eastern Kenya - The African Mirror

Jun

14

2023

Old is gold: Here’s why farmers are rediscovering their love for native trees

ENVIRONMENT

AT Joan Wandegi Nthiga's family farm in Embu, a county in eastern Kenya, she and a small group of friends have gathered to discuss the weather, a common topic of conversation these days, and its impact on their area. "The geography has changed dramatically since we started cultivating here over 40 years ago," Nthiga said. Like many other parts of the country and region, Embu is now locked in the extreme weather pattern of successive droughts and floods. "It was a whole forest before. We cut down the trees in order to make room to grow food and fruits. But…

Walid Kilonzi is telling the African story with virtual reality

ARTS AND ENTERTAINMENT

BIRD STORY AGENCY YOU find yourself on the second highest peak in eastern Kenya, in the thick of the Iveti forest, with its famed cedar and pine trees. Near the top of a rise, you come upon the famous 'miti muonza', the seven trees that have stood there for over eight decades. With a move of your head, you leave the forest and are transported to the inside of a workshop, where woodcarvers are busy at work. After appreciating the finished bags, baskets, wood, and stone carving designs on display at the over-50-year-old Wamunyu Handcrafts, you can choose to go…

KENYA: Islamist fighters kill four road workers

NEWS

FOUR workers from Kenya's highways agency were killed in an ambush by suspected Islamist militants near the country's eastern border with Somalia, police said. The workers were leading a three-car convoy from the town of Garissa to Bura when they hit an explosive device planted in the road by suspected members of the Somali insurgent group al Shabaab, according to a police report. "A vehicle with four employees of the Kenya National Highway Authority was attacked with an IED, all the four died on the spot," said John Otieno, a local government administrator. Spokespersons for al Shabaab could not immediately…