Misplaced Priorities??

If you're a Kenyan citizen, and a keen one for that matter, you must be aware that there is a proposed forensic lab to be put up at the KWS headquarters. Let me break it down for those that are not familiar with what am trying to put across. The lab is to serve for purposes of research of wild animals and especially so our elephants. It's a noble cause and one that we should all be proud of considering the skyrocketing levels of poaching and illegal killings in our country. To put this into perspective, our elephants are disappearing at a rate of 300 per annum. Mind you the rate is increasing with every passing year. If the statistics from KWS are anything to go by, the number of elephants killed last year alone was 377. This then begs the question of what should be done to curb this. Is the government putting her priorities right?
Why do we need to put up a forensic lab when we don't even have enough rangers to take on the poachers? I believe it's futile to do with more that which can be done with fewer. Why not employ more rangers and arm the current rangers to be able to deal with such cases? Am thinking it would be a brilliant idea to employ fast hand technology in curbing poaching. Installing CCTV cameras across our vast national parks, reserves and conservancies would serve the purpose. Or better still up our gears and go the Ol Pejeta way- using drones to monitor our wildlife and for gathering intelligence. KWS, the ball is now in your court

Havard Graduates

More than 23 years ago, video producers asked new Harvard graduates and 9th grade students at a nearby high school some basic science questions, including “What causes seasons?”, and got surprising answers. It was shocking to note that none of the graduands could figure out the answer. The media fraternity went haywire. The headlines went to an extent of declaring the students dumb and stupid. How could students from the world's best university fail to know such a basic fact? I know you're probably of the same view, how about you to quit the judgment till you get to read the entire article.
This narrows down to the concept of education and it's aim. Am quite sure that had the graduands been given 30 minutes to come up with an answer, everyone would have gotten it right. Dr Carl says that, 'the aim of education is not to provide you with a list of facts that you can recite when asked to, rather it's aimed at giving you confidence to research and answer the questions and to have a skeptical mind.'  Nothing much can be added to this. We do not spend the many years in university cramming basic facts about the earth. That is however not to be used as an excuse to not being able to pass our exams..So, What causes seasons? Do you think you know? A common answer among school children and college graduates is that seasons are caused by how
close the Earth is to the sun, but this answer is not correct. The tilt (or obliquity) of the Earth’s axis causes the cycle of the seasons. So there you go, I know you also didn't know that. But in case you knew, here's something else you don't know- What causes the sky to appear blue?

That Boy

I could see the boy cross the road from the comfort of my shop. The sooner he approached, the more I smiled. I had a liking for this guy, my husbands younger brother. He knew how to brighten people's days, as Flo,my workmate would testify. His jokes were always well timed, making it hard for one not to like him. I very well knew what this particular visit meant. Having called me the previous night,Robert, a university student wanted a loan. What a determined child, he wanted a loan to pay his tuition fees. How I admired this boy's approach to life, he didn't believe in holding other people responsible for his undertakings. He considered education his undertaking, a personal initiative for that matter. After greeting us, he went on to crack some jokes after which he continued, 'I want a favor from you, please loan mi 10k and I'll repay early next month.' Early next month was when the Helb loan disbursements were made. I let him knew that I had no liquid cash unless I withdrew from the bank. He offered to queue on my behalf and call me when he is about to be served, not out of desperation. Everyone knew very well how kind he was. So why would such a kind and bright boy lack someone to pay his tuition fees.? His dad was a well off man, and all his elder brothers had a source of income. Not like they wouldn't pay his fees, they very much would. But this boy never believed in having to beg. Wa-mwangi (as his mum was referred to) must have done a pretty good job in moulding the boy's character. Born from a Christian family, the boy was all a woman would wish to have for a son.... ( to be continued)