A little Kisii please ... right on the lips!

Homa  Bay: a place for Fresh Fish and HIV

Sub-Saharan Africa has a distinctive landscape. Like a ham & pineapple pizza you know it immediately. It's sparsely arranged scrub brush and orangy colored sand dotted with rocks and dry gray branches. Mostly flat, it's colored only slightly by the passage of the sun as it travels unrelenting on its daily path. Kisii county is surprisingly different.

Roadside fun.....really fun!!!... for the record - I did help a little. Thanks Tom

Tom and I ventured out to Homa Bay to visit the MSF team there and get a sense of their work and needs. It's west from Nairobi and tucked neatly against the coast of the famous Lake Victoria. I had never been this way before.. well at least not to where the landscape changes so dramatically. As we traveled along in our 78km/h speed governed 3 ton truck we enjoyed the zebra, giraffes, baboons and other wild  bits along the road side.

A note on my fondness for speed governors ..... the "control box" is located beside the drivers head and emits a brain popping piercing beep when you hit 78kmh.. then shuts off the accelerator when you hit 80kmh. Like waiting at the dentist for a root canal  - you know it's coming any minute  - and are prepared - but still can't fathom how painful it is. Like a knitting needle in one ear and out the other  - truck driving professionals in Kenya have my sympathy. A flat tire was icing man..icing!

Surprisingly and suddenly the landscape changes and as you approach Kisii county. A village, a tribe and a county, the land is lush green and beautiful. I have been fortunate to meet and become close friends with a number of Kisii folks since my arrival here  - and while I have heard a lot about this magical place - was unprepared for just how beautiful it was. I want to live here I thought!!!!!

Tom in the tea garden looking very cool!

Part of the family.....

 My driving partner Tom is also Kisii and was kind enough to show me his family farm. What a treat....I live for this kind of adventure!!! His family has lived on the land since about 1900 amongst the many flowers, green grass, goats frolicking and cows looking around bored and wondering. The farm grows mostly tea but also sugar cane, gooseberry, tomatoes, coffee, pineapple. Heck - anything grows here. I met the entire family and have never been more warmly welcomed anywhere in my life. As we sat all together and drank a hot mixture of cassava root and some kind of sweet crushed grain in their lovely sitting room, there was a beautiful comfortable feeling that can only come with a simple authentic appreciation for life and the relationships we share. Tom is indeed a fortunate man.

I started working with Tom about 4 months ago. He was a part-time worker when we met and became a full time member of the Mighty KSU/MSF team after a short time. As we traveled - he told me all about the country he loves and his time in it. Tom is infinitely kind, patient and thoughtful. He's a great guy who makes a positive impact on the world every day.

I am the greatest......and could care less what others think!!!! Love this guy!!!

 I added the picture above because it's just so great. :) This fellow works in a roadside stop in a place called Narok. Behind you can see Ugali being made (It's like mashed potatoes made from corn flour) and then this man in front. What? Happy  - proud - delighted to be on the planet... regardless - glad to be amongst the living on this fine day and more than happy to pose for the photo! Love it!



In contrast, and to your left, is the moment where I learned about the unspeakable. You can see the TV screen in the background where I learned that Hillary Clinton would be calling to gloat about the election....ahhhh nope, rather to concede. What the fuck!!!!!!! Nothing funny to say about it. It's a tragedy of epic proportions and confirms for me that the Americans  (many though thankfully not all) have lost touch with the important realities in life. Their moral compass is so badly broken that timely repair is unlikely. This is manifest destiny from the history books of my youth? And am I so "enlightened"?... or am I being annoyingly and unreasonably condescending?

 I don't think this so. This is a reflection of the erosion of a peoples values conspicuously manipulated by commercial marketing institutions. A philosophy for life based on having at all cost. The need to have even though you don't know why you want. A society driven by conspicuous consumption and thoughtlessness.  Tragedy! My son set me straight a number of years ago when he was 15. "I need an XYZ" I said. To which he replied... "you don't need anything Dad... you just want it. "Hmmmmm?

 

 

Lake Victoria and Homa Bay

So this is Lake Victoria, the water hyacinth are so thick it seems you could walk across them. And they stretch for kilometers in all directions. Surreal......it's a scourge that will take monolithic resources to deal with. At the same time - it's both an impressive and beautiful place. Tom and I were sure to visit at both dusk and day break to take it in. It smelled wonderful, fresh and is eerily quite and peaceful as we stood silently in the morning light.

On the right  - fresh Talapia for dinner. "Do you want the head or body" the server asked? Hmmmm well let me ponder that for a just a moment....." Well, as tempting as the head is - I'll go with the body" I said. " Sorry, said the server  - we are out of bodies - we only have heads" .....  Tom stepped in and after some persuasive conversation from Tom - a body was found.... and very very good it was!  Who eats heads? No wonder that's all they have left. I since have it on good authority that the head is sweeter.......and more delicious I'll take their word for it.......

As they say in this part of the world - Maji ni Maisha - Water is Life!!. Water as far as you can see!!! So why is it in a place where there is so much water would we have so many dying from HIV?
Here you see the  Mighty MSF truck parked and ready for another day working in the community to bring life saving treatment to those in need. Because here - in Homa Bay exist some of the highest levels of HIV in the world. I have heard conflicting numbers but it's probably reasonable to assume around a quarter of the people have this awful disease. And worse - it has changed little in 20 years. One of the driving forces is a cultural norm where men "inherit" a family member's wife when they depart. So - If Joe has HIV and his brother Jim dies...Joe get's Jim's wife and passes along HIV to her and any children they may have. There's an obvious solution.... but it's not one that has been widely embraced by the people of the region. President Obama was in Kenya not so long ago delivering the message (this message among others) that some customs are just bad customs and shouldn't be followed if their good intensions are more than offset by a bad outcome. But in a country that has so little - customs are comfort and predictability is necessary when so little is certain.

Thanks for reading -Layno!!