MOMBASA OLD TOWN'S JAHAZI COFFEE HOUSE PROVIDES
SPACE FOR COMMUNITY AND INTER-CULTURAL DIALOGUE

Coastweek - - In traditional Swahili society, it is customary to serve coffee or tea when people come together and share stories, or just to pass the time.

It is a meeting place to ex-change ideas, thoughts and opinions, a creative cultural and intellectual space where young and old, rich and poor; residents and visitors can enjoy a tea or coffee and engage in dialogue. There were once plenty of cafes and restaurants throughout the old town in Mombasa but very few remain until just a few months ago when three teachers from the Aga Khan Academy ventured into old town to revive the tranquil tradition. "We realised that this was something that was popular here when we heard stories from the old folk. "We spoke with a lot of people in the community who said that there was no place in the old town where people could come, have a coffee and snacks at prices which they could afford," says Aziz Batada. They chanced on the ideal space through a friend Abdallah, who owns a furniture shop and told them that there was a vacant shop across from his. Although it was run down, it had a lot of the integral architectural elements that you find in classic Swahili architecture in tact: the limestone walls, niches that have cut Arabic designs, the wooden beams in the ceiling and Arabic style doors and windows. Within months, the abandoned house was transformed into a nostalgic space buzzing with people from all over the world. The Jahazi Coffee House is all about providing a space for community and inter-cultural dialogue. As George Killeen explains: "We would like to see this place work where foreigners and travellers can come through, have a tea or coffee and are able to mingle, mix and chat with the local community so that they get something beyond what they read in guide books. "It also helps the folks from here in that they get to meet people from elsewhere and not just see them as tourists but actually sit down and share ideas or talk about global events. "A coffee shop seems to be the ideal vehicle for that to take place." However, there is so much more on offer than just a cup of coffee and talk. Other features include a community learning centre which holds various resources such as books, magazines, news papers, art work and historical pieces which reflect the diversity of Mombasa. A public library has been established which will also act as a classroom as well as a space for community meetings. Classroom time is offered everyday from four to five where some of the employees and others volunteer and work with small children giving them English and Maths lessons, and helping them to read. Jahazi's cultural space seems to have no boundaries. George's background as an artist inevitably led him to wanting to understand how artists function at the coast. "There are so many young artists, painters, writers, musicians that are on the Swahili coast and they have practically no place to display their work." Therefore, it almost seemed natural for the coffee house to double as an art gallery and today, Jahazi Coffee House gives these artists an opportunity to display and sell their work with the walls filled with a host of images ranging from contemporary art from around the country to imagery of Swahili culture. For example, the unique duo, Tito and Gachoki who work collaboratively on the same piece to create beautiful paintings, drawings with imagery from the old town and the sea coast and framed with interesting antique wood or it can be painted on glass or on silk. Others include Ed Cross who has been living on the coast for many years making somewhat surreal sculptures from bits of driftwood and old wood from canoes and boats. The space has also been used to show work by well known Miriam Kyambi who can be very abstract, thought provoking and challenging to the viewer. Art exhibitions will be a constant feature of Jahazi Coffee House as well as regular musical and poetry performances which are in the pipeline. I asked Naheed Bardai what inspired them to take on this noble initiative:

"We realised that all three of us were keen to do something in the community that would help promote the cultural heritage because the old town is filled with beautiful buildings. Unfortunately, they are falling apart."

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Coastweek - - Art exhibitions will be a constant feature
of Jahazi Coffee House.

The area has been sighted to become a UNESCO world heritage site.

On a bigger picture, the three teachers are involved in community service with the Aga Khan Academy: "his Highness' vision is that we give back to the community as teachers and students, we get involved with the community, we share our expertise, and we share our resources with the community and to help those less fortunate and less privileged."

Jahazi Coffee House is situated on Ndia Kuu road only five minutes walk from Fort Jesus.

Opening hours are from 8.00 a.m. to 7.00 p.m. daily.

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Is planning for Coast varsity on course?

BY ABDILLAHI ALWAY

RECENTLY the Saudi Arabian government offered a little grant to start a university at the Coast. Reading from the latest Kenya’s government recommendations on improving higher education, I see several recommendations that appear confusing and what is in the works pertaining to the intended “Pwani University.”
I believe Coast province will get a fully fledged university soon. However, the recently recommended Pwani University College by the presidential commission on higher education as a constituent of another up-country university is unclear. The truth is this would have been confusing even if I was not in Washington DC. Either I am sensing a real disconnect in policy recommendations on this university or worse, there is a duping project underway by the government to swindle Coastals out of their university, again!
At the very least, by this time a law to create this university should have been established. We have the highest paid legislators in the whole Africa. I am saying this because these efforts started a long time ago. Knowing that the amount of money is not yet enough to build a university, a website and an aggressive fund-raising effort should have been underway to promote this new university and collect additional funds. Or, is the government planning to abort this university like what happened before?
Well, I will not be surprised if there is a major disclosure of bad news for the Coastals who are eagerly waiting for this university. It is even possible that our own leaders are confused with the little money that has been promised for this school and what to do from here. For example, do we know if Coast leaders are campaigning for a fully-fledged university for the region or are playing politics as usual? One billion shilling is not enough to begin construction of a university!
I will give the newly formed “Pwani University” planning committee the benefit of the doubt and praise their recent efforts and statements. But after waiting for over 40 years for this institution I have become very suspicious; even though I know there is money coming from Saudi Arabia and some promised by our own government.
Do you all remember the earlier debate about building a Coast university from scratch against the promotion of our local technical colleges into some kind of branches of up-country universities? I suspect that this discussion has been revived given the little amounts of funds and continuing discrimination of the Coastals. But let me update you on the debate that took place in 2005.
About two years ago, the Ministry of Education wanted to turn the Mombasa Polytechnic into a branch of the new Coast University. At one point, the debate centered on cultural conservation against the thrifty intentions of the education ministry. The Coastal communities were up in arms trying to halt the destruction of their historical sites in the face of an obvious strategy by the ministry to deny Coast people of their promised university. Clearly, the ministry wanted to cheaply improve the existing local institutions so as to silence the Coastals who were rightfully demanding a university of their own. And we almost took the bait.
Amazingly, the same ministry of education that excitedly informed us that funds would be availed to construct a brand new university for the Coast province was talking about cheaper alternatives aimed at promoting local technical colleges. At that time, the ministry successfully shifted the debate from establishing the university to a diversionary debate of whether or not we should turn our Mombasa Polytechnic into a university.
Luckily, the debate did not go far because the local MP, Hon. Najib Balala, was also the minister for national heritage who had the mandate of preserving our cultural wealth. Balala was also spearheading the demand for a coastal university. But, that was then. Now we have a billion shillings promise and leaders who are ready for action, or are they?
That the planning committee is in place is not a sure sign that anybody is serious or anything is going to happen. We have seen a hundred committees before whose reports have not even been published. We need a coast leadership that will remind this government that Coast’s educational aspirations are being trodden down for the convenience of the education policy leaders such as Minister George Saitoti. Coast people need to see consistent and firm commitment from the government

Kenya Times
DISPATCH FROM WASHINGTON

Malindi- Gallery

Tuktuk

Pwani

Malindi

Msikiti wa Ijumaa

Main Street,

Baiy'tul Aajaib Beach Hotel, Shela

Peponi Beach Hotel

View of Lamu

Peponi

Lamu

Bawaba....

Kirumbizi

Lamu, Manda National Airport,

Photo Gallery -Lamu

Gallery

Photo Gallery -Mombasa

PWANI UNIVERSITY MAY SOON BECOME A REALITY

TASK FORCE MUST PLAN LOCATION, INFRASTRUCTURE,VISION AND CURRICULA OF OUR 'COAST UNIVERSITY'

Coastweek - - Now that Pwani University is set to see the light at the end of the tunnel after Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has promised to donate $10 million (sh.800 million) and the Kenyan government to give sh.250 million to bring the figure to sh.1 billion, all those who are concerned must sit down to brainstorm about the location of the university, its infrastructure, its curriculum, its vision, and the problems that the university will encounter after its establishment.

With Sh.1 billion at our disposal, Pwani University is now a reality awaiting us to pull our resources and to come up with some magnificent ideas on how to accomplish this task.
Now it is left to the taskforce to sit down and lay out a plan about the location of this university, its vision, infrastructure and its curricula.
Proposal: As the Coast Province is big and stretches over a vast distance, it is only reasonable to have colleges of the university located in different places to cater for the needs of the Pwani people.

In my humble opinion, these colleges can be established in Kwale, Mombasa Island (if possible), Voi, Mariakani, Kikambala, Kilifi, Malindi, Mambrui, Lamu, and Tana district depending upon the resources available and the needs of the people in these places.
For the benefit of all coastal people, let these colleges be established in areas where there is the availability of resources, material and the market needs of the people and the country so as to fully enjoy the benefits of this long awaited university.
Curricula: Every country or for that matter every province has its facilities and needs and as the curricula nowadays are mostly market-oriented, then we have to see the market needs of the province when we make decisions concerning the curricula of the Pwani University.
We have to take into consideration that the Coast Province maybe an ideal place to teach marine studies, animal science, environmental science, and other sciences and arts majors. Market-oriented curricula are best suited for this university and therefore, those concerned should come up with curricula that will be comprehensive and inclusive of all the needs of our growing nation and advantageous to the people.

Libraries: Very important and crucial to the establishment of any university is the university library, and as the idea is to have various colleges in different locations, we shall need to establish libraries that will act as the backbone to these colleges even if the administration of these libraries will be housed in one of these location to oversee the acquisition, classification, binding and circulation of materials.
All academicians agree that without the well equipped library there is no university and we, therefore, should give the establishment of a library as a priority to establishing a good university.

Cooperation: Luckily, Pwani University can have all that is state-of-the-art and hi-tech because of its late establishment in comparison with other universities in Kenya, and as such we can sit and scrutinize other institutions in the country to avoid their mistakes and come up with what is best for our young university.
We shall all need as much cooperation as possible from our sister universities all over the country to make Pwani University one of the best in the region.
Let us all come together through coordination and cooperation to turn this dream into a reality. Harambee !

Kenyans are known worldwide for brotherly assistance to each other, and we certainly are expecting a lot from our brothers and sisters all over the country to come to the assistance of establishing this magnificent tower of knowledge and education for our coastal brothers.
Let us all harambee together to come up with something unique for the coastal people who have for many years been forbidden this delicious educational fruit which will definitely go a long way in transforming this region into a better and more prosperous region.

Salim Elhaj,
Zayed Central Library, UAE University,
Al Ain -
UAE.selhaj@uaeu.ac.ae

Why are Coast leaders so silent on the Guraya terror?

Dr. Abdullahi Alawy

Over 50 police officers ambushed three houses at Guraya, Mombasa, in a well-planned three-hour terrifying raid that began at 2am last week. Police took over the Guraya’s Jomo Kenyatta Avenue and blocked all traffic movement, locked up night watchmen and all residents who were still awake mainly in and around the busy Lebanon 24-hour bus-stop restaurant in the middle of Guraya.

It was reported that the operation was conducted by the Anti-terrorism Police Unit, the General Service Unit, and the Flying Squad. Since the intent was mainly to punish the Muslim villagers and leverage Minister John Michuki’s anti-terrorist-campaign foreign trip this week, the top-heavy operation did not nab any of the alleged suspects from the Comoros islands.
Two o’clock at the crack of dawn is not a time that one expects Gestapo-mimicking cops at your door shooting in the air, kicking, arresting and blind-folding elderly people for no good reason. Indeed, peace-loving citizens don’t want such officers storming into their homes, breaking furniture and assaulting old women. But if that is what Minister John Michuki has ordered for the Guraya Muslim residents then it is sad.

Muslims, like the rest of the citizens, do want evil people to be arrested and prosecuted. And, Guraya residents are no exception. They are always willing to sacrifice anything to see justice done. But, this raid had all the hallmarks of a rogue police force acting illegally rather than protecting harmless villagers. From this staged midnight raid, verily, our Government has confirmed its active role in the 2001 George Bush-declared crusade against Muslim population.
The timing of the raid, the intricate intimidation, the rough tactics and outright trampling on all the rights of the “suspected” citizens left little doubt that the operation had everything to do with Michuki’s trip overseas. The Minister had gone to adulate his masters in the name of George Bush and Tony Blair given that he is highly motivated to punish Kenyan Muslims at any cost.

The Guraya intimidation was meant to become Michuki’s exhibit in combating terrorism on his trip to the UK and US recently. Moreover, while the whole of Guraya is greatly terrified, Michuki is waiting for the congratulatory phone call from either Bush or Blair for a job well-done.
By all means Blair and Bush’s administrations must have been very pleased to hear of the mock-arrests. These are some of the extra-curricular projects that can make a minister from a loyal sub-Saharan African government a celebrity in Washington or London.
The raid in Mombasa painted a bloody picture on many fronts. First, as a typical Michuki’s project it went wrong and was blatantly open for all to see. No credible suspect was netted and the all-too-familiar Government tactics were exposed. Clearly, Guraya is a replication of the Standard raid. The only difference is that the Guraya victims did not rattle any snake this time or at any other time since the declaration of the new crusade.
But what is more rattling to the citizens of Kenya and the Muslim community specifically, is the luke-warm reaction from the coastal leaders in Government. It is common knowledge that in the pecking order in the Kenyan leadership, it is always assumed, and correctly so, that Cabinet Ministers are more important than MPs.

When it comes to condemning police heavy-handedness such as the one exhibited during Guraya raid, a joint-ministerial statement would have carried more weight than the lone official complaints from the area MP Najib Balala and his local counterparts. Kudos to the religious leaders and the civil rights groups that promptly condemned this raid. But the rest of the Coast leaders do not seem to be ready to even discuss the incident. Apparently, there is a lot more important work in the up coming Magarini by-election than there is in protecting the rights of innocent Muslims in Guraya.
This region has three very visible Cabinet Ministers and a number of assistant ministers who have strong clout in Nairobi. It is amazing that none of these ministers managed to give even a two worded statement to the Press let alone going to Guraya to emphasise with the families that were harassed.
While it was expected of Balala to condemn the raid because Guraya is in Mvita; it was in bad taste for the three Cabinet ministers shut in the face of such injustice.
Again, the Government continues to violate the rights of Muslims. But what is even more troubling is that our ministers have abandoned their Muslim constituents. Subsequently, this lack of taking firm position against the Guraya raid opens up more room for the Government to bully Muslims with impunity. Instead of strongly red-carding the Government for this intimidating raid on the Muslims, our ministers have expressively given this regime the leeway to punish a segment of their constituents because of their religion.
Apparently, many Coastal people have given up on effective representation from their political leaders. Serious, aggressive, and committed representation of Coast people will never happen through our current ministers who are timid when it comes standing for the rights of their people.

By the way, none of the coastal ministers are expected to pull the Charity Ngilu/ Musikari Kombo’s style successful negotiation for senior Government positions for their people.
For these Ministers, it is important to hold on to their jobs and maintain a clean record in terms of blind support to the Government. Without any question, it is for the same reasons that you will never hear or see our ministers advance any controversial views whether it’s the Guraya raids or the lost opportunities for the people of this great province.
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Source: SUNDAY TIMES
aalawy@gmail.com
http://www.timesnews.co.ke/06may07/nwsstory/opinion5.html

Mungatana did not act wisely

Justice and Constitutional Affairs assistant minister Danson Mungatana should toe the line of senior Narc-Kenya politicians from the Coast for the sake of the party's unity.
Mungatana has been opposed to the three Cabinet ministers - Ali Mwakwere, Morris Dzoro and Suleiman Shakombo, over their decision to support the immediate former Magarini MP Harrison Kombe, who is running on a Shirikisho Party ticket, for the seat.
Though not a minister, Kombe has been an ardent supporter of the Government and the best way for the Government to reciprocate is to support him at this time of need.
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Kenya Times
Major Seif Sheyumbe,
Mombasa.