Hippo Therapy

Well, things just keep looking up around here. The research continues to go well, although it can be grating for a type a Westerer used to running from one event to the next to adjust to the "African clock" that we run on around here. But I've been meeting some great folks lately, and really learning loads about Community Development. For example, this 80-something-year-old guy I met named William. William told me the entire history of East Africa's colonial years, finally working his way round to the very house we were drinking chai in. As it turns out, William's dad worked for the colonial owner of this "White Highland" farm after the British pushed the Africans off the land and onto reservations (sound familiar? did our ancestors work out of some kind of training manual for abusing inigenous peoples? gracious). But when the land got redistributed, William's dad cashed in on the farm, and now William is raising his kids there right now. William also told me about how he has worked as a primary school teacher and a land distribution officer, about how he is now an elder in the Quaker's church, and how he played on the Kenyan national football (the real kind) team from 1951-1954. And the dude is still running around talking in the clearest English and whipping out dates and names and places that I forgot twenty minutes after learning them in high school (except that we didn't learn much about colonization in high school; I can't imagine why). At any rate, that's just one example of the cool people I've been chilling with lately.

Speaking of football, I finally found some kids to kick around with near my house. These guys are straight up great, and I've been playing all those great soccer games I never played growing up. All ya'll Covenanters better watch out come intramurals, that's all I got to say.

Another cool person, for instance, is David Khisa, the son of the family I'm living with. Its been great having another young fella to kick ideas around with, and to ask questions about Kenyan culture I wouldn't feel right about asking his folks. Furthermore, this weekend David took us out to Kisumu, the local thriving metropolis. It was a real opportuity to gain some cross-cultural experiences, like eating at the same restaurant five meals in a row because they served pizzas and burgers American style, and going to the theatre to see Spider Mand 3. But more importantly, both mornings we took boats out on Lake Victoria. Lake Victoria is the second largest freshwater lake in the world, and a great place to check out some traditional fishermen and see a whole lot of birds. But most importantly, its the best place around to see hippos. We saw like 25 of those heifers, which was probably the coolest thing I've seen since I've been here. They are so huge its hard to describe, and when you get close they start snorting and grunitn and stuff. Supposedly they are the most dangerous animals in Africa, and we got within like 10 feet of one of them. It was so much fun.

Anyway, keep praying for my research, and feel free to drop me an email sometime. Miss all ya'll, but having a great time here.

Peace,

rhodes