Photo opportunity

I’ve just been busy adding a load of photos to Flickr while the connection here in Mwanza allows me. There’s shots of today’s venue (we’re in a backyard next to a duck run), our show on Monday from a damaged house in Kibera, and this one of where I’m writing to you from. Click here for our photo stream.

On air in Nairobi: The centre of the storm

We’re going to be broadcasting from a neighbourhood of Kibera called Olympic. It witnessed some of the worst violence anywhere in the country after the election. Kibera is one of Africa’s biggest and poorest slums so visiting it for the first time was always going to be a sobering experience. The visible and shocking scars of January’s post-election violence made it much more so. You can see pictures of our venue here.

No Raila, no peace?

Does political compromise bring stability or grievance? The slogan ‘No Raila, no peace’ is written all over the walls of the Olympic area of Kibera in Nairobi. And it begs two questions. Have Kenyans really got Raila? And do they really have peace?

Is it ever acceptable to pay a bribe?

No issue sits at the front of Kenyan’s minds more than corruption, and in this case their involvement in it.

Talking Points for July 1

Good morning, it’s Priya here with a few ideas for what we might discuss on today’s programme. Thanks Brett for looking after the blog overnight.

There are a number of debates already simmering away on the blog. Do you want to hear one of them on the programme?

On air: Is big business crucial to countries in crisis?

As Robert Mugabe begins his sixth term as Zimbabwean President with a trip to an African Union Summit, America wants to increase economic sanctions against Zimbabwe. China and South Africa do not. They argue there is no sense in cutting economic ties, and that in fact business and the co-operation and economic support it bring with it, are a force for good. Who do you side with? What role if any should big business play here?

Nairobi, Mwanza, Johannesburg and Robben Island

Hot off the heels of Glasgow, for those of you in or interested in Kenya, Tanzania and South Africa, we’ve got confirmed dates on shows from all three countries this month. As always there’s an open invite to come, and we’re after ideas of what we should talk about. Full details below.

On air: Is being a teenage mum a bad thing?

This started on the blog after yesterday’s show with news of Britney Spears’ teenager sister having her first child.

On air: Should the world increase its search for oil?

President Bush thinks so. He’s called on Congress to end a 27-year ban on drilling for oil in US coastal waters, to reduce dependence on imports. Is he on to something? While the world searches for alternatives to oil, should we not lose sight of the fact that increased oil exploration, means more oil, means cheaper fuel and a lessening of the pressure on the world’s energy requirement and on the cost of living for all of us?

On air: Is it still the greatest honour to die for your country?

This is a discussion which takes place in every country with servicemen and women at war. The parents of a British soldier killed in Afghanistan this week have been talking about the pride they feel that their son died for people he’d never met and for causes his country believed in. The word honour is used repeatedly by US military leaders to describe the efforts of those in Iraq. Ugandans told us when we visited Kampala that they were proud of their soldiers in Somalia as part of an AU force. But is that sense of honour increasingly misplaced, or as relevant and important as ever before?