[Kwg-list] Kenya update for the end of November

[Julie Hard]

Hello Friends,

It has been some time since I have sent you an update.  For our part,
we are keeping well and enjoying the Kenyan sun most days.  We did
however receive "a severe weather warning" yesterday when the weather
reporters said that we could expect a wind chill during the evening
reaching 13 degrees!! Mike and I laughed at the warning but for the
Kenyans it meant battening down the hatches and wearing full-blown
winter parkas!

We have purposely not been writing about the political situation here
so as not to alarm our families but last week in Kenya was a
monumental political movement.  We were in the throws of a referendum
surrounding the proposed new constitution which has had the country
and its politicians on polar ends of a debate.  We have been amongst a
flurry of discussions about oranges and bananas.  The Orange team
voting against the proposal, and the Bananas for the new constitution.
 Only in Kenya will the referendum ballots host a picture of an orange
and a banana for people to choose from since there are a great number
of illiterate people entitled to vote.

We have been residing in a primarily Orange area where rebellious
political radicals lit pyres of garbage and tires, wore orange shirts
and hats and joyfully shouted at all passers by to vote orange all the
while waving wilted orange branches over their heads.  They took their
campaigning one step too far when they began confiscating bananas from
the little old ladies selling them in the market and left them with
nothing!!  Mike and I have tried to avoid expressing our opinions on
the issue and when asked how we would vote, we simply reply avocado.

For the most part the referendum was quite peaceful and there were no
major incidences anywhere in the country. But the day following the
referendum when the oranges were victorious, the president who is a
big banana decided it best for the country to fire all the cabinet
ministers.  Most people here follow the political situation with great
interest but do not take it so seriously as to let it affect their day
to day activities and so Mike and I continue on as before the
referendum.

We continue to assist where we can with the disability project. 
Wednesday and Thursday of this week we prepared and organized many of
the clients we identified as needing surgeries.  What a procedure!! 
We invited well over 60 clients to come to Kitere in order to arrange
and pay for their surgeries a cost that is well beyond the means of
most of our clients.  Even with the incentive of having their
surgeries paid for, we had only 22 clients show up for lack of
transportation funding to get to Kitere.  We then had to arrange
accommodations and food for the clients as well as their caregivers
for the night, organize who was going to be funded and who we would
request surgeries for on compassionate grounds then figure out how all
of the people would get to the surgical clinic, a two hour drive from
our location.

All the clients are now waiting at the surgery clinic (called
Nyabondo) for the fly-in doctor to arrive tomorrow and give the final
word weather or not he'll actually be able to operate on them.  We are
told that he usually works through on average 40-60 surgeries in a
single day depending on how complicated they are.  From our clinic we
took 22 and from the clinic in Kisii another 50 with several other
clinics bringing their clients yesterday and today.

On a personal we continue to reside with the Okidis surrounded by
fresh fruit trees and livestock.  I have become the proud owner of a
small chicken thanks to a gift from a chief in an area where we set up
a clinic.  I thought he just wanted me to hold his chicken which is
not a strange request if you've ever ridden a bus here but indeed it
was a gift.  I am told that when it is fat enough, I am to slaughter
it and prepare supper... needless to say I have not been giving the
chicken any second helpings of feed!  I've also made friends with the
Okidi's goat and named him Gilbert.  He cries when he sees me as I
spoil him with yellow flowers that I pick from the side of the road. 
The Okidis have warned me not to make friends with the food but I keep
pushing that we eat the sheep instead of the goat for Christmas as
he's stupid and never comes when I call him!!

I'm learning a lot here and thanks to a recipe sent by my aunt Anita,
I've even learned to bake a cake over a fire using two pots and a
bucket of dirt!  Mike received a coffee press for his birthday and
we've been enjoying fresh coffee that would make any Starbucks
afficionato pleased!

In many ways we continue to share our culture and personalities with
our hosts.  We purchased a small barbecue for $25 and thought that we
would help by making dinner for the Okidis one night.  (We try to do
this at least once a week.)  We threw together some hamburgers and
were amazed to find that although the Okidis had heard of these
things, they had never eaten one.  No one could believe that Canadians
eat raw lettuce and scratched their heads when we introduced them to
pickles.  Mr. Okidi having travelled to Canada was an expert and
proudly wrapped a pickle with lettuce and covered it in mustard
stating that all the Canadians do this!!

At last, Mike has grown quite wild and wooley having gone for 2 months
without a haircut.  We were taunted by the local boys hanging out of a
barber shack (Kinyozi) who laughed and said "hey muzungu,.. come for
cut".  It threw them off when we proceeded to enter the shack and Mike
took off his hat.  The man cutting his hair had never cut white people
hair before and began to sweat profusely with nervousness.  I think
the first ten minutes of cutting, he did not even touch his head!  So
after 20 minutes and some assisted instruction, along with 20 people
gathered around the shack to watch, Mike received his first Kenyan
haircut for 50 cents Cdn.

Hope that all is well with everyone at home.  I'm sorry for the mass
letter but we've been in the internet cafe 3 times already and the
power in town keeps going off before we can send a personal note to
everyone.  I hope and trust all is well with you.  We leave for Kisumu
tomorrow to meet our friend Kelly who is visiting with us for a few
days before her safari.

God Bless,

Julie