A LOVE AFFAIR WITH MY HOMELAND - KENYA

22 June 2021 THE JOURNEY MATTERS, NOT THE DESTINATION.  T.S.ELLIOT So today am off to Isiolo for the launch of one of a charitable projects at an Islamic centre and school. Its been a while since I was last on this road......more than a year since I was in Nanyuki and several years since I was in Isiolo - probably 5 years. I'm happy in a way cos I have a number of friends in Isiolo though I will not meet them today because its a whistle-stop journey. We are travelling in 2 cars. One for Haji (not his real name) - a noah and the other a V8 belonging to an international Islamic NGO affiliated to several development projects in the region - we shall call this NGO by an acronym BB. So I am in the noah with AbdulHamid as pilot. Haji picks me from home at 5am. Muna has to wake up to keep Zoe the puppy from disturbing me as I leave home. The puppy is very young and very attached to its human members of the family - and wouldn't let me leave home easily. We head to Jamia Mosque for our

  ONE'S DESTINATION IS NEVER A PLACE, BUT A NEW WAY OF SEEING THINGS - Henry Miller Over the last 2 decades; Africa has had an explosion of development in various sectors of the economy. Infrastructural projects such as roads, railways, hydroelectric dams, oil and water pipelines etc have been executed in almost all corners of the once dark continent. These have largely been done at subsidised loans, grants and sometimes outright gifts from China. And with these projects there has been a penetration by the Chinese contractors into the various economies. And as would happen in all human encounters ... wi th these of course come positives and some negatives. This is the gist of this short piece i share with you. In the recent past, there have been in the media reports of cases of mistreatment of local workers by their foreign employers. Some have been reported in countries such as Sierra Leone, DRCongo, Kenya, Uganda, Angola but a large majority are swept under the carpet without any