Ebola: Compare and Contrast

This song

with

this song.

Nairobi airport - post fire

On Wednesday 7 August 2013, Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport caught fire. The huge blaze destroyed the arrivals hall in what is the busiest airport in East and Central Africa, handling six million passengers a year.

The BBC website put up some dramatic pictures of the fire: The airport blaze 

I flew into Jomo Kenyatta airport early on the morning of 12 August. I didn't know what to expect, but was delighted to see some beautiful white tents as I emerged bleary-eyed and bewildered from my overnight flight.

My fellow passengers on the tarmac

Immigration was in an enormous white tent. It was lovely to stand in much shorter queues than usual. The air was fresh and crisp. The light was natural. Much better than the usual sticky, smelly lines inside the airport's musty arrival hall, fluorescent lights casting ghastly flickers on people's tired and crumpled faces.

The immigration officials worked efficiently, with fiery lamps to keep them warm

We then went into the 'baggage collection' area. It was more like a wedding party, with posh silken chairs for us to sit in.

The baggage collection area

We waited in the 'wedding hall' until our bags were brought off the plane and lined up neatly outside on the tarmac, in different areas for different flights. We were then instructed to fetch our bags and take them to be x-rayed. The process was civilised, painless and pretty quick.

Jomo Kenyatta airport's 'baggage hall'

Then came the frustrating bit. After our bags were x-rayed, we had to wait inside a small hall as a fierce-looking lady in a leopard print scarf re-checked everybody's passports in what seemed to be a deliberately slow manner. This caused a bottle-neck as trolleys overloaded with luggage banged into people's shins. I didn't see the point of this exercise, as our passports had already been thoroughly checked and stamped by the immigration officials.

After the over-zealous passport re-checking we emerged into the customs area. That went very quickly. We then spilled outside, where tiny tents had been set up for mobile phone companies, food shops and airport taxis. The blackened airport building stood behind us.

The blackened airport building

Of course, there have been some negative effects from the fire, not least the alleged looting of cash and booze by police and airport workers: Police questioned over looting

And a big hit on airlines (especially Kenya Airways) and the wider economy: Will Nairobi fire hit Kenya's economy?

But, all in all, this was one of my most pleasant experiences at an airport for a long time. Fresh morning air, pretty white tents, posh silky chairs, and just one long and frustrating queue. Maybe other airports have something positive to learn from the Jomo Kenyatta fire.

The Departure Lounge

A few days after my arrival in Nairobi's 'tent city' airport, I passed through its 'departure lounge' on my way to Somaliland.

Once again, I was there very early in the morning. It still had the 'wedding party' look, but the atmosphere was a little sadder as many people were leaving their loved ones and their safari/ beach holidays.

One thing I forgot to mention in the earlier part of this blog is that all the airport staff I spoke to said they were very, very cold. Even those wrapped up in thick coats with hoods. Nairobi has been unseasonably chilly, and these poor people had to stand about outside, herding confused passengers from tent to tent. I felt especially sorry for the smartly dressed 'flight announcers', who came to the departure lounge to shout out the flights that were ready for boarding. Their thin red skirts and jackets did little to protect them from the cold.

Jomo Kenyatta International Airport departure lounge

Inside the departure lounge

The snack bar

The toilet

Washing facility

As I left the airport, I wondered for how long those glossy white tents would stay glossy and white. It is going to take months (at least) to build new passenger halls. I imagine that once the shine wears off, the 'wedding party' airport might start to resemble a refugee camp.

Bad picture of the airport 'fire services' (what were they up to when the fire broke out?)

Even worse picture of airport 'fire services' - nice red fire trucks which couldn't put out the fire.

Mount Kenya (from my plane) in the early morning light 

The Jaipur Literature Festival

I was lucky enough to be invited to take part in three talks at The Jaipur Literature Festival in India. The festival took place from 24-28 January at the Diggi Palace in the pink city of Jaipur.

The list of speakers was long and impressive.

Jaipur

Here are the discussions I took part in:

1. 25^th Jan – 2:15pm to 3:15pm

Heaven on Earth: On Sharia Law 

Sadakat Kadri, Tom Holland, Ali Asghar Engineer, Ian Buruma and Mary Harper, moderated by Reza Aslan

Almost 1400 years after the Prophet Mohammed first articulated God’s law – the Sharia – its earthly interpreters are still arguing over what it means. Hardliners reduce it to amputations, veiling, holy war and stonings. Others say it is humanity’s only guarantee of a just society. In Heaven on Earth, Sadakat Kadri, a London-based criminal barrister and prize-winning writer, sets out to see who is right. Tom Holland, Ali Asghar Engineer,Ian Buruma and Mary Harper will examine Kadri’s ideas in a discussion moderated by Reza Aslan.

2. 26^th Jan – 3:30pm to 4:30pm 

Out of Africa

Aminatta Forna, Mary Harper and Anjan Sundaram in conversation with Kwasi Kwarteng

Sometimes Africa seems to make news headlines around the world only for wars, famines and poverty. Four leading writers on the new Africa would beg to differ. Aminatta Forna, Mary Harper and Anjan Sundaram will be in conversation with Kwasi Kwarteng.

Out of Africa panel

3. 26^th Jan - 6pm to 7pm

Falling off the Map: The Question of Failed States

Mary Harper, Reza Aslan, Laleh Khadivi, Selma Dabbagh and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, moderated by Barkha Dutt

American right-wing rhetoric makes much of the danger posed by ‘failed states’. Do they exist, or is the whole concept just an excuse for Western neo-colonial intervention? Mary Harper, Reza Aslan, Laleh Khadivi, Selma Dabbagh and Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy discuss the concept with Barkha Dutt.


There was media coverage of some of the events I participated in. Here's a sample:

I was interviewed by The New York Times - you can read it by clicking here.

The Hindu newspaper wrote about the Sharia Law panel - read the article here.

Radiance Weekly also covered the Sharial Law talk - read it  here.

And here's an article that I don't understand:

Here are some photos from the festival and elsewhere in Jaipur:

Entrance to the Jaipur Literature Festival

My beautiful hotel in Jaipur

My book for sale at the festival

Hundreds (if not thousands) of people came to my talks

I was invited to speak to students at a local university

 

Inside the pink city of Jaipur

Festival organiser and author, William Dalrymple, and Oscar winner, Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy

Enjoying the talks at the festival

Bye Bye Bush House

Friday 15 June 2012 was the last day Focus on Africa was broadcast from Bush House, home to the BBC World Service for many decades. From now on it will broadcast from a modern building in another part of London. The building is known as 'W1' or 'New Broadcasting House'.

Here's a video of the closing moments of the programme. Lots of people came to watch including some of the brave correspondents who have reported for Focus on war in Sierra Leone, chaos in Nigeria and Museveni in Uganda. 

One of those who made Focus what it is, the former Deputy Editor of the programme, Elizabeth Ohene, broadcast a farewell to Bush House. I recorded it from the noisy part of the studio, so you can hear some chatter and the presenter, Bola Mosuro, asking the producer some questions. You can hear it by clicking on this link: Elizabeth Ohene says goodbye

Studio manager gets Focus on air

The red light means Focus is live  on air

We used to edit tape with razor blades on these machines

You can see the guests in the mirror. Bola Mosuro is presenting the programme.

The studio's many phones were colour coded

There was only one flag in the studio

There were lots of buttons in the studio

And lots of wires

The Focus trumpets are played from this machine

Elizabeth Ohene's piece was played from this machine

Under the studio desk

Recycling bin in studio

Non recycling bin in studio

Focus had a magazine, now it has a TV.

The picture frames are empty now

The Focus and Network office known as 334CB, Bush House.

We had a party to say goodbye

These strange signs have been appearing all over Bush House

The night sky outside Bush House

I worked at Focus for many years, in the 1990s and 2000s. We interviewed presidents, rebel leaders who became presidents, rebel leaders who went to prison, rebel leaders who died in battle, rebel leaders who died in plane crashes, presidents who went to prison... 

Often, when something big happened in Africa, or someone wanted something big to happen in Africa, they would call us up asking to be interviewed. We did not always accept. There were sometimes heated debates about whether we should put someone on air. 

Luckily we had an index which listed everything we had done by country, so we could quickly check whether we were giving the right amount of airtime (ie balance) to each side.

We reported on people living through genocide, carrying out genocide, having limbs hacked off, hacking limbs off. History unfolded in front of our eyes and in our ears.

We also reported positive things but were told off by our listeners for not doing enough of that.