'fugees

there is nothing like returning to a place that has remained unchanged and seeing the ways in which you yourself have altered [mandela. i may be paraphrasing]

I am back in the Kakuma Refugee Camp in northwestern Kenya. I spent 3 (now knowingly clueless) weeks here in 2005 as part of my study abroad program. We spent days wandering around the camp, using the internet, eating food and feeling lost, just looking for (what i now know are called) informants. Today I got mildly scolded for wandering out into the camp alone. In broad daylight. Now that I am a guest of IOM, I am a security risk. Yet, I enjoyed every second I was out and about. People talk to you, as they are kind of confused to see a white person on foot (due to IOM/UNHCR security precautions). And I purposefully wore my Obama t-shirt, which is always a crowd pleaser. I'd prefer to be called "Obama!" from across the road than "mzungu!" I wandered through the dust and took some Ethiopian dish with brown, liquid, spicy goat fat and njera and watched music videos of a voluptuous woman singing and aggressively shaking her shoulders in about 62 different outfits.

The camp hasn't changed that much. It is still diverse ("oh, you want njera, mzungu? you must walk this way {points} to Ethiopia"--apparently I was in the S. Sudan region) with thousands of refugees and Turkana people milling about. And people are living their lives. For decades. The money is soft and light brown in color, not like newly printed money we get in Nairobi. I gave a man a dime today 'cause he said he will get resettled to America. I figured when his federal assistance runs out after 8 months, maybe a dime will mean something. My room is air conditioned though, lest I melt in the hot, dry climate. But, I love being out of Nairobi and seeing something different and new.

My flight here was harmless, as was the two hour land cruiser ride with 5 kenyan colleagues across the desert. The conversation was priceless. I heard about how Bill Gates made a killing off Y2K by designing "viruses" then selling people programs to get rid of them; if the weather got as cold in Africa as it did in the D.C. people here would have to adapt and would spend more time inside thinking of new ideas and Africa would be more developed; email reached Kenya in 1996 and that made it easier to communicate faster (text messaging made it easier to get the ladies. it was informal and no one cares if you spell incorrectly); the Luos physically fought their future brother-in-laws to show their strength and ability to care for their desired wife ("now, it is still the same, eh? it is just with chocolates and not physical force.")

the guy next to me had just been in D.C. last week and said it was TOO COLD.

this past weekend was low-key. lots of sleeping in. movie watching (true grit and when harry met sally--always a classic). A few of us went out to an Ethiopian dinner and dancing Saturday night (dance jams included billy ocean's top 40) and I was home by 2am. The Valentine's Day was lovely. Ann came over and we indulged in mac 'n cheese and sweet red wine. It had unexpectedly poured in Nairobi and I was glad I brought my rain boots and hat and hiking pants, as I trudged to the grocery store unaffected by the mud, like a warrior.

welp, now i'm alone in my IOM, air conditioned room. What to do now? I think i'll wander out for a soda.

(i'll upload enough photos to wet your whistle when i'm not paying for the internet)