Today I visited Nairobi for the second time. Peris, her sister and I went to meet with the folks at Solar Cookers International. After getting a bit lost and walking a bit extra we finally ended up having a great and informative meeting.
Happy to say that I am now the proud owner of my very own, brand spanking new Solar CooKit, user's manual, black pot and black lid and special high heat withstanding bags to put the pot in. I am convinced we will be bringing solar cooking and all of its benefits to our communities very soon.
After the meeting we searched for needles for the women's tailoring and bead work programs. Then after walking and sweating so much we stopped in at a tiny little spice shop to have a cold juice. I liked everything about the spice shop. Big containers of cinnamon sticks, many seeds, everything in bulk and even a nice wooden bench to sit on while we sipped our drinks and rested.
We got a call from Peris and Rose's Sister who lives in Nairobi. She was outside in the car and unable to find parking, so we went straight out to meet her. This is the part when I feel angry about what trouble my whiteness can cause. Some parking police people jump out of nowhere as we are all climbing into the car and try to act like Peris' sister had committed a serious offence by pulling over to let passengers in. What ensues is a 15 minute debate where it becomes really obvious that they just want a bribe. Because they have a white passenger.
The worst part about the situation was not the corruption. Yes, it made my blood boil since these people had no integrity. What got me even more was the fact that the entire time I was literally on the verge of saying something to the parking officers, but couldn't for the life of me figure out what would be best to say. The only thing that came to mind was to get out of the car and try to shame them by saying things like "Is this what you want Americans to think of your country??? Is this really the Kenya you want to show me?!?". What a mess. They asked for $20 (which is a large sum here) and only got away with about three dollars. I felt awful about it since they lost the money just because of my presence.
I think the rains must be coming soon since we've had certain bugs showing up which is foretelling.
Hoping to visit one of G-BIACK's most successful communities tomorrow and also purchase the glass jars for the seed bank. I really hope they arrive.
Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Kenyans really embrace it here, all the radio DJs talked about it. Over half of Nairobi was dressed in red and there were flowers for sale everywhere on the street.
"To a worm in horseradish, the whole world is horseradish." Yiddish Proverb
4 comments:
And Happy Valentine's to you, my sweet, far away in distance, but close in spirit, heart. It will be fun to hear about your solar cooking adventures. Hugs, Momma
Hi Kate,
Just catching up with your blog tonight while two of my three boys go crazy around me in a wrestling match after eating chocolate cake that I brought home to celebrate Valentine's Day. Thanks for all the good writing, interesting stories, and insightful analyses of life in Kenya! Hope you had a sweet day.
xo,
Barbara
thanks Mom. i'm hoping the rains hold out so that we can use the cooker and teach the girls here.
Hi Barbara!
Thanks for reading and commenting :)!!! Ha, that is quite a picture of your boys that you painted for me. I really appreciate your kind words and hope I can keep it up. It's the first time I've traveled long term without a (old fashioned) journal so the blog has many uses, although sometimes I wonder if I'm getting a bit too personal since I don't have a journal for that :/ hehe.
Hope all is well in S.B., it's my favorite time of year there now. The mountains and bluffs must look so beautiful!
Love,
Kate
Post a Comment