Letter from Kenya #8: Trees, Cake and the Nile (October 20, 2006)

Hello friends, nonRomans, countrypeople,

Welcome to your latest mass e-mail installment. Since my last letter I have have been pondering the future and enjoying a crazy month. I admit up front that this email is much more random than others, but will hopefully prove entertaining nonetheless. I've also decided that instead of clogging your inbox I will try to keep things brief and link to the blog for longer posts. Sneaky, I know.

In this digest:
1. Hey shorty, it's your birfday
2. Genius cat, or sleep deprivation?
3. Hot Hot Heat
4. The Blue Nile
5. Tupac
6. Pick your favorite Kenyan dictator day
7. What a girl wants

1. I am getting old
Some of you have asked what I did for my birthday, so here are the juicy details: In the middle of the day, the office staff surprised me with cake and a birthday card full of very cute birthday notes. Then, that evening, Willa (also known as our resident master chef) made an amazing vegetarian dinner, and we all pigged out. It was cozy, low-key, and very sweet, and the following day was a public holiday, which allowed for lots of recuperation. It also reminded me that I am way older than I think I am. For example, when I'm carded in the U.S. I always goof and say I'm 21. This is ridiculous because I haven't been 21 for years, but clearly my head has not caught up with the rest of me.

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Cat
Around 5:30AM last Sunday I woke up to the sounds of someone rattling a bag of what sounded like cereal. I called out, but no one responded. "Oh no!" I thought to myself, "The cat is tearing up the kitchen!"

In fact the cat was not tearing up the kitchen. T/Su had climbed up the cupboard to the top shelf, knocked over a closed bag of cat food, and then knocked over a pair of scissors. To my astonishment, the bag had scissor-like slash marks in it! Oh my God, I thought, my cat is a freaking genius, and he doesn't even have opposable thumbs. Upon closer reinspection a few hours later, I realized that these were probably claw marks, but still, it makes you wonder.

3. Excuse me, could you spare a tree?
As we move out of the rainy season, the weather has gotten ridiculously hot. By 10AM on most mornings the temperature climbs to about 100 degrees Fahrenheit, and we have definitely been feeling it. I was talking to one of the local staff, Carol Eve, and she mentioned that it used to be cool this time of year (around 85 degrees). What changed? The forests were cut down for firewood.

This got me thinking about deforestation, climate change, and water security. One of our major challenges on the project is that springs keep drying up. While this area has remained relatively untouched, Kenya has had a massive drought for the past few years. Many environmental experts attribute this to the gross deforestation of the country. This also brought me back to Wangari Maathai, who recently published an autobiography. As you might know, Wangari Maathai is the first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize for her work in leading an environmental women's movement to protect green spaces and replant trees. More on this in the blog.

4. Jinja
This weekend was amazing, phenomenal, beautiful! Willa and I crossed the Ugandan border and hopped on a matatu (i.e. van) to take the 2 hour drive down the Busia(U)-Jinja Road to Jinja town. From there we took motorcyle bodas to our camp site overlooking/on the Nile River, about 9km from the town proper. This is the major location from which people go white water rafting, but since we are relatively broke we just came to commune with nature. [an aside, if you do want to raft the Nile you should def. try it out. It is $75US for the day and includes lunch/breakfast and like $10/night for loding, which is super cheap if you are making any kind of US salary]

First and foremost, WOW. I honestly have no idea how to describe how incredibly lush, beautiful, and gorgeous Uganda is. The trees go for miles, and ripe jackfruit weigh down limbs as you drive down the road; it is almost like the branches are leaning down to say hello. While Jinja itself is a bit clogged, you can see glimpses of the Nile stretch across the horizon of town. And the motorcyle taxi? Probably the best experience of my life to date! I had never been on a motorcycle before, but if you can imagine The Motorcycle Diaries, call this Africa edition. We went up and down these huge hills past gorgeous homesteads and beautiful villages with nothing but blue sky and green land. For whole moments it felt like I was flying, and I honestly thought that if my heart was any happier or lighter that I would float away. By the time we reached the campsite, we could see the entire expanse of the Nile stretched out.

Visiting the Nile was surreal; in some ways being on a hill made me feel like I was watching a movie and that none of it was real. We also scoped out the showers at the site. Basically what they've done is built showers into the slope; you open the door and lock it behind you, and it is your regular grody/dingy campsite shower, but when you look out the other side and there is no wall, just trees and the Nile. No one can see you, but you can see everything. It was probably one of the most beautiful things I had seen in my life, trumped only by the most glorious pink-red sunset setting over the hills above the river. I don't know if you can imagine what it must like to stand, so small, at the edge of the world's biggest river. I kept thinking of all the civilizations that have relied on this site, and all the fertile and rich life around it, and I couldn't help but think of how lucky I am. How blessed to have a glimpse of this when I could have gone for years without ever knowing how the definitions of beauty in the world can be pushed to new meaning.

While the site kind of had an overlander feel, there were a lot of different populations of tourist that it catered to. Willa and I spent most of our time outside, visiting local village shops and eating Rolexes and fresh pineapple. A Rolex, unlike the watch, is a Ugandan chapati (v. similar to the Swahili/Kenyan chapati) with an omelette rolled up in it. Mine was tomato, onion, egg and avocado. Kind of like a heavier crepe. Amazing.

5. 2Pac
As a Californian, I cannot understate the impact of Tupac on my hip hop education. What's interesting is the prevalence of Tupac here as well. It's funny to see his face on t-shirts, on the sides of matatus (public transit vans), and in homes/restaurants. It's also an interesting example of the global impact of hip hop, the role of African American music in pan-African/African diasporic culture and communication, and on the influence of urban radio on rural taste.

6. Public Holidays
So there are 3 public holidays in October. One is for Eid (how exciting is that?) because the government has decided that, in light of recognizing Christmas as a public holiday, it does not want to alienate Muslims on a day that is important to them. So Eid Mubarak, all!

The other two holidays are Kenyatta Day and Moi Day, more commonly known as the first 2 presidents of Kenya. The fact that both led quasi-dictatorships for much longer than term limits allow, especially the latter, seems not to be as big of a concern. So I asked the local staff if there would eventually be a Kibaki Day (Kibaki is the current president), and if Kenya would add a public holiday for each president. The office just looked at me like I was crazy, though.

7. What a Girl Wants
So some people have asked me what I want while I'm here. I have been racking my brain because most things I can get here, and the things I can't get are hard to ship. But I have come up with 2 things for those who are so inclined:

A. The Busia Library
Busia is trying to refurbish and restart its library, and it needs books. Now, don't go too crazy, but just make a mental note of whether or not you have books you might think of donating. I have to check with the library committee first, and the logistics are tricky with shipping, but this might be something to think about for January/February-ish.

B. Music
I don't want to foster illegal activity, but the other expats overwhelmingly listen to emotional/hipster rock. Before I came here my iPod sputtered, and I didn't have a chance to redownload all my music. If you are so inspired to put together a mix CD, any of the following artists would be greatly appreciated:

Dead Prez, Charlie Parker, Lila Downs, Talib Kweli, Silvio Rodriguez, Common, Mos Def, The Roots, M.I.A., Shakira (Spanish only, please)

Also, Jas, can you please copy my Goapele, Mohd. Rafi, Lata Mangeshkar, Punjabi MC, and Dhamaal CDs onto MP3 and collate into one CD-R, pleeeease?

So that's it for now, but the next email will include our Halloween party. Get ready!

Best,
Camille