...And now for a good ole' cup of Joe....

Kenya Arabica in Kiambu 

 

I have -  for as long as I can remember - bean fascinated with coffee. It has bean a constant companion in my life appearing when needed to calm - slow or accessorize moments in life. "Hmmmm - I think I'll have a coffee and think about that" ...  should be my epitaph. I believe "Lets go for coffee" was my high school vision statement.


While  I've now been in Kenya for 18 months, I'd still not gotten to the root of coffee plantations in Kenya... a place where Arabica (the best quality variety) grows with reckless abandon. Kenyan coffee is among the most sought after in the world given almost perfect growing conditions.The occasion required a road trip to Kiambu - near the Tea plantations described in an earlier blogged excursion. You perk along for about 30 minutes uphill from the city and as before to a startlingly pretty place.

The tour takes you through the process of making coffee. From growing the bean to perking a pot! A couple points to make.. the bush grows in 2 parts. Current harvest on one side - and new growth on the other. Once the new growth is 3 years old... the process reverses and the old part is cut back. I thought that was interesting.





Coffee "cherries" are harvested 2x per year. One harvest is 40% and the other about 60%. The cherries are hand picked in an unbelievably labor intensive process and then the berry is then crushed and washed and ends up in this sluice thing where the actual "magic" happens. Its here that the beans are graded for size and density,. That's it! How big and how heavy. I somehow expected something more sophisticated involving mass spectrometry and an anti-gravity machine with laser beams... but it's simply the ones that float farther down the sluice are less heavy and so a poorer grade. Then - after drying -they are sorted by size. AA being the top grade. That's it!

So in large measure the growing conditions and roast determine the character of the final product. I just expected it to be more complicated. Global warming is now threatening to change all this...my much loved Arabica is in trouble.... even here in Kenya where pests not seen before threaten the entire industry.




Another threat to the industry has been Kenya's mismanagement of the resource.  Interestingly - coffee is hardly consumed in the country. While some "Starbucks-like" chains are trying to change all that... only 99% is exported. The British always said to the Kenyans "Coffee is for selling and Tea is for drinking" .... what the British didn't say was that coffee marketing boards that strip the money from the farmer and line the pockets of regulatory authorities was likely a bad idea. Coffee production has fallen from about 130,000 metric tons in the late 80's to around 50,000 metric tons today. The great processing plants from downtown Nairobi have been converted to potato chip factories ending an era that was once a symbol of national pride. Shame that....

One of the world's largest Refuge camps is closing.

Representing MSF was Liesbeth Aelbrecht (pictured in the center) who addressed the concerns the imminent closure of Dadaab will have from a medical perspective. She did a masterful job advocating for those who's suffering needs to be addressed.

I attended a panel discussion this week where the imminent closure (mid- November) of Daddab was being discussed. If you don't know about this  - and a surprising number of people do not - Daddab is a refuge camp in Kenya close to the border of Somalia. It's been in existence for 25 years... meaning, in part, that there are young men and women born in this camp who have spent their entire lives there. It is the largest in the world.


The ink not yet dry on the Kenya constitution, the government of Kenya is continuing with  a "voluntary" repatriation of the Somalis in the RC. Is it voluntary? Hardly. Is it illegal?... most likely. Close to 500,000 souls by the way..... and for the diabetic who needs insulin and knows he or she will not get it...or the others with chronic disease being forced to take residence where the possibility of adequate health care is near zero, the future is must be terrifying. The aspect of their future prospects horrified me - but so too did the near certainty of sexual violence and forced servitude to terrorist interests. Cruel and unusual punishment? Absol-fucking - lutely!

So how about integration into Kenya.... well .... not so fast. My uneducated guess would be that half the population of Kenya does not have adequate access to health care. Many - nothing at all. So Kenya doesn't have all the solutions.... and the fact that this situation has persisted for 25 years is unconscionable. I do despair that our brothers and sisters from around the world sit by and sip lattes while discussing their short game on the links unaware and unprepared to intercede. Heavy - fuck ya - but it's real.

Anything goes on a Kokotenny

I'm always surprised by the what can be packed on a Kokotenny. Essentially, it's a car axle and wheels with a platform built on top. A couple handles on the front and an old car tire at the back on the bottom and you're ready to move shit. The tire is for stopping. The guys who move these are not only strong as an ox but able to balance the weight in such a manner to get down hills and up the next. It's not uncommon to see the operator with his feet off the ground and only the tire dragging on the ground stopping the Kokotenny from careening wildly into cars and people. Sometimes tricky to get around in traffic... they are a part of the special and unique complexion of Nairobi. They are loved and hated... but mostly hated. 

Thanks for reading - Layno!

(This was purchased for South Sudan and will soon be on it's way. It'll be used to pull hardtops (Land Cruisers) through the mud and move water on a trailer we also purchased for the team serving there.)