Diggin the heels in in Kenya!

I haven't really blogged much since coming to Kenya and I'm not sure why! I'm just as busy but somehow I don't seem to have much to say- not a normal state of affairs for me!

Its been a busy and chaotic 3 weeks- cant believe that I'm nearly half way through already! Things at the group are starting to look up significantly, mainly due to the kindness of those at home who have donated money. It means so much to these people to be able to work and feed themselves and their children.

But sometimes they frustrate the hell out of me too! We had a general meeting today which began well, but degenerated fast. Its a long story and I won't go into it but there was a woman there who has been bad mouthing our members who got very angry about it. All fine and fair enough but it ended up in a physical fist fight in the middle of the street, headed by our chairman. It was incredibly violent not to mention shameful. I called the committee together after the meeting and told them very sternly that if I ever saw such a thing happen again I would be removing myself from the group. They were all incredibly shamefaced and apologetic- Africans are so childish at times!

Anyway, its all interesting stuff! The language here is different to Tanzania- still Swahili but mixed more with English. A Kenyan will start a sentence in English and finish it in Swahili. They also speak a lot of Sheng- a kind of street slang that is a combination of different languages.

Oh and I'm here to report that tribalism is alive and well in Kenya. It came as a shock to me because there is no such thing in Tanzania. Here, the main tribes are Kikuyu, Luo and another which I can't remember! No one likes the Kikuyu and regards them as cold and not worthy of interest. However they are the most powerful and abundant in the country which may account for some of it. It was mainly Kikuyu that were killed in the post election riots at the beginning of the year and this fact hangs over the country like a fog.

People with HIV are interesting too- that sounds like an mad scientist experimenting on folks but thats not what I mean. The ARV's and the disease itself can attack the brain and make them very forgetful. They also have less control over their temper- hence the debacle today. Its very distressing for people who realise what is happening to them. And it can happen to the kids as well, which affects their performance in school and so on. Kids also have very little chance of living to any age- once someone starts ARV's the body begins to work and resist them. Eventually everybody on ARV's will need a new strain. Obviously if you are 50 you wont need to go through this very often but if you are 2 years old when you start taking them the chances are that you will use all types of ARV then run out of options. Then you die.
This disease is a killer and a fucking nightmare- more has to be done to help eradicate it.

Anyway enough of the depressing stuff. Not too much else to report. I live with the local pastor who is called Margaret. She has a house girl, Maggie, who I share a room with. She does all the cooking and cleaning and is always delighted to have volunteers. She is about 20 and is keen to wait on me hand and foot. I won't let her do my washing and if I'm quick I can usually get away with doing some of the washing up. Otherwise she beats me to it every time! They are pleasant folk and Margaret is very involved in the project, so she understands how difficult it can be.

So thats all for now. Moving through Africa, a little tired of being the object of curiosity, being called mzungu and so on. But it has to be admitted, I love Africa and its true what Karen Blixen says " The hardest part of Africa is the leaving it". I can appreciate the sentiment.

Till next time.