Malindi life

Malindi... This was what I thought Africa was like when I lived here two years ago. I had travelled a bit then, but really, my life was here on the coast for six months, so I got used to how life was here and it was normal. Now it seems so WEIRD!!!

Italians everywhere... white sand everywhere, not red dust/ clay; loud reggae music pounding in matatus as opposed to quieter rides in Kitale. Dew and chilly mountain mornings have been changed for stifiling coastal heat (which I actually love quite a lot). Paved roads & tons of vehicles have replaced the packed-earth streets and donkeys of the mountain. People on the coast walk slower, but move quicker (ie they have access to public transport) wheras at Mt Elgon people walked very fast, but got not much done in a day, as everything was so far apart.

The ground here is so sandy I can barely call it soil. Kitale and Mt Elgon had some of the most fertile land in the country. Tourists are a big part of life here but I never saw one tourist come up the mountain. I was the first mzungu many children had seen! Women in long black islamic 'bui-buis' and men with the white flat topped hats are quite common here- at Mt. Elgon I doubt anyone had ever talked with a Moslem person either!

I am staying at Mwamba, the field study centre for A Rocha Kenya, the Christian conservation organisation I volunteered with two years ago. Some of the core people are still around, though some have been promoted into other postitions (yay! It's so great to see the former handy-man now a vital part of the ASSETS eco-bursary fund, and the former housekeeper getting formal cook training at a posh hotel down the beach!). Otherwise, there are a lot of new faces, and a lot of changes. Some good, some neutral..., some .... It is generally the same atmosphere though and I am totally enjoying this little visit and volunteering stint.

Last week I was at a conference in Tigoni, just outside Nairobi. There were about 250 leaders from various christian and environmental organisations across Africa, plus random other NGO workers (that's where I fit in). I went to the first conference of this two years ago, so thought I'd take in this second one. It was so exciting to be sitting in these huge rooms talking about environmental change from a christian perspective- being good stewards of God's earth- with so many diverse people. Africa is a place with huge environmental degredation- a lot from rampant deforestation, uneducated farming practices, and poverty. Overpopulation seems to be a major factor in all of this, though that topic curiously wasn't addressed at the conference. Most people there seemed to believe the population wasn't a problem at all- just the way land is handled... but these things are related!!! Hmmmm... Those of us from the 'west' had our own conversations about how our part of being the major contributors to global warming has hugely affected life in Africa. It was quite saddening. At home we joke about liking this global warming because it means my dad can grow lemons in our backyard. Here it means a much more sad story.

I'm writing now from a cybercafe so can't post photos- perhaps when I stop in England/ Wales on my way home I can put some more up! I'm leaving Kenya Sunday night, March 19, but will arrive in Canada Friday night, March 24th.