Simplicity is the name of WordPress and so is the upgrades - still! I am astonished about how easy and flawless the upgrades has been and upgrading our system to v2.6 is no exception! My hat of to the team on WordPress.org - I salute you!
The visitor may still not see much of a change but for us who delivers the news of Mombasa and Kenya it will be even easier now!
Peter
Malaria No More is a nonprofit organization located in New York, NY that aims to end deaths caused by malaria in Africa. It was founded in 2006 at the first ever White House Summit on Malaria by leading non-governmental organizations such as American Red Cross, Unicef, Global Business Coalition, United Way, Millennium Promise, The Global Fund, and the United Nations Foundation.
With prevention and treatment methods, the United States was able to eradicate malaria by 1951 with the establishment of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention. In the 21st century, however, the disease is still endemic to 106 nations, threatening 50% of Earth’s population. It claims almost one million lives per year in Africa, and 3,000 lives of children per day. The hardest hit population are children under 5 living in poverty. The lack of money to buy bed nets and treatment combined with the humid, tropical environment preferred by mosquitoes and the malaria parasite put people in Africa at an enormous risk for contracting and dying from this treatable disease. It isa chief reason that of 20% of Zambian children die before age five.
In Kenya, approximately 90 people die daily from malaria. Said a Uganda doctor to Dr. Mark Grabowsky of the CDC and the Global Fund, “If you get rid of measles, we can close the measles ward. If you get rid of malaria, we can close the hospital,” illustrating the enormity of the problem of malaria. It is the one of the most deadly and prevalent diseases in Africa, yet also the most preventable and treatable.
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By reading this post you will get a good insight of Kenya - “the truth behind the scene” and you should (read this article) as it may affect you if you’re gonna be in Kenya. The source (found at the bottom) includes much more information in each topic - it was just too much to publish in this “small” article.
The topics included is: Police corruption, Denial of Fair Public Trial, Freedom of Speech and Press, Freedom of Peaceful Assembly, Discrimination (of children and women).
Country Reports on Human Rights Practices in Kenya 2003 (Released feb. 2004)
The spread of HIV/AIDS, estimated to have infected approximately 14 percent (aprox. 4,312,000) of the population between the ages of 14 and 49 (and in some areas up to estimated 30% is infected), had increasingly adverse effects on the country’s wage-earners, including teachers and other professionals. A weakened infrastructure–unreliable power and telecommunication systems and roads in disrepair–exacerbated economic problems and disinvestment.
Police corruption
Police corruption was systematic and widespread. A July survey conducted by The Public Service Integrity Program found that the police force was viewed as the most corrupt entity within the society of the country. (more…)
A new report conducted by UNICEF and the Government of Kenya finds that thousands of girls in coastal tourist areas are being exploited in the sex-for-cash industry. Here is one girl’s story.
By Pamella Sittoni
MOMBASA, Kenya, 20 December 2006 – “If my father knew that I do this, he would kill me,” says Annie (not her real name). “But he does not provide enough for me and my daughter, so I have to do this to make some extra cash.”
Annie is from a lower middle-class family in Mtwapa, a coastal township near Mombasa. Kenya. She lives with her parents, who put food on the table and pay rent and other bills. As far as the family is concerned, Annie is an obedient child who is never out of the home beyond the 8 p.m. curfew set by her father.
But what they do not know is that Annie goes out almost daily in search of men. “Most of the men are Kenyans,” she says, adding that they pay her from $3 to $8 for sex.
Occasionally she has had sex with tourists, who pay up to three times more. “But it is not easy to get tourists. I can’t go to the beaches to hunt for tourists because police are always on patrol and they would arrest me,” she notes.
Influenced by peers
Annie is barely fifteen. Her daughter is 11 months old.
Her troubles began when she got pregnant while in Standard Eight. “My parents started treating me like an outcast,” Annie recalls. “If I asked for anything, they would ask me to find the man who gave me the baby to buy whatever I needed. They always reminded me that I had let them down in school.”
Like many other teenagers in Mtwapa, Annie was introduced to sex-for-cash by her peers. “They told me I could earn money easily by simply having sex with men,” she says.
‘I will forget about this life’
But Annie is aware that what she is doing is dangerous. “This is not a good life,” she admits. “Sometimes the men treat me badly. Sometimes they refuse to pay me and chase me away. Sometimes they do terrible things to me which I can’t even describe.
“The most horrible ones are the bouncers, who demand that I have sex with them before they allow me into the club where I could meet the tourists,” she adds.
“My father has said I should go back to school next year and repeat Standard Eight. Once I go back to school, I will forget about this life,” Annie says hopefully.
Source:
The UN children’s fund Unicef, which looked at resorts along Kenya’s coast, found that 15,000 girls aged 12 to 18 were engaged in casual sex for money.
Another 2,000-3,000 girls and boys were involved in full-time prostitution, said the study - carried out jointly with the Kenyan government.
European men represented half of all their clients, the report said.
The 15,000 girls are said to live in the resort areas districts of Mombasa, Kilifi, Malindi, Diani and Kwale.
Poverty is the reason, Unicef says: many families see the sex industry as the only way of putting food on the table.
Local clients
Clearly, what is going on here is unacceptable. Unicef feels that it’s time for zero tolerance… especially of sexual violence against children,” a spokesman said.
“Kenya should be seen as a no-go zone for sexual exploitation of children,” he added.
Italian, German and Swiss nationals are the most common clients of child sex workers among tourists - at 18%, 14% and 12% respectively.
Kenyan men are the largest single group of clients, comprising 38% of the total.
A “staggering” 75% of people involved in tourism thought it was acceptable for girls to exchange sex for cash, and 60% said the same for boys, the study showed.
Many were also implicated directly in the exploitation of children, it added.
“Child sex workers are often compelled to deliver sexual services to Kenyans - beach boys, bar staff, waiters, and others - in order to access tourists. During the low tourist season, the local market for child sex workers keeps the system going,” the report said.
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