"Another Saturday Night and I Ain't Got No Money"

Spending Saturday night in. I had a great dinner last night - so tonight - read and relax. I am reading Dark Star Safari by Paul Theroux. It actually feels cold on these nights and early mornings in Nairobi. You need a sweatshirt and sometimes more. Socks do not keep your feet warm and you feel as though you need a blanket wrapped around you. You also have a bit of a chill from the sunburn you received the afternoon before. It's weird. Oh to be Masai with a bright red blanket wrapped around your waist instead of pants. It would make the whole pit latrine issue a lot easier. The pierced ears, stretched out the size of half dollars. They are tall, thin, regal. Today a Masai grandmother visited her grand-daughter at the orphanage. You can't help but look at her, strikingly beautiful with such a look of integrity and the past. I nod at her. She nods, offers her arm for me to grasp, no English, head shaved, bead work adorns her head, ears, wrists. So . .back to the cold in Nairobi. It is amazing the difference three hours can make - the difference between Karen,Nairobi and Kitui Village. There is a world of difference, and not just in the temperatures and rainfall. Here in Karen, the place is more westernized in terms of attitude, dress and lifestyle. It is definitely an orphanage, with all the sadness and "poverty" that the situation brings, but this is a gifted place. It is happy, fun-loving and green! It fits here in Karen, but would be out of place in the District of Kitui. I had been told that Kitui, the Village where I have been working and live, IS AFRICA. The traditions, the climate, the Kamba people, the primitive lifestyle is the Africa of history and culture. I love it so much and am grateful for the experience - no matter the hardship the lifestyle brings.

So maybe I'll return to the Village on Monday, maybe not. TIA. There is more work that can be done here in Nairobi on Monday if we do not get transport out of here. There is work with VSO and with the UN Program for Vocational and Polytechnic Youth Training. There are manuals and books I would like to pick up at the YaYa Center (I know - ya ya). The place is closed on Sunday so Monday would be ideal. We'll see.

I toured a couple of volunteers around the Children's Home today. A Belgian guy, a guy from the Philippines and a Kenyan guy. They had been coming here for some weekends and were always asked to work in the kitchen, removing corn from the cobs! They were interested in a more fulfilling experience so we went around and played with the kids in the cottages and outside. Today was also a day that 7 or 8 members of a flight crew were here from British Airlines. BA has always been connected to the Children's Home and often stop to play with the kids on their layovers.

I walked to Karen, a couple miles maybe. There is a shopping area, coffee shop, restaurant, etc. It was a nice walk but once at the stores, you find it very white and very British - not that there is anything wrong with that! It is just that the whites are so stereotypical. The women all seem to have "look", one similar to one I perceived in the southwest, in New Mexico - streaked sun bleached hair or some gone naturally gray. A ruddy complexion, driving Land Rovers or with a Kenyan driver. Every one seems to have a driver. The men look German and are dressed like they are taking friends on a safari - again, not that there's anything wrong with that! But I am more comfortable being downtown, lost in a sea of black faces, the dole Muzungu. I feel comfortable in the Village with my new friends. Someday, I sort out all these feelings and cultural dreams and desires. There is a longing somewhere deep inside for a cultural background, romanticized I am sure. I still have that desire to be Masai!!Kamba!!Kenyan!! But I remain a white guy from Ohio, not that there's anything wrong with that!

It has been great to be from America - proud of what the US has done with AIDS contributions and funding. It is also been great to rub shoulders with those from Australia, New Guinea, Spain, Ireland, Belgian as well as the guys I've met from Kenya and Rwanda. So very cool!