A Kenyan man given life sentence in London. He is the first Kenyan in UK to be convicted for murder
A man convicted over the death of a Matalan store manager in east London was on police bail at the time of the killing. Anthony Maina, 20, was found guilty of manslaughter after Jamie Simpson was stabbed during a failed robbery at the Hackney store in March 2008. Maina, of Canning Town, was bailed after Rizwan Darbar, 17, was stabbed in West Ham during a mobile phone robbery. He was later convicted of Mr Darbar’s murder and jailed for life. The Old Bailey jury which heard the Matalan case was not told Maina had been arrested shortly after Rizwan’s murder in October 2007, but released on police bail due to lack of evidence. In the ensuing 15 months Maina was involved in Mr Simpson’s killing, was caught with a knife, cannabis, crack cocaine and heroin, before finally being charged in January last year with Mr Darbar’s murder. Last August he was jailed for life with a minimum term of 14 years for Rizwan’s murder. Maina will be sentenced in March for the manslaughter of Mr Simpson in the Matalan raid Kobina Essel, 19, from east London was found guilty of Mr Simpson’s murder. Simeon Jumah, Maina, and 17-year-old Randy Osei-Owusu, who was named on Tuesday after the Judge Martin Stephens lifted reporting restrictions, were convicted of manslaughter. The judge also lifted a reporting restriction on Maina’s criminal history when prosecutors decided not to press for a retrial after jurors were unable to agree on a murder charge against Maina, Jumah, and Osei-Owusu.
Revealed: The Kenyan who killed the manager
was on bail for previous knife murder
Victims: Maina was found guilty of killing shop manager Jamie Simpson (left), five months after he killed 17-year-old Rizwan Darbar (right)
A teenager who took part in a robbery which left a shop manager dead was on bail for murder at the time of the killing, it has been revealed today. Anthony Maina, 19, played a ‘critical role’ in a plan to steal £30,000 in takings from the store, just five months after he stabbed an A-level student to death for a mobile phone. He had been arrested in connection with the killing of 17-year-old Rizwan Darbar in October 2007, but police had to bail him because there was not enough evidence to press charges. By March of the following year he had been recruited as a look-out for the Matalan robbery in Hackney, east London, during which popular manager Jamie Simpson, 33, was stabbed to death. Maina was finally charged with Rizwan’s murder in January last year and was convicted after a trial. He was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum 14-year sentence in July. The teenager was also charged with Mr Simpson’s murder in March last year. Mr Simpson was knifed in the back and neck after bravely ‘refusing to yield’ when he was confronted on the shop floor by 17-year-old Kobina Essel. He had only been working late that night after swapping shifts with a colleague. The gang also included inside man Roy Williams, 31, a Matalan security guard and friend of Mr Simpson. He allowed the three robbers in to the shop just before closing on March 22, 2008, to hide in a staff staircase at the shop in the Kingsland shopping centre, Hackney, before ending his shift. Essel, now 19, has been convicted of murder. Ringleader Simeon Jumah, 25, Maina, now 20, and Randy Osei-Owusu, 17, were convicted of manslaughter after the jury failed to agree on the murder charge.
Guilty of killing Mr Simpson: Randy Osei-Owusu (left) and Simeon Jumah (right)
Williams, recruiter Jamal Chambers, 18, and getaway driver Duane Owusu, 20, were cleared of both murder and manslaughter but convicted of conspiracy to rob. Prosecutors today decided not to press for a retrial for Jumah, Maina and Osei-Owusu and asked for the murder charge to be left on file. Judge Martin Stephens QC then lifted the court orders banning reporting of Maina’s background and the name of Osei-Owusu. All seven men will be sentenced on March 22 this year. During the trial, jurors heard Williams planned the robbery with his friend Jumah, a father-of-one and former school caretaker and Argos delivery driver. With the help of Chambers, his girlfriend’s cousin, they recruited three young robbers and in a series of meetings at Jumah’s house Williams gave detailed plans of the shop floor, CCTV coverage and staff movements. The gang picked the Easter weekend, hoping there would be bumper takings in the store’s cash office by closing time on Saturday. The day before the robbery several of the gang members went on a recce of the shop before finalising the plans. On Saturday evening, shortly before the store shut, CCTV cameras captured the three robbers slipping in to the shop, hooded and wearing dark clothing. Williams who was patrolling the first floor allowed the robbers to get to the stairwell before telling colleagues the shop was clear of customers.
He left with a second guard as Mr Simpson cashed up. The robbers hid in the staircase for almost an hour, their shadowy movements caught on camera, while Mr Simpson emptied all the tills on both floors. As he exited the cash office shortly before 8pm, carrying only a set of keys, Essel left his hiding place and approached him on the shop floor. The store’s cameras captured the six-second confrontation during which 19-stone Mr Simpson was stabbed three times in the back and neck and left for dead as the robbers fled empty handed through a fire escape. Essel said Jumah had told him to bring his ‘ting’ for the robbery, so he armed himself with a 10in kitchen knife, which he later discarded and has never been found. Mr Simpson, clutching his neck, tried to raise the alarm with shop assistants who were working nearby. Staff desperately grabbed clothes and towels from shop rails and attempted to staunch the bleeding. Police and ambulances arrived just after 8pm, shortly before a doctor in an air ambulance helicopter, but Mr Simpson’s life could not be saved.
Two Kenyans killed-Updates
- The driver Mr. Lewis Ndegwa Mburu was released from hospital on Tuesday 28th July, 2009
-The organising committee of Perpetua ‘Wendie’ Muchemi who tragically died in a road accident in Stratford East London will be having a Harambee on Saturday the 1st of August at St. Albans Church Hall,1 Whitehorse Lane, London SE25 6RD at 4pm. For more details you can contact Mwangi on 07947781980 or contact the deceased’s family on 0208 2408108.
-The crash victim Perpetua Muthoni Muchemi aka Wendie was the only child of the family who are members of PCEA Church London
- The organising committee of Miss Tabitha Wanjiru Njenga a.k.a ‘Michelle’ who tragically died in a road accident in Stratford East London will be having a Harambee on Sunday 2nd August, 2009 at St. Jude Church Hall, Thornton Road, Thornton Health, CR6 7BA as from 3.00 p.m. to 9.00 p.m. For information contact Tel: 02082409741 or 07958140007.
-
Father of the the late Tabitha Wanjiru Njenga – Dr. John Njenga Kimemia and his sister are flying to London for the burial which is expected to be on Friday 7th August, 2009 (to be confirmed).
-
The youth – friends of the late Miss Tabitha Wanjiru Njenga are arranging a SEND OFF PARTY at a date to be confirmed.
-
A joint memorial service for the two victims will be on Tuesday 4th August, 2009 at St. Albans Church, 1 Whitehorse Lane, London SE25 6RD as from 6.00 p.m.
-
The bodies of the deceased have not been released by the coroners and is expected to be released on Wednesday 29th July, 2009
-
The crash victim Perpetua Muthoni Muchemi aka Wendie body is being taken back to Kenya and the burial takes place on Friday 7th August, 2009 at Naru Molo, Nyeri North
-
The BMW vehicle which was involved in the accident was a stolen car from a Kenyan family in London.
-
The late Miss Tabitha Wanjiru Njenga a.k.a ‘Michelle’ is the last born in a family of three.
Two Kenyans killed, one injured in London
Wendy Muthoni Njoroge( L) and Michelle Wanjiru Njenga (R)
An early morning accident in East London has claimed the lives of two Kenyan women and sent one other Kenyan man to hospital. Michelle Wanjiru and Wendy Muthoni Njoroge were promounced dead at the scene of the accident while Lewis Ndegwa Ndungu is hospitalized in the ICU unit of the Whips Cross Hospital. The car they were travelling in crashed into a house in East London at around 7.30 am on Saturday. The two women are from South London. Mr Ndung’u suffered a broken arm and a collapsed lung.
The late Miss Michelle Wanjiru Njenga
Friends are meeting daily from Sunday 26th July 2009 for prayers and funeral arrangements at Mrs Elizabeth Njenga’s house at 95 Gonville Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon CR7 6DF, Surrey, Tel: 02082409741 or 07958140007 from 6:00 pm. For further information please contact Pastor Pascalina Kamau on 07932770824 or Pastor Jessie Nderito on 07903984578. Any financial assistance will be highly appreciated and can be paid to: Account Name: Mrs. Elizabeth Njenga, Bank: Barclays Bank, A/C No: 50045195, Sort Code: 20-24-64. Miss Tabitha Wanjiru Njenga was daughter of Dr. John Njenga Kimemia of Kiambu, Kenya and Mrs Elizabeth Njenga, sister to Bedan & Wambui Kiigi-Njenga (Canada), Eddie & Purity Njenga, Kush Gichohi, Lydia Wanini-Njenga, Grace Nganga, and Steve Ngugi all of London U.K. Friends are meeting daily from Sunday 26th July 2009 for prayers and funeral arrangements at Mrs Elizabeth Njenga’s house at 95 Gonville Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon CR7 6DF, Surrey, Tel: 02082409741 or 07958140007 from 6:00 pm. For further information please contact Pastor Pascalina Kamau on 07932770824 or Pastor Jessie Nderito on 07903984578. Any financial assistance will be highly appreciated and can be paid to: Account Name: Mrs. Elizabeth Njenga, Bank: Barclays Bank, A/C No: 50045195, Sort Code: 20-24-64.
The late Perpetua Muthoni Muchemi
Miss Perpetua Muthoni Muchemi alias Wendie Muthoni was daughter to Ruth Warucu Mwangi (former teacher in Kanjuku Secondary School, Kamwangi, Thika District and currently working with London Eye) and Stephen Muchemi Njoroge (formerly a teacher at Ngarissa High School). Prayers will be held at the family home: 126 Whitehorse Lane, South Norwood, London, SE25 6XB as from 6.00 p.m.. For more information you can contact Stephen on 07931313575 or Ruth on 07939071594. The prayer meetings will be held between 6-8pm Monday-Friday. Co-ordinators for the meetings will be Mr Mwangi 07947781980 and Mr Simon 07908228646.
If you feel you would like to contribute to these arrangements, the account details are listed below:
Abbey: Mr S Njoroge
A/Cno. 66698750
S/C: 090126
Barclays Bank: Miss RW Mwangi
A/Cno: 60366102
S/C: 206655
www.jambonewspot.com
Sunday March 08, 2009
TWO teenagers were remanded in custody today after they were charged with the murder of an A-level student who was stabbed to death in a row over a mobile phone.
Rizwan Darbar, 17, was knifed in West Ham Park, east London, in October 2007 as he listened to music with two friends.
The teenager was attacked after his friends were approached by a gang who demanded they hand over a mobile phone.
Rizwan, of Derby Road, Plaistow, was rushed to Newham General Hospital with stab wounds to his abdomen but died later that day after suffering a cardiac arrest.
Kirkland Gayle, 19, of Plaistow Road, Plaistow and Anthony Maina, 19, of Tollgate Road, East Ham were due to appear at Stratford Magistrates’ Court this morning.
The pair were remanded in custody and will now appear at the same court on Monday.
A third teenager, Amos Wahome, 18, of Cridland Street, West Ham appeared in court last year charged with the same offence.
He remains in custody.
Source- The London Paper
Second man charged with murder of a shop manager
Sunday March 08, 2009
Mr Simpson was killed after the store closed for the day
Jamie Simpson, 33, was stabbed in the neck as he cashed up at the Matalan store in Kingsland Shopping Centre, Hackney, on March 22 last year.
Duane Owusu, 19, of no fixed abode, was charged by police after he was arrested this afternoon.
Yesterday Anthony Maina, also 19, was charged with murder and conspiracy to rob.
The Met Police said they had arrested another 19-year-old this afternoon in connection with the murder.
He is currently in custody at an east London police station.
Owusu will appear alongside Maina at Thames Magistrates’ Court on Monday.
Earlier Simeon Jumah, 24, and Roy Williams, 30, were remanded in custody during a short hearing at Highbury Magistrates’ Court in north London.
The pair have been charged with conspiracy to rob in connection with the murder.
The case was adjourned to London’s Old Bailey on June 12.
A 17-year-old arrested last night remains in custody at a north London police station.
Seven other people arrested in connection with the incident since May last year have been released on bail.
Source-Sky News
Kenyan man charged with rape
08/27/08
Olathe,Kansas-A man who worked at a group home for people with special needs has been charged with raping a 55-year-old client there.
Olathe police say John Gichamu, 25, was located in Amsterdam after investigators received a tip that he had left the country.
Gichamu is wanted for questioning in connection with Sunday’s attack at a group home in the 23000 block of West 126th Terrace.
The 55-year-old woman claims she was raped inside the home. Police say the attacker tried to rape two others at the home.
Neighbors tell NBC Action News that they were told the commotion in their neighborhood was a domestic disturbance.
Source-Nbcnews.
Other Related news.
Man wanted in sexual assault case found in Netherlands
Kenyan Truck Driver Found Dead In His Truck In Gainesville, Florida
08/06/08
Samuel Nyambagera Ogari
A Kenyan truck driver who was working over the road (long distance) was found dead in his cab in Gainesville, Florida on Sunday 07/27/08. His name is Samuel Nyambagera Ogari of a resident of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Confirmed sources indicate that he left Arizona with a load that he delivered on 07/25/08 Friday night at 10.00PM at Wal-Mart distribution center in Gainesville.
After he delivered the load and was empty he pulled his rig on the side of the road a place seen from Wal-mart facility to take a nap before he could be dispatched by his brokers to the next destination. Since Friday night when he went to sleep he never woke up until he was found on Sunday 10.00AM by a worker from Wal-mart who saw him deliver and pull his rig on the side of the road on Friday and was suspicious forcing him to check on him and found him dead.
According to the investigator from medical examiner’s office Mr. Steve Harvey “ He owned his own company known as Nyke Transport. When he went to sleep although Florida is hot his truck was not running making his body partially decomposed from the heat as the aircondition was also not working. His truck is a single bunk and no forced entry making us to believe without the results from the examiner that it was a natural dead. All his properties are secure in his truck”.
Gainesville township is off US Hwy 301 where he died. He came to USA a student in 1997. The hard problem Kenyans will face on this is that Kenyans in Oklahoma are not united as other states; making several questions linger into people’s minds whether his body should be shipped directly to Kenya from Florida or be taken to Oklahoma then Kenya. His younger brother Nicholas Nyambagera who is an F-1 student in Oklahoma has little to say since this was not expected. He is requesting Kenyans to give him assistance for the funeral home costs and transporting the body to Kenya. Samuel’s body is still at the medical examiner’s office until preliminary results are determined as the cause of his dead. No relative has travelled Florida to view his body due to limited funds.
Most truck drivers prefer independence of their business attracting many to be independent in trucking industry but lately drivers have been hit hard by the cost of fuel. Samuel is believed to be in his early 40s and has never gone back to Kenya since he came to USA. He is married with one child.
Death Announcement Of Samuel Nyambagera Ogari
We are saddened to announce the death of Samuel Nyambegera Ogari. He was the beloved husband of Eunice Kabata and the loving father to Catherine Kwamboka both of Nairobi Kenya. He was the beloved son of the late Philip Nyambegera Ogari and late Teresia Moraa Ogari. He was the brother to Elmelida Nyakambi Nyambegera, Hellen Nyakerario, Agnes Kerubo, Gladys Kwamboka , James Mounde, Geoffrey Mongare both of Kenya and Nicholas Nyambigera of Oklahoma USA. He Was the brother in-law to Arasa Asuga of Baraton University Kenya.
He was the loving cousin to James Nyatigoh of Immigrations Kenya, Euphrase Nyokwoyo of US Marines California and Dominic Maake of Minnesota.
Samule Nyambagera Ogari comes from Endiba village, Nyaramba sub-location Kiabonyoru location, North Mugirango constituency, Nyamira district.
Due to the distance where the body is, a way from his residential State, utmost generosity is requested to reach the goal of expected expenses to ship the body to Kenya. All Kenyans, friends of Kenya and well wishers are asked to offer prayers and give moral support so that God’s miracles can work so the body could be shipped to his family in Kenya. Remember without you this body will not be shipped to Kenya.
Committee Members
Contacts:
Nicholas Nyambagera 405 -269- 4079
Euphrase Nyokwoyo 760 521 2388
Dr. Sagini…….405-503-6603
Dr. Joshua Kigeya……..405-466-6160
Dr. Chongo Mundende………405.812-9255
Mr. David Mireri……405-924-8542
Mr. Dan Mbai
Mr. George Basweti……..405-474-3757
Mr. Orina Obiero…..405- 202-5743
Mr. James Mwangi
Mrs. Susan Mbayi……405-408-2336
Mr. George Ombachi……..405-503-6603
Fundraising Day And Venue
Sunday 08/10/08
Time: 1.00PM Onwards
Venue: Oklahoma International SDA Church
21477 North Western Avenue
Edmond, Oklahoma. 73012
Send Checks To: Nicholas Nyambagera
P.O BOX 335 LANGSTON OK 73050
Kenyan man charged with rape
A Kenyan boy, 19 charged with Murder in London
An early morning accident in East London has claimed the lives of two Kenyan women and sent one other Kenyan man to hospital. Michelle Wanjiru and Wendy Muthoni Njoroge were promounced dead at the scene of the accident while Lewis Ndegwa Ndungu is hospitalized in the ICU unit of the Whips Cross Hospital. The car they were travelling in crashed into a house in East London at around 7.30 am on Saturday. The two women are from South London. Mr Ndung’u suffered a broken arm and a collapsed lung.
Details for Michelle Wanjiru:
Friends are meeting daily from Sunday 26th July 2009 for prayers and funeral arrangements at Mrs Elizabeth Njenga’s house at 95 Gonville Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon CR7 6DF, Surrey, Tel: 02082409741 or 07958140007 from 6:00 pm. For further information please contact Pastor Pascalina Kamau on 07932770824 or Pastor Jessie Nderito on 07903984578. Any financial assistance will be highly appreciated and can be paid to: Account Name: Mrs. Elizabeth Njenga, Bank: Barclays Bank, A/C No: 50045195, Sort Code: 20-24-64. Miss Tabitha Wanjiru Njenga was daughter of Dr. John Njenga Kimemia of Kiambu, Kenya and Mrs Elizabeth Njenga, sister to Bedan & Wambui Kiigi-Njenga (Canada), Eddie & Purity Njenga, Kush Gichohi, Lydia Wanini-Njenga, Grace Nganga, and Steve Ngugi all of London U.K. Friends are meeting daily from Sunday 26th July 2009 for prayers and funeral arrangements at Mrs Elizabeth Njenga’s house at 95 Gonville Road, Thornton Heath, Croydon CR7 6DF, Surrey, Tel: 02082409741 or 07958140007 from 6:00 pm. For further information please contact Pastor Pascalina Kamau on 07932770824 or Pastor Jessie Nderito on 07903984578. Any financial assistance will be highly appreciated and can be paid to: Account Name: Mrs. Elizabeth Njenga, Bank: Barclays Bank, A/C No: 50045195, Sort Code: 20-24-64.
Details for Perpetua (Wendy) Muthoni Muchemi
Miss Perpetua Muthoni Muchemi alias Wendie Muthoni was daughter to Ruth Warucu Mwangi (former teacher in Kanjuku Secondary School, Kamwangi, Thika District and currently working with London Eye) and Stephen Muchemi Njoroge (formerly a teacher at Ngarissa High School). Prayers will be held at the family home: 126 Whitehorse Lane, South Norwood, London, SE25 6XB as from 6.00 p.m.. For more information you can contact Stephen on 07931313575 or Ruth on 07939071594. The prayer meetings will be held between 6-8pm Monday-Friday. Co-ordinators for the meetings will be Mr Mwangi 07947781980 and Mr Simon 07908228646.
If you feel you would like to contribute to these arrangements, the account details are listed below:
Abbey: Mr S Njoroge
A/Cno. 66698750
S/C: 090126
Barclays Bank: Miss RW Mwangi
A/Cno: 60366102
S/C: 206655
www.jambonewspot.com
John N. Gichamu
Idi Amin killer file
Gravedigger-A Sad video from our beloved country
Kenyan Medical students help to build clinic in their village
07/09/2008
Milton and Fred Ochieng’
When residents of a tiny Kenyan village sold their chickens and cattle to buy Milton Ochieng’s $900 plane ticket to Dartmouth College, they told him they wanted something in return.
Eight years later, he’s a Vanderbilt University Medical School graduate preparing for his residency. In his home village of Lwala, a clinic he and younger brother Fred established serves about 100 patients a day.
Milton and Fred Ochieng’ are two brothers from Kenya whose village sent them to America to become doctors. But after losing both parents to AIDS they are left with a heartbreaking task: to return home and finish the health clinic their father started before getting sick. Unable to raise enough money on their own, the brothers are joined by students, politicians, and a rock band who launch a fund raising drive among young people across the United States. Sons of Lwala follows Milton and Fred on their incredible journey as they find a way, despite all odds, to open their village’s first hospital.
After Fred and Milton completed the hospital, with the help of well wishers and friends, they realised that they needed to keep it open, and created the Lwala Community Alliance to continue funding the initial donation.
A documentary about their straggles to raise $150,000 to build the clinic – while attending school full-time and coping with their parents’ deaths – will soon be screened at universities across the country.
“It’s not common to have a couple of village boys come to the U.S. and advocate for a clinic to be built in their country,” said Barak Bruerd, program director of Blood:Water Mission, a Nashville-based nonprofit that has contributed to the clinic. “The fact that they were able to bring so much support to their community is amazing.”
Milton Ochieng’ with his sister Florence Anyango Ochieng’ and baby Maggie (left), and his grandmother, Sarah Otienoh, in Lwala, Kenya.
As a child, he remembers seeing a friend’s mother taken away in a wheelbarrow during a difficult labor. Neighbors pushed her for 45 minutes before she died.
The image stuck with him. His father, high school chemistry teacher Erastus Ochieng’, emphasized the need for health care closer to the community. It was his dream to see a clinic in Lwala, a village of about 1,500 people in southwestern Kenya.
The clinic has Nicaraguan roots. While Participating in a Tucker Foundation program in 2001, Milton says he thought at the time that if a group of Dartmouth students could make a difference in a developing country, then he could do the same in his own homeland. Kyle Chambers , who traveled to Nicaragua on the same program that year, says the Tucker program “inspired us to think big.”
The idea to build a clinic in Lwala gained momentum over the next three years, and it became a global health project at Vanderbilt during Milton’s first year of medical school. Fred, then a senior at Dartmouth, spread the word among friends, and support poured in from many directions.
Dartmouth students, not satisfied with simply learning about the effort, traveled to Kenya to help, including Chambers. Caitlin Reiner visited the village twice and has since started an organization that helps pay for Lwala students’ education. Elizabeth Peacock-Villada helped introduce HIV/AIDS testing to the village. Erin Osborn, Ashley Carruth, Leah Skypeck, and Allison Welsh took time off from an Engineers Without Borders program to move stones to form the clinic’s foundation. Joel Wickre and his wife, Catherine Chamberlin, even moved to Lwala to develop a business plan for fund raising and operations for the new clinic. “This project is rare, because it is truly community initiated and community led,” says Wickre.
William Young, associate professor of obstetrics at Dartmouth Medical School, is the head of the Lwala Community Alliance, an organization formed to support the Ochiengs’ project. “Milton and Fred have magnetism and charisma, and it’s an inspiring, grass-roots story,” says Young. Other support for the brothers came from Dartmouth Varsity Soccer Coach Jeff Cook (both brothers played soccer) and Andrew Friedland, chair and professor of environmental studies.
From left: Fred Ochieng, Caitlin Reiner, Omondi Ochieng, and young girls Nyar and Apiyo in front of the Lwala clinic.
The Ochieng’ brothers speak about their personal tragedies and hardships only reluctantly. “Our parents’ deaths were hard, and disheartening,” Fred says. “But it made us realize even more how much we could help, how fortunate we are to have all of this support, and how special this clinic is.” Milton says, “For me, it symbolizes the hope that we have in Lwala, in Kenya, and in all of Africa, that despite all the obstacles, when people share a vision, they can make a difference. We’ve come this far, and we started from nothing. There are a lot of people who aren’t that lucky.”
The Lwala clinic is run by a non-profit called the Lwala Community Alliance, which was founded by Milton and Fred Ochieng’
Source-Dartmouth Life
Other related stories
-Lwala Community Clinic, Rongo Kenya: Providing primary health care and addressing HIV/AIDS in rural Kenya :
-Milton & Fred Ochieng: Philanthropic Travelers
-Vandy Grad Repays Kenyan Village
This is what gives me motivation- big people doing big things!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=isxWq-Y4wh0& … re=related
Mwende plays big part in Mozilla “Fire fox”
(Daughter of a Kenyan born mother, Wayua Muasa)
June 17, 2008
As chief of security at Mozilla Foundation, the unconventional non-profit whose popular Web browser Firefox underwent a major facelift this week, Snyder cuts an unconventional swath.
Mwende Window Snyder, head of security at Mozilla,
Photo By Vasna Wilson
Her title is “chief security something-or-other” (yeah, that’s on her business card). It befits her wide-ranging role at Mozilla, the Web browser developer that relies on the contributions of thousands of programmers worldwide. The programmers generally work for free, but Snyder’s salary is paid with revenue Mozilla generates through business partnerships with Google, Amazon.com and others.
A self-avowed “geek girl” and daughter of software engineers, Snyder says her mom taught her to program Basic, an early computer programming language, on a Texas Instruments PC when she was 5 years old.
“She has a natural sparkle and joy,” says her Kenyan-born mother, Wayua (Eastern African dialect for “Born during famine”) Muasa, who embarked on a software engineering career in her early 40s after stints in teaching and promoting tourism for Kenya at the United Nations.
Still, Snyder’s whipsaw-fast mind and inquisitive nature can be hard to keep up with. “I tell her to slow down so people can digest what she is saying,” Muasa says.
No kidding. In between sips of tea at a local Starbucks, Snyder offers a dizzying discourse on abstract algebra, the concept of parallel lines intersecting in space, and the presidential aspirations of Barack Obama, whom she volunteered for in Texas.
But she is downright Pixar-like animated about Mozilla.
“The strength of Mozilla is absolutely the community (of tens of thousands of volunteers). We have to make sure they know they’re being heard,” says Snyder, who joined Mozilla last year.
The challenge is to get the public — so aware of security for their homes and cars — to be as vigilant with their PCs. That’s where the articulate Snyder and fortified Firefox come in. She is a bright new face in the computer-security field.
By most accounts, she is succeeding swimmingly. “She is effective and respected among several constituencies: nitty-gritty geeks, customers and the general public,” says Mitchell Baker, Mozilla’s longtime chairman. “She has learned to walk the fine line of making complex concepts understandable and accurate.”
It’s been a steady climb for Firefox, whose roots stretch back to the now-defunct Netscape Communications. It has accumulated 170 million users in more than 200 countries and an 18% share of the browser market, according to market researcher Net Applications. (Microsoft Internet Explorer commands 75% of the market, or more than 700 million users.)
Now, after several years of development and public testing, version 3.0 is out.
Leading the evangelistic effort is Snyder, whose middle name is Window. Her first name, Mwende — which means “beloved” and is the name of her maternal grandmother — by custom is used only by family members.
Such is part of her Kenya heritage, a legacy for her that stretches back to age 9 when she first traveled there. In preparation for that trip, Window learned key phrases in Swahili on her own. She and her mom return every few years.
“She has an easygoing, calming demeanor,” says Muasa, a retiree who lives in Seattle. “When I moved in 2004, I accidentally threw away baby pictures and Window’s drawings. I was devastated. She said, ‘That’s OK, Mom. Let it go.’ ”
Snyder is among the youngest of 30 board members at Choate Rosemary Hall, the private school in Connecticut she attended in the early 1990s.
Snyder is illustrative of the Choate way that has guided fellow alumni President John F. Kennedy and actress Glenn Close — intelligence, dedication in “the pursuit of breaking frontiers” and confidence, says Herb Kohler, CEO of manufacturing giant Kohler Co. and chairman of the school’s board of trustees.
MORE ON USA TODAY
HEART ATTACK AND DRINKING HOT WATER
This is a very good article. Not only about the warm water after your meal, but about Heart Attacks . The Chinese and Japanese drink hot tea with their meals, not cold water, maybe it is time we adopt their drinking habit while eating.
For those who like to drink cold water, this article is applicable to you. It is nice to have a cup of cold drink after a meal. However, the cold water will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. It will slow down the digestion. Once this ‘sludge’ reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food. It will line the intestine. Very soon, this will turn into fats and lead to cancer . It is best to drink hot soup or warm water after a meal.
Common Symptoms Of Heart Attack…
A serious note about heart attacks – You should know that not every heart attack symptom is going to be the left arm hurting. Be aware of intense pain in the jaw line .You may never have the first chest pain during the course of a heart attack. Nausea and intense sweating are also common symptoms. 60% of people who have a heart attack while they are asleep do not wake up. Pain in the jaw can wake you from a sound sleep. Let’s be careful and be aware. The more we know the better chance we could survive. A cardiologist says if everyone who reads this message sends it to 10 people, you can be sure that we’ll save at least one life. Read this & Send to a friend. It could save a life. So, please be a true friend and send this article to all your friends you care about.
More on Heart Attack
Heart Attack: Warning Signs and Tips on Prevention
Two Kenyans Killed, One Injured in London
