NEWS
By Diane Rusignola | October 11, 2009
A defending champion was overthrown in the men's competition at the Baltimore Marathon on Saturday, and a new event record was set in the women's. Alphonce Yatich of Kenya took first place overall in the marathon with a time of 2 hours, 14 minutes, 4 seconds - the second-best time in the race's history. Yatich, 25, and Julius Keter - the Kenyan who set the event record last year in 2:11:56 - ran together until about Mile 20, when Yatich took the lead. Keter subsequently dropped out of the race.
NEWS
By Cassandra A. Fortin | November 30, 2008
Carrying suitcases filled with teaching aids and carry-on bags stuffed with clothing and personal items, several Harford County educators traveled to Kenya last summer. This group of educators knew they were headed to a school where the children sharpened pencils with razor blades and used stone pebbles to count. "We have grown so used to having certain supplies when we teach that they don't have in Mathare Valley," said Nadine Wellington, principal of Mountain Christian School, who went to Kenya with a group of educators in 2007.
NEWS
By Borzou Daragahi and Edmund Sanders | November 19, 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya - Pirates prowling the treacherous waters off the Horn of Africa hijacked another merchant ship yesterday, at least the second in four days, amid growing international concern about a 21st-century version of an ancient security threat. The Hong Kong-flagged cargo ship Delight and its 25-member crew were captured late yesterday morning off the coast of Yemen, Beijing's New China News Agency reported, citing the official Maritime Search and Rescue Center. The vessel was hauling 36,000 metric tons of wheat to the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas, the news service reported.
NEWS
By Faith Karimi | November 5, 2008
Halfway through his meal of grilled goat meat and lemon-scented tomato chunks, Dishon Kimani, 31, leaped out of his seat and pumped his fists in the air. "Oh my God! He took Ohio!" he announced as CNN declared the state for Barack Obama. "This thing is over." Kimani, a tow truck operator from Baltimore, was among about 20 African natives huddled around a flat-screen television at a lounge above George's Auto Repair in Northeast Baltimore. They chatted in a rowdy mix of Swahili, English and Kenyan slang as the election results trickled in. Every few minutes, as if on cue, the crowd would go silent as a winner was declared in a state, erupting in cheers and whistles moments later.
NEWS
By JEAN MARBELLA | November 2, 2008
Look, over there, you can see it from here! No, not Russia from Alaska, but the finish line. It's hard to believe not just that the end of the presidential campaign season is actually in sight, but that we're all going to have to find something else to do come Wednesday. In the spirit of those who have jumped the gun and published their postmortems - or pre-mortems, actually - on a race that won't be decided until Tuesday, I'm already feeling nostalgic for the campaign. Somehow, it managed to capture the worst of both a marathon (the length)
NEWS
By Makeda Crane | August 3, 2008
UniSun recently caught up with 18-year-old Devon Brown, one of 20 boys from the most crime-ridden neighborhoods in Baltimore who was chosen to attend the Baraka School in Kenya, a two-year experimental boarding school that was supposed to separate the students from their city lives in hopes that they would focus on their education while in Africa. Brown is one of the success stories from the program. Last spring, he graduated from the Academy for College and Career Exploration. Later this month, he will attend the Maryland Institute College of Art on a full scholarship from the Abell Foundation, which also sponsored the Boys of Baraka project.
NEWS
August 3, 2008
Rotary International has awarded a $17,000 matching grant to the Rotary Clubs of Greater Severna Park and Nairobi Industrial in Kenya to provide a Kenyan primary school with furniture, sports equipment, uniforms, health camps and a 2,500-gallon water tank for collecting rainwater. Kenya Connect, a nonprofit based in Silver Spring, is assisting the Rotarians. Kenya Connect has raised over $117,000 through the efforts of schoolchildren in the United States, resulting in water tanks, classroom renovations, solar-powered learning resource centers, fences, uniforms and sports equipment for impoverished schools in Wamunyu, Kenya.
NEWS
By Kelly Brewington | July 9, 2008
Over grilled goat meat and Amstel Light, the men banter in a rapid-fire blend of Swahili and English. It's hot, humid and loud on the gravel patio of this Northeast Baltimore bar, where the tables are covered with thatched umbrellas and Kenyan-style Lingala tunes pulse from a nearby TV. Friday nights at Charlie Brown's are typically reserved for partying. But on this recent night, it's all about politics, as conversation centers on Kenya's most famous son - Barack Obama. It doesn't matter that Obama was neither born nor raised in Kenya (his father, also named Barack, was from a small village in Kenya's Nyanza province)
NEWS
By Andrew Kipkemboi | June 1, 2008
At the height of the crisis that followed a disputed presidential election early this year, Kenyans chuckled at an anonymous text message that poked fun at the Luo, one of the country's largest ethnic communities. They should make up their minds on which of the two Luos they would want to be president, the message said, an apparent reference to Raila Odinga - and Barack Obama. Last year, Odinga sought, but failed, to become Kenya's fourth president since the nation gained independence.
NEWS
By NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE | May 2, 2008
NAIROBI, Kenya -- Aden Hashi Ayro, long identified as one of al-Qaida's top operatives in East Africa and the leader of the Islamist comeback in Somalia, was killed yesterday morning by an American airstrike, according to U.S. and Somali officials. Ayro was one of the most feared and notorious figures in Somalia, a short, wispy man believed to be in his 30s who had gone from lowly car washer to top terrorist suspect blamed for a string of atrocities, including ripping up an Italian graveyard, killing a BBC journalist and planning suicide attacks all across Somalia.