"What is this G8?"

By John Kamau

It is one of those rare years in a journalist’s career when the world looks like it really might change. But amidst all this excitement why do people – apart from Tony Blair and co - feel a sense of deja vu?  How I wish that this blog could be read right back in my home Kenyan village which is peppered with tea and coffee plots. But I know it won't be, because electricity finally arrived only last year, and computers may still be mistaken for television sets – so you can forget the internet.

Telling people in my village I was coming to Europe to cover G8 meant nothing in particular to them, and they did not seem to be interested in its outcome at all. "What is this G8?" one old man asked me in a local pub - but not because he really wanted to know about the world's eight biggest economies, but just so the next round of beers was on me. 

And this from a coffee and tea farmer who should be keen on what the G8 is all about and who is always complaining that he earns "nothing" from the farm. All he knows is that coffee prices got worse after liberalisation and points the finger at local corruption.

I am not sure the outcome of the G8 Summit will really make sense to this farmer, or keep the villagers awake at night like it is here in the UK. In my village they have heard that the IMF and the World Bank give money or as they put it “inapeana pesa” - but mention to them that Kenya has to pay this money back, and they are completely flabbergasted.  And these are some of the most informed people in the villages of central Kenya, with the highest literacy rate outside Nairobi.  Occasionally they do read local newspapers, tune in to the BBC or just sit back to listen to our national state-run broadcaster. But on G8, they have no idea what is going on, especially on debt relief, and they do not know why and how we all sank into the labyrinth of odious debts.

So to come to Europe to see this excitement - this craze of debt cancellation - first-hand is a fantastic opportunity. Tony Blair's fixation on Africa even seems to have changed lots of things, at least for now. It even seems to have produced a bit of relaxation - all the way from the British Embassy in Nairobi to the immigration desk at Heathrow. I only need to have the right papers and mention I’m covering G8 and doors just swing open.

Covering the G8 at a time when Africa is high on the agenda might be exciting for me, but back home in my little village on the slopes of Mt Kenya it is business as usual. Those with cows will wake up early to milk, kids will dash to the nearby primary school, and for everyone else the rest of the day will be spent at the tea farms. But here I am to be their witness when the decisions that affect them are made - for they can believe in what I say.

Comments

[Graham Randles]

I read John Kamau's article in the Guardian today (July 4th) and like several billion people around the world I watched Live 8 on the TV on Saturday. I am pleased that so many people made their presence felt for such an important cause.

The event has inspired me to try to do something personal to help "Make Poverty History." Unlike many of the people who were demonstrating at Edinburgh mentioned in John's article, I have been to Africa several times. Something has stayed in my mind ever since a trip I made to climb Mount Kilimanjaro.

On that trip one of our guides told me that he would like to set up a hairdressing business but he could not afford to buy an electrical hair cutter of a kind that was readily available in Europe but extremely expensive in Africa. I told myself that I would help him but for a variety of reasons I never did.

If anyone reading this would like to help me to track down that guide I know that if he still needs help to start his business I would like to try. I believe it is not just at the level of the G8 that we will Make Poverty History and would like to do something at an individual level that will help.

Yours

Graham Randles

[Janet O'Sullivan]

I went to Kenya, specifically Nairobi, last year to meet with small NGOs that are working in Dandora and Kibera etc - the areas Mentioned in various of Johns reports on behalf of a small NGO in lancashire. The work that people are doing on a local basis is fantastic, it's relevant and sustainable. Incredibly small sums of money, by our standards, will achieve a large amount. But they can't influence or lessen the impact of poor electrical supply, poor or no roads, lack of banking and credit facilities for most people (although this was actually a major function of one NGO and provided a unique service in their area).
I suppose my comment is that we must influence deciscions at governmental level but we must also remember that at a local level local people are usually the ones who really do know what is needed and how to do it - given the chance.