Tag: Kenya

Ushahidi.com – Getting More Doves on the Map

Via Ethan Zuckerman’s post on internet based reporting in Kenya’s post election violence comes a link to Ushahidi.com – Kenya’s Post Election.


Report Acts Of Violence In Kenya

Ushahidi is a good example of using the power of an image to convey data. They are mapping citizen reports of violence. People can submit reports via mobile phones. They are also mapping reports of peacemaking activities, but alas, there are not many doves on the map and plenty of flames, indicating conflict. (see map below)

Here is a report from today:

My name is peter and I teach at Kisumu Day High School. I want to report that in Kisumu Thousands of students will not be able to attend school again this coming Monday. The violence and sheer police brutality that has rocked Kisumu in the last three days has rendered learning activities impossible.
Most Children and teachers are traumatized. The students and their teachers have either been displaced in the fighting or their schools are sheltering displaced people.
The schools were supposed to have opened on 14th January. This did not take place. We need guiding and counseling to be done for the kids in Kisumu who have seen dead bodies, heard gunshots and slept hungry for the last one week.
Roads in Kisumu still have huge rocks and boulders to block motorists.
Let the Ministry of education in Kenya come up with ways and means to jump start the education sector in this region.
Personally I am calling on to people who can offer counseling services to the kids to contact me on +254722612128.

Map from Ushahidi.com

Via Global Voices, Ndesanjo Macha’s also writes about Ushahidi.com Kenya: Cyberactivism in the aftermath of political violence. Ndesanjo writes about what went into the formation of the site and the value of a very simple idea put into practice.

There are a number of things at play worth noting. First in the technology community’s response – technologists primarily in Africa, but also across the world. People saw a need and responded. It is worth amplifying their work by blogging about it.

Second, it is useful amplifying positive actions. It is important to cover the news of the atrocities, but communities and individuals can also cover the things people are doing as a positive response. Acts of peace, reconciliation and relief to those cut off from food, water, jobs and family due to violence. This is something networks are good at.

What acts of peace or reconciliation are you amplifying on your blog? And what can we do to help Kenyans create and get more doves on the map?

Other links:

  • http://www.ethanzuckerman.com/blog/2008/01/08/scoble-kenya-and-opening-the-closed-stories/
  • http://mashable.com/2008/01/04/forget-kenya-lets-talk-scoble-gate/
  • http://fullcirc.com/wp/2008/01/04/what-can-we-do-for-our-friends-in-kenya/
  • http://www.mentalacrobatics.com/think/
  • http://www.kenyanpundit.com/
  • http://www.whiteafrican.com/ (specific link)
  • http://afromusing.com/blog/
  • http://www.mamamikes.com/blog/?p=22 (donation page)
  • Global Voices aggregation page on Kenya situation

    • Flow of Donations from a Networked Response

    As a follow up to a post from a few weeks ago, here is an update from Andrius Kulikauskas, Minciu Sodas.

    Pyramid of Peace
    Ways to help Kenyans, Kenyans to call, latest news organized by city

    The latest emails from Kenya and around the world

    Send phone credits to Kenya – purchase them from mamamikes.com or sambazanow.com

    Click on the image above to see a diagram of part of our Pyramid of Peace. We’re thinking through how best to show all the data.

    So here is the image referenced above. First, it is really helpful to me to see the impact of Andrius’ fundraising efforts. This is an interesting sort of “front end” of the ROI problem Beth Kanter is wrestling with these days. Second, and more interesting to me, is how we can visualize in some tiny way our impact in a network. A lot of what made me donate was simply trust. But to see this image, it is a positive reinforcement to make the effort again in future situations.

    It is not “verified” data, but insomuch that I trust my network, the visualization offers me both a community indicator that together we can do more than I can do alone.

    Donation Flow

    What can we do for our friends in Kenya?

    (Note: Updated to add additional support options, 9:32 am Friday – I’ll keep adding as I find them, so check back if you are interested)

    Ethan Zuckerman’s insightful post, Kenya: heartbreak and hope reflects my feelings as

    I think of both my friends and colleagues in Kenya on a personal basis, and the larger picture of impact of the events in Kenya on Africa and the world. If you care about the world, about the role of citizen journalism (particularly the interface between online and offline and the bearing of witness to events), read Ethan’s article. He links to many sources of on the ground news, which is critical both to the work in Kenya and our understanding of how we can best be of support.

    That brings me to our role in the “hope” part. What do we do to lend our energy to others trying to find peaceful solutions to the unrest in Kenya? Again, our membership in this global village made possible by online connections gives us each a chance to amplify the news from Kenya and bolster the work of the peacemakers. And for me, I am trying to always ask myself how can we do this in a way that does not impose our will upon them, but simply offers our support and resources and they choose what and how to do it. I support peace and you, on the ground, have the knowledge and wisdom to figure out how you want to do that. That’s the beauty of Andrius’ approach for activism and Ethan/Global Voices’ approach for communication.

    To that end, here are a few things you can get involved in.

    Tireless activist Andrius Kulikauskas of Minciu Sodasoffers a page of ideas here.

    Ways to help include:
    * making phone calls to Kenya:
    http://www.worknets.org/wiki.cgi?KenyansToCall
    * write to your foreign minister:
    http://www.avaaz.org/en/kenya_free_and_fair/
    * join our chat: http://www.worknets.org/chat/
    * join Samwel Kongere’s email group:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/mendenyo/
    * help us create peace songs and videos for Kenya
    * share this letter (posted on the Yahoogroups site)
    * contribute money for Kenyan “independent thinkers” by PayPal (details at http://www.ms.lt/ – Andrius is updating the Kenya work at the top of his page.)

    The Yahoogroup offers you a chance to get updates from activists on the ground, including a project to build a human acrobat pyramid as part of a peace march. Art and beauty as activism. Read the stories from the ground. Then decide what you can do.

    What I find interesting is the use of SMS as a communication and activist tool, but what happens when you can’t afford the phone bill? Andrius is seeking and delivering funds to pay for phone cards for peace activists in Kenya using PayPal.

    Other Options

    • Ory Okolloh, the Kenyan Pundit, is blogging all the news she can find, even though she has had to leave Kenya and go back to S. Africa. In this post, she is looking for some coding help to do a mashup to record damage on the ground using Google earth – documentation that can be used later in reconciliation processes. (Sending beams, Ory!)
    • Donate to the Kenyan Red Cross.
    • For getting the latest and amplifying that news, keep an eye on Global Voices.
    • List of bloggers covering the situation.