Washington introduces his best friends from school to his father whose shocking and harsh but eventually prescient response to the introduction reveals a post-independent Kenyan society that is markedly different from the one the son has hitherto shared with the friends. The father's brutal honesty leaves an indelible mark on the little boy's psyche and sets Washington off on a long and oftentimes arduous journey that takes him from the rural, familiar and safe albeit hardy surroundings of Apondo, Nyanza, Kenya to the sandy beaches of San Diego, Southern California, finally settling him in the world-famous climes of Silicon Valley, Northern California. Washington repeats a journey first undertaken by thousands in the 1700s: A journey that became an annual ritual for millions thereafter; all in their pursuit of their dream; their American Dream....

In this episode of "Malo's Amazing Adventures ", our global explorers Malo and his dad travel from San Francisco, USA to Nairobi, Kenya for Malo's first trip to his father's country of birth. The trip exposes Malo to the diversity and richness of the world around him including the different cities, languages, clothing, countries, cultures, and foods. Along the flightpath, our young traveler also sees the different monuments and landmarks linked to the different countries along the route to Kenya. Malo sees the engineering wonder, California's own Golden Gate Bridge shortly after taking off. He wakes up several hours later to the majestic spiral of Big Ben and the Thames River as the plane flies over London. The southern and northern coastlines of the Mediterranean Sea signals Malo's exit from Europe and entrance into Africa respectively. Malo then sees the mighty Nile River snaking southwards with the great Pyramids in the background. It is an experience that provides Malo with a real-life Geography and History lesson. Read on to find out what lessons Malo learns as he travels back to Kenya, his father's country of birth; the same country where the late father of Barack H. Obama, America's first bi-racial and 44th president was also born....

Washington introduces his best friends from school to his father whose shocking and harsh but eventually prescient response to the introduction reveals a post-independent Kenyan society that is markedly different from the one the son has hitherto shared with the friends. The father's brutal honesty leaves an indelible mark on the little boy's psyche and sets Washington off on a long and oftentimes arduous journey that takes him from the rural, familiar and safe albeit hardy surroundings of Apondo, Nyanza, Kenya to the sandy beaches of San Diego, Southern California, finally settling him in the world-famous climes of Silicon Valley, Northern California. Washington repeats a journey first undertaken by thousands in the 1700s: A journey that became an annual ritual for millions thereafter; all in their pursuit of their dream; their American Dream....

He is described as a Mau Mau oath-taker, seemingly of two minds ñ both for and against, loyal and disloyal. In A Daunting Journey, Jeremiah Gitau Kiereini, lets us into his life spanning three generations. He reveals insights into the influences and intrigues surrounding the early civil service and the powerful individuals who held Kenya's future in their hands. Kiereini also exposes the dichotomy that irreconcilably split the communities involved in the struggle for independence and the personal contradictions and challenges he encountered as he sought to find pride and loyalty in service to a newly independent Kenya. This is truly a fascinating chronicle that takes us from the humble and difficult years of childhood, through the Mau Mau years, the Kenyatta administration, the Moi regime, and on to the present in the life of Jeremiah Kiereini. Most captivating is the narrative on the infamous 1969 oath-taking commonly referred to as, ëCaai wa Gatunduí and the 1982 coup.

Since independence from Great Britain in 1963, Kenya has survived five decades as a functioning nation-state, holding regular elections; its borders and political system intact and avoiding open war with its neighbours and military rule internally. It has been a favoured site for Western aid, trade, investment and tourism and has remained a close security partner for Western governments. However, Kenya's successive governments have failed to achieve adequate living conditions for most of its citizens; violence, corruption and tribalism have been ever-present, and its politics have failed to transcend its history. The decisions of the early years of independence and the acts of its leaders in the decades since have changed the country's path in unpredictable ways, but key themes of conflicts remain: over land, money, power, economic policy, national autonomy and the distribution of resources between classes and communities.While the country's political institutions have remained stable, the nation has changed, its population increasing nearly five-fold in five decades. But the economic and political elite's struggle for state resources and the exploitation of ethnicity for political purposes still threaten the country's existence. Today, Kenyans are arguing over many of the issues that divided them 50 years ago. The new constitution promulgated in 2010 provides an opportunity for national renewal, but it must confront a heavy legacy of history. This book reveals that history.

Half of Tanzania's elephants have been killed for their ivory since 2007. A similar alarming story can be told of the herds in northern Mozambique and across swathes of central Africa, with forest elephants losing almost two-thirds of their numbers to the tusk trade. The huge rise in poaching and ivory smuggling in the new millennium has destroyed the hope that the 1989 ivory trade ban had capped poaching and would lead to a long-term fall in demand. But why the new upsurge? The answer is not simple. Since ancient times, large-scale killing of elephants for their tusks has been driven by demand outside Africa's elephant ranges - from the Egyptian pharaohs through Imperial Rome and industrialising Europe and North America to the new wealthy business class of China. And, who poaches and why do they do it? In recent years lurid press reports have blamed mass poaching on rebel movements and armed militias, especially Somalia's Al Shabaab, tying two together two evils - poaching and terrorism. But does this account stand up to scrutiny? This new and ground-breaking examination of the history and politics of ivory in Africa forensically examines why poaching happens in Africa and why it is corruption, crime and politics, rather than insurgency, that we should worry about.