April 2006 II

Hi all,
 Hows life in the states and around the world? I hope school is winding
down well for everyone (finals will be finished soon!) I'm writing from
Mombasa after a long day with books yesterday and a night with my
friends. I needed a little mental break from life in Likoni after two
weeks of interviewing, bucket showers and sleeping on a camping mat. But
now I feel more than rejuvenated and am ready to start again. Might
efforts are focused around the road in Likoni that leads to the ferry.
This is a only means of crossing from the south coast to the city center
for cars, bikes and pedestrians, so you can be sure it is a center of
heavy traffic ALL day long. It is therefore also a center for business.
The road is lined with men and women selling fish, tomatoes, soap,
bracelets, roasted corn, baked breads, and everything else that people eat
or use here in Mombasa.
 This is what is meant by the informal economy here in Kenya. It is small
kiosks or tables in long rows with hard working people sitting behind
them, or women with plates of prawns sitting on short stools, or a small
hut with cooked food and a table or a stock of coconut wine for sale.
People here work 12 hour days for 200 ksh, a livable wage to be sure but
not for anything more than food, rent and a few school books if you don't
add milk to your tea. I am spending my time talking to the women near the
ferry and in surrounding neighborhoods about their daily
finances at work and at home. In general these women rent one room which
the whole family piles into, some of these rooms have roof made of tin,
most have thatched roofs, and some don't have roofs at all. They work each
day, under the sun or in the rain, frying fish or stirring beans, sorting
greens and swatting flies, they are away from their homes and their
children until late at night when they head home to do the cooking and
cleaning. Those with husbands often tell me that their husband looks for
work every day but finds it about twice a week. Although none seem to know
how much their husbands earn (its not proper to ask) I believe these women
are earning more then their husbands. Even so, at the end of the day it is
the women that must do all of the housework. It is hard for me to imagine
a life more full of constant monotony, effort, and challenge. Their tasks
are repetitive day after day but never easy, and in the end their children
are still sleeping on the floor and they are pray that they stay healthy
and can work again tomorrow.
 Gender is an interesting topic here. Roles are well established and very
divided with women are the inferiors of men, believed to be less
mentally capable. But the women I speak with agree that women are better
at running their small businesses than men and not one women I have talked
to has abandoned a child while many have been left by their husbands to
care for children alone. These women understand the breath of their
responsibilities and fully appreciate the gravity of their charges, yet
they are not specifically concerned with "equality" they way we are in the
states. Feeding a child is the main concern and so they do what they must
within the constraints they are surrounded by. The key to understanding
the situation here is knowing that everyone must be self sufficient. These
women would rather be able to rely on a husband or a politician or a
church for their basic needs but their is no one to rely on so they work
all day and again at night.
   My own experiment in simple living is going well. I am eating on about
60 cents per day and paying very little for water, about 10 cents per
week, partly because it has rained so much recently so I can collect bath
water from the sky. My larger expenses have come from buying food from
other people, buying seeds for a farming family I have been
talking to, and paying a medical bill for a case of Malaria I am just
getting over (don't worry- I'm fine, really!). So thats me. I have another
week of research before I write my report, then 3 weeks to travel before
coming back to Mombasa to begin research again.
 I miss everyone, and stories of home, so send me messages with all your
adventure and summer plans. I'll write again, Much love.

-Gabi