Nairobi News (Oct 17/02)

Hello again! Betcha you're all wondering how the Nairobi Thanksgiving
weekend turned out - not bad, I must say! I didn't get to the goat party
but instead had a "family" dinner with Ash (the restaurant owner),
Mohamed, and various friends on Saturday. The airshow on Sunday was
excellent - we took a couple of kiddies with their moms, and in between
the skydivers, helicopters, and flying formations, had fun with
balloons, face painting, and ice cream (yes, I let the kids have some
too :). The show was topped off by the most enormous fireworks display
I've seen in my life - and that includes Canada Day in Ottawa!! (So this
is what the Kenyan taxes pay for..!)

I also got to speak to my "real" family for the first time since I've
been here (btw, can you believe it's over 5 weeks already??) which is a
luxury I no longer take for granted. Hopefully it turns out to be
cheaper than the CHEAP CAD$2/min rate I found. It was wicked to talk to
everyone - not to mention my 88-year-old grandfather is even sending me
emails!! (go grandaddy!!)

I managed to get a primo contact at the airshow - chairman of the
aeroclub & skydiving club - who, besides giving Mohamed and me a VIP
pass into the clubhouse, is going to hook me up with the parachuting
permit needed to jump here - yay! I'm also planning on getting to
Mombasa's Diani Beach (on the Indian Ocean coast) to take part in a huge
skydiving "boogie" - people are coming from around the world for 2 weeks
of skydiving right onto the beach! I am hoping to go by train Nov 1-3..
hopefully with some company, otherwise I'll meet people there I guess!
Check it out: www.skydivekenya.com.

In other magnificently exciting news, my friend Adil has also hooked me
up from afar (he's in Egypt now, remember) - his friend Asad runs a
safari company (www.africasafariadventures.com) which I am now (semi)
employed by! They have a trip booked for this weekend, and in exchange
for getting to go on safari to Masai Mara, I'm helping as crew. Cool
huh! Masai Mara National Game Reserve borders on Tanzania, close to the
Serengeti. As a game reserve (as opposed to park), it provides 1500
square km of natural habitat for all of the big game species plus the
Maasai - a native pastoral tribe that has resisted all colonizing
efforts by the imperial/white crowd. They're tough - probably the most
popular tribe in the tourists' imagination because of their obstinance
in the face of domination (plus their way cool beads ;). In any case,
they live traditionally, dressing in their red blankets, carrying lethal
spears, and threading millions of tiny beads through their ears -
whether in the Mara or leading their cows through the streets of
Nairobi! I'm too excited, can you tell :)

Have I told you that I've acquired a servant? Against my better
judgement, I might add - since I am, after all, single and don't have
much stuff, I feel a bit guilty paying someone to do my housework, like
I'm taking advantage of the economic disparities... and especially since
she handwashes my clothes! But apparently it's the "thing to do" here
(ok, so I was peer pressured!). What sold me is that I am actually
providing employment to someone - for about CAD$8/day, twice a week, my
houselady Alice can support herself... imagine..! Economically, it was
costing me around the same amount to have my clothes machine-washed at
the laundromat - which was inconvenient and didn't include having my
floors mopped and tub scrubbed! Yes, I feel like such an elitist now..!

Photos, photos.. everyone's asking for photos! ...After much pain and
anguish, I've given up trying to upload even a few pictures to Epson.
I'll have to continue emailing them instead - you see, my email server
is local to me, so I can send at normal dial speeds to the server, then
the ISP is the one that has to try and get all of the messages out to
you guys (instead of me trying to maintain an ftp connection from
Nairobi to California over bad phone lines, satellite, etc.). However,
if someone in Canada wants to volunteer to upload the photos to my Epson
account, then the rest of my (dialup only) peoples could see them as
well.... Out of respect for those without high-speed access, I'll send
a separate email after this with the photos - if you don't receive
photos but would like to, let me know (likewise if you got some and
don't want 'em!)

So, the forthcoming small photo collection is from Crater Lake/Naivasha
the weekend before last - where, btw, they are filming part of Tomb
Raider 2 - can you believe it?? We stayed with the crew... and
Angelina... (heheh, no, not really, but she's definitely in Nairobi
somewhere, Mike!!). There's also a couple pics from the airshow -
including the skydivers' plane and a cool shot of canopy relative work!
The girls in the photo with Mohamed are Jeniffer and her daughter Terri,
plus her friend Angela and her daughter Sandra, and Will, my Liberian
next-door neighbour (she's the left-most person in the pic).

btw, anyone considering a visit to Kenya?? I would be thrilled to host
any of you (well, with help from Alice ;) Regarding flights, it seems my
dad has found a deal to Nairobi - not sure of the details, but he quoted
me CAD$1600 (hint to Dad - send me details! :). Remember, accommodation
is taken care of...! And we're also doing behind-the-scenes planning for
the Egyptian pyramid pilgrammage next spring - will post details here
(once the organizers in Fall River and Toronto give me info :)

As well, it seems all of my NetCorps comrades have spread out to their
destination countries - good luck to all and keep sending news - it's
awesome to hear what everyone's up to. What a crazy world, huh! (and
we're all loving it :)

Repeat disclaimer - I read and enjoy each and every email I get - thanks
so much for writing everyone! My only problem is that I am so severely
limited when it comes to internet access, I can only usually get the
time to send out massive updates instead of replying individually.
Please don't be offended, and keep writing - you're all my lifeline :)

Take care, miss you all,
johanna
xox

 

Copyright Johanna Voerman Khisa, 2002-03. Reprinting or reposting without permission is prohibited.