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Particulates in the atmosphere are increasing. What can we do about it?
Atmospheric particulate matter (APM), also referred to as particulate matter or particulates, is the sum of all particles, liquids and solids suspended in the air. To refer to the mixture of particulates and air, the term aerosol is used. An example of these particulates includes gaseous contaminants, smoke, smog, dust, pollen, mould spores, viruses and bacteria. PARTICULATES IN KENYA'S ATMOSPHERE A study performed by J. Karue, A.M. Kinyua and L. Njau in 1990-1991 in conjunction with University of Nairobi, the Centre for Nuclear Science Techniques, the Kenya Medical Research Institute and the...
Living with an invisible illness: PCOS awareness
Puberty. For me, that was when things took a very wrong turn. Not that things had ever been right, but they became worse when puberty hit. At first, I didn't think that anything was wrong. After all, puberty affects different folks differently. And when I did notice that something was wrong, doctors waved me off because acne, weight gain, bodily hair and irregular periods (they do take a while to become regular) are classic signs of puberty. When I was around 16, I went to sleep one day and woke up the next with an almost bald patch at the back of my head. My hair was thinning, and my hairline...
The New Crisis: Locust Swarms in East Africa
Several governments in East Africa have declared that new locust infestation as a state of emergency. The UN warns of potential food crises in Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. These desert locusts eat everything that comes into their path, consuming the crops farmed by local people. This year's locust breeding is on an alarmingly bigger scale than previous years. Locusts breed rapidly, but only when the conditions are right, so their population is controlled. Unfortunately, climate change has produced excessive havens of perfect conditions for their breeding. After months of...
Green is the color of my true love's planet
She sat under an acacia tree, the wind blowing in her hair strong, brown and full of smog. The sun beat down on her face as the tiny leaves of the mighty acacia tree did little to provide shade. A pen and a book on her lap, her mind often wandered to a few years ago, to better times when she was younger. Where she could sit on the exact same spot on a green patch of grass rather than the now brown dried grass which was very hard on her posterior. Sweat trickled down her back. Sounds of younger children playing in the distance in the now dried up River Thiba evoked memories of days when she...
Sustainable Tourism - Why it matters
When I decided to undertake my undergraduate degree a Bachelor of Science in Ecotourism and Hospitality Management at Kisii University here in Kenya many of my family members and friends had no idea what it was or what it entailed. Many of them thought it had something to do with hospitals ignoring the ecotourism part and went straight to the hospitality word of the course. When I explained to them what it really entailed and broke their visions of me in hospital scrubs and a stethoscope, they looked at me confused and worried. “Wanjiku, what is this you are going to do for four years? Be a...
African Sistah
African Sistah, Toes in the warm sand Ankles full of charms rattling with every step Bumping a sea of people as she carries her blue surfboard She steps on a plastic bottle and sighs Picking it up and putting it in her satchel she treads on. African Sistah, Pulled by the alluring of the blue ocean She looks to the horizon and dreams She dreams of cleaner beaches and oceans But she is tormented with floating islands of plastic Turtles choking on plastic bags She shuts her eyes and erases those foul images from her head. African Sistah, She ties her dreadlocks and sets her board right Ready to...
Solar energy - Lighting up lives
Many of the people living in rural Kenya have had their electricity set up in the recent years. This is because of an initiative by the Kenyan government dubbed “The Last Mile Connectivity Project”. To say the truth, many families have benefited from this project: homes have been lit up, business and various institutions such as schools and hospitals are up and running. About 65.0% of electricity in Kenya is generated locally using renewable energy sources (hydropower 35.9%, geothermal 25.86%, cogeneration from bagasse 1.66%, wind 1.11% and solar 0.08%) while 35.386% was generated using fossil...
A good thought a day keeps the doctor away
Mind
My mind…works like a cave Dark, mildew with ancient treasures marked across the Musky slippery floors. The rumble in my head almost as hollow As the wind that passes through the Tunnels, unmarked by men. Sometimes the wind could chatter and echo through And the voices could grow louder. As darkness engulfs Little creatures scamper away They’ve made a home in there... My mind With statues of a past life With stories left behind as memories With decay, and stones crumpling from age. My mind As the words to this Slowly diminish to a silent buzz As I live through the day.
In - finite
She sat at her desk, an image A man seated, black and white Youth pouring out of the portrait And across his face, a photo Of a man on a boat rowing away Mortality displayed in immortality And she faced the sad truth that is life As she looked at his arms His veins seemed to carry with them life And he was as it is breathing in that image I am, I am .. those words seemed at that moment To resonate, to exist as if written in that image I can be created, I can be transformed, i can be transferred I am energy, always existing As I would in an image … days, months, years What about God, The...
Weep Child
Weep child Weep for green you'll cease to see Weep for white turning blue Weep for blue turning black Weep, now the sky is red Thank you, Asha Though joey cannot find her mother Mim cannot go back now It's too hot in there It's not home anymore We may loose new titi He has nowhere to go It's hot And I don't know him yet Turtles for the sea We feed them a lot Now they cannot swim Hold the sun Don't let it sink Weep child For your own baby's place Growing are mountains of despair Angry rivers flowing despite Oceans having had enough Too much to hold in Now they are splashing hard Lashing out at...