Christmas Is Here Again

Without careful planning, Christmas can be a pain in the neck as opposed to being that time of the year when you unwind and count your blessings with your family.

With the trawling around crowded shopping malls, tiresome card-writing, hectic gift-wrapping, ‘mbuzi’ buying, trips to ‘shags’, corporate parties and other activities to reckon with, Christmas may seem too heavy a burden which leaves you wondering whether it was worth all the effort.

Well, if you’re sailing in this boat and are clueless on where to start, fear no more – sit back, relax and feel free to borrow my rescue tips and coin-saving gift ideas that will have you smiling right through to 2009.

Rescue Tip 1 — Come up with a list
Most Christmas goodies are not easily perishable and will stay fresh in their packets for weeks. So instead of putting an unnecessary strain on your budget by buying sweets, chocolates and nuts all at once, make a list of everything you need for Christmas and buy only what you need for that special day.

Using this tip you’ll find that come Christmas day, you will have saved yourself the pressure of buying so many things at once. This elimination trick also works for gift items, drinks and home decorations.

Rescue Tip 2 — Shop smart
Instead of cooking every meal from scratch, consider buying canned or preserved food to save you from spending your Christmas eve preparing meals instead of enjoying yourself.

Try using foods like gravy mix, ready-to-eat soups or steamed bacon to save you time and energy. While it would be great to be able to serve home-made meals, there are many ready to eat foods in stores which taste as good as your own, are cheaper to buy and will save you time and unnecessary stress.

Alternatively, you can start preparing your dishes a few days before Christmas and preserve them in your freezer until the day.

Rescue Tip 3 — Have your shopping delivered for you
Some of our very own local chain stores and fresh vegetable dealers now home deliver shopping, so you can now curl up on the sofa with your phone and get your shopping delivered to your doorstep.

This works perfectly well when dealing with non-food gift items as long as you give the correct description of what you need. Use the time saved to take a break, go for a massage or pamper yourself in ways you like best.

Rescue Tip 4 — Handling gate crashers
In most African cultures, it’s not surprising for extra un-invited people to turn up during your Christmas lunch or dinner. So when your dinner for six turns into a party for 12, don’t panic.

Here’s the trick - a sit down meal for six would easily make a buffet for many more, so have your paper plates and napkins on stand by. In case you will need a few extra nibbles you can’t go wrong with cashew or macadamia nuts.

Indian bites like chevra and bhusu are delightful and will bring about diversity in your meal. When it comes to drinks, pick up wine boxes which are cheaper that bottled ones and decant into a carafe in the kitchen when needed. For non-drinkers, bottled soda or “chai” will sort your guests out in a fantastic way.

Rescue Tip 5 — Delegating duties
Don’t be the donkey of the family by handling all responsibilities in your home. Christmas is the time when everyone chips in and does their bit. Even the youngest children can join in so get them to lay the table with tablemats, spoons and other cutlery.


With many hands involved, things are bound to move faster than when you do everything alone while the rest enjoy a cold beer in the garden. So let all family members use their imagination and feel part of the preparations.

But if nobody feels like spending time in the kitchen, a barbeque in your backyard or garden is the ideal solution. During Christmas, nothing does it better than nyama or kuku choma with kachumbari washed down by a cold drinks with family and friends.

Costal Kenya : Gedi Ruins

by: Yvonne Oerlemans

When travelling through Kenya, you can’t ignore the marvellous national parks and game reserves, inhabited by countless fascinating animals. The mosaic of wildlife inside Kenya’s borders is what makes this country a famous tourist destination. However, Kenya has another, equally enchanting side: the coast. Donned with paradise-like beaches, it’s a wonderful leisurely end to an active holiday. But if you look just a little bit beyond the beach, you will find a rich coastal culture that goes back a thousand years.

After enjoying a Safari in interior Kenya, the coastal town of Mombasa is a wonderful place to exhale with a cocktail in hand. But Mombasa also has a rich history where centuries of trade and all kinds of cultural influences have shaped the Swahili culture, including the national language of Kenya, appropriately called Swahili. The language reflects Kenya’s colourful history; it incorporates words from Arabic, Portuguese and even German origin. Swahili is now spoken all over East Africa, and even as far as the Congo.

A walk through Mombasa Old Town reveals the heart of the Swahili culture. The narrow streets can hardly accommodate cars, but all the more people and donkeys. The high houses provide shade from the scorching Mombasa sun; the heavy wooden doors are beautifully carved and inscribed with Arabic text from the Koran; Islam is the dominant religion alongside the Kenyan coast. On the veranda’s, old men in traditional Muslim attire chat the day away sharing a pot of spicy coffee.

At the edge of Old Town, facing Mombasa bay, stands Fort Jesus; built by the Portuguese who conquered the city in the 16th Century. They held on to the fort until the British colonialists turned it into a prison. The fort is open for viewing; inside is a museum narrating the history of the fort and its occupants. The canons used to keep attackers at bay still proudly stand facing the sea.

Travelling alongside the Kenyan coast, there are countless other reminders of the cultures that once ruled the entire coastline. A must-see is the ruins of Gedi, an Arab-African settlement built in the 14th Century. There are many such ruins on the North coast of Kenya, all the way into modern day Somalia, but Gedi is one of the very few that have been maintained as a public historical site open for viewing.

The town has fascinated archaeologists since its discovery. Gedi seemed to have been a wealthy, thriving town, given the precious artefacts that were dug up including Ming China porcelain and countless other objects indicating Gedi’s wealth. However, there is no official historical record of Gedi, which makes the place all the more intriguing.

The name Gedi is a Galla word meaning "precious". The Galla were a nomadic people from Somalia, who conquered all settlements on the Northern Kenyan coast in the 17th century and who baptised Gedi and ruled it until the late 19th century. They then lost their position of power to the Arabs, who reoccupied their original territories.

The historic site is on the Mombasa-Malindi road, sixty-five miles from Mombasa and ten miles from Malindi. Gedi is a fascinating place to visit, more so because the ruins are up to today shrouded in mystery; the actual reasons for its foundation, as well as its destruction, are not known. Surrounded by modern-day villages built of wood, mud and stone with all the hustle and bustle of the local inhabitants, Gedi is an oasis of peace; overgrown with all kinds of trees, plants and flowers. There are friendly and well-informed local guides available at a small fee, but the map of Gedi is self-explanatory, and you can easily discover the city by yourself.

The ruins are clearly indicated, identified by their architectural style, such as the mosques, or the artefacts that were found in or near the structures; names like ‘The house of the Iron Lamp’, ‘The house of the Ivory Box’, ‘The house of the Scissors’, ‘The house of the Venetian Bead’ fuel the imagination. In the silence that now enfolds the once thriving town, you can hear the echoes of the voices of centuries ago. While walking through the ruins, it takes only a little imagination to see the veiled women walking through the streets, hear the children play at the water well and sit with the Sultan while he receives trade delegations. In the museum built adjacent to the ruins, the found artefacts are exhibited alongside an overview of coastal Swahili culture.

The structures at Gedi include 8 mosques, more than a dozen houses, a palace and an Amfi-theatre-cum-law-court. Gedi was surrounded by a wall, and it seems like the city was deserted, then later reoccupied, because there is a second wall built at a later date that encircles a smaller part of the town. This wall incorporated some of the walls of existing houses. The artefacts that were found in the ruins, such as Chinese porcelain and Venetian glass, indicate that Gedi was a wealthy city that traded with Portugal, Italy, China, India and the Arab world; which makes its absence in official historic records all the more intriguing.

There are several theories to the downfall of Gedi. Some say the river changed its course, so the water wells dried up, forcing the inhabitants to move. Others theorize that the Portuguese brought the deadly Black Plague, with no known cure, wiping out the population. A dispute or invasion that caused the inhabitants to fled or evacuate is another theory. But whatever it may be that caused Gedi to fall, its ruins are strong reminders of how powerful it once was, and how it influenced a culture that exists to this day.

For more information on Gedi Ruins, call the museum in Watamu on telephone number 042-32065 or call the National Museums of Kenya headquarters in Nairobi: 020-374213 or go to their website: www.museums.or.ke. Entrance fee for tourists is 200 Kenya Shillings; Under 16’s pay only 100 Shillings. For locals and residents the price varies from 20 to 60 Shillings.

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About The Author
Yvonne Oerlemans is the Owner of CoverConceptsMedia Ltd. and a Director at http://www.africanvoyages.com/ Ltd she can be reached at articles@africanvoyages.com.

Vehicles Crushed

Today I have a sad story from the port of Mombasa, but before I narrate it to you I would like to take this opportunity to wish all our Muslim brothers and sisters Eid Mubarak.

Yesterday while Muslim celebrating Eid by slaughtering goats and chanting words to praise God, in other end of the town in Mombasa port Kenya Revenua Authority were crushing vehicles said to be sub-standard.

The Authority has began destroying 362 uncollected vehicles at the port. Only six cars were unlucky yesterday because the exercise was called off after the crusher developed mechanical problems.Ten vehicles had been targeted for destruction on Day One.

The crushing of vehicles is expected to reduce congestion of cargo at the port. Once the vehicles are crushed, they will be sold as scrap metal. Most of the cars to be destroyed were manufactured more than seven years ago and are therefore not eligible to be imported into Kenya.

About 303 vehicles that were meant for transit to other countries would be spared, but their owners have up to December 31 to clear them from the port.

If by January transit vehicles meant for Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo will not be cleared, then shall also be crushed.

Let's hope the construction of lamu port start early and save us from this problem.

Lamu Port

Today I've got a good news from Qatar to the people of Lamu.

kenyan presidential press service reported that Kenya and Qatar have opened negotiations on the construction of a port in Lamu, Coast Province.

The port is estimated to cost 3.5 billion US dollars.

President Kibaki held a successful round of talks with the Emir of the State of Qatar, His Highness Sheikh Hamad bin Khalif Al Thani, where he presented the strong proposal.

The Emir assured President Kibaki that his Government was keen on the Lamu project as it seeks to diversify its international investment portfolio.

The State of Qatar and Kenya will also open negotiations that will lead to construction of the Garsen-Lamu Road.

Kenya has also offered Qatar a partnership in sovereign bond through which Kenya hopes to raise billions of shillings for infrastructure development.

President Kibaki thanked the Emir for the warm welcome that Kenyans have received in his State that currently hosts close to 2,000 Kenyans.

President Kibaki also invited the Emir to visit Kenya.
Present were ministers: Moses Wetang’ula (Foreign), John Michuki (Environment), Chirau Ali Makwere (Transport), Wycliffe Oparanya (Planning) and the Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Mr Thuita Mwangi, among other senior Government officials.

Meanwhile, the President has said Kenya plans to open a Kenyan Embassy in Doha, Qatar.

Saying that the number of Kenyans living and working in Qatar has increased substantially, the President underscored the urgent need for an embassy in order to facilitate access to consular services.

Addressing Kenyans residing in Doha, Qatar, Sunday evening at the end of his three day official visit to the country, President Kibaki said that his Government appreciates the significant contribution Kenyans working in Qatar are making towards Kenya’s development through remittances which amount to over 720 million Kenya Shillings per year.

He said his Government has put into place sound policies to create an enabling environment for Kenyans in Diaspora to participate fully and contribute to the development of their motherland.

“Kenyans in the Diaspora have an important role to play in building our country. Through your vast experiences gained in the course of your travel and work in the countries you are residing in, and through your expertise and resources, you are well placed to make a significant impact in the development of our country.”

On tourism, President Kibaki said his Government is pursuing aggressive measures to woo foreigners to visit Kenya, saying tourism is one of the key sectors that will contribute to the realisation of Kenya’s Vision 2030.

Addressing Kenyans, Foreign Affairs Minister Moses Wetangula urged Kenyans in Diaspora to be ambassadors of goodwill saying they had a moral duty to play in safeguarding the image and interests of the country abroad.

following the above statements from kenya and Qatar leaders now is obvious that lamu will grow to be a business hub, people will not only focus on tourism and fishing as there only source of income will also venture in to import and export.

The Lamu port will not only benefit Lamu people alone but all kenyans like the port of Mombasa benefits the whole country and even other countries of central Africa.