On the road

Yes, that is a big tree that fell in the road. Apparently just moments before we arrived. We off-roaded through a private coffee plantation to get around it.

This was a common scene in the places a bit further from town... we would have to slow down from time to time for the cows to clear.

One route in particular was loaded with young men pedaling loads of firewood from the forest to sell in town. They could get a job at a circus with that balancing act!

I asked some other women just before I snapped this picture if they enjoyed the walk to the forest to get wood. No! They answered. You can step on thorns, get bitten by snakes, there are bad people and bad animals in the forest. It is a must to wear shoes when you go there (one was barefoot and the other had flip-flops on). Round trip would be 2-3 hours.

Road conditions... luckily we were just walking around by this point.

This is the road by ICM. I would sometimes buy vegetables, eggs, or phone cards from the vendors to the left. On the right you can see the garbage dump for the block. I could only go on this road half the time because the other half of the time it was so muddy that it would be impossible to find dry ground to cross at some points. So, I would walk a different route and keep my toes clean.

Mike's first day in the field- his second day in the country. We had visited a government office, but were unable to find public transport back to town. So, we walked the 5-6 km. All the matatus were packed with high school kids going to sports tournaments or men going to the weekly cattle auction. These kids followed Mike and Okum like they were the pied piper... perhaps enjoying listening to English conversation?

Sokomoko- 'a place where bad things happen'- we were told that when we interviewed in this village people may tell us another name because the one it is known by is somewhat shameful. The village center, shown in this picture, is made of a row of shops who sell bits of food at a kiosk front, but who's main business was brewing beer at the back.

We were randomly sampling houses to interview, and ended up selecting one of these brew-houses. We didn't stay to interview though, because for one thing the people likely wouldn't stay focussed or even present for the whole thing because they needed to get back to their business, and also because the smell of the fermenting maize meal turned the stomachs of my research assistants.

Our driver asked a little girl on the street, 'do you know where I can get some tea?' 'No', said the girl. 'Do you know where I can get some soda?' 'No', said the girl. 'Do you know where I can get some pombe (beer)?' 'Oh yes!' said the girl, 'from my mama'.

Versatile Kenyan money. One thing that is built to last here are the bills of money. I'm not sure how long it takes to get from the bottom to the top, but people routinely fold, roll, or squish the bills into all sorts of shapes everyday. Lower denominations, like the 50 shillings- about 75 cents - were the most common and therefore the most destroyed. Wallets with billfolds weren't common at all.