Kisumu

Kisumu is a port city with about 322 734 inhabitants in the north-east of Lake Victoria and west of the Great African grave breach of Kenya. It is the third largest city in Kenya and the capital of Nyanza Province and capital of the district of the same name. Kisumu is the center of the Luo, the third largest ethnic group in the country.

Geography and climate

Kisumu is located on Winamgolf, a portion of Lake Victoria, at an altitude of 1131 m above sea level. The daily maximum values ​​are in means between 25 ° C and 28 ° C, the minimum values ​​at 15 ° C to 16 ° C. Throughout the year, fall heavy rainfall, in April they are most productive with about 360 mm.

History

Founded in 1901 it became the place to make them feed more under the name Port Florence as the endpoint of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean beginning of the Uganda Railway, where the goods were transhipped from rail to ship to Uganda. The name Port Florence is derived from the name of the wife of the chief engineer of the railway, Ronald Preston, the recent spike struck on 19 December at the opening of the railway line in the threshold of the track bed.

Since the completion of the direct rail link to Uganda, which bypasses Kisumu, and the establishment of the East African states the importance of place has been greatly reduced as a trade and transit point. A daily passenger train to Nairobi is but until today. The trains run at night; the journey time is approximately 14 hours.

There is a twinning with Cheltenham in Great Britain.

On January 17, 2013, six people died in a house collapse. 35 construction workers were injured in the collapse of a building under construction and partially buried. At the time of the accident in front of the collapsed building were several hawkers and passers-by. 23 people were rescued alive from the rubble shortly after the collapse.

Economy

Kisumu is the trading center for agricultural goods of the environment and its processed products. This includes especially sugar production, fishing and textile industries. Kenya Breweries maintains a large brewery here. The formerly huge rice plantations around the city are already broke for years.

Go from the city harbor some ferries on Lake Victoria, also to Tanzania and Uganda. The Kisumu airport is located three kilometers west of the city.

Culture

Grace Ogot, the first writer in Africa and arguably the most important writer in East Africa, was born on 15 May 1930 in Asembo in Kisumu. Ogot writes novels and short stories in English and Luo, their native language.

Since 1980 is the Kisumu Museum, which presents in addition to historical exhibits of the region and biological exhibits. The city houses on the lake shore and a tiny zoo, the Kisumu Impala Sanctuary. The airport connects the city daily with the capital Nairobi and other cities.

Facilities

In Kisumu, the HIV rate is 34 percent, the highest of all of Kenya. In this province Nyanza one-third of AIDS orphans in the country live. Kisumu is the seat of a Catholic archbishopric. An Apostolic Prefecture of Kavirondo was established on 15 July 1925 and converted into an apostolic vicariate on 27 May 1932. First bishop was the Dutchman Gorgonius Brandsma. On March 25, 1953, the Vicariate was transformed in the diocese of Kisumu, which was eventually elevated to the Archdiocese after previously the diocese of Kakamega had been separated. The Archdiocese was created on 21 May 1990. Under him are the dioceses of Bungoma, Eldoret, Homa Bay, Kakamega, Kisii, Kitale and Lodwar. Archbishop Zacchaeus Okoth since 1990.