Re: [Jambo] [youthagendayln] Fwd: [ccr-kenya] Re: Kenyan Delegation Visit Mr. Calvin Burgess in Oklahoma

From: Chris Owala
to: Elisha Obongo (whose interspersed quotations are included)
Date: Wed, 4 Apr 2007 04:57:22 -0700 (PDT)

Dear Elisha Obongo

Thanks for your mail,but i would like to take my time and take you through your mail and please take your time and follow it keenly.

Yes

It is good we have people like you who will criticize so that we make changes to rectify the critism, what a world would we be living in if everybody agreed with each other 100%?

PR as you call our Visit to Calvin Burgess - I do not know what you mean it has been mentioned so many times but I have not been able to ask anybody to elaborate on the PR thing maybe then I can explain my part.

PR -here means you were doing image management for Calvin Burges without getting to know what is happening in the ground after being brief by the self proclaim pastor,who happens to be a brief case holder for the invester,am ver sure Calvin and the group were in the dim distance in the organisation proceess and even before the meeting okoth otura offered me air ticket to attend the said meeting,this was away of buying me and that is why i do belief you went to the meeting after being brainwash,if your team is honest the ought have conducted a survey on what people are saying,here this was never done.what do you know about yala swamp,dominion groups and company?or who are the directors of this firm?you need to have a lot of information about this project to enable you do your cordination work effectively,

It is too sad that we still have people oposing developments especially if it comes to your door step. I hail from Karachuonyo and being a Luo I believe any development in Luo Land is a blessing to us all Luos.

what is this animal called development you are talking about?Elisha you sound reasonable am doing your worldview ,this is whose development?are you a share holder here?direct foreign investment is not the solution to our problem in africa,we need the local firm to protect the interest of the locals,which in this case is none.

I headed the delegation to Oklahoma and it was very successful beyond expectation, there is a nother upcoming one in June 1st and 2nd. You are cordially invited to attend so that you can air your views to Mr. Burgess rather than filling the internet with emails. what are your principals that are guiding you in convening this forum?you must the drive which is based on your proper undestanding of socio-economic and political climate You are lucky you have been to Halem and all those countries, most of those brothers and sisters in Bondo haven't.

Elisha are you equally lucky?can you tell this forum why you left you ancestral home?are you in support of this" invester" because they have given you home away from home or because you are aware on what you are suporting?do you know that this project has claimed life of very innocent children and to date families have not received any compesation?this is what you call development by godly people?Do you know God? In simple terms as I have told people before maybe I have been too complicated while explaining things but these are the issues that I have seen people complaining about: Labour Exploitation: Are you promoting slave trade?please let me know what you are doing back US.Ihave been to kanyadhiang,omboga,homa hills etc,do you think think Ksh3000 is adequate?

1. In a worst case scenario -if someone is employed as a day labourer at Dominion farms making kshs. 100 per day after 30 days he will be having kshs. 3000. if he uses half of that and spend another half in studying say Computer Applications. After 3 months he can be able to have his/her certificate that can propel them to get a permanent job elsewhere or at Dominion as a computer Operator earning maybe kshs.  3000.

If you earn Ksh 100 per day.what % will be able to keep are you assumminng that this person is not supposed to eat?this what we call modern time slavery.if this person is earning Ksh 100 and this is also part of his rent since they have been thrown out from there land,are you normal in your senses,or you simple dont care.Do you know that there are some old age people that can not get employment in this community.How will this group go school is they are reduce to refuges?are you aware that distance from home to schools have increased because DG Have privatise most of the roads hence out of bound for community members?do you know that lowest amount of school fees parents are required to pay? 5,000.Or attend driving school and come back and get a job as a driver at Dominion. That Old lady who can not work as a day labourer can make some Uji and Nyoyo to sell to the day labourers thereby earning kshs. A day as profit. That shop keeper around the corner can on an everyday basis re-stock his shop due to high demand of his stocks and so many of them will come up due to demand, Just like you said, toll buildings and bridges are not development, I fully agree and to me I call that scenario development but on the lowest side. We do not expect an investor to come and build us permanent houses and buy us cars to call those development but rather show us how to get resourses to build or buy cars. We do not have to scream about day labouring that wazungu's will subject us to but we need to use our brains to develop ourselves too, maybe those screaming about day labouring did not think this way. Personally I have been down that road and I did it and I believe anybody can do it. why should somebody eject you from you land so that you start selling uji to his workers?is this anything worth sharing with your children?when people plant there own maize,beans,millet and others vegetables this is regareded as an exercise on it own,this will enale the community to have food throught the year,but if you throw an old mother from her piece of land then you put embargo that they should not farm anything lest your crops will be contaminated,Do you rule out the GMOs issue?

Environment:
2. Everywhere in the world people are complaining about global warming, if they do, do you want to tell me that they did not know that cars will burn oil thereby polluting the environment? They went ahead and manufactured cars and I believe you must have used one before. "We develop first before we start cleaning". In the USA alone there were screams about Biogenetic foods introduction, they realised that if they stop them, then they will be forced to import food from Africa and elsewhere in the world thereby creating dependency, what did they do?

Do you know the complexity of environment?do you know the impact of GMOs on HIV/AIDS Patients?

Allow it so that they can have some kind of independence in terms of food security. My brother would you rather sterve without food and die after 30 days or eat Bio genetic foods and Live upto 20 years? Okay look here - not in a bad way though - but we know about it, "let them eat those kind of foods, they will get sick at some time, some companies will come up with drugs to cure their sicknesess - na hiyo ni maendeleo - I can explain that later.

Do you know of anybody that have benefited from DG medical scheme? if not their employees,are you aware that this group of DG Wanted to privatised Ratuorao Health centre?why are you talking on what you dont understand?can you take an oath and what you are saying on DG?

The birds they are compaining that are not there anymore since Dominion started building canals and etc, did you guys of Bondo use to eat those birds? If you did then you should have been focusing on how to double the population of those birds to accomdate population increase if not then what have those birds been helping you with ecconomically? Tourism? How much income per year from them?

Here you are ignorant kabisa,please go to class to enable you understand this concept,its not your mistake

Displacement:
Why didn't people of Nyakach complain when they were compensated to leave their ancestoral lands for the Sondu-Miriu Hydro-electric project?

here stakeholders were involved in negotiating for the package together with alterantive settlement which is not the case in Yala,there was no meeting in America to dispora for support from the investor,here all cards where on the table,there was no divide and rule and high level of corruption being experince in yala,Can you sell your father's home in Kanyadhiang for Ksh,45,000?please be honest here?maybe because you have lost touch.

Why don't we complain when government reposses lands earmarked for roads? What are your organisation doing to re-setle the Ogiek's and those landless kenyans everywhere? What will my mums/dads grave help me achieve economically so that I have to live on that land forever? My brother - Land is the only thing that God did not want to add us instead we are loosing some hence we need to think of how best we can utilize this rare resource we have. (Example - I have 4 other step brothers, the only land we have that we inherited from my dad is 2 ha, divide this by read alot laws governing utilisation of land and other natural resources together with the just publised land policy,it will help you have proper understanding, 5 boys/then these 5 boys will have 2 boys each, if they will still be inheriting lands from their dad's, in the third generation how much land will they have left to divide further?

I can not go ahead because the point is so clear that we need to change our ways of life to fit into a modern society, the world is changing and we need to change with it, let's not hate wazungu just because of their colour, there are some bad ones out there too, but we need to give development a chance in Luo Nyanza, or if you have a better idea of improving the lives of millions of Luos starving to death, HIV innfestation then please please bring it up and we will fully support it, Right now we have Dominion and let us give him a chance.

You as who?its important to be clear here where are you coming from?that is your background ?its important since it will help in determining my level of engagement on this issue of development.

Finally ready the story below to enrich you understanding on development issues

owalla chris
0722-901170