Oct 2007

Hi all,
 Hope you're well. Sorry for being silent for so long, getting time to
sit at a computer is scares so I'll try to make the most of it right
now.
 My research with street vendors is going a bit slowly, mainly because
I'm not working myself to death the way I did last year. Instead of
spending 9 hours a day doing interviews I'm dividing my time between
home and work in a way that is less exhausting, and more fulfilling. I'd
say that a major difference between this year and last is that I'm a bit
more grounded here in likoni. I have a home and am living the "double
shift" lifestlye, meaning I work in and out of the house. Generally I
wake up, help make breakfast, leave for work after doing some dishes or
some laundry. I walk or take a bodaboda (a ride on the back of a bike)
down to the ferry and meet Kwame there. Together we will generally do
three interview in a day. Our questions focus mostly on the changes that
have happened over the past year and on the politics of the two street
vendors associations that are competing in the area. Like all stories,
nothing in this market place is simple. For example, I am having to
negotiate between the hostility that exists between these two groups. I
explain that my role here is as a student, but there is still this
underlying idea among vendors in one of the groups that I am helping the
other group and not them (the members of the other group are less
suspisious). I'm confident that this feeling will dicipate as I spend
more time with the individual members, but my guess is the the suspision
is not so much a reflection on my actions but more a consequense of the
situation, in which the available resources in the market (space and
security) are tenuous and those engaged in the politics of fighting to
maintain these resources are looking for any advantage they can get
while being cautious of all things that are out of their control. While
working within this enviornment has its challanges it is really
interesting. I regularly introduce myself to people I've never spoken
with before and begin interviews with these new participants. I only
real obsitcal is time.
 This is mainly because I'm working on two projects at once. Yesterday I
met with two of the families we are sponsoring and did interviews about
the challanges and successes of the past year, including the students'
school experiences. We wrote letters to the funders that I'll being
home, and we made plans for the coming year. I've also been spending a
lot of time making plans for how to add new students. We have decided
not to move our primary school students to new schools becasue all are
happy at the ones they are currently attending. We're moving our focus
to secondary school fees and have decided to select our students from
the local public primary schools using the advice of the teachers at
those schools. We will chose those students who are dedicated to their
schooling, have performed well enough to be admitted to secondary
school, and are financially unable to pay fees. Since teachers spend 8
years with the same students they know who are most impoverished. As one
teachers said, he knows "who cant even afford a pencil". So we will
select 9 new students, meet with their families and prepare to pay their
fees. Most of the leg work of paying fees with have to be done in Feb,
after students get their "calling letters" to the secondary schools that
have admitted them, so I'm trying to create a system that kwame and our
new partner, cynthia, will follow once i've gone back to the states.
 So that's work.. I usually work between 10am and 6:30pm with a lunch
break sometime in the middle. The best thing about lunch is that I get
to eat one of the street cafes where I do research and patron the women
who help me so much. I love it, I really get to make concious decisions
about how I spend my money.
 On the other hand money is starting to become a bit of a frustration.
Like I said, one of the things I like about my current stay is that I
feel more grounded. At the same time I'm treated like a "mazungu" by
everyone that doesn't know me, and even by some who do. What I mean by
this is that people see white skin and think money. This means that I'm
overcharged for everything even though I know the proper prices, and if
I object to being over charged it's as if I'm ripping off the seller.
For example I tried to buy water this morning, which is 15Ksh for one
can of fresh, but the guy told me 20 (sounds petty but its that way for
everything). Like a few days ago when my friends were negotiating
transportation costs with a tuktuk driver (think rickshaw, after they
set a price I walked over and the man was furious. In swahili he said,
"you mean you have a mazungu! come on, add more money, add more money".
I guess it just gets a bit exauhsting to be treated like a bank instead
of like a person. I know that I cant expect to be outside the social
systems that operate here, I'm just commenting that it's a down side of
life as a white person in kenya.
 One more example: I was in Nairobi last week (more to come on that
because it was amazing) and I got sick. I went to a clinic (which was my
first big mistake because these places are known to be dishonest) and
was told that I have malaria and typhoide. For some reason I decided to
buy the medicines that were perscribed by this "doctor" instead of
ignoring him completely. I guess it was a combination of feeling pretty
sick and having grown up to believe that doctors wont endanger your
health to make a buck. But anyway, I went to hospital later to have the
tests redone and both came back negative meaning the medications were
totally unnessecary. I had thought that would be the case so I didn't
take them, but I had also thought I would be able to return them and get
my money back. Well, that's not the case at all. I was so angry! Doctors
all over this country operate private clinics on top of their work at
public ones. They take the medicine that is suppose to be available at
very low cost in the public hospitals and sell it for profit at their
private businesses. It's doctors looking for profit that tell everyone
in kenya that they have malaria even when they dont, and of course, this
leads to drug resistance.
 I was talking to a professor in Naiorbi about this after having my
little encounter with the health care system and she said that the
courts dont hold doctors accountable, even when they kill people. The
system needs serious change, but, like so much in kenya, it will require
way more than reform. Things here function so that the person able to
make profit extracts the most profit possible with very few limits
imposed. These are the people with power and therefore the ones most
able to maintain the status quo. I know this level of corruption sounds
like an exaggeration but it's not. Corruption is the norm here,
everything that moves functions through it.
 On a lighter note I bought a wheel barrow for a guy who collects trash
in likoni and he is really happy about it. He is also generous with it
and is sharing it with the larger community of garbage collectors. He
sat down and talked with me yesterday about many things but also
explained that he use to steel for a living. He said that when he say a
white person he felt completed to steel from them in retribution for
past crimes. But then he said he appreciated that I was willing to share
with him and said that he would look out for me. So I guess I've got
protection. kwame (and others) think its crazy that I've not been
robbed. I'm not sure if its good luck or the fact that I dont walk alone
at night, but I havent been and I'm pretty happy about that.
 Another light note, one of the vendors associations had a fund raiser on
Sat that did remarkably well. James, my good friends and one of the
founders of this group, said that its revolutionary, that no vendors
group in mombasa has pulled off such an organizational feat. It really
was impressive, they had sound equipment and t-shirts made for the
group, and they ended with celebratory sodas. I loved it.
 So, back to the story... I generally get home a little after dark (If
kwame is not walking with me I take a bodaboda). Once home I either help
cook or help do dishes while talking to my friends. Its hard to get
alone time, which means I've not been reading or writing much, but thats
not too much of a sacrific given how much I value the community I live
in. To give you a bit of a picture, the house has seven rooms, each used
by a family. The rooms suround the middle of the house which is open
space that has no roof. This is where we socialize, cook, eat, and wash
dishes. We cook using carcoal in a jiko (find a picture online if your
curious) and generally eat rice, or ugali, or chapati, with beans,
veggies, eggs, or meat. Or if its breakfast we have chai with some kind
of bread based food. We do dished using a three bucket system. This
means you scrub the food off dishes in one bucket and then rinse them
twice in the two others. Its the most effective use of water possible,
but its also a bit hard on your back becasue you sit on a stool and bend
over the buckets. Luandary is done the same way but takes many more
buckets to get the soap out. One interesting fact is that salty water
washes off soap much more easily that fresh (it's also only 2ksh for a
can).
 I have my own room but I sleep in my friends room. My friends (and now,
I too) dont understand why anyone who prefer to live alone. Its
wonderful to wake up with other people! I used to sleep on my mattress
on the floor but its become so thin that its no different from sleeping
directly on the floor. Queen, one of the sisters, was in Mombasa for a
month but she has gone back to nairobi, so there is now space on the bed
for me, so I either share the bed with cynthia and mowly or sleep on the
couch if Doc (their brother) is not using it. I dont feel like I can
explain what a joy it is to be a member of this family. Take as evidence
the fact that its been weeks since i last e-mailed, and if it were not
for cynthia, mowly, queen, and doc I would be home sick enough to e-mail
more often.
 Ok, last story: Nairobi. I got to meet with the executive co-ordinator
of the Kenya National Alliance of Street vendors and Informal Traders
(KENASVIT), which was more than amazing. Evalyne, is passionate about
her work and also really receptive to my interest in her field. We
talked about the policies being created by the state on behalf of
traders, the participatory drafting processes being used, and about how
likoni fits into this national picture. All in all I love her.
 I also got to spend time with my friend Toni. He is one of the most
thoughtful and intellegent people I know and we spent two days talking
about your understandings of faith and grace, and power, and all sorts
of other big questions that I love discussing. He also took me to
Kenyatta University and one of his enviornmental science classes, which
more than anything made me grateful to have attended wesleyan! The
Professor read from notes slowly enough so that everyone could record
exactly what she said. On top of that the content was at a level you
might find in a high school earth science text book. Toni assured me
that that lecture was particularly bad so I might be judging here, but
again, I'm happy I went to wes.
 I also visted my friend jess, who is a wes student studying in Nairobi,
it was such a refreshing thing to be able to talk with her about our
experiences here. I guess not having peers to share those thoughts with
is another difference between this year and last, so being with Jess
helped fill that gap. We also watched a movie with ton of little boys on
a dirt soccer pitch in Kibera, which was a fun thing to experience.
 Ok, I think that's enough. I'm sure I made no sense, and I'm out of time
so I'm not even going to read it over to confirm that. Write back with
update from your respective parts of the world. I miss you all. Also,
I'm going to be home and unemployed 6 weeks from now, so if you're
willing to let me crash with you (I mean visit you!) december would be a
great time!
 Lots of love,
-Gabi