The Third Place

Damn… I think I’m going to miss it by a few weeks: Maker Faire Africa. Quoting Afrigadjet:

The aim of a Maker Faire-like event is to create a space on the continent where Afrigadget-type innovations, inventions and initiatives can be sought, identified, brought to life, supported, amplified, propagated, etc. Maker Faire Africa asks the question, “What happens when you put the drivers of ingenious concepts from Mali with those from Ghana and Kenya, and add resources to the mix?”

Next time I’m in Kenya, I should definitely meet some of this people. Would it be interesting to make a podcast out of this possible encounter?

Road Trip in Nairobi, Kenya from zedascouves on Vimeo.

Music from Occidental Indigene:

http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/14633

Heck, they had a holiday when he was elected, but they prefer to kill each other when they have their own elections…

Forget Engadget, in Africa nothing beats AfriGadget!

Well, it’s been almost two weeks in Nairobi, Kenya, since I got here. Only five more to go… If the time table actually depended on our deployment team.

It’s quite amazing for me to, in the last six months, have already travelled about as much as all my life before, maybe not in kilometres, but for sure in staying length. For the record: more than a month in Poland, a week in Ireland, a week in Mexico and now, again, more than a month in Kenya.

So first, the job.
I’m part of a team of four, deploying the RAID software in Safaricom. And do follow the link, it’s not that kind of RAID.

About that, that’s it.

About the country.
It’s definitely a third world country (should I expect anything else?), and things here move at their own speed. One of the things that most annoy me here is that everyone says “yes” to everything, but it actually doesn’t mean anything: you have to make sure that that “yes” actually is a “yes”, so don’t trust (almost) anyone. I’m thinking this may be common in Africa.

Tourism.
The usual stuff: safaris, souvenirs, very good landscapes… You can follow the photo stream here. I guess the photos look better than actually being there, as the safari was kind of boring (no man eating animals were actually eating).

More later… as in “later weeks”…

Next week I’ll be in Mexico and the week after in Kenya. This way, when I’m having lunch in the latter, it’ll be like having dinner in the former. Sleep? That’s for sissy’s.