News Brief
Damola Durosomo
Apr. 26, 2018 09:53AM EST

Flash Floods in Kenya Have Displaced 200,000 People

Some Kenyans are literally swimming in their homes due to severe flooding in areas of the country.

The Red Cross in Kenya has estimated that recent floods in various counties and regions of the country have left around 200,000 people homeless.

Heavy rainfall has plagued the area since last week, and is expected to continue and cause more people to flee their homes. The Red Cross has asked people in the area to evacuate immediately, as the situation may worsen—two damns in particular, Masinga and Kamburu, are at risk of overflowing.

There have also been mudslides in the area, causing roads to completely shut down. Many residents have had to be rescued from their homes after being trapped on rooftops.

According to BBC Africa. the flooding in Western Kenya has caused President Uhuru Kenyatta to cancel his visit to the area, where he was due to attend a conference.

The Daily Nation reports, that up to 20 people have died due to weather conditions since the beginning of the rainy season.

Several people have shared images and video footage of the flooding on social media. In some areas like Garissa, the flooding has reached shoulder level and has totally submerged the roads.


Other areas such as Moru Town, have also been severely impacted.

One man can be seen swimming inside of his living room:



Many Kenyans are using the opportunity to address Nairobi's drainage problems—an ongoing infrastructural issue that has left so many at risk.



News Brief
Burna Boy performs at the Warner Music Group pre-Grammy party in Hollywood on January 2020. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images for Warner Music)

Burna Boy, Tinariwen, Michael Kiwanuka & More Nominated For 2021 Grammy Awards

The Nigerian star and Tuareg band are nominated in the newly named Best Global Music Album category.

The nominations for the 2021 Grammy Awards are in.

The awards show, which will be hosted by Trevor Noah, will see some of the world's biggest artists up for categories like Album of the Year, Song of the Year, Record of the Year and Best New Artist.

As we previously wrote about, the Grammys have renamed the international category of Best World Music Album to Best Global Music, in an effort to reportedly make it more modern and inclusive.

In that new Best Global Music Category, Nigerian afro-fusion star Burna Boy is nominated alongside Tuareg desert rock group Tinariwen, NYC afrobeat outfit Antibalas, Brazilian-American Bebel Gilberto and British-Indian sitar player Anoushka Shankar.

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Interview

Interview: Mau From Nowhere Reinvents Himself

The Kenyan artist goes soul-searching with his new MFN EP.

Movement is the crux of mau from nowhere's music—the hip-hop and afropop undertones that dominate his work present a well-traveled artist.

Born in Kenya, Mau spent his life oscillating between the East African nation and England, followed by a short stint spent furthering his studies in New York. In a full-circle moment, mau uprooted his life in the big apple amidst the madness pandemic and made the move to Nairobi.

Listening to the MFN EP feels like diving head first into a pool of Mau's consciousness. He once spoke about the conflict between telling his fans to share their grief while withholding his own, but his latest offering MFN is far from stoic. The project marks his evolution from Kamau Wainana, the soft spoken kid with loud ambitions to mau from nowhere, a trailblazer defining music within 'Nu Nairobi.' As he gets less attached to being defined by a certain space, it's entrancing to watch him find comfort in his craft instead.

In this interview below, we demystify the man behind the music by discussing love, growth, disappointment and the recurrent themes of familial and romantic relationships.

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.

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News Brief
Photo by Oscar Gonzalez/NurPhoto via Getty Images

#EndSARS: UK Parliament Deliberates Sanctions Against Nigeria

The UK government is considering imposing sanctions on Nigeria after receiving petitions from #EndSARS protestors and supporters of the movement.

According to the BBC, the UK government has deliberated implementing sanctions against Nigeria. This comes after parliament received a petition with over 220 000 signatures from #EndSARS protesters who have highlighted the major human rights violations that occurred over the past few weeks in Nigeria. Admittedly, more targeted sanctions against implicated Nigerian officials were debated after much condemnation of the idea of sanctions was also expressed by various parliamentary members.

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South Africa's Trevor Noah to Host 2021 Grammys

South African comedian and host of 'The Daily Show', Trevor Noah, has been announced as the Master of Ceremonies for the 63rd Grammys which are set to air in January of next year.