dunia duara (the world is round)

#Photo from #OccupyParliament Yesterday in #Nairobi #Kenya.

Protesters walked from Freedom Corner to Parliament. I left around 13:00 before the police decided to break it off, so there's more to the truth than my peaceful photos: phttp://youtu.be/SHrcrFNQEJ8.

Big respect to the the Kenyan activists who keep going - so please share photos and send encouragement back to Kenya!

More photos here (Facebook) and here (Flickr).

NB. Activists used live pigs and blood yesterday. During the confusion it caused I - and others - believed a pig had been slaughtered. The blood was presumably from a cow and bought in a slaughterhouse in Dagoretti. 

The Mobile Phone OR the Brown Envelope? #Nairobi #Kenya

The world is insanely fascinated by Kenya's use (obsession with) of mobile phones. It is a sign of development and change. Of a 'different' Africa than the one we were brought up with (in my case in Denmark).

I get occasional requests for this kind of photos. It made me wonder today when I walked round down town Nairobi if the mobile phone really is it?! - And there actually seems to be one other thing, which we shouldn't forget: THE BROWN ENVELOPE.

We stopped during our walk and looked around to spot people carrying brown envelopes. Not as many as mobile phones, but still, it is there. But why? A friend suggested: 'CVs or tenders'. I concluded all which has to be printed, in spite it could've been emailed.

Yes. So, Kenya is changing fast. But not that fast.

Article about African fashion in 'Udvikling' (Danish Foreign Ministry's Magazine)

SUPER HAPPY. My article (in Danish) has taken the front page on the Danish Foreign Ministry's Magasinet Udvikling.

Read it here, or download it here (page 8-12).

Thanks a million to Helen Jennings from ARISE magazine, Nathan Chiume and Chichia London. Doreen Mashika - listed in the fact box together with MaXhosa by Laduma, Babatunde Styles andOzwald Boateng. 

My PERSONAL main message is that AFRICA is alive and kicking. Go out there and buy some African design!

More African fashion photos here.

#DarBuildingCollapse: Please, contribute to News Update for @GlobalVoices

Dar es Salaam friends, I'm updating yesterday's sad news for Global Voices (in English) in regards of the collapse of the building in central Dar es Salaam. 

I've heard from friends who were there when the building collapsed and who helped getting people out of the rubble yesterday, and others who stayed on during the night.

I've heard reports of a community supporting across religion, race and nationality. Aunties, teachers and neighbours exchanging grievance and comfort. I have read the blame and the anger, bits and pieces of what people believe should be done to the owner of the building, and to prevent future catastrophies.

Do let me know if you think certain issues should be mentioned. (Suggestions preferably need to be backed by a link to a public online website - like Twitter, online newspapers, blogs etc. - not people's private Facebook)

Building on Indira Ghandi Street in central #DaresSalaam collapsed this morning #DarBuildingCollapse #Tanzania

 

Collapsed building and community searching for people trapped underneath. Photo by Kumeil

About an hour ago a friend in Dar es Salaam sent me a link to the photo above.

A building under construction on Indira Ghandi Street (next to India Street next to the KSIJ Mosque, Habib Bank and Ebrahim Haji Hospital) collapsed this morning around 8:00 (see map below).

Nearby is a football field used by children. Over 60 persona, including children, are reported missing according to ITV. No confirmations at this early stage.

Recent pictures of the building (centre) before it collapsed:

 

Recent photo of building before collapse. Photo by Khuzeimaz.

 

 

Recent photo of building (right) before collapse. Photo by Khuzeimaz.

 

Map of the area:

View Larger Map 

I have asked the question many times: Growth, but for whom? Read here and here.

I am in no position to place blame. But it is hard not to ask questions. Who allows these constructions which evidently aren't safe? Who controls the processes, the materials and the buildings? The daily The African asked similar questions on March 4 2013, a building collapsed in the Kijito Nyama area then.

How many buildings will have to collapse before? How many casualties? This is about greed. And lack of focus on what's important in life. It will take no one nowhere.

Thanks to Khuzeima Y. Zavery and Kumeil for tweets and photos, and answering questions for the specific details for this blog post. Check tweets in the sidebar or here.

Please take into consideration that the collapse has only just happened, and that certain pieces of information, i.e. in regards to casualties, have not yet been confirmed.

Sad day for Dar es Salaam and the people who have lost relatives, students and neighbours.