DO YOU KNOW 'THE GOD'S MUST BE CRAZY' Guy

NAMIBIA: Nǃxau ǂToma (alternative spelling Gcao Tekene Coma; December 16, 1944 (?) – July 5, 2003) was a Namibian “bush” farmer and actor who was made famous by his roles in the 1980 movie The Gods Must Be Crazy and its sequels, in which he played the Kalahari San (“Bushman”) Xixo.

The Namibian newspaper called him "Namibia's most famous actor".
Nǃxau was a member of the San, also known (controversially) as Bushmen.

He spoke Juǀʼhoan, Otjiherero and Tswana fluently, as well as some Afrikaans.

He did not know his own exact age, and before his appearance in the films he had little experience of typical "modern" living: he had only ever seen three white people before being cast and was unaware of the value of paper money, allowing (according to legend) his first earnings for The Gods Must Be Crazy to literally blow away in the wind.

He earned only $300 for his work in The Gods Must Be Crazy, but by the time of the first sequel he was educated about the purpose and value of money within the modern world and negotiated a much larger sum (R800,000 or $57,142 at today’s exchange rate unadjusted for inflation) for the film.

Regardless, he did come from a culture that did not value the material things that money could buy and consequently had never before learned money management skills; "he did not have the skills to manage his income," although he used some of it to build a brick house with running water and electricity for his family.

In addition to The Gods Must Be Crazy, N!xau starred in a series of sequels: The Gods Must Be Crazy II, Crazy Safari, Crazy Hong Kong and The Gods Must Be Funny in China.

After his film career ended, he returned to Namibia, where he farmed maize, pumpkins and beans and kept several head of cattle (but no more than 20 at a time because, according to The Independent, without the complex farming systems of the "modern world," he had trouble keeping track of more).

The Namibian local daily New Era stated that he simply could not count further than 20.

On July 5, 2003, he died from multiple-drug-resistant tuberculosis while he was hunting guinea fowl. He was buried on July 12, in a semi-traditional ceremony at Tsumkwe, next to the grave of his second wife. He had six surviving children.

-Incredible portrait on right by Stephen Bennett. Twitter @mannyari2

(Credit: WIKIPEDIA)

Kiambu targets youth with Sh200,000 business start-up loans

Kiambu youths
targets
youth with
Sh200,000
business start-up
loans
Machel Waikenda, Kiambu county executive in
charge of youth and sports
Kiambu County is betting on a new mobile loan
solution to promote entrepreneurship among the
youth by ensuring they secure capital to start
income-generating projects.
The mobile banking platform called Kiambu
Biashara Fund Mobile Loan will see existing
small and micro enterprises as well as start-ups
get affordable capital to start or expand their
businesses.
The county has allocated the initiative, which
was launched last week, Sh100 million to be
disbursed in form of soft loans ranging between
Sh100 and Sh200,000 depending on individual’s
eligibility.
Biashara Fund Mobile Loans will attract an
interest rate of one per cent irrespective of the
amount borrowed.
The solution has been introduced under the
county’s Biashara Fund, a Sh400 million
revolving fund created to enable youth, women
and persons with disability access to financing.
The project is being implemented in partnership
with KCB Group, which will be the custodian of
the fund. No collateral will be needed for this
facility.
Machel Waikenda, county executive in charge of
youth and sports, said interested applicants will
only be required to open a personal bank
account through the KCB M-Pesa account on
their mobile phones.
The accounts will be used to deposit loans to the
successful applicants, who, Mr Waikenda said,
will have to maintain a good repayment track
record to continue enjoying the loan or increase
their loan limits.
“Those (applicants) who will keep a good
repayment record will gradually raise their loan
limits up to Sh200, 000,” said Mr Waikenda.
“Those who will not will be denied loans while
defaulters will be reported to Credit Reference
Bureau to ensure they will not be able to access
any loan from whatever formal source.”
Mr Waikenda said the fund was a major boost to
the youth grappling with joblessness since with
good business proposals, they will easily apply
for capital while the existing entrepreneurs can
get money to expand their businesses.
County Youth and Sports Affairs chief officer
Marie Mugo said borrowers will have to first
apply for Sh10,000 or less but this limit will then
gradually increase to a maximum Sh200,000.
The county targets 6,000 applicants in the first
month of which 100 would be from each of the
60 wards, she said.
To ensure that only Kiambu residents benefit
from the loan, county youth officers and
Biashara Fund committee will vet the applicants
at the ward level.
“The interested borrowers will have to visit their
respective ward administrators’ offices where
their personal details will be confirmed by the
relevant officers before being fed into a system,”
said Mr Waikenda.
“From there on, they can be applying for the
loans without necessarily visiting any county
offices to seek approval.”
He said they are working on a programme that
will ensure that they are able to ascertain that
applicants are from Kiambu without having them
going through the physical vetting exercise,
which he acknowledged is tedious.

MY STORY

In Kikuyu radio stations’ playlists ‘hurutira mwaki wa roho’ and ‘moko makwa’ rank among the most requested Kikuyu gospel songs. Yet the towering man behind these powerful, encouraging groovy songs, John Njuguna Gicheha admits musically, he hasn’t yet scratched the surface in spite of having recorded 8 albums to date.

Early Musical Starts

From a young age, growing up in Gatukuyu, Gatundu North, Thika County Gicheha desired to sing and music was inherent in him. “I’d listen to a song on radio and sing it again,” he said then, Kenya Broadcasting Corporation (KBC) had the only radio station. He carried on his musical pursuits to high school where he learned to play the guitar. After high school, he joined Kenya Polytechnic to study Graphic Arts and Print Management course which he admits parents selected it for him.

While in college in 1998, Gicheha desired to record music, and the opportunity came through a former classmate who introduced him to a producer he worked for. After he sang the producer sensed his talent and signed him without charges. The arrangement was, after the album was released, they would share the proceeds. Looking back, Gicheha admits the contract exploited him financially. Nevertheless, he released his first album called “Ngoma aroiga mehia metwo maendeleo.”

The debut album gave him a name in Kikuyu music scene but little money to show for it. “I was naive to the workings of music production,” Gicheha said. In KBC’s Kikuyu Program segments, its songs were played and he got invited to sing on KBC TV’s Joy Bringers Program. The experience he had with the producer made him opt to produce his next album in 2002. In the nearly 4 year away from recording he joined a gospel band which matured his voice and musical abilities.

Musical Inspirations

The Musician

As a born again Christian, his music ideas are inspired by GOD’s power, preaching and His Biblical Word. He is also careful what he listens to. “If you listen to garbage your output will be it,” said Gicheha. He also believes a musician ought to live and believe what he sings. He cites the song ‘Hurutira mwaki wa roho’ (fan your spiritual flame) whose inspiration came after observing how when cooking ‘Githeri’ (maize and beans), one fans the fire until it’s cooked. The album’s message resonated with many listeners and has sold almost 20,000 copies to date.

He composed it from a spiritual perspective. “Whatever vision you have in life you got to fan it until it comes to pass,” observes Gicheha. He uses his guitar to compose melodies but some come randomly to his mind. “I could be walking and a melody comes,” he said. In such instances he records it with his phone. He also listens to diverse African music genres from regions like Congo, West Africa, South Africa and Western Music. Still he considers African music as very rich.

Gicheha musical influences have been Joseph Kamaru, Wahome wa Maingi, Gregory Isaacs, Lucky Dube and others. From these tastes, it inspires tunes in line with his musical vision. Over a time period he crafts the tune, chorus and stanzas by meditating, singing but not writing them down. When satisfied he records. “I prefer a random process of composing its fresh,” said Gicheha.

Take on Music Piracy

In his years in Kikuyu Gospel Music, money has never been the motivator considering piracy is endemic today. He cautions budding gospel musicians not to venture the industry with a business mindset or they risk disappointment. “It’s a ministry and sometimes your investment, may not correspond with your output and you can give up,” said Gicheha. He says relying on GOD’s faithfulness is the key to longevity in gospel music, knowing in due time you will be compensated by Him.

Consequently, piracy doesn’t keep him awake at night if anything, he sees it as a blessing in disguise as his music reaches more grassroots folks. To Gicheha, music pirates are thieves God will punish but prays for grace to continue in gospel music, regardless. “They can’t stop me from attaining my vision which I’m drawing near to,” he said. His vision is to sing his Kikuyu gospel music internationally and believes music regardless of dialect is a universal language. “I will spread the gospel through my music to encourage many diverse races of people,” he said.

A GREAT PIECE FROM A YOUNG WRITER

The story dates last year on Dec, Gatukuyu, Gatundu North i was going home from job so i boarded a matatu as usual to go home, just around 7:30 pm. I took a seat just next to the driver and another man came in taking a seat next to the door so we were now two at the seat next to the driver’Incidentally for this day it came in a lady, beautiful, smartly dressed in jeans with a fine figure of a wine glass and sat now btn me and the driver~ that smell on her strawberry perfume was irresistible. Incidentally she was carrying a college bag that wouldn’t allow the driver to spin on the steering wheel and so she requested me to hold the bag for her to allow for some comfort and well, i took it so fast taking it as a priviledge. To some great extent i considered it the heaven’s gate opened, quoting as He narrates.So as the journey unfolded i kept on thinking what’s the next thing i do to this woman to create raport holding on all facts like.., she can alight anywhere but again the vehicle was soo full to even whisper to ask for contacts which was the easiest thing to do. But all of a sudden a thought came into my mind like…You have her bag, unzip and throw your phone into the bag, call your number immediately you get to the house with a different number.At some point i felt my phone is so expensive, so I just hesitated but then i gave it a dare, i subscribed to my inner voice…I threw my infinix into her bag.................

Part two comming

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