Loki Resort, Part 2 (Nov 20/02)

Yes, I'm back online in Nairobi, safe and alive! I ended up staying in
Lokichoggio for over 3 weeks. it's quite the retreat! Khaki shorts and
grey t-shirts, sandals covered in mud, outdoor showers twice a day, the
relief of an air-conditioned office, excellent buffets, and LOTS of beer
the whole time!

[Just so you know, it cost me CAD$10 to send that last email - yes, ONE
email.. that's why you didn't get any updates for a while. (however, my
phone still works (hint hint!).. well, mostly.. when it's not raining!)]

Speaking of which, Loki had unusual rains while I was there, and
essentially flooded. And when it rains, it pours.. there's not much soil
there, just pavement-smooth dirt - so the rain just collects, then we
got great trenches of mud. The bone-dry river bed I walked across the
other day became a torrent - and we even had people trapped on the other
side! A big lorry (oops, truck) even got swept away (bridges? what
bridges?!), hope everyone was ok. I can't really have a shower when it's
raining either since it doesn't have a roof - kinda hard to dry off
after! I've been eaten alive by mosquitoes - fresh blood - I'm like
their all-you-can-eat buffet. Luckily no malarial ones (ever, I hope!).
How can the whole friggin' town be out of repellant, anyways??!

.Me 'n the lizard. oh, just trekked over to the bathroom, he's usually
there so has become my bathroom friend. I think that every time I go -
"yep, just me 'n the lizard" :) (btw, Afex B has the best washrooms -
flush toilets, and clean! - not like the latrines or outhouse types in
the other camps.. or the cockroach-friendly ones in the manyatta pubs!)

Work went very well - too well, I got too much done - I completely
reorganized their inventory system, so it meant combining 4 different
spreadsheets into one in preparation for actual inventory software in
the future. I have examined 1227 records - had to go through each one
separately - categorize, rename, establish the ordering units, etc. How
utterly tedious. The staff here are great though, so we're making the
best of it. by the end of this I'll be a logistician myself.! I'll also
be coming back here sometime to implement a network - surely to god it
won't take as long though!

So what else did I do besides work?

The town is made up of the manyatta (village), where the native Turkanas
and other Kenyans live in either huts made of sticks or concrete, plus a
few different NGO camps. Kate Camp is right next to the main OLS
(operation lifeline sudan) Afex A camp, so it makes for a convenient
place for a beer after working on mind-numbing inventory spreadsheets
all day. The round table is known as 'zero' on the radio - the
ubiquitous handsets are very useful for making evening plans -
everything's code named: "VSF Belgium Base for Juliet Victor. Copy.
Confirm location. Zero. Copy, heading to your location, over and out." -
this means I'm supposed to go meet Anthony for a beer at Kate Camp! It's
rather surreal in Loki, I must say. The international aid offices are
inside strictly-guarded, barbed-wire fences, keeping out the poor
Turkanas on the other side wearing dirty t-shirts and begging for money
and water... I gave away a few bottles, but I just can't give the kids
money - I tell them to go to school instead (one actually did!! so we
gave her a pen :)

Though the manyatta is an "inadvisable" zone, it's safe enough - no one
would harm a mzungu there. I've been going to the pubs and restaurants
with my Kenyan coworkers - a couple times for nyama choma (that's roast
meat for those of you who just starting reading my novels). A couple
Saturdays ago I went with Anthony - and since I was the only white
person in the village pub, I later brought him to the "mzungu party" at
ICRC (int'l red cross) camp. Sure enough, he was the only Kenyan. Of
course it was all good, it's just the mzungus don't tend to mix much
with the Kenyans ('cept me :). It was a pool party...I wasn't there 30
seconds and got tossed in the pool, fully clothed! How rude - I didn't
even get a beer first!! :)

Another night some of our field staff brought a fresh goat back from
South Sudan, so we got it specially butchered and roasted just for us.
Goat's got a good enough flavour but kinda tough and fatty. The soup was
pretty much gravy with nice bits of fat floating in it, and they even
made me EAT intestines! I prefer the ugali, which is kinda like mashed
potatoes except made with corn flour instead of potatoes, sukuma wiki,
which is kale cooked with onions n stuff, and the requisite tomato and
onion salad. Chapati rocks. I've got the recipes for this stuff so watch
out!!

Went to a Sierra party last Saturday - those are the UN Security guys I
was telling you about before (sierra is "S" for security, Andries is the
one I mentioned). They have a great tukul (hut) with a courtyard - all
catered, free beer - what more could you ask for?? Never did make it to
a disco, but divided my time between the sierras and my coworkers at the
various camp & manyatta bars. Oddly enough, made friends with an actual
chick, Gabriella, a Swiss chemist doing water sanitation and dating
Shiner, another sierra.

However, the best part was my last night in Loki, when Anthony's friends
in the manyatta invited us for dinner. yah, a real Kenyan, home-cooked
meal! I asked if it would be appropriate to hang with the women in the
kitchen, and though it's not usual for a first-time guest to help, I was
put to work! They taught me how to make ugali, and I did the sukuma wiki
all by myself! These little two-room tukuls in the village are pretty
spartan - no lights, no running water. They have little portable
charcoal stoves on the floor of the kitchen/bed/sitting room that
provide lots of heat (man was it hot!) and barely enough light to cook
by. Imagine - camping full time, essentially. Of course I had a blast -
these people are damned friendly! I've been invited to everyone's homes
for Christmas :)

So I missed the Mombasa skydiving boogie for inventory :( But that means
I'm leaning more towards Capetown for Christmas - just contacted the
travel agent today (now that I'm back to civilization) .one way or
another I'll jump out of a plane on this continent!! Also planning to go
to Kampala with Anthony, hopefully the weekend of Dec 12. Adil's also
back in Nairobi and I've been 'opening fast' with him - after he fasts
from sunup to sundown for Ramadan until Dec 5.

That's it for now, hope the reading was fascinating as usual! Hehe :)
Thanks for listening :) Pictures to follow - let me know if you don't
get any but would like to!

xox,
johanna

 

 

 

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