Yesterday I met the Nairobi City Town Clerk Philip Kisia. I have known Kisia from his days at the Nairobi Central business District Association (NCBDA) . Then he defended Adopt A Light.

When we sat to talk I admired his professionalism as he got an internal lawyer to give him an opinion on the matter at hand between my company and the council.Then he called in the other employees and for the first time it was my pleasure to hear an employee of the council being bold enough to stand up and say, “we are wrong, we have treated this lady and her company unfairly while breaking the law”.
Wow, This definitely made my day and a Hope for Justice!

I would like to share some unforgettable moments with you as Adopt A Light is recognized as a ” best practice” for innovative cities alongside Kenya’s own Safaricom Mpesa. This is a proud moment to be Kenyan.
Kenya scooped two UN Habitat Business Awards 2009 awards out of five awards while the other three went to Mexico, China and India. Today we should affirm that we are all right in spite of everything that has passed and rather than waste our energy on those things that pull us down, lets celebrate each other and move forward together!

Here at the Awards ceremony in Delhi, India with Mrs Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT.

Receiving this UN Business Award 2009 here at New Delhi, India today, during the Habitat Business Forum, is truly a proud moment for me and my country Kenya. However this comes in the wake of the vandalizing of Adopt a Light street light pole despite court orders restraining the Nairobi City Council from any interference with the company’s outdoor billboards.
But as Christine Auclair one of the key officials put it “The jury was impressed by the innovativeness, resourcefulness and cost-effectiveness of your initiative.”

My happiness is seeing the UN recognise our efforts of the slum lighting project which has allowed the informal sector to do business at night and increased the security of these areas.
Surely no matter what is said or done to the outdoor billboards and street light poles, nobody can take away our original ingenuity at starting this slum lighting project and consequently changing the face of our slums in Nairobi!

It is things like this that give us the grace to have courage to go on in the face of impunity by the council, the state, the police, the customers, the people and worse a competitor who thrives on corruption and smiles all the way to the bank.

On Saturday I leave for India to receive the UN Habitat Business Award for 2009 on behalf of Adopt a Light for our initiatives in highways lighting , residential and slum lighting, which as you all know has been my pride and nightmare. But you know what, its all been worth it. I will win one day for my country….

Read about the Award at the Adopt-a-Light website. You can also read my UN Habitat Award acceptance speech here.

I am at it again about Kenya my beloved country. What I am trying to come to terms with is what kind of a country do we live in where the rule of law does not apply and institutions are abused with such impunity by the very officers we pay to run them who are supposedly the servants of the Kenyan people?

What has happened to basic values like honesty, integrity, unity, nationalism, patriotism, being able to stand up for what is right and working hard for our daily bread. Learning to share what we have while we teach others how to earn a livelihood is the only way that Kenya can rise from this debauchery it has sunk into.

Today City Hall has destroyed Adopt a Light outdoor adverts worth over 10 million. They are also pulling down Thika road and the irony of it is, we had asked where we should put the masts knowing the road would be expanded and they directed us to do it bang in the middle. Now they say the masts are in the way and there goes 80 million worth of work leading to more carnage and theft on the highway. What a waste of resources ?

I have not had any response forthcoming from the public servants concerned. But soldier on we must since losing a battle is not losing a war! What will define us as Kenyans other than our resiliency at standing up for injustices and our continued stand for the Truth!

Imagine if your fairy god mother was in town for 5 minutes and was willing to grant you 10 wishes, what will you wish for? If you don’t know then it means you are on a road to no-where.

A wish list should include the things, opportunities, friends, securities, blessings etc that you wish in your life that would leave you feeling happy and fulfilled either in the short or long run.

The advantages of having a wish list ready is that you get to focus on what you really really really want. It also makes you more confident of attaining the same and as most positive thinkers would say it’s the first step to letting the universe know what you expect from it. Remember what goes round comes round.

Let me share with you my 10 wishes as at 20th October, 2008, incidentally I always review my wish list on my birthday as Christmas and New Year do get busy-

1.  I wish I excel at parenting and raise responsible and grateful children who are balanced in all areas, education, attitude, behaviour, sports, and kindness to all including the environment.

2.  I wish for a Positive conclusion of the Adopt A Light project’s legal cases and to getting back on track

3.  I wish I successfully launch respected and trusted platforms to fight corruption and reduce poverty levels in our country.

4.  I wish I unite one million committed Kenyans against poverty and to join in the journey for Kenya to achieve the millennium development goals.

5.  I wish I had a financially sound project to cater for both the financial needs of my family and I for that rainy day.

6.  I wish to I had a lobby group of sorts to address the various injustices of our country.

7.  I wish I had other business ventures as having all my eggs in one basket has not been healthy.

8.  I wish to resolve all the issues on the Kitisuru house amicably concluding the purchase of the same.

9.  I wish I had at least three degrees preferably in law, business and finance.

10.  I wish I had healthy eating habits and was committed to exercising and maintaining the weight that makes me proud.

If you can picture your wishes in colour and see yourself enjoying the benefits of your wishes as if they were a reality it’s your first step towards realising them.
After the visualisation you need to break down the wishes into steps and indeed action plans with deadlines.

All the best and lets compare notes come October, 2009!

How then can we help?

What I want is to enroll Kenyans and friends of Kenya to pull together for Kenyans through contributions in these three areas.

1. A donation through One In A Million of at least Kshs100 per month from one million of us in the Kenya population will go to great length to alleviate extreme poverty in our nation.
2. Contribution by groups of 10,000 Kenyans at Omega10000 for investment in other business ventures.
3. And a payment of just 1 shilling for brand and consumer participation in poverty reduction.

Register where you feel most suited, if you care enough and would like to be part of the effort to reduce poverty in our country then hang with me.

I have the drive and determination to make all this succeed and have and intend to continue surrounding myself with people of integrity all of whom shall own the projects and work with a common vision. Do not take the back seat. Get on the bus and get involved.

In these hard economic times even the rich are behaving like they need aid. They justify cutting back on charity or even investing. I say it’s the wrong approach stop behaving like a pauper when you really living like a king in comparison. Okay so you can’t travel first class, is there anything wrong with business or economy? You are still in the category with the clarion call- I’ve made it! – your home still enjoys three square meals, a fancy car, a wardrobe, an occasional holiday, a job or business, a bank account, assets, an occasional drink or meal with the guys and girls to work out the stresses of life, a gym membership to work out the excesses, its your life and its nothing less then a success. Don’t stop uttering these words I’ve made it – to avoid the call or responsibility of being part of the solution.

Please visit your chosen project above and register and give me hope that we can avert a revolution and be proud I mean really proud of being Kenyan!

16.5 MILLION KENYANS LIVE IN POVERTY. That is why we should care.

Well it’s very simple – DO WE WANT A REVOLUTION? ARE WE VICTIMS OF CRIME? ARE WE LIVING IN FEAR OF CRIME? DO WE CARE TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE? DO WE CARE ENOUGH TO SHARE?

Now don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean we spoon feed the less fortunate. But when one is in ICU you have to feed them until they have regained their own strength and that is what we have to do. This blog is about knowing the driver and the direction to where I feel we should be going together. Join me as a passenger and when I tire take the wheels as this bus has to get to its destination with all the passengers content!

I am sure some of you are reading this and going I pay my taxes, I tithe, I help my extended family, I give a few coins every month to the poor on the street, I employ a few people etc etc . I know you do! But look around you, in your neighborhood there is a slum. It is growing bigger, the conditions are getting worse, and all our collective effort this far has not made visible difference.

A recent study that we commissioned through Adopt A Light on the impact of the lighting in the slums posed the question “how do you feel about the rich. The answer went like this “they don’t care about us, we don’t exist for them after we done the slaving for them”

I see a relationship between the violent crimes and this perception. I see crime increasing and the youth continuing to being gunned down. These young men are children, fathers, brothers, and providers of their family and no matter how hard we judge them, they are a loss to someone who will have a bone to pick with us if not now, in the future?

Besides poverty, hatred, there is another reason why crime is escalating and that is drugs. Drugs are consumed so readily among the poor, damaging the brain, once addicted! They will kill for it! Many people who have been car jacked say the same thing, the men where young, educated, and stoned.

So I have put together this website and many others sites that I will unveil to you in time, as a platform for you and I to connect and drive this vision to a bigger picture of a Perfect Kenya by 2015.

When it comes to poverty we have to take the same approach to invoke the need and the urgency to take action through a lifetime commitment to be part of the solution!