya People’s Union. When his father died, Prof Ajulu stepped into the role as an adviser to then opposition leader Oginga Odinga, and then maintained a long collaboration with his son, Mr Raila Odinga.

Prof Ajulu’s father was imprisoned for political activities in Kenya while Ms Sisulu’s parents were imprisoned by the apartheid regime in South Africa.

Prof Ajulu was expelled from the University of Nairobi for political activism and ended up in South African exile via England and Lesotho.

Ms Sisulu also took up political activism and was also imprisoned by the apartheid regime before going into exile to continue her studies at the University of Lesotho. That was where the two met and eventually married in 1996.  In addition to children from previous relationships, the couple has a son, Olindi Obango, named after his paternal grandparents.

Che Samora Ajulu is the eldest son and is named after the revolutionary Cuban and Mozambican leaders, Che Guavera and Samora Machel. There is also a daughter Ayanda and a son, Vuyo.

Source: Daily Nation

Rachel Muigai, Cape Town, South Africa

Rachel Muigai

Rachel Muigai, civil engineering researcher at UCT’s Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment (EBE) is the recipient of a R300 000 scholarship from the Cement and Concrete Institute.

The institute’s Sustainable Concrete Research Fellowship for 2008 was awarded to Muigai for her PhD proposal on research into the contribution of recycled materials on the environmental performance of concrete.

Muigai explains that concrete rubble from demolitions can be used as the aggregate in new concrete mixtures. Concrete consists of combinations of cement, aggregates (coarse and fine) and water.

Born in Nairobi, Kenya, Muigai graduated from the University of Nairobi’s Department of Civil Engineering before coming to UCT for its programmes on concrete durability. She earned her master’s with her thesis, titled Probabilistic Modelling for Durability Design of Reinforced Concrete Structures in 2008.

“This fellowship will definitely assist me in achieving my career goals,” says Muigai. “When I’ve completed my PhD I’d like to use my experience in concrete sustainability in a research institution.”

The fellowship, awarded to Muigai to celebrate 70 years of operation in South Africa, is the third to be awarded by the institute. The first was for an investigation of shrinking aggregates in the 1960s, and the other for research into durability in 1989. Both Fellowships resulted in the generation of substantial new knowledge and helped solve practical problems in the concrete industry by producing high-level solutions.

- Author: Chris McEvoy

Source: University of Cape Town

Peres Owino, Los Angeles, California

Peres Owino is an Assistant to the Executive Vice President of  Creative Advertising at Paramount Pictures.  She has written a play called Beauty From Ashes which is scheduled to be part of the Black Medley Film Series on April 25,2009 at Stage 52 in Los Angeles, California.

Beauty for Ashes Flyer

The story is about a Kenyan woman who takes a journey to herself–a witty and honest look at how the ghosts of our past terrorize us and how that little voice in our head may be our only source of refuge.

Be warned that there is brief nudity so you might not want to take the kids.

Owino has a long resume filled with several productions that she has either directed or acted in.  Her dedication to her art is making her a force to be reckoned with on the Los Angeles theater scene.

STL a.k.a. Stella Mwangi, Oslo, Norway

Stella Mwangi aka STL is a Kenyan-born, Public Enemy and Queen Latifah inspired hardcore hustler female MC, who has shared stages with the likes of Talib Kweli, Common, Slick Rick, Dead Prez, Public Enemy and the legendary Angelique Kidjo.

This young lady has also worked with African artists such Senegalese hip-hop group, Wagable, Mishelle, Abbas Kubaff, and Ousman.

A  prolific musician, she is making great inroads into music.  Read about her on her website and learn more about her career here.

Western Union Testing Mobile Money Transfer

Our cellphones will soon be worth a whole lot more than we paid for them. Western Union has started offering an option where you can send money to Kenya via your mobile phone using M-Pesa.  This is a great example of mobile transaction services.

Mobile Money

In March of 2007 Safaricom Ltd., a Kenyan network operator partially owned by Vodafone, launched the M-Pesa service, which lets Kenyans to transfer money domestically via text message. Today more than 4 million of Safaricom’s 10 million customers use the service, Vodafone said. Western Union will be offering the service, domestically, in the United States through Radioshack and Trumpet Mobile.

The pilot only applies to Redding, UK to Kenya — people will soon be able to visit select Western Union agent locations in Redding and send funds directly to a Safaricom/M-PESA subscriber in Kenya. The pilot isn’t yet live, but when it is, customers will be able to designate a recipient phone in Kenya and the transfer will typically be completed within minutes. Recipients will be able to withdraw the cash at any of 4,000 M-Pesa agents or forward it to another handset in Kenya.

Double Entendres and Zain Verjee

It’s inevitable that you end up doing something on live tv that could me considered a major gaffe, but Zain Verjee’s mistake has people coming up with all kinds of titles to sum up the problem.

She slipped up three times, calling peanuts penis….Zain, what do you have on your mind?? Oh well, I guess you can’t be perfect all the time, and, to your credit, you have given writers lots of fodder for creative titles. My favorite one– “Sane Virgin [a play on her name] Sees Nuts”,

Video of the Week – March 13, 2009

Wenyeji are a group that have taken Kenya by storm.  They have worked with Ken Ring and Nik Punk, and continue to build their following both in Kenya, and in the Diaspora.  This is their video, Imagine.  Enjoy.  To learn more about them, visit their myspace page.