Ned is 12 days old.  They grow up so quickly.  I forgot how little newborn babies are.  Next to his older brother, he looks like a toy.  And Abarizaa looks like a grown up boy still running around in diapers. I call him Ned cause Nyerdet is rather difficult for me to pronounce sometimes.  I hope this name thing doesn’t cause any physcalogical problems later on in life.

Abarizaa came running into our room this morning wearing only his t-shirt and a big ol smile.  He was extremely excited.  Not sure if it was because he was naked or if he was just happy to be awake and running around the house.

My mother came for a visit.  I believe she is enjoying herself.  I know all of my brood is throughouly enjoying having her around. The first day was like christmas with all the goodies she brought.  I also think the kids like having another kawaja around to aks loads of questions.  She doesn’t bark at them as much as this grumpy baba.

Now I’m trying to figure out a cheap and quick way to get back to Sudan and my failing managerial position.  Wish I could just stay here, but am having difficulty turning nothing into money.  A money tree might help…

DNR stands for the initials of the possible name of my new born son.

He was born this morning at around 8:30 through c-section. We had some very stressfull last few days. Mary was in Hospital since Saturday. I am very happy he came, is well and so is the momma.

Here is a first picture, hope you enjoy:

about 4 a.m. I start to hear all the roosters crowing. i can’t estimate the number. too many to count I think.

between 5 and 6 I can start to hear various neighbors starting to get up and move around. Babies waking up, crying for their mother’s milk. Old men coughing. Women washing. Children yelling or being yelled at.

From 7 most of the neighborhood is awake. Motorcycles roaring to life as their drivers speed off in a hurry to get nowhere, taking little heed of the obstacles in the roads or anything else that might pop up in their way. They dart in front of vehicles provoking a stream of angry yells and the blast of a car horn. Radios at different volumes share the morning news or music meant for a night club.

Around 8 those that go to school start on their way. Those that don’t look for another glass of tea or the remaining mandazi (doughnut) and then run off looking for mischief to get into.

If I am still in bed, it is because I am being lazy. I can hear the whole neighborhood awake and beginning their day. The house, hut, tukel or whatever it may be called doesn’t keep out the noise. Apparently bamboo and grass don’t muffle much in the way of sound waves.

This morning it rained. Very hard. This house sits at a funny slant. It ran down the outside and inside to the floor, forming a little stream that passed through one side of the room. Need to fix that.

The rest of the day got warm. Lots of sun, lots of heat. For a couple of weeks I was driving around in a pickup with my arm hanging out the window getting a one sided tan. This last week I have stayed indoors in the air conditioning a bit more and i think I am losing the browness. I don’t care though. Its too hot out there.

i visited one of my clients this afternoon and drank 3 of my beers. 500 ml cans are big. I realized after the fact that three tall boys are about the same as six small. My head is spinning just a little bit.

Juba. this place is a little bit crazy.

i think it is my third week into the job. still not very excited bout it. For the past two weeks I have been driving around this town in a small pickup without any A/C. I have a serious case of farmers tan on one side of my body. My back hurts from bouncing around all day.

we load up the truck in the morning with our product then move from shop to shop trying to find folks to buy it from us. Some take it and tell us to come back in a few days for money. then we go back and they tell us to come back a few days later, still no money.

beer smells. especially when it is sealed up in a hot container. i come home every day smelling like a drunk. good thing the traffic police don’t come out at night. but then things like drinking & driving, seat belts and other issues of driving and safety are not addressed by the police here. Or for that matter, even the law. I saw a man driving this morning drinking something called “95″. Not sure of the exact brand, but is a beer that is 9.5% by volume.

last week I was pulled over for not having a seat belt, but the ticket I was given had something to do with the registration of my vehicle. In reality they pulled me over cause I was a foreigner driving a truck that normally only the locals drive and they figured they could get some cash out of my pocket. which they did.

today a good friend of mine had $80,000 stolen from his company by someone he had given a lot of trust. it is crushing him right now. He went to report the crime to the police and they were about to put my friend in Jail. They accused him of being in cohorts with the man who took the money because my friend and the thief are both from Kenya. It took him a while to explain to the police that the money was his to begin with and he had no reason to steal it.

Im looking for a room to rent. finding the people to talk to takes lots of time. Getting the person to name a price takes even longer. My wife tells me of house she could get for about $300. All the places I have found, just for one room without much of any facility, run around $750 to $1000. My wife says she doesn’t want to take me to this house because they neighbor some relatives she doesn’t like. In a few days I think I am going to be living in a grass hut.

Its hot. forgot how boiling this country can get in February.

I came to Juba a week ago.  Was thinking would only be here for about four days, but the days have stretched into a few more than that.  If things went well for my wife today, then we can actually look at leaving tomorrow. If they didn’t we may be stuck here until Tuesday or Wednesday next week.

Not only is it hot, it is also extremely dusty. Am glad there is a shower in my room to wash myself off with at night.  I feel a little guilty at having this privilege but havn’t lost any sleep because of it.

Other than the heat and dust, it has been nice to be here.  Each time I come I realize I would like to stay longer.  Its just that without a job, house or vehicle life in this place can be very difficult and slightly frustrating.  If we had at least one of the three, then maybe we could begin from there, but at the moment we don’t have any in this place.

Kenya is still having a few problems.  The leaders are still negotiating, but it doesn’t seem like they are getting very far.  There are lots of rumors running around about what might happen if the negotiations fall apart, and none of them are very nice.  The good thing about rumors is that they are mostly talk and hopefully very little substance.  All we can do is wait and see.

… but currently Kenya is my home.

Things seem to be getting much worse before they get better. Since last Thursday two more major towns in the Rift Valley have started burning and are experiencing running battles between different ethnic groups. Today we woke up to the news that a new MP and member of opposition had been murdered outside of his home early this morning. Some riots broke out around the town in response to this. Police went and teargassed the group of mourners gathering in his home to pay him respect. Cars were being burnt just up the road from my house.

Those in “leadership” positions have been really quiet. Havn’t heard anything from the “president” or even from the other guy that wanted to be president.

In one of my earlier posts I mentioned that it felt like Kenya was on a ledge about to fall off into an abyss. What I forgot to mention was that that ledge was at the end of a gradual slope. For a while it seemed the country was slowly pulling itself back up that slope. The reality though is that it has been scrambling and slipping and not gaining much ground. After this weekend it seems that the footing has been lost, the country has fallen on its ass and it is now slipping back towards that ledge and all attempts to stop itself proving fruitless.

What we are fearing now is that the violence coming out of the rift valley is going to spread into the heart of Nairobi.  If that happens I think the country may have gone over the edge and be hanging onto it by just a few fingers.

I’m linking to some photos from other websites.  They are linked to take you to the place I got them from. They are a small representation of what is happening outside of my comfortable little hole in the ground.  Some are very graphic.

I grabbed most of these photos from The Vigilante Journalist and Insight Kenya.  Go check out their sites for detailed descriptions and more information.

Kenya

Right now its just waiting. Are they talking ? What is being planned? Is there going to be city wide disturbances again? What…?

It doesn’t seem like anything is going anywhere. There are a lot mouths talking, but nothing happening. Except for more deaths, more burning homes, more displacement of people and the rest of the country pretending that things are back to normal.

Read today that the Government wants all the people staying in camps here in Nairobi to return to their homes by Monday next week. Homes that either are not there or have been taken over by someone else or are in places that these people were specifically targeted because of their tribal affiliation.  But the Government is assuring people that things are calm and they have control of the situation.  Yeah right.

Photo from Insight Kenya.  He has the best collection of images I have seen concerning what is going on here in Nairobi.  If it were not for him and a couple of others, it would be easy to think everything had calmed down and life was “moving on”.

Sudan

We are not getting a lot of news from that side.  Mary is in Juba at the moment frustrated with the heat.  Funny cause it has been cold here in Nairobi this last week.  We had some worry things were getting very rocky for the South over the course of the last few weeks as well, but at the moment it has simmered down.  Still smoldering though.

Driving around today one might think things are progressing back to a form of normality. I just have this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach that it is not. Think it started when we walked into Nakumat, our local grocery store, and couldn’t find the majority of basic commodities such as bread, milk and fresh veg. Also didn’t help my stomach that I and my wife were talking about what our options are if things go really off. Got a little depressed after that.
I talked with two different friends today, one in Kitale, the other in Lodwar. Things are peaceful, but both places have ground to a halt because there is no fuel, food or other items flowing in. The one in Kitale was only visiting for Christmas and was supposed to come back to Nairobi with her family beginning of this week. Looks like they are going to be stuck there till things start flowing, if they start, again.

This past week we have seen massive violence and the trajic death of an estimated 300 or more people throughout the country (probably closer to or well over 500+). Unfortunately it may continue. The really sad thing is that it doesn’t seem the leaders really care. Casualties or fodder in the battle for whatever.