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.

Last week I escorted a couple of Journalists from the Netherlands around Nairobi & Naivasha so they could attempt to do some stories on the recent violence and problems that have been going on in here in the country.  These are a group of photos I took along the way.  We visited three camps, one without any people, a school in Limuru, a counseling center and parts of the Kibera slum here in Nairobi.  Click on the photos below to get a bigger image and a small description.

… 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.

I had to do some shopping for the house yesterday, so stopped by the local grocery.  The Red Cross was set up outside the store and was taking blood donations to assist with victims of the current ongoing violence that is taking place in Kenya.

I decided donating a pint of blood was at least something I could do to help.  They took my info, weighed me and had me sign some forms.  Found out I was a bit heavier than I wanted to be.  Think the scale was off by about 10kgs (25 lbs) or I just had a lot of stuff in my pockets.

They set me up with my left arm.  All the while I am thinking about my friend Joe.  He passed away last year due to multiple complications with his kidneys.  We met in 4th grade and had been close friends for a long time.  He was always in and out of the hospital.  He had his first kidney transplant at the age of 8 and I think one or two others after that plus numerous operations for other things.  The last that I remember he was up to something like 15 major surgical operations with massive scars to prove it.   I was thinking about Joe because he always joked that he was very jealous of my veins.  That if he had mine, the doctors would never have problems finding where to stick him with a needle.

So with my confidence in my veins I laid down on that bed expecting things to go very smoothly.  Apparently veins get more difficult to find as a person gets older and fatter.  The man looking for mine seemed to be having some difficulty.  He pulled that strap really tight and whacked the place with his fingers for a minute before being satisfied.  Then he stuck me.

Normally getting stuck to draw blood is not a big deal.  You feel a little prick and then just lay there for a few minutes till they tell you it’s finished.  I felt a big prick and a heck of a lot of pain.  Told him.  Then he did something else and I felt more pain.  Told him about that too.  After he dug around for a minute (ouch) he was satisfied that he had finally gotten it in.   Apparently not.

At this point my desire to do a good deed was fading quickly.   A lady came over to check the progress of the bag and wasn’t very happy.  She said it wasn’t working and would I mind if they tried the other arm.  I was a bit dubious.  Was thinking I should just get up and walk away.  But there I was on the bed already and she seemed a bit more knowledgable in the art of finding veins, so I decided what the heck.  She strapped the other arm, whacked it a bit and then went to work.  A little prick, no pain and we were good to go.

Joe would’ve laughed at me for complaining about something small like this.   He was no stranger to needles.  I think through the course of his life he had just about every available vein tapped by one.  Arms, hands, legs, neck, toes, you name it.  I miss Joe.  I never got a chance to tell him that.

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.

… is back.  my stomach hurts.

Kibaki announced his new cabinet.  He has also called for parliment to open on the 15th of January.  Which on one hand is good that the government wants to start its work.  There is just that thorny issue of all the controversy surrounding the election, the fact that the leader of the opposition still will not accept his defeat and a country still laying on its back from the violence of last week.  One might have thought trying to clear up some of these issues would have had some priority, but then one isn’t a politician.

I see it going one of two ways: “not so well” or “oh F*@K…”

Hope I am just paranoid.

The city was working today.  Traffic jammed up in all the right places. The streets were crowded with people.  That gnawing feeling in the pit of my stomach that the country was tittering on the brink of utter chaos subsided a bit.  Think it has managed to take a step back and steady itself somewhat, although it is not so far from that edge.  A push, gust of wind or small trip could send it back over.
Out in the rural we are still hearing reports of folks causing mayhem, death and destruction.   but they aren’t in the city, so no worries.  Except for that there are still problems with supply lines and the cost of things are going up very quickly.  but out of sight, out of consciousness…

The opposition called off planned protests tomorrow.  Looks like they might be considering talk a bit more benificial for all then more chaos and destruction.

A friend buried one of two sisters today.  Perished in a house fire in Mombasa when a mob locked the doors and set it ablaze.  Two sisters and a niece among 8 that died.

Got this from a friend and thought I would share:

“happy new year.
do hope you are ok with your family.
also hope you are in Nairobi safely and not fighting in the streets. or wherever part of the world you are now.

me ok and safe. our place here is quite and life is as usual.
schools were to open on 7th and heard that they have been extended till 14th Jan cause of the problems of elections so coming that week. will get you informed when i arrive.

me here have burned my voting card.its realy awkward to vote now in Kenya when the person you vote in is rigged out and i have never seen a corrupt elections in Kenya like this one.form the civic to the Presidentail.
imagine with our illitrare mothers and fathers who never understand the word Democracy! voting for an opponent at the last moment cause they have been bribed with Money and a bag of Maize. Imagine somebody at the last moment pouring in 21 Million for a bribe with bags purposely for bribing. he is in now and will be seen again when the elections are contacted. its painy!

otherwise will see each other in Nairobi and will talk more.
have a wonderful year.”