The bars may close but the blogs must go on

1.  You can count as many people as you want but do not deprive me of my beer

In yesterday’s Kenyan Daily Nation, Cabinet Minister Prof George Saitoti was quoted saying “Let us take a break from drinking…”  All bars and “entertainment places” are closed today for a public holiday, which was declared in order to conduct the 2009 Kenyan census.  Despite this, Tusker and I still have big plans tonight.  Every night since we arrived in Kenya, my traveling compadres and I have shared stimulating conversation over a Tusker or two in the hotel bar - this tradition will continue.  I only hope that we can top last night’s discussion with wrapped with the statement “Just give me two beers and a cigarette and I am a whore.”

The census holiday (declared only yesterday) forced our program to be held at a nearby hotel today instead of the usual training center.  As we walked to the hotel this morning the streets were quiet and empty.  We were thrilled because this meant that we would not have to fear for our lives as we crossed the streets.  There are no stoplights at any of the intersections, only round-abouts, which create a horrifying death trap for pedestrians (or at least for this pedestrian).  The lack of stop lights would probably be fine for a small town or city but considering the population of Nairobi is estimated at around 4 million (to be confirmed with this week’s census), it is what I fondly refer to as a “cluster fuck.”

2.  "Flying Toilet" is a technical term

One of the first things we heard about in Nairobi was the existence of Kibura, one of the largest (if not the largest) slums in East Africa.  The population of the slum is estimated at about a million (again, to be confirmed with this week’s census).   We quickly learned that there are virtually no toilets in the slum and “flying toilets” are prevalent.  We were confused at first, but my (rather blunt) colleague quickly confirmed that, in fact, this means that they “throw their shit.”  After doing a bit more research I learned that slum residents defecate in bags and the flying toilet activities are conducted at night.  Where exactly they are throwing the bags is still unclear (hopefully not in the direction of the Olive Gardens hotel) but, as you can imagine, such behavior creates an enormous public health situation.

As long as we are discussing the topic of toilets, while using the restroom yesterday I continually found the toilet seats were left up in the women’s restroom.  I am completely perplexed as to what the rational is for this and even the biggest know-it-all ever (Google) does not know.   It was a major topic of discussion at the hotel bar last night and we came up with a few ideas:

• The culture here is reversed – women leave the toilet seat up for the men
•  Health and sanitation reasons that have become a part of the culture
•  The women are not used to having a toilet seat and feel more comfortable using the restroom with it up

My rather blunt colleague attempted to get the real story today from one of the locals but when she asked the woman just laughed and immediately turned to her friend and giggled several sentences in Swahili (about how ridiculous we are, I am sure).  So, the jury is still out.

 3. I have gone completely overboard

One of today’s lectures was on the topic of human resources and leadership – during the lecture the professor was speaking about the difficulties that women leaders face in the workplace.  She told the class that women leaders must stand up for themselves although they do not need to go “overboard” and become feminists.  By this description I might just be in the deepest depths of the ocean.  I will give her the benefit of the doubt however because later in her lecture she was talking about how leaders tend to lose some of their leadership capabilities as they age – she then turned to one of our UCLA professors (who is male) and said, “you probably know all about this professor, you are pushing menopause aren’t you?”  Hilarious.

4. We are not in Los Angeles anymore Toto

The people that we are working with as a part of this program are nothing short of amazing.  They are smart, talented and passionate people that have really astounded me.   Some of their stories are simply unbelievable and I feel as though I am living in a CNN report.   Today, one of the women in my group told me about some AIDS/HIV infected people must travel across a river in order to get treatment – there are no bridges across the river.  She showed me an amazing picture of people wading though the water with bicycles to get to the clinic.  Yesterday, a man told me about women who become infected with HIV/AIDS because they sleep with fishermen in order to get fish to feed their starving families.  I compare my problems and hardships to theirs and I feel ashamed of even considering them problems.  I am so thankful for all that I have in my life and I hope that this trip has taught me to never take any of it for granted.

More tomorrow.