Kenya Stockholm Blog

Kenya – Stockholm Scene Getting Packed With Action

A seres of activities are planned in Stockholm as the community gets busy. The Kesofo Executive committee is meeting on Friday March 16th to plan the coming Annual General Meeting of the organization. Kesofo officials have been running the Office on an interim capacity and now, Committee members have to seek mandate by getting themselves elected. So far, the team, headed by Ms Winnie Mukaru, has done good work. They have registered the organization, fixed a Post Box, put up a Bank account among other stuff.

Although membership in the organization is drawn from Kenyans of different political persuasions, there appears to be no major controversies or stiff competition especially on positions in the Committee.

An explanation could be that there is a lot of sacrifice and little political mileage to be gained through Kesofo whose structures are decentralized in a way that leaves the Committee with less power.

Secondly, Kesofo is seen by members more as a Forum where anybody can come and implement a Project with the Committee playing a facilitatory role. The AGM is scheduled for March 31st at Wananchi Pavilion from 14.00. Only registered members will be allowed to vote as per the Kesofo Constitution. We hope that the elections will proceed smoothly.

A SEASON OF “OPEN HOUSES” IN STOCKHOLM
Nancy Arawo, a Kenyan resident in Märsta in Stockholm, has lost her Dad in Kenya. On the same day Kesofo Committee will be meeting, Nancy will be having an “Open House” at her residence in Märsta. This will allow friends and well wishers to mourn with her. Naturally, she needs to travel to Kenya to bury her late father and Kenyans know what this means in terms of digging into their pockets to help.

The “Opening of Houses” in Stockholm is becoming fashionable, not for fun but for serious business. Kenyans continue to lose close relatives back home and the best a Kenyan in Stockholm can do in such a situation is either to “Open a House” or call a fund raising especially if one needs to travel home.

There are some Kenyans who have complained that there are too many “Houses being Opened” but what is the alternative? You don’t send a letter home that a relative should die for you to “Open a House” and you are not obliged to force your head into any “Open House” so what’s your beef?

Talking about “Open Houses”, On Saturday 17th March, there will be another “Open House” at Rågsved. Eddie’s wife has lost her uncle, Steven Wambugu, who died in a train accident in Nairobi. The late Wambugu has left behind a wife and four children. Friends, well-wishers and sympathizers have already been invited to the function.

The “Open House” comes parallel to another “Open House” session which was announced on Monday by Mr. Willy Nyambok who lost a cousin called Lule Omiti in Kenya. At the time of his death, Lule was 23 years old.

There was some controversy between Willy and Mrs Pamela Omiti (wife of the late John Peter Omiti) on the question of fund raising but it looks like the matter died away without any further reports.

Lule was the son of Mr. John Peter Omiti, a Kenyan who has been residing in Stockholm for decades and who passed away in Kenya last month. The senior Omiti has since been buried while his son will be buried on Saturday 17th March. It was a double tragedy for the family and KSB sends condolences.

WANANCHI PAVILLION OPENS TO WANANCHI
After weeks of planning, Wananchi Pavillion has now been opened to Wakenya every Friday from 18.00 hrs and Saturdays from 14.00 hrs. Events during opening hours will include political discussions, political education, cultural and religeous activities, children’s playing sessions, seminars on various topics, youth activities, women group activities, meetings by groups and organizations among others. A Board headed by Mr. Dancan Munala has been appointed to manage the Pavilion on behalf of Wakenya. If you have an activity coming up, contact Munala for bookings.

A time table is being drawn for events as Kenyans who are interested in getting active are also contacted to see what is possible. A Kenyan comedy group is in the process of being set up with Comedian Njenga Muirani having shown a keen interest in entertaining Wakenya. You can be sure that new additions of video clips will soon be popping up at various sites when Wananchi Pavilion enters into a new face of sustained activity.

SOUND OF BLACKNESS IS BACK
As you might have noticed, “Sound of Blackness” is back and this time, Wakenya and other Party goers will be shtuad during Easter holidays so mark your calendar. DJ Frank and DJ Safi are the latest guys to watch on the Kenya DJ trail. These two Kenyans are turning the tables when it comes to the Kenya disco culture in Stockholm.

First, the DJ’s themselves are organizing the bash as opposed to history where Kenyan organizations have been playing a leading role in the Disco organization with DJs coming in as hired workers to make the event boom. Secondly, the group has come up with a theory that future Party organizers might have to copy – letting party-goers get in free before 22.30 hrs.

This strategy has been a hit especially with the “punky” youth whose paltry student allowances do not allow them to stretch their expenditures very far. The “Sound of Blackness” debut Party was a hit and the question is whether the success will repeat itself.

Just like Christmas, Easter is a period when Wakenya have nowhere to go because their Swedish friends normally desert them to be near their families. Unless you are kunjaring some Mswidi very tightly or have a very special link with a Swedish family, the Swedes are not in the habit of carrying extra baggage during Easter so the Norsborg bash may as well be a good point of ventilation as the cold snow begins to retreat.

So you better begin to weave that heap of hair, change that style and fix that “shut-up” attire you saw hanging at one of the top shops if you are on the lady’s side!

For sure, and to be democratic, some Kenyan males should be fined at the gate for surfacing at Kenyan parties with the same old rag mwaka enda mwaka rudi. They zoom in with battered pairs of shoes that have no doubt seen several Januaries and crossed multiple and cold winters, leaving the boots shapeless and out of tune with party environment. This is a scandal and Wakenya should form a Commission of enquiry to establish what is going on.

When a Kenyan was once prevented from entering a Swedish pub because he had a crooked pair of shoes, he called KSB to accuse the pub of racism and discrimination.

But when we requested to have a glimpse of the offending shoes, an ambulance nearly came to pick us up because we chocked on the floor with laughter. In short, we nearly laughed our lungs out.

When we gave the guy a condition that we publish the story only if a picture of the Viatu chafu kaze could also be published, he declined with a shot: “gwendeni hugo na hiyo mblogu yenu – bure kabisa!”  

FIXING ODM-K SCANDINAVIA PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE
A week after the “Sound of Blackness” shall have blackened Wakenya and their friends who might be of other colours, ODM-K Scandinavia will be at it with another controversy – picking up a Presidential candidate to take up Mzee Kibaki and other front-runners. The event will take place on April 14th and, according to sources, debates are heating up within ODM-KS which is full of free thinkers. There is no favourite candidate at the moment and the vote can go in any direction.

With the line up of events in Stocky, there is no shortage of where to chill and you just have to make a choice as to where you think your boredom will be taken care of after days of work or weeks at school.

Okoth Osewe

March 14, 2007 Posted by makozewe | News & Analysis | Leave a Comment