Africans have plans to address Climate Change - however, when the floods and other calamities strike - and thousands are affected - the resources are not there to cater to the victims:
https://purposeontheplanet.org/climate-action-plan/?gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw3NyxBhBmEiwAyofDYV10Db3G31VpnAc-HXQYieqeJyFtCUHZNBG7Vh874Gw3Nfpd90TkFhoCYwgQAvD_BwE
The floods, spanning across Kenya, Tanzania, Somalia, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Malawi, and other African nations, have left a devastating mark on the continent, affecting millions of Africans.
As a young resident of Nairobi, Kenya, I remember the unique weather patterns. It was a place where rain was a nighttime occurrence, and the days were filled with abundant sunlight.
I miss the red soil that was very fertile - and one could grow tons of vegetables - guava trees, orange trees, loquats, grapes, and you name it.
I was trying hard to remember if we had a drought and needed help remembering having one.
The vegetables and fruits were fresh. The air was clean, and the sky was mostly blue.
We had a good life, and I always played in the goal for Africa - it has two teams - the Asian, consisting of Sikhs, Hindu Punjabis, and Muslims from Pakistan.
I remember the African tribes - Luo, Kikuyu, Masai - they formed the African team - the team did well, and after that, we all - sat around a fire - and roasted maize - and our parents would bring cookies - there was always something - as everyone gathers to see us play.
I would wake everyone up on Sundays, and we all went to Church - at Church, I would want everyone in the front rows - the Irish father - told me that Africans should sit at the back - but I said no way.
The Irish priest insisted, and I said - where I sit, everyone that came with me sits.
The Irish priest gave up - and while everyone was really with me - no one wanted to speak up.
When I was young, I had a Kikuyu nanny, and I needed a nanny who cared for me. When I was two years old - I had polio - my entire half side was paralyzed.
To this day, I remember my Kikuyu nanny after so many years.
I had a unique bond with my nanny, which increased my love for Nairobi, Kenya, where I was born.
As I grew up - the only part of my body that was paralyzed was my left leg - they call it atrophy - I wear a leg brace and have been wearing it since.
The special brace allows me to function and walk long distances well.
I have traveled the world, and it took me a while. I would meet an African and start speaking Kiswahili.
Only to find out they were from places like Nigeria, Ghana, South Africa, Ethiopia, etc. Some knew the word Jumbo, and others Habari.
Of course, most speak English, and others speak French. You learn so much when you can communicate - a word here and there.
Kenya's President William Ruto - has a lot of work to do. In the interim, we want to know - how his government will deal with helping all those homeless. The slums in Mathare - and the people living in them - need urgent help. Climate change is here, and we must be prepared with plans and ready to go. Only then will logistics work.
East Africa has great potential; however, we need the best leadership, such as Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta, Abdul Nasser, Francis Nkrumah, and Patrice Lumumba.
Africa holds sixty-five percent of the world's arable land and ten percent of the planet's internal renewable freshwater source.
Africa has forty percent of the world's gold and up to ninety percent of its chromium and platinum.
The largest reserves of cobalt, diamonds, platinum, and uranium.
What is missing is leadership - corruption, and greed - brought by the Whites during the time they ruled Africa - the Belgians, the British, the Germans, the French, the Italians - now the Chinese and Russians have devastated the Continent of Africa.
Anyway, you look at it - if hefty tariffs are put on those who are looting Africa today - and those smuggling dealt with - Africa will be able to breathe and stay alive - the Chinese and Russians will have a field day - and the world will look on.
Those African leaders who are now sitting on large sums of money - and depriving their fellow tribal members of improving their lives.
Instead of uplifting each other - placing their dirty foot on the necks of those who need help - and slowly suffocating them.
Wake up, African leaders!
Africa loses an estimated $195 billion every year.
Illegal mining, illicit financial transactions, illegal logging, illegal wildlife trade - elephant tusks, rhino horns, and other wildlife used for medicinal purposes in China and other places.
Unregulated fishing and environmental degradation of the forest, rivers, lakes, land, and air.
I remember boarding the trains on all long trips from Nairobi to Mombasa.
I also went to other places by train and have fond memories of the train staff, who catered to my needs - most of them were friends with my father.
The recent floods adversely impacted many of the railway lines built by the British, which have now been upgraded by the Kenyan government.
Traveling by train gives you a panoramic view of the wild animals, the mountains and hills, the forest - the rivers - and all sorts of vegetation - flora and fauna.
East Africa has some of the best National Parks, teeming with wildlife.
I still have fond memories of the early 1960s.
They say it has all changed, but if that is the case, I will keep my memories and hope for the best.
Right now, hundreds of elephants and rhinos have no water—some are stuck in the water and cannot be removed, and they will slowly die.
African leaders must have regional agreements - to come to save precious resources - it would be a shame to see so many wild animals that have been taken care of - by National Park rangers - die and all the work done all these years - in vain.
We are still in the El Nino pattern and experiencing drastic and severe flooding worldwide - in Africa, Brazil, India, Bangladesh, China, Dubai, the United States, Texas, and Europe.
We will face La Nina soon - this coming summer, 2024 - and we are still determining what it will bring.
We must be prepared regionally and stop quarreling over minor things.
More affluent countries do not mind stealing from Africa - making trillions of dollars - you know who you are - thieves of the first order - you cannot spare a few million - to build homes and help the economy of the poorer countries.
Again, Africa is where the human race originates - check your DNA.
It is time for the regional and international levels to learn from the catastrophes and prepare models for dealing with the unexpected.
Shun the Ukraine war and Putin - Gaza and Benjamin Netanyahu, other autocrats the like of India's Narendra Modi and China's Xi Jinping and others in Turkey, Mali - the list is many and nauseating.
I watched some of the critical meetings - linked to the conference - and wrote several articles.
I listen more to the younger generation - who felt they needed to be provided resources in Kenya.
The other nations also suffer from severe floods - many after 4 or 5 years of drought.
The world hears about Africa, a continent rich in almost everything from minerals to more.
We know that, but few realize those Western Nations that pillage the resources, be it gold, diamonds, nickel, copper, nickel, or the three Ts - commit crimes against humanity - and no one seems to care.
These precious resources are mostly stolen - the corrupt pay - and when disasters strike, the poor and indigent suffer the most - many die.
Kenya has focused on clean energy - solar energy - and has produced 80% of its electricity - a feat that says a lot - and kudos to the people of Kenya.
I traveled all over Kenya and the neighboring countries - I saw things for myself - and today, I keep in touch - the digital world helps me do that.
I am proud that I was born in Nairobi, Kenya.
When I was young, I would go to the forests - Nairobi had City Park - and I remember the solid flowing water of the Athi River and other significant areas with beautiful parks.
Nairobi City Park had a dense forest, with monkeys swinging in the trees and calling out to each other.
I have always been interested in birds, frogs, butterflies, and insects. The places I visited taught me a lot, and I am grateful for that experience.
As a philosopher, environmentalist, historian, and advocate, I write to keep people informed.
As I said before, I am grateful that my spirit comes from the sacred place of Nairobi.
We held the National Summit of Africa from February 16-20, 2000, in Washington, D.C.
The then President of Kenya, Daniel Toroitich Arab Moi, was in attendance, as were many leading leaders worldwide.
At this conference, several teams addressed topics:
Sustainable Development, Quality of Life, and the Environment.
Democracy and Human Rights.
Peace and Security
Education and Culture
Economic Development, Trade and Investment, and Job Creation.
The documents on each topic were well vetted and written - and sent to world leaders - most of them from the continent of Africa.
In the year 2000 - we, the participants, were concerned about many of the issues that the continent of Africa experiences today - foremost sustainable development, quality of life, and the environment.
The countries I have mentioned suffer from flooding and, before that, years of drought and have fallen prey to Climate Change.
Who is responsible for this, and why are those who created this situation not involved in doing something positive - aiding the continent of Africa?
We have yet to have a needs assessment done on the recently concluded Conference in Nairobi, Kenya - talk is cheap.
The recent floods in Kenya and the surrounding area have paralyzed the Kenyan government. Many have no homes to go to - the floods took everything away.
By now, a thorough housing plan and a deep study should have been done on the dams and rivers - and the many who still do not have clean drinking water and modern toilets - to attain hygiene and standards that prevent diseases.
We can talk about logistics, but goals can only be fulfilled if the roads are there and the raging waters destroy bridges.
The government has yet to invest in heavy equipment, trucks, saws, and machines that can dig trenches—heavy-duty cranes—and the politicians, for all the talk, are quick to pocket the money.
When communication fails and when this happens, there is pandemonium
In the past, many trees were felled to make coal, and even though millions of young trees were planted, there was a four-year drought, and these young plants withered away.
East Africa should work as a region, put aside differences, and have a regional plan to deal with drought, floods, ebola, and other diseases.
This shooting, killing, maim must stop - the entire situation on the border of Uganda and Rwanda - Kenya and Somalia - the rag-tag militia armed with weapons from Russia and China - are doing too much harm - and the world cannot understand the situation.
The drought has impacted elephants, rhinos, zebras, giraffes, lions, leopards, wild buffalos, and others.
Many wild animals and birds are dying because there is no water. China, Russia, Britain, France, and all the other nations that loot Africa can build artificial wells and devise other models to help the wild animals and nature.
They can only bring in the heavy equipment and train the Africans to operate them.
Again and again, when the areas where there are deserts - where there is drought - satellite images from the sky - that the more prosperous nations have - show large watersheds - that can be tapped in an emergency - nothing much is done - in a concerted manner.
Malcolm X friended Pio Gama Pinto - this fact is unknown to many advocates. This friendship took many turns - two powerful men - with a mind and rhetoric that inspired thousands - both died young - we must honor the lives.
As a young man, I remember Tom Mboya and Pio Gama Pinto - two great Kenyan leaders.
Few remember these two great men. Both were assassinated, and their loss to Kenya set Kenya back to this day.
In recent weeks, an exhibit has been set to allow those who have forgotten what they must remember and honor - the lives of these two great men - Tom Mboya and Pio Gama Pinto.
Paradoxically, few know that Pio Gama Pinto and Malcolm X were good friends.
Pio Gama Pinto encouraged Malcolm X to learn more about Pan-Africanism.
Both were assassinated - two good men - who died young, and both were in their prime.
Today, I am monitoring many situations all over Africa - and watching the famous colonial play - the divide and Rule - game.
The Chinese, Russians, Sweden, Denmark, and British are milking Africa, removing tons of gold, copper, nickel, and the three Ts - tin, Tungsten, and Tantalum.
Cobalt, platinum, uranium, copper diamonds - a shame child labor is used - while the West - makes billions using these one-of-a-kind metals - in cell phones and computers - to better today's technology.
The United States has its Africa Command headquartered in Stuttgart, Germany.
The Special Forces attached to the Africa Command are busy helping Africa's needy countries.
More when it comes to hit and run cases - typical of those terrorists - who have a hidden agenda.
They monitor the Wagner Group, which practically does Vladamir Putin's bidding.
Africa is a rich continent - more and more, we see the surge of autocratic African countries - and even the few that profess to be Democratic are saturated with abject corruption.
I remember Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere, Abdul Nasser, Jawaharlal Nehru, Patrice Lumumba, Francis Nkrumah - and others - too many to name - each speaking truth to power.
All of the above leaders from the Pan-African movement could stand their ground - more so against the Colonists, who dared not take on these great leaders.
There has yet to be a concerted effort to help many African countries in 2024.
We need decent African leaders at the table to root out corruption, which has reached saturation point.
Nigeria is a case in point.
Things are so expensive in Nigeria that many people are in dire straits and cannot afford to eat.
France, Belgium, Germany, Britain, Italy, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Russia, China, and a host of others from the West - are exploiting African countries.
Add to that Middle Eastern countries providing military equipment to egoistical African generals - killing and maiming - we see this in Darfur, Sudan, Ethiopia, Rwanda - in other countries - all African and all having rich resources - the leaders bribed selling down their own people.
I thank Patrick Ngugi and Simon Maina - two stellar photographers - who depicted more - as they say - "a picture is better than a thousand words."
We must stop using the continent of Africa - where those from the West can go and pillage and think there are no consequences.
Those countries depleting the Ozone level give a damn - and will not lift a finger to help the African countries that are in dire straits.
As an environmentalist - I know how this works - and I know those who profit can also help remedy the situation.
There are too many promises made - and too few promises kept.
Some African countries, including Kenya, have planted millions of saplings and mangrove plants - and done more - using their own resources.
We can keep reminding those guilty - time for enforcement - of having standards and practicing ethics.
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