A Saturday Night, and I Ain't Got Nobody

I'm in Kisumu again, the only place to be. The only place to be for internet, at least! Damn the Posta and their humungous debt to the internet provider!! Rumor is, they have no plans to pay and reinstate the internet. Seems a great opportunity for some new business in Kenya, right?? Open your own little cyber cafe (pronounced phonetically here, no accent) and serve the needy people. Nope. Not yet, at least.

I may have mentioned before, I'm reading books like they're going out of style. I think my tally is 15 since arriving in Kenya. Turns out, the PC library has a lot of African books - about white residents or visitors in Africa, some fiction, some memoirs. Turns out, I have an interest in African books. I like being able to say "I've been there!" or "Man, I know exactly what you mean." Also, turns out, reading two African books, back to back, that criticize the development and the role of aid workers on this continent is a really bad idea.

I read Dark Star Safari, by Paul Theroux. Very good book, very good. He was a PCV in Malawi back in the day, and takes a stop at his old village to see how things have progressed. They haven't. If anything, things have regressed. The aid workers throughout the book are rude. There is an on-going comment on the damage that has actually resulted from this well-intended aid and donation. It makes people to be totally dependent on their next donor, never looking to themselves as a means to escape poverty.

The second book, Zanzibar Chest, was also really good. That one is the memoirs of a journalist in Africa, who has been in Somalia and Rwanda during the really bad times. I learned a lot from that book, which is always good. But, again, it had a negative comment for the aid workers that come in and force people to change and take on Western ways. I read these two back to back and was a mess for it. I was depressed, without hope, angry, and resentful of the PC and the people in my village who continually ask me for money. I took it out on one poor fella, who was asking me to connect him to a Christian group in the US to sponsor some projects. He had to go and pray for a while with the Secretary by the time I finished with him.

The good news: I'm sorta starting to do real work here, and work that I think can make more of a difference. I see teaching as having a stronger impact than setting up a small business, as our education always lasts longer than our interest in the summer lemonade stand. Last Wednesday, I went to Kilingili Secondary to meet all 340 of their co-ed students. We started a talk about sex and AIDS and keeping healthy. I really like their guidance counselor, so she and I will be setting up a long-term program where I can meet with smaller groups (like, 50 or less, PLEASE!) and teach this Life Skills program that's about assertiveness, AIDS, and delaying sex. A really positive approach, I think.

Martin and I went over to Eshinutsa Secondary, and they are in desperate need. They don't have a guidance counselor at all, nor do they have a female teacher. It's been a problem, as they can't access the students the way they need to. I'm very eager to get started there.

I'm here today to do some research on some projects and get some business done. I'm also trying to get the hell out of dodge for a breather, a shower and some food I didn't have to cook myself. One thing that has come up a few times is the topic of why female students don't last in Secondary. One reason is they are "sick" once a month, having to stay home because they can't afford tampons or pads. Just imagine how much you learn when you are only getting 75% of what the boys get. I'm hoping to either find a sponsor (ack, I know) or a means for women to solve this. I'm going to stop writing now and go check out LunaPads' site to see what they might suggest...