A Bit About Africa

About the environment of my town and life. I have started to count the progressive layers of dust I acquire on my walk just from my home to the main road. Averaging about 2.5 layers (every time a car drives by, the wind blows, or a butterfly flaps its wings in Mongolia), I think. In general, if you offer an African a better/more efficient way of doing things, they will very politely nod and say "yes, yes, that is a good idea!" then go back to doing it the same way. All of Kenya is on what I call AST, African Standard Time. Its somewhere between half-past that and a quarter of this. No one wears watches, which may be the culprit. What they say one minute will certainly change in another, and if you alert them to this fact and ask for clarification, you are going to get a 3rd answer. Basically, I just do what I want and think is best, and no one really minds.

There is a scarcity of jobs. So much so, that probably a 3rd of the people working for the hospital are designated as volunteers. They have gone through school, but with there being no jobs, they work gaining no income from the government, and rely on small gifts from patients and the paid therapists.

Politics is especially important these days as the December 24th presidential vote looms. Everyone talks about PNU vs ODM candidates. Obama's family is related to the ODM candidate/tribe.

I treated a UN Sudanese peace-keeping force member today. 29 years old, Muslim, extremely bright, named Juma. Talking about the world issues with him was amazingly interesting. Learned that his imam in his Mombasa mosque loved Clinton and actively promoted integration and understanding with the US back in 92-93 when Bill was elected. He could not say what the imam thought about Hilary... he has been involved in war the past 8 years. He broke his hand playing soccer and will return to Sudan in 2 weeks to rejoin the peace force.