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Missing Kenya and asking what life is truly about

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

Maisha ya ngambo (life abroad) is proving to to be a bitter-sweet experience. It is so difficult to speak about this because most people assume that living in America has to be much better than living in Kenya.

Granted the first year of a move to a different country is a difficult time and there is a great temptation to think back with nostalgia on the good things and overlook the difficult. But I have to say I so miss being in Kenya .

I find myself asking more and more. What is the purpose of life? What is quality of life? Who determines what the quality of life is for a people?

Media creates a very distorted picture of life.  Visiting Nairobi briefly last weekend made me realize that my mental picture of life in Kenya which is so dependent on online newspapers is not a true reflection of life in Kenya. There is a disconnect between the lives that people are leading and whats reported. There are great things happening in Kenya that are not reported.

I need to figure out a better way of remaining connected to Kenya and Africa. And loving the beautiful aspects of the people and the continent whilst figuring out solutions for the troubling aspects and making a small difference.

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Transition; blogging about life in general rather than on technology.

Friday, April 17, 2009

It has been a while since I last posted to my blog. The end of last year was very busy as I prepared to relocate to the USA.

After arriving here, in the dead of winter. I realized I had forgotten my password; the consequence of having too many passwords, most saved on the browser of the laptop I used to use but left in Nairobi. I was also unsure of the relevance of a blog on the productivity from technology in Kenya when I am living in the USA.

It is difficult to maintain a relevant blog but I want to continue working on my writing so I have decided to keep blogging and make this a more personal blog. I will  share my thoughts on life, especially from the perspective of an African working and living in the USA.

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Simple Calendar = (Microsoft Outlook + Google + Blackberry) calendars

Saturday, September 20, 2008

To manage my life, at work (leading a large team) and home (husband and father of three) and remain organized. I need to plan well and remember all the commitments I make; meetings at work, functions at the school my children go to etc.Needless to say my schedule for family life is my responsibility and at work I manage my own schedule as I do not have an administrative assistant.I have finally found a great way to manage my schedule; a calendar, to be more precise three calendars.

When working at my desk at work, or any other place, on my laptop, I use the Microsoft Outlook (2007) Calendar to schedule meetings and events. I also review what needs to be done each day and receive an alert 15 minutes prior to an event.

When I am on the move, I use my BlackBerry Calendar in the same fashion; schedule new events and review what needs to be done and receive alerts 15 minutes prior to an event.

This works for me because I am able to synchronize the two calendars using a third one, my Google Calendar and the corresponding application Google Sync. I have installed the Google Sync application on my laptop and on my BlackBerry and the synchronization is automated. This means I rarely directly review my Google calendar or the Google Sync app. This is what great software should do work, work efficiently in the background.

The Google Calendar and Google Sync applications are free! And they work with other mobile phones.

It would have been ideal if the sync between the BlackBerry and Microsoft Outlook 2007 calendar happened directly but I had problems with the BlackBerry Desktop Manager over writing the service book Desktop[CMIME] and then I could not send out emails from the BlackBerry after that.

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Options for Internet at Home in Nairobi … Part 2

Wednesday, August 20, 2008

On this follow-up post, on options for Internet at home in Nairobi, I will focus on what I think are important factors to consider when selecting an Internet service and let you choose what works best for you.

Cost, but even more important keep your future options open
There are two costs to consider when signing up with an ISP, the upfront costs which includes the equipment and the regular monthly costs, then there will be an attempt to make you stay for as long as possible.

  • Upfront Cost;
    • This is the fee to purchase the equipment. It will vary depending on the technology that the ISP uses to connect you to their network and then to the Internet. The range of equipment varies from a $3,000 USD satellite dish and modem to a ‘free’ WiFi receiver (if it is inbuilt in your laptop).
    • Your ISP will insist that you purchase their equipment. They will tell you to do so that you have the best user experience.
    • Your ISP may offer to discount the equipment or even give it for ‘free’ if you sign a one or two year contract. Please ensure you review the post-paid contract very careful and if it is not clear make sure you ask what the penalty is for cancelling the contract, before the end-date.
  • Ongoing Costs;
    • This will be a monthly cost if you sign for a post-paid contract or if you choose the post paid option then this may even be a daily fee. Please review the tariffs and make sure that get the best tariff for your needs.
  • Lock-in and switching cost
    • Most ISPs will mark-up the price of the equipment for two reasons;
      • the first is obvious, to increase their revenues and hence their profit,
      • the second is not so obvious and is the one you should be concerned about, to lock you in.

      Please make every effort to pay as little for the equipment as possible so that when you want to move from the ISP, and rest assured you will want to move, when a better, faster and cheaper technology is offered by a another ISP.

    • Please remember if the goal of a business savvy ISP is to lock-in their customers so that they do not move to other ISPs your goal should be the exact opposite; keep your future options open.

Reliability and customer service
It is in your best interest to ask someone already using the service about the reliability of the service and the customer service offered by the ISP. Because so many ISPs are using wireless technology the user experience varies from one geographical area to another so the user needs to live close to you for their experience of the service to be of useful to you. Some ISPs allow you to take their equipment and try the service, if your ISP offers this make sure you take advantage of this offer.

Good speed relative to cost
All ISPs in Kenya connect to the Internet using satellite technology which means the speeds do not match those in other parts of the world (Europe, USA, Asia and Australia) that are connected to the Internet using fiber optic cables, because of the latency. Therefore until the fiber optic cables connecting Kenya to the rest of the world are completed in 2009, moderate your expectations and reconsider using bandwidth hungry applications like You Tube. An Internet connection of 64 Kbps should be sufficient.

What did I choose …
I settled on the HSPDA ‘Safaricom Broadband powered by 3G’ for my home Internet connection. Please note that this is only the second time that I have used a Safaricom product; the only other time was when I applied for a job with them and could not bring myself to list a Celtel ( now Zain) number on my CV:)

The HSPDA USB modem cost me Kenya Shillings 5,999 with a one-year plan which I can cancel and pay approx Kenya Shilling 150.00 for the every month remaining during the first year. The ongoing costs are KES 1,999 for 700MB per month which works out to KES 2.85 per MB.

I must confess my decision was largely influenced by the fact that I was very impressed by the speed of the service (using Speedtest.net) at the Safaricom customer care center on Koinange Street on a Saturday afternoon; a cool 2Mbps downlink speed and 64Kbps uplink speed. Unfortunately the speed I get at my house is only 256Kbps.

After I signed up for the service, I became skeptical about how reliable the service would be but it has been consistent. I have not spoken to anyone at the customer service desk. The payments are convenient to make, at any Nakumatt or at any other Safaricom authorized payment agent.

Filed in 3G, Celtel, Internet, Safaricom, Zain | Comments (1)