A fishy reputation

  How could I forget this photo?  The first thing people asked me when I said I was going to Kisumu was:  "will you eat fish?"  So, on Saturday I ate fish for both lunch AND supper- once at Aggrey's house and once at Salome's.  Yum.  It's sold 'fresh', pre-cooked in oil, then cooked again in stew at people's houses.  This photo is taken at the lake side where we drank sodas together.  Surprisingly, fish is fairly expensive so it is not really eaten that much.

Sunday January 28

 On Sunday I went to four churches.  It was a long and exhausting day, because I had to stand up and talk at each of them.  Usually I just said my name, where I was from, what I was doing in Kenya, and said I brought greetings from my church in Canada.  Then they would clap (receive the greetings), then clap again (send greetings back to Canada).  SO warm and welcoming...  BUT, I don't love talking in front of big groups when they expect me to say something profound, so it was mildly stressful.  Wherever I go people expect me to say something.  Whether it's a shamba, a church, or someone's home.  Visitors bring blessings to a place... and are believed to have worthwhile things to hear.  The best part of Sunday was hanging out with the kids, teaching them a song from home, and having them teach me a new song.  They thought it was pretty hilarious watching me trying to follow along to actions of a song that I totally didn't understand the words to.   The favourite activity of the kids was having their photo taken and looking at it in the digital monitor.  My battery drained pretty fast :)

The last church I was at was the annual regional meeting for the 'Africa Israel Ninevah Church'.  It looked mildly cultic as all the women wore long white dresses and headcoverings (looked like nuns of old fashioned nurses?) and the men wore muslim-style kanzus (long white shirts) and caps, but the theology seems pretty sound.  The music was provided by drums (below) and extremely sonorous metal rings hit with another metal thing.  At a smaller church earlier in the day the sound was so piercing it made me want to jump out the window next to me (ground level- don't worry).  I could only imagine my mom and her pre-disposition to getting headaches- she would have had a migraine all day from that service!  The funny thing was, when I looked around at all the people I seemed to be the only one affected by it...  Since I was a guest, I sat up front each time.  No dozing!!! No matter how incomprehensible the language is!!! (I do get the gist of what is going on... my kiswahili is bumbling along)

The people in this small community were super friendly.  Everyone wanted to greet me... all the kids hung around, though few were brave enough to approach until I waved them over. 

Kisumu Museum

Trees flower so magnificently here.  I'm in paradise...

The Kisumu museum was a motley assortment of cultural artifacts and a pretty cool recreation of a typical Luo homestead... 1st wife's house, 2nd wife's house, 3rd wife's house... 1st sons house, husband's house... everyone gets their own.  Refridgeration= storing in large clay vessels; cupboard= basket suspended form the ceiling.  the most impressive thing there was this taxidermy masterpiece:

Hyena

This guy was MUCH more large and powerful than Disney made them out to be!!!  I don't believe everything I see in cartoons, but I had no idea this guy was the size of two of me!!!  I could almost look at him eye to eye!!

Chui (leopard)

I LOVE the zoom on my camera!! So fun!!!  Impala Nature Reserve, Kisumu. 

Simba

This pride of the Jungle was a pretty lonely guy- but cute.  Impala Nature Reserve, Kisumu.

Ostrich wants to eat me?

A bit of birdwatching at Impala Nature Reserve on Saturday...

To Kisumu with friends

  I was so impressed by this park in Kisumu.  It could have been in any city in Canada, it was so clean, orderly, and well kept.  People have told me that the town of Kisumu is so beautiful (it reminds me of Victoria BC) because the main tribe there is Luo, a people who are known to be fairly prideful and really love the BEST things money can buy (so they can show them off...)  :)

Last weekend I went to Kisumu, Kenya's 2nd largest city, on the shores of Lake Victoria.  I went with two students from ICM.  Aggrey is a pastor in charge of overseeing several churches in his area ('bishop') and is a married father of three girls- two are his own and one is adopted from one of his wife's reletives who died.  Salome is in charge of the women's ministry in her province.  She is married and has six children, my age and younger, though none were at home while we were staying there.  I met several of her friends, and 100+ kids (literally) from her rural neighbourhood.  Out of 12 women I met, all but one had 4 or more kids- usually more like 6-9.  One had 9 of her own plus 6 adopted.  About 1/3 of the women said they had adopted kids- usually from extended family.  The area around Lake Victoria is the hardest hit with the AIDS/HIV pandemic. 

I learned a few things here.  First- it's not really all that normal for a husband and wife to live in the same place all year round.  The fact that Salome and her husband have always lived in the same house is a bit unusual- lucky I'd say.  It's more usual for the husband to be away working somewhere in some city or ??? and have his wife/ wives at home taking care of the kids and the shamba.

Second- I always wondered how parents could send their kids- as young as 10- away to boarding school.  It is totally the custom to do that here- I just couldn't see why it would be a good idea for everyone to send their kids away for a good part of their growing up years.  As we drove in the pre-dawn hours towards our bus early Monday morning I got my answer.  There were dozens of students in uniforms walking on the roads... at 5am... towards school.  School opens at 7:30 but these students are going there early to take advantage of the electricity to study by.  At home the rooms are small, dimly lit (by lanterns if paraffin can be afforded), and busy with the rest of the big family.  At least at boarding school students can get some studying/ learning done.  Also, they don't need to walk so far- spending up to 2 hours each direction in commuting time!

 

Pictures at last!

I've finally figured out how to put up photos! I'll try again tomorrow, then I'll be off to far-flung places for a while.

Sorting seeds at VI agroforestry project, Kitale

These women were part of a group of 20 that worked for weeks to get about 200kg of seeds.  The ones that pass inspection were bought, and later given out freely to farmers to start their own personal tree nurseries.

Farmers in Kimini District- Jan. 20

Some farmers and assorted children following our entourage of agro-forestry folks visiting small-scale nurseries at shambas.  They sang at each place to welcome us!  We felt so honourred... (and I guess so did they!)

The after-dinner glow of lamplight- Jan. 17

No electricity- notice the open door- the only other source of light.

Stanley (Chege & Lois's son) and I- Jan. 17

Homemade crocheted sofa covers everywhere!  Kenyan style!

Chege, Lois & I- old house & new house (bricks)

Singing and Dancing @ Chege's church- Jan. 15

AIDS/HIV orphans singing their hearts out- Jan. 14

Me and Tree- Rift Valley by Lake Naivasha, Jan. 12

Rift Valley Trees (Jan. 12)

The Red African & Gender Inequality

Some people joke with me here and say if I am not careful I will become a Red African. Now they don’t mean some relative of the Red Indian, as they call the first nations people of North America, but rather a person living in Africa with red skin from too much sun exposure. So, I am dutifully putting on SPF 30 a couple times a day when I am in the heat of the sun, which has been often lately. I missed a spot on the back of my arm today so noticed I am becoming a patchy Red African.

The other way I have discovered to make me a ‘Red African’ is to sit me on the back of a motorbike for the better part of a day and drive along packed-red earth roads in the dry season (ie now). My bones are a bit rattled and my pants have a distinct reddish tinge to them, but this morning was absolutely fabulous so all the ground in dust in my pores is worth it. I rode with a man called Dickson Nandi (Nandi is the name of a sub-tribe of the Kalenjin) who is better known simply as ‘pastor’ in these parts. He preaches at the radio station here on the ICM campus where I am staying but also works as an extension officer with the Agroforestry Project in town. It was through him that the connection was made for me to go there. I am used to stares from people, but boy I got a lot of them today - it is not too often people around here see a white women wearing trousers, and riding a motorbike!

We visited first a farmer who has been practicing agroforestry for six years. Previously he was growing only maize on his 1 ½ acre plot. Now he has passionfruits (I tasted some- they are absolutely divine), mango, banana, peppers, tomatoes, sunflowers, various firewood, fodder, and green-manure trees/ shrubs, and even a tree specially planted in order to be cut down and used as a propping pole for the banana stalks which threaten to fall down when laden with fruit. Talk about diversified farming! He now has income all year round- and a lot more of it with just a little more effort! His farm was only mildly sloping but he has created terraces with ditches on the downward side to catch all the water that will run down his fields when the rains come . A shrub is planted on the upward side of the ditches to stabilize the bank, and banana trees are planted on the other side to take advantage of all the moisture.

The second place we went was to an area meeting of some Sabaot farmers by the village of Koi Koi. As we approached the place (completely void of any car, motorbike, or bicycle- everyone must have walked there- so different than any North American meeting!) it was obvious that it was primarily men gathered in the shade of some banana and mango trees, seated on an assortment of chairs, stools, even a couch from what ever houses were around. Women sat on the other side of the road on the ground with children around them. Some women were seated near the men, but none were on chairs- only one- or should I say two- because I was also given a seat- and the other woman was the wife of the area chief.

(As a disclaimer I would like to add that this is not a common practice in Kenya- in fact in some places it is the women seated on chairs and men on the ground. Customs are customs. ?!?)

The purpose of the meeting was to educate and encourage the farmers to take part in agroforestry projects, and also to encourage the farmers to think of farming as a business, not just as a habit, necessity, or way to spend time. Before the first speaker even introduced himself, he berated the crowd of about 50 men as to why the women were seated so far away and none were given seats to sit on. “Don’t these women do most of the farm work? Don’t they cook your meals every day? Aren’t they full of good ideas? Then why don’t you let them sit among you and listen and speak together?” The women seated on the ground next to the men said it was out of respect that the other women sat so far away. This is an example of some of the gender issues/ attitudes that this particular project is trying to address and change. The women do the majority of the farm work, but the men make the majority of the decisions. It’s a bit unbalanced!

Visiting Homes #4- Mama Dan & Merry-Go-Rounds

Yesterday I went to the house/ apartment of a woman I just know as 'Mama Dan'. She has a 7 year old and a 5 year old, and is in charge of the Sunday School program at the church, so I thought that she was older than I was... but she's actually just 22. Wow! Their house is SO basic... I haven't seen anything like it. Two rooms- one with two couches and a large wardrobe and the other with two small cook stoves and a bed with a falling apart mattress and tattered sheets. No running water so there are no sinks for washing things and of course no toilet- they have a personal outhouse (=hole in a cement floor in a wooden stall) at the end of the row of units. I don't know where she gets water from- I think it is a few blocks away. There was also no electricity, so again the only light was through the open front door and one tiny window. The walls are cement and covered in large chunky holes from the nails placed in and removed by previous tenants. They really have almost nothing but she just invited me and the visiting pastor over for lunch so warmly. They pay 1200Ksh/ month for the meagre accomodations- <$25CDN. I can imagine it must be a burden to get even that much- plus food and school fees. Her kids are hilarious- the little girl never stopped moving the whole time- talking, singing, dancing, running- she balanced out her older brother who was more quiet and watchful.
Mama Dan is part of a neighbourhood merry-go-round... Merry-go-rounds are not play things you find at parks here- in fact I have yet to see slides, swings, or any sort of play equipment here for children to play on. Instead, it is a community support and saving system. Each woman contributes some small amount of money each week or month ($2-10), and each week all/ nearly all of the money collected is divided between a small number of recipients (1-5). That way, once it is your turn to receive money, you receive a large amount at once which you can use to buy much needed items, like cooking utensils and pots, or to buy a goat or cow, or to buy bricks for a house, or to pay school fees. When you are part of a network like this you may also receive money from the other women at other times- eg. when someone in your family has fallen ill and you need to pay for hospital bills or medicine, or when someone dies and you need to cover costs for a funeral.

Mama Dan wishes to use the money she will receive in April to start a small market stall where she can sell vegetables to make some income. Her husband is a plumber but gets work not very reliably. Trades people seem to be at the mercy of the employers and are often left hanging with promise of employment but no follow through. They seem to just go to town each day and ask around until they find some lead to go on. I know another man who is a skilled carpenter/ builder but has not been able to find steady work for 1 1/2 years.

I asked some of the men who are students here where I am staying if men are ever part of merry-go-rounds. They laughed and said no, it's a woman's thing- but men have something similar which they call self-help groups. They are typically more complicated, involve some sort of business aspect, and involve more money. They never did explain it to me fully...

Visiting Homes #3- Saturday

Saturday morning I went to my friend Juliet's house (I know her from the agroforestry project)- her husband is a lecturer at Moi university in Eldoret. I chatted with him about agriculture stuff (he is a crop physiologist) and also about ex-pats working for NGO's. He seemed to think that it would be very easy for me to get work here with my background if I just tried. Interesting. It's not as tempting now as it once was though, don't worry… J Juliet and her husband have one son (she said they are acting like mzungus by having only one child) and a really nice new ‘big’ house. They also have a brickyard for a backyard- they are trying to build an underground cellar in the pit that was created in their yard when all the bricks were made for their house.

After Juliet's I went to the house of a man named Kefa and met his wife and four kids as well as a neighbour boy who is 17 but they seem to care for. The definition of ‘my child’ here seems to be much more loose. Three of the kids were born to them and the eldest, a girl, was adopted last year from an AIDS orphanage. Both Kefa and his wife are HIV positive. They got pregnant with the last born son because they were told at that time only pregnant woman could get the ARV drugs. They have been on the drugs for two years and look completely healthy to me. They have a renewed vision on life and are working a lot with AIDS/HIV prevention and care in the community. They are also trying to build a home for AIDS orphans. Their backyard is full of bricks… I don’t know how many more they need to build, but soon they will fire them and start assembling them into a house for 8-10 children- and perhaps mothers too. They have a huge vision- and I think it will work. They will be looking for donors- first in their community- then overseas as well. They have said that if anyone from overseas would like to come and help they would be very welcome :) This family does not have much money- we ate very simply food- but their hearts are so warm. They have a cow for milk, but they don’t have water at their place at all. I was shocked to see how far the mama had to walk to get water… and what the terrain was like. She has to walk at least a kilometer, and then go down a VERY steep, long hill to get to the community source- a running stream- and then return, with a 10-litre plastic tub on her head full of water up that very steep hill again. When it is rainy season it must be treacherous!

Visiting houses- #2- the Kibii family

Another house I went to this week was owned by a couple named Kibii and Esther. They are some of my favourite people here- we connected in some unexplained way right away. Kibii is doing his PhD at the same time as being in some high administrative position at ICM. Esther had been sick in bed with some unexplained illness for two years, but was recently healed, and is now a very vibrant leader of Christian women’s ministries in the area. They both stand quite tall and regal- they are of the Kalenjin tribe- a common one in this area- a people known to the rest of the world as world class runners (80% of Kenyan runners are from this small tribe). Their house is the largest one I have seen- also tastefully decorated. They had a huge living room and kitchen- even by North American standards- which serves well as a meeting place for people- I can tell they are used to having lots of people over a lot of the time! Their own children are all grown up and out of the house but they have four young people living with them- one boy is a high school student, and the other three girls are working in some way- with no place to go. They all call Esther and Kibii mom and dad, just as the Kibiis call them their children!. These are some very generous people.

Conversation topics are nearly always the same: politics, AIDS/HIV, role of women, and of course, what is Canada/ the USA/ Sierra Leone like. Kibii and Esther actually lived in the States for seven years so they are one of the few people who know what live is really like there. When we left their house we spent quite a lot of time star gazing together… it’s such an amazing open sky here!

Visiting houses- #1- Chege and Lois

Ahhh.... my throat hurts soooo much... or as they would say here, it hurts 'toooo much'. I have been visiting all day with people and talking a lot. Hmmm… I’m tired now and am starting to think in kiswahili… this is good for me, but I’ll try to stick to English as much as possible for all of you J Actually, in the last seven days I have eaten at someone’s house or had my meal bought for me every lunch and supper except three. People here are SO receptive to visitors- unlike anything I have experienced before. If you are considered a visitor, people treat you amazingly well and won’t let you pay for anything… which is really humbling and makes me feel quite bad as they are in much tougher economic situations than I. But, this is the culture. They seem to feel responsible for providing for you however they can. I try to bring presents for people as I visit them. As a result, my supply has suffered a large dent- if I keep up at this rate I’ll be completely out in two weeks.

In the evenings I have been part of a traveling entourage made of three men plus myself. We seem to come as a package deal. Two are visiting lecturers, and one is a student from Sierra Leone. Let me tell you a bit about the families I visited today, and the ones I have seen in the week:

Sunday & Tuesday- Chege Bernard (staff at ICM), wife Lois, son Stanley (age 9), daughter away at school (age 12), newest addition to family happened on Thursday- a daughter, Grace Wanjiku.

Chege is a pastor of a small church here in Kitale in addition to being a lecturer and staff at ICM and working on post graduate studies. His congregation is lively, charismatic, and housed in a small, dark, badly leaning building. The building is overshadowed outside by a large metal pole frame which is meant to be filled with bricks in order to build a bigger church building.

A common theme here is the building style: People collect materials pole pole (slowly) and then start building pole pole- as they get the money and materials amassed on site. After attending Chege’s church we went to his home and was greeted by his wife, his son, a 20-year old girl who stays with them as house help, and an assortment of neighbourhood kids. Their house is the most beautiful I have seen so far in terms of interior decorating- simply because it is so simple. The walls are covered inside by smoothed mud, giving it a textured appearance that many people try to achieve in North America by sponge-painting the walls. On the wall was only one decoration- a poster of a fantastic watercolour painting of an African Jesus talking to children under an acacia tree. It was a welcome change from the numerous gaudy posters and random poor quality photos in other homes.

Chege’s yard looks like a brickyard fringed by banana trees, a small veggie patch, and a large patch of napier grass, which is chopped daily and fed to his one cow. The one cow is in a small fenced area, which is cohabited by a small flock of chickens meant for meat (African chickens). An addition to the chicken house is a small box which houses some laying hens (mzungu chickens) meant for egg production. The bricks are not yet fired… that will come later once all the bricks are built or bought and a kiln is made on site where large pieces of firewood are burned to fire the bricks and turn them bright red. Bricks are used to build all of the walls of the house, including the inside walls, so a lot are used. They can be bought for 5Ksh each (9 cents), or you can pay someone to make them for you out of your own dirt at a rate of 2Ksh each.

This house, like most others of this style, had no electricity, so the open door and only one or two small windows were the sole sources of light until it got dark and they turned on gas lanterns. We were seated on a matching set of solid couches, made locally, with the fabric covered by some sort of lace material like giant doilies. There was an assortment of coffee tables taking up the space between the couches, which we used as our dining tables. Most families had a dining table that fit themselves, but with the added guests it would not have worked to sit there.

Food was served from pots placed on the table- delicious food- rice or pilau (spiced rice) or chapatis or ugali (stiff maize meal porridge- the staple here- if a person has not eaten ugali in a day they ‘have not eaten’), plus ‘stew’ (mildly flavoured tomato broth with pieces of meat or vegetables), ‘vegetables’ (finely chopped green leaves- kales or something more bitter called sujaa), mashed potatoes (called Irish potatoes to distinguish them from sweet potatoes), and at the end, a nice cup of chai. Before we eat one of the women- usually a house-help girl- holds out a basin below and pours a jug of water from above over your hands for you to wash. I remember being the one to help people wash their hands… it was actually a very humbling experience at the time…

Girl Singing at Children's Program, Jan. 15

Chicken Brooder- cooking range up, brooder down

An old Farmer, Kimini District

Field trips with the Agroforestry Institute in Kitale

This week I have been spending every day at the Swedish- funded 'VI agroforestry Institute'. Their goal is to establish a green belt around Lake Victoria, by having small scale farmers plant indigenous tree species on their homesteads (shambas). They have a large (5 acre) demonstration farm, a good little museum, a seed collection unit, and offices for extension officers, training staff, and monitoring staff. My goal is to learn as much as possible about agroforestry in the two weeks I have to spend with the project. This week I spent mainly on site, but next week I will spend mainly in the field. I did go in the field twice this week... including this monring...

Had a good time with the agroforestry folks today. There were people there from their sister project in Uganda who I hung out with. We went to seven shambas- representing 3 of the 120 special interest groups in this particular division. Each group is comprised of 15-30 members. (there are 6 divisions associated with the VI agroforestry project)

At the first shamba we were greeted by singing and dancing mamas- women ranging in age from 30 to maybe 70. They were so happy to have visitors! The extension officers began dancing too... wowee, it was fun. I was SO impressed by the projects I saw today. I had been to another division earlier in the week which had had VI in the area for only one year, so the effects were not yet noticeable. In this place, called Kiminini, the effects of the project were very visible. On one side of the road was a large scale farm- acres and acres of bare ground covered with left over maize stalks. You could imagine the effects of torrential rains and strong winds on the erosion- in addition to the decrease in soil fertility due to the nutrient- sucking corn crop. On the other side of the road the shambas are all quite small- as small as 0.1 acres... not much if you need to produce enough food for a family with kids. Growing maize on this land would be crazy- for one thing, you would only harvest maybe 16 bags of corn if the season was good. This would only happen once per year as maize takes so long to ripen. This means you would try to support your family on a one-time small cash inflow. As an alternative, these families have started tree seedling nurseries. Tens of thousands of seedlings are produced and sold to bigger farms at a rate of 10-20Ksh each (for comparison, one mango costs 5Ksh). The small shamba plots I saw had a mud house or two on it but were otherwise covered in seedlings. Each nursery is typically a group effort, usually situated by a house with a constant source of water. A group may for instance decide to pool their money to drill a hole and buy a water pump which can be used for the nursery as well as for their own needs. From the money earned by the group, people are able to feed and clothe their children, send them to school, perhaps buy an animal such as a cow (which would in turn give them a more diverse income- now they can sell milk...) or build an addition to their house.

In one case a man was building a completely new, huge house out of bricks. This particular guy was very ingenious- he is an inventor- an engineer- a pioneer for technology. He had developed a clay 'brooder' which is used to raise chicken chicks. I will try to post a picture. It is a large clay box with an open area in the bottom where the chicks or fertilised eggs stay warm. The clay structure gets warm by someone lighting a fire on the top in order to cook food on the stove part of it. The residual heat lasts for quite a while. I saw these brooder stoves in several different sizes on 3 homesteads that we visited. This method of farming chickens is revoloutionary for the average small scale farmer. The shelter means the majority of the chicks survive (instead of letting them run in the elements), and that the hens can continue laying eggs without brooding on the ones that have already been fertilised/ hatched. This man also invented a really cool model of oven/ stove which was wood fired and also purified water by passing it through tubes and boiling it from the heat of the fire.

The other special interest groups in the area include bee keeping, firewood growing, fruit growing, and aquaculture (!). I am really intrigued to see a small scale fish farm in inland Kenya. That will be next week...

Trip to Kitale

January 12- Karen (just outside of Nairobi- a swankier ‘suburb’ named for Karen Blixen, of ‘Out of Africa’ fame) to Kitale (8 hours away, in Western Kenya)

I’d forgotten what it is like to be woken by the wild African symphony. My sleep was cut shorter than it would have been had I been in a soundproofed indoor room, but oh my goodness, there isn’t much that beats hearing the world come alive all around you. I spent last night on a cot on a second storey verandah of a very nice house by African standards. I even had a hot shower due to an apparatus called a ‘steamey’ which is hooked onto the shower head and heats the water as it trickles out. As you increase the pressure of the shower, it gets cooler… so you can decide if you want pressure or heat. I always choose heat J Despite this place being on the equator, it’s not really that warm in the night times because of the high altitude.

Last night I fell asleep to the sound of two villages of Maasai voices brought together in song carried over a field. I was surprised to hear that there were some villages so close to town. My hosts said that they would soon be displaced as the land they are on is slated for development. The Maasai generally don’t own land, so they are in a tough position as to where they put their semi-permaent houses. I wonder what they were celebrating last night.

I met my traveling companions over morning tea (chai… yum…). They are a group of seven Americans from a big church in Minnesota. They are on a two week whirlwind trip of East Africa, visiting different projects that their church supports. Luckily for me, they arrived yesterday night and have Kitale as their first stop. I’m glad I found out about them before I left so that I could hitch a ride! Although they seem to be a pretty tight group already, they are very welcoming, and happy to have this funny Canadian along. I guess I don’t say ‘eh’ that much because they couldn’t figure out why I don’t have a Canadian accent. They even offered to make me an honourary American- an offer that was graciously declined J

Travelling with this group was different than any other traveling I had done in Kenya. One- the tour guide was American, not a native Kenyan, so had quite a different view of everything- more ‘eye in the sky’ and mildly condescending. Two- we stopped at places the average matatu or budget tour wouldn’t even glance at- like a ‘walled community’ set of properties on a totally wild mountain overlooking Lake Naivasha, where each inhabitant can build their own dream home, next to a beautiful golf course, swimming pool, etc... and a fancy ‘lodge’ for lunch. I really missed being with people who were interested in the finer points of life, like identifying birds or looking for animals and interesting plants en route. No one knew answers to any of my ‘what is that called?’ questions. Our trip took nearly all the daylight hours- we arrived in Kitale as the sun was setting. We ate supper at a restaurant in town and settled in to our accommodation at ICM by 10pm- where we fell asleep, exhausted from our bumpy, dusty ride.

Nairobi

written Wednesday, January 11 (then lost for a while, and refound...)

Ahhh... the smells... I have no idea what the smell is
here, but I don't mind it. It's the Kenya smell- or
the Nairobi smell- it hit me as soon as I left the
airport. All of a sudden fractions of so many
memories- all of them pleasant, came back to me. It's
funny how smells can make you remember things, people,
places in time...

And the plants... ooh la la... Bird of Paradise
flowers and bouganveillea bushes everywhere! And all
sorts of succulents- and brilliantly coloured birds
feeding on them all... which reminds me, I must go buy
a bird ID book. I wouldn't mind trying to learn a few
more birds on my own.

After who knows how many hours of travel I am finally
here, in the crowded, chaotic, hilarious city that is
Nairobi. The little mini bus/van (matatu) that
brought me downtown had a screw sticking out of the
steering column 2 inches. Halfway through the ride
the driver noticed a problem with the music system,
and at an intersection rummaged underneath a dust
cloth on the dashboard and came out with a
screwdriver, which he promptly began to stab at the
offending tape player. I can't blame the tape player-
it's more like a 'taped up' player... It makes me
wonder what other sorts of things he keeps his
screwdriver handy for to fix at intersections or in
the stand-still traffic. Everything in these matatus
I've seen today is SO old- upholstery falling apart,
windows cracked or stuck, doors not quite closing,
running boards only half there... I love it... it's
all part of the experience. Ever since the laws came
in that put speed governers on the vehicles and
limited the number of people they can squish in, it is
a much more civilised ride :)

I got picked up from the airport in Nairobi by a
couple who's house I am staying at in a posher
neighbourhood/ community on the outskirts of N'bi
called Karen (named after Karen Blixen, who wrote 'Out
of Africa'). They have a beautiful garden and a great
house which they use as a guest house for travellers
like me connected to ICM, the NGO I'm working with.
From there I took a matatu to the office of A Rocha,
the organisation I came to Kenya with last time.
Although Beatrice, the woman I went to see wasn't
there, I visited with some of the ladies in the office
downstairs who I had gotten to know last time. Mmmmm
two cups of delicious chai later I boarded the matatu
again to go downtown to buy a cell phone. Yay! I
have a mobile phone! I think it will only be for
emergencies though so I won't even give out the
number.

Alright- more later... tomorrow we drive up north to
Kitale.

I can't believe I'm here!

p.s. thanks for all your messages so far... I've been
reading them en route at the Vancouver & London
airports. I'll put up photos as soon as I figure out
how. I don't think I can do it from this particular
cybercafe, for instance.

I love languages!/ Ninapenda lugha!

Here's an old photo from last time I was in Kenya. The books are much rattier looking now as I have tried to learn as much of the language as I can before arriving. It's not going so well as I hadn't found anyone to practice with, but hopefully it will be easier to pick up this time around after familiarising myself with a large vocabulary!

Getting Set Up

This seems to be the way to go- no more clogging of email boxes with lengthy emails. Now I'll try to write here as quickly and freely as I would on email. Let's see if I can figure out a system for myself to be able to do it overseas.
Keep posted for the next installment!