Coming and Going

It's been thirteen days since my last blog post! For those of you who have read my first post introducing this blog, you might have thought that it had faded to black like my previous diaries! The truth is that I have started work again, and no, researching interesting, but useless information is not my job!

For the greater part of the two weeks I have been absent, I was in South Africa. South Africa is my homeland, but not currently my home (I currently reside in Kenya). Within minutes of heading out onto South Africa's highway's I find myself marveling at the great road infrastructure that South Africa has. According to the CIA Factbook, about 73,500 km's of South Africa 362,000 km's of road are paved. In comparison Kenya only has just over 11,000 km's of paved road, and a total of 160,000km. Despite the difference Kenya is in the top 3 for roads in Africa (Nigeria holds 2nd place). The CIA Factbook doesn't have a measure for road quality, or the number of potholes, but I am sure if they did, Kenya would be vying for the top spot.

Although my blog is still in its infancy, one of my most popular posts is How to make a Pothole - a tongue-in-cheek look at state of pothole repair in my neighborhood.  To be fair, Kenya is investing to improve and upgrade the road infrastructure. According to a leaked US Embassy cable on Wikileaks - "China is heavily involved in various infrastructure projects across Kenya primarily with roads". One such project is the Ksh 27 Billion (US$330 Million) Thika Road upgrade. This is a 50km 8-lane super highway to join Nairobi to Thika town. This development, like most road infrastructure projects, is adding to the notorious Nairobi traffic, but it's hoped to increase access to and from Thika. This development is one of many that will occur over the next 20 years as part of Kenya's Vision 2030.

Another glaring contrast between South Africa and Kenya are the number of beggars on street corners. It seems to me that South Africa has many more beggars than Kenya! This may seem counter-intuitive, especially if you consider some statistics - while South Africa has a larger population than Kenya - 49 Million vs 40 Million, it has a much lower unemployment rate 23.3% vs 40%. In absolute terms this means that Kenya has about 5 Million more unemployed! The number of people living below the poverty line is equal - 50% for both nations.

Searching on Google for "why are there so few beggars in Kenya" gives about a quarter of a million hits - none of the top 10 hits (mostly blogs) answered my question. My observation is not based on any quantitative research, and may therefore be questioned, however I generally find Kenyan's to be more entrepreneurial than South Africans - perhaps this is a reason?

One final difference I will discuss was the state-of-the-art vending machines now available in South Africa. At OR Tambo International Airport I found a Pizza Vending Machine! It provides you with your favorite slice in under 3 minutes. What's more is that it doesn't just heat-up a pre-made pizza, it actually bakes it fresh from scratch! I didn't have a chance to try it (or even photograph it) as I was rushing for my flight, but an internet search has revealed that its been around (in Europe) since 2009.

While the technology is brilliant, perhaps South African Businesses should invest in more real life Pizzeria's to help reduce unemployment?