tembo, twiga & politics

the smell in this city is something you don't forget, it's somewhere between burning trash, smog and fresh cut grass.

this morning i woke up from a dream that i was a soccer star. i was the goalie and i dove for the ball repeatedly and missed it. we were playing girls vs. boys and there were a lot of people from high school playing in the game. odd.

then we hopped on a matatu and headed to karen to see the elephant orphanage and giraffe center. however, about halfway there i started to have severe stomach troubles. so i actually paid about $9 collectively only to use the bathrooms. i assume my luck will change for the better shortly. i did learn this about elephants: they are a matriarchal society and the eldest female actually controls the herd. they form deep personal connections: with friends, their keepers and when they lose an elephant close to them they can become very depressed which can make them physically sick. they are extremely intelligent and curious. and downright adorable.

baby elephant!

twiga

last night i had dinner with my former home stay family. my father works for the Norwegian Refugee Council and is going to the dadaab refugee camp on friday to open an office. NRC provides vocational education, shelter for many refugees and programs to address women and children rights. they are also exploring the possibility of opening an office in yemen--where there are a lot of somali refugees--but the U.S.'s current stance on yemen has already begun to cause complications. we talked at length about a handful of political situations in africa. he has just come from three years in liberia where the general population does not trust ellen johnson-sirleaf due to the fact she has been unable to stem corruption and has hired many of her friends for the central government. liberia is due to have a general election next year, yet he believes ellen will contest it (again) in an attempt to remain in power. there is an inadequate police force as well throughout the country, yet (beautifully) in september the first child to not know war in their lifetime entered kindergarten. he noted s. sudan would have a collection of problems in the coming years. firearms are in the wrong hands, and although all s. sudanese can agree they want autonomy, there is little else they agree on and there is a strong ethnic divide even among the southern sudanese themselves. uganda is due to have a general election in 2011 (where the LRA will certainly be a factor), followed by kenya in 2012. needless to say east africa will be a political hotbed for the next few years. all very interesting to me; i hope to be back.

this is happenin' in kenya

love your elders