Atlantans in Kenya Club
Great news! Trish from Atlanta has just moved to Kisumu and she’ll be here two years! Even better, she’s chosen TICH over the CDC to house her office. Trish is from Emory University in Atlanta and is project coordinator to bring safe drinking water to Kenyans. She’s working with several organizations (CDC, Emory, Society for Women with AIDS in Kenya (SWAK) and the Atlanta Rotary club-funder of the project) to drill new wells in arid, central Kenya and to distribute WaterGuard to rural areas in Western Kenya. Or something like that. I’m especially excited because her public health degree is in water and sanitation, which I’ve been studying through books in TICH's library (because Pambazuko is working on the water supply and building latrines in Nyalenda-I wanted to know more about it).
So Trish has a roommate, Matt, who’s from Atlanta!! The downside is that Matt will be returning to Atlanta and Emory in two weeks. He’s been here two months and we’ve only just now met. I’m pouting as I write this. Worse still, Matt cooked fried chicken with homemade biscuits last Sunday night and I missed out. But Matt is working on his master’s in public health as part of the Peace Corp program, so he may return to Kenya one day. It was such a delight to spend time with Trish and Matt Wednesday evening, when we went to the Yacht Club’s "Non-member" day and had beers while the sun set over Lake Victoria. Thomas, a guy working in development to bring a superior breed of goat to Kenyans, also joined us. But he’s from Denmark, which is fine, but it’s NOT Atlanta!
There were a large number of Quakers at the club, with lots of fair-haired, attractive children playing games on the green lawn by the lake. The women all sat at a long table together. They wore the plain dresses and white caps of the Amish, or the Mennonites. The men played football (European) then something that resembled Bocci Ball, while the ladies sat and talked sedately. Then the Quakers rushed for the wall at the lake’s edge and Matt said, "Do they see a hippo?!" so we leapt out of our chairs and made our way to view the darkening surface of the lake. Sure enough, there was a giant of a hippo headed ashore. Then there were two. We went to the other end of the club’s lawn and watched as the sky blackened and the wind made silver ripples on the surface. Absolutely peaceful and divine. Matt and I stood by the stone wall, pointing occasionally, until it was too dark to see.
So Trish has a roommate, Matt, who’s from Atlanta!! The downside is that Matt will be returning to Atlanta and Emory in two weeks. He’s been here two months and we’ve only just now met. I’m pouting as I write this. Worse still, Matt cooked fried chicken with homemade biscuits last Sunday night and I missed out. But Matt is working on his master’s in public health as part of the Peace Corp program, so he may return to Kenya one day. It was such a delight to spend time with Trish and Matt Wednesday evening, when we went to the Yacht Club’s "Non-member" day and had beers while the sun set over Lake Victoria. Thomas, a guy working in development to bring a superior breed of goat to Kenyans, also joined us. But he’s from Denmark, which is fine, but it’s NOT Atlanta!
There were a large number of Quakers at the club, with lots of fair-haired, attractive children playing games on the green lawn by the lake. The women all sat at a long table together. They wore the plain dresses and white caps of the Amish, or the Mennonites. The men played football (European) then something that resembled Bocci Ball, while the ladies sat and talked sedately. Then the Quakers rushed for the wall at the lake’s edge and Matt said, "Do they see a hippo?!" so we leapt out of our chairs and made our way to view the darkening surface of the lake. Sure enough, there was a giant of a hippo headed ashore. Then there were two. We went to the other end of the club’s lawn and watched as the sky blackened and the wind made silver ripples on the surface. Absolutely peaceful and divine. Matt and I stood by the stone wall, pointing occasionally, until it was too dark to see.
posted by Cindi at 4:17 AM
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