Karibu Mpeketoni!

Evening in Mpeketoni town from the Havana Club

I made it to Mpeketoni! Paul Mutinda – the secretary of the board for the Mpeketoni Electricity Company – happened to be in Nairobi at the same time as me. He became my unofficial guide from Nairobi to Mpeketoni and took very good care of me. On Monday we traveled from Nairobi to Mombasa on the coast then along to coast to Malindi.
The road from Nairobi to Mombasa is quite well known for its importance in trade for Eastern Africa and for its persistent state of disrepair. Mombasa is a major port not just for Kenya but also for many land locked countries like Uganda and Rwanda. Many of the goods that go to and from those countries pass over the road from Nairobi to Mombasa. Given its importance one would think that it is a well-maintained thoroughfare. Alas the road is constantly washed out from rains or simply slow going because of the potholes and bumps. Jeffrey Sachs in the “End of Poverty” book highlights this road as a key piece of infrastructure for increasing access to markets and reducing poverty.
It seems that either the World Bank was listening or else Sachs was pointing out a project that was already underway because the World Bank is currently overseeing a major overhaul of the road. A good ¾ of the 500km road was as well paved and as sturdily built as the freeways in the US. Unlike freeways in the US however, the road is two lanes the entire way and passes through the heart of many small towns. Our bus was constantly pulling to the side of the road to pick up and drop off passengers. When we weren’t stopped we were weaving into the lane of oncoming traffic to pass countless slow going cargo trucks. The terrain after leaving Nairobi resembled the high deserts of Arizona, but instead of juniper trees there were small African trees and instead of Elk there were elephant! (Just saw one small one). As we dropped toward sea level and came closer to the ocean the vegetation began to green up and become much more lush.
Without much warning, we suddenly diverted from our smooth ride to a road that rivaled many of the worst maintained Forest Service roads. Where the first ¾ of the road resembled Route 66 when it was first built, the remaining ¼ resembled abandoned sections of Route 66 today. We caught up with the World Bank highway construction progress and were diverted back onto the original infamous Mombasa Highway. The remainder of the trip to Mombasa went at a slow pace as we swerved around avoidable potholes and slammed into the rest. Specks of pavement were visible at some points, but the majority of this critical piece of road was dirt.
In addition to overhauling the road the Kenyan government has weigh stations to regulate the weight of the trucks. It seems that one of the major contributors to road wear is overloaded trucks. It shouldn’t be long before the project is completed. Judging by the amount of work put into bridges and culverts along with the smooth surface, the road should withstand much more than the previous piecemeal repairs to the original highway.

At Mombasa we turned north along the coast to the town of Malindi where we rested for the night. In the morning we hopped on a different bus to head toward Mpeketoni. Whereas the first bus rivaled any Greyhound bus in the US, the bus from Malindi to Mpeketoni rivaled a high school bus similar to the old Viking travel bus for those of us from Williams. But the bus company policy is not to let a single cubic foot of space on the bus go unfilled by a human body. A friendly bloke from the UK sat across the aisle from me on the trip, but aside from our initial greetings before departure, I hardly saw him again for the remainder of the four-hour trip. Instead I saw feet, backs, elbows and lots of butts! One child hanging on the back of her mom had a foot that fit perfectly between two of my ribs during the trip. Another lady managed to find a nice spot between my shoulder blades to rest her weight on her elbow.
And when a new person needed to get onto the bus or someone needed to get off, you shouldn’t expect to have the people in front of you clear the way, instead you just need to squeeze and wiggle your way through the bodies. If you’re lucky you’ll get a friendly person to push you along through the aisle.
Of course it is completely illegal to stack buses with people like that. We only had trouble at one police checkpoint where after some arguing the police asked everyone without a seat to disembark (even though we were in the middle of nowhere). It seemed to get a bit stressful for everyone for awhile – including me because I had no idea of what was going on – but after a while the bus pulled up the road a bit and loaded everyone back on. T turns out that the owner of the bus company is quite the power broker/tycoon and any problems with the police can be dealt with through a phone call between bosses. Once loaded we were back on our way. One of the police even hopped on the bus to act as an escort as the security on the road from Malindi to Lamu is not the best. The increased police presence and the escorts have helped to significantly improve the situation.
Before noon we turned off the road from Malindi to Lamu and took a detour to the Mpeketoni settlement scheme. The settlement scheme is composed of thousands of ten-acre plots held primarily by individual farmers. Homes away from the town center are commonly mud walls around a grid formed by small diameter tree trunks with thatched roofs. Along with a baboon or two there were plenty of people out tending to their fields or sitting out of the sun. At the heart of the settlement scheme is the town of Mpeketoni.

Another view of Mpeketoni from the Havana Club

As part of the terms of reference between ESD, the Mpeketoni Electricity Company (MEC), and myself, I had asked that MEC assist me with finding suitable accommodations and negotiating a fair price. Well they went all out. They have me set up at a three-story hotel/restaurant/bar called the Havana Club less than a block from the diesel generators and workshop where I’ll be working. The Havana Club will be responsible for my meals and laundry, and the caretaker of the place will help me with getting situated in town. They are going to have a hard time getting rid of me!

Once I got set up in the room the Chairman, Vice-Chairman, Secretary (Paul Mutinda), and one of the board members invited me to lunch. Most of the conversation was in Swahili, but all of them are fluent English speakers. Today’s lunch was to get to know each other and to introduce me to some of the history of Mpeketoni and MEC. Tomorrow we will meet again to discuss the first items of business. Should be fun!

My “humble” living arrangements in a rural Kenyan town

Nyama Choma

John picked me up for a taste of a Kenyan Friday night on the town. Our activity for the night: nyama choma (roasted meat). We drove toward Nairobi to a place called “Visa Place”. Right as we walk through the door there was a room to the side with a butcher taking orders with goat meat hanging in the windows. John told him what kind of cuts we wanted and the number of kilos of meat – one kilo to split between the to of us or just over a pound each.

We found a table near the live band as we waited for our meat to get roasted. The band played a fantastic mix of music ranging from old country music songs to upbeat Kenyan jams. My favorite was a series of Paul Simon songs with backup singers that just about nailed the sound of Ladysmith Black Mambazo. The place was hopping with people dancing, lots of laughter, and the smell of roasting goat.

After a few drinks our waiter brought out a small plate of ugali and a heaping plate of meat. The meat was roasted without any sauces or seasoning. The waiter cut it off the bone into small chunks. To eat it we grabbed a chunk of ugali and a chunk of meat (ugali is best without silverware) and started devouring – not to stop until a full kilo of meat later. My “Lonely Planet” guide had it right: vegetarians beware!

Citi Hoppa

A crowd of commuters get ready to board a Citi Hoppa as it slows down in downtown Nairobi

Getting on the Citi Hoppa away from downtown in the middle of the day was easy. Getting on the Citi Hoppa in downtown headed toward the residential areas in the middle of rush hour is a different story. Here is what it looks like. If someone is getting off, the bus pulls up to the bus stop and the passengers quickly pile out. The ones getting on crowd around the door and start piling on as soon as the others are off. If you have a friend with you, they can help by pushing hard on your back so that you are able to make it to the front. If you are sneaky, you’ll approach the door from the side instead of getting behind the mass of people, many of which won’t make it onto this bus.

If there is no one getting off the bus then its a bit different. The bus merely slows down while the crowd begins jogging along side the bus. If you are in front you can grab the handles on the side of the bus to help pick up speed. When situated you put a foot on the step and pull your self in. The rest of the crowd follows suit until the conductor taps you on the head and says there is no more room. You must push to the front of the crowd and jump on no matter if you are a lady in heels, an elderly person, or someone carrying a large bundle of stuff. Hesitate for a moment and you’ll get left behind!

After watching my fully loaded bus go by three or four times without even slowing down, I realized that there must a bigger bus stop upstream from where I was standing. I followed the trail of oncoming Citi Hoppa’s to the source to find the mother lode. Here you can find the empty busses moving along the bus stop at a very slow pace. The conductor sits in the side window with a sign indicating the route. Once the bus is loaded and all the seats are full, the bus belches a bit of gray smoke, pulls out and joins the sea of traffic headed out of town.

The mother lode of busses at a crowded bus stop in downtown Nairobi

Karibu Kenya!

A group unloading from a matatu on Ngong Rd. near the office of ESD and the guest house in Nairobi

I made it to Kenya! That is about all that I can summarize right now. I am awash in new smells, new sights, and the constant fear of being run over. The roads are crazy here and pedestrians don't stand a chance. But no need to worry, just hop on the local "Citi Hoppa" and its a few minutes ride from the ESD office on Ngong Road to downtown Nairobi. The first thing I did when I got to downtown Nairobi was to find some ugali (a hardened poridge like substance based on corn meal). I don't know why there was any hurry to find it - I'll probably be eating it daily for the next ten months if Kirubi is right.

My waiter at the restaurant, Omar, decided that the rest of the customers could wait - he was going to spend lunch with me. He sat with me the entire lunch asking questions about what I was up to and sharing plenty of insight about Kenyan and Somali culture. I'm surprised by the ratio of employees to customers at the stores in Nairobi. The supermarket near my guest house had at least one employee working on each aisle along with two employees at each checkout counter, even though there were only about ten people shopping at the time. It sure made it easy to find things!

Into Africa?

Jason and his three year old son Joshua (or Ua as his Uncle Eric calls him). Jason and I have been friends since we were just a bit older than Joshua. Joshua dangled his legs off the side of the boat to provide extra propulsion to get us back to shore as our little yellow raft began to deflate!

I'm slowly getting around to putting together a good reading list to help get a sense of what "Africa" means these days. One book that sounds very good was written by a African-American woman that was a correspondent for the News Hour for twenty years and is now living in South Africa as the Chief Africa Correspondent for NPR. The book is called New News Out of Africa: Uncovering Africa's Renaissance by Charlayne Hunter-Gault. I just bought The End of Poverty: Economic Possibilities for Our Time by Jeffrey Sachs. Kirubi citied this book numerous times in a debate on Africa at the International House at UC Berkeley. He blew me away with his passion and ability to argue for what sort of Development Africa needs today.

The NYTimes today had this interesting article in the Fashion and Style section called "Into Africa" it is a quick analysis of what Africa might mean to Americans.

Katie and ten-month old Caleb at Kaibab Lake near Williams. Joshua has already started introducing Caleb as his little brother.

Home to Arizona

Home in Williams, AZ with a nice rainbow after a summer Monsoon storm

I think the yellow fever vaccination is taking a toll on me. I made it to Prescott, Arizona with my sister Becky, but I had to sleep a good 11 hours before I felt any better. Prescott is a happening place - I'm going to be working on tying up a few last minute things for a project with the Lawrence Berkeley Lab and trying to cram in visits to as many friends as possible before I leave. I'm definitely getting nervous now!

Looking east from our house at the other end of the rainbow

Last days in the Bay Area

Going down the Paintbrush Divide on the Teton Crest trail

I'm back from the Teton Crest trail (with Cliff, Audrey, Gidion, and Julia) and a week with Ashea in Yellowstone (+ many elk, countless bison, five moose, two great gray owls, a howling wolf in the forest, a screeching golden eagle, and three grizzly bears - oh my!). See more photos from the Teton Crest trip at: www.flickr.com/photos/gid

Now I just need to gather my last few belongings and get the final round of shots before heading home to AZ. Then I'm headed to Nairobi on August 21st!

I'll use this site to keep you posted on the news (hence the title: Habari gani? = "What's the news" in Swahili) and to keep a journal of the adventure!