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piqer for: Global finds
Ciku Kimeria is a Kenyan author "Of goats and poisoned oranges" - (https://www.amazon.com/goats-poisoned-oranges-Ciku-Kimeria-ebook/dp/B00HBBWPI6), development consultant, adventurer and travel blogger (www.thekenyanexplorer.com). She writes both fiction and non-fiction focusing on African stories that need telling. She has worked on diverse pieces for various international and local publications including Quartz, Ozy, The East African etc. She has travelled to 45 countries – 16 of them in Africa. 153 countries to go and 63 territories!
"Of goats and poisoned oranges" has been extremely well received in Kenya and beyond. It tells the story of a Kenyan middle aged power couple and their complicated marriage. The novel explores issues of greed, revenge, betrayal and murder. It runs from the 1960s to 2013. It has been described as “Wicked, funny, poignant, wacky, human, a big ball of fun and danger”, “A unique and captivating book”, “Fun and intriguing”, “Impossible to put down once you start reading.”
She recently moved to Dakar, Senegal from Kenya to work on her second novel. She also works at as the Africa Communication Manager at a leading global strategy consulting firm.
She holds a B.S. in Management Science from MIT with minors in Urban Planning and International development studies.
How Africa Got Her First Female President: The Long Road To Liberia's Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's Win
In the wake of the US elections, most of the world is wondering how a veteran politician with decades of experience in governance lost the election to an inexperienced candidate whose scandals are the material TV series are made up of. While several factors came into play, the role of sexism should not be understated.
In 2005, in Liberia, an African country that was just emerging from a 15-year-long bloody civil war that had completely destroyed the country and the survivors of the war, elections were coming up. Among the 22 contenders were a Harvard-educated technocrat with a wealth of experience in governance and a soccer star with no experience. The soccer star was expected to win the upcoming elections as his well-experienced main opponent was a woman.
This article is a must-read as it is all at the same time heart-wrenching, amusing, inspiring and thought-provoking. Its description of the state of the country and its citizens after a long and painful civil war is difficult to read. A country in which 70% of female war survivors had been raped during the war. A war that left between 550,000 and 920,000 Liberians dead.
The article is amusing when it describes the tactics used to get women — a segment that was instrumental in Ellen Johnson Sirleaf's victory — to vote en masse (impromptu day-care centers at polling booths, getting men drunk, etc.). Finally, the article is inspiring. If a country in such a troubled state of affairs could overcome challenges to elect a female president, then this should inspire us all to continually fight against all walls of domination that place one group over another — whether gender, race, sexual orientation, ethnicity, tribe, religion, etc.
