Politics is about exploiting the poor

It's Blog Action day and this year bloggers around the world are you uniting in one common cause: making noise against poverty. Does it help throwing more cluster into cyberspace? I doubt it. The poor will still be poor at the end of today and the rich will be richer. Do we splash logos, banners and pictures of emaciated children across the screens because we sincerely believe it will help or because it makes going to sleep easier? What's special about today is that there are hundreds of thousands of people who are concerned for whatever reason giving a few minutes or hours in their day to something that does not have any direct impact on their lives. But the best thing about this is that there are people out there who are united in this and not being paid to be concerned. No cushy job in an air-conditioned office with an SUV parked outside while they sit in a workshop and come up with some solution to world poverty (with no conscience about the fact that they are part of the problem - yes that includes me minus the SUV).

So let us have a minute of silence for these people - not the poor ones - the rich ones...

And let us have two minutes of silence for that other lot of people that call themselves Ministers, Members of Parliament, Prime Ministers, Permanent Secretaries, Diplomats and of course Presidents. Now this lot ( at least in Kenya) are a really special breed. They have mastered the art of not just making a living from poverty but getting the very poor people they represent to pay them to get even richer. Geniuses. I salute you.

So now that we have had a few minutes of silence for Patriots Paid to Protect the Planet, I would like to make a noise about the other kinds of heroes. The silent kind who don't do any of this for a living or for the feel good factor. They have been around for too long to get a kick out of any of this.

And I needn't look very far. Today I want to make a noise about two people:


Mr and Mrs Pabari.
My mother and father.

For a Grandmother

Like many South Asians in Kenya, our great grandfathers crossed the Indian Ocean in dhows at the turn of the 20th Century in search of new opportunities. Three generations later, South Asians who settled initially in East Africa can be found in every corner of the world. With little or no connection to India, East Africa and in the case of my family, our roots are in Kenya.
My father chose to stay on. Many of his brothers settled in the UK and his oldest brother went as far as Australia. My grandmother was born in Kisumu, settled in Kitale where she married my grandfather and eventually emigrated to the UK.
When she passed away, her sons brought her back to her motherland by taking her ashes to India where they were spread across the Ganges. But she was more Kenyan than anything else, hence, my mother and father suggested that a school should be built in her name.

As the founder of Ladies in Action, my mother was keen that her memory should be marked through life and what better way to do it than provide a space for children to receive what they deserve.

The Pabari brothers and their one sister came together and funded the construction of an entire school on the outskirts of Kisumu. It's almost ready and and I know my grandmother would be smiling with joy, ear to ear...

In addition, students have been provided with decent school uniforms and all classrooms have been furbished with desks and chairs. Sue Deans, our partner who runs the Kisumu Orphans Education Fund and was instrumental in helping us with the post election crises appeal and support also contributed £2,500. Thank you Sue...


It was my father's sixtieth birthday the other day. He retured just before christmas last year which was days before the country exploded with senseless violence due to the elections. He has since dedicated his time to charity and him and my mother now run Ladies in Action with the assitance of volunteers like Tobias and Ren and support from well wishers all over the world. For his birthday, he planted 300 trees at the school. I am truly proud to be a Pabari...