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Wednesday, June 20, 2007 - 8:23 AM
Cecelia here. Brigid and Aidan like to be tucked into their mosquito nets every night -- I think I freaked them out at first when I found out that nets are provided in every room and recommended by the guest-house staff, even though Nairobi is at an elevation of 5500 ft (and we haven't really seen any mosquitos yet -- knock on wood!). And every morning we go down to the eating area breakfast buffet (the walls painted with lively foliage scenes, the tin roof only partially covering it, with a big tree growing in the middle of one end of the room) and I distribute malarone, an anti-malarial drug, to each member of the family (while Aidan sings "mallll-- arone" over and over and Brigid says she's going to start calling me Mary Louise Parker). I've done a number of interviews yesterday and today, with mainline Christian, evangelical Christian, Muslim, non-denominational, and umbrella groups, while the family plays. Today we all went to Kibera, known as the largest slum in sub-Saharan Africa, and Tom, Brigid, and Aidan toured some of the programs run by an NGO and visited one of the participants' homes while I did an interview. Kibera has (depending on who is counting and when) between 600,000 and 1 million people living in it. It has 13 villages (although it is very difficult for a non-resident to tell what the lines of demarcation between villages might be, since it is so crowded) and, I was told, over 500 NGOs working there. It is extremely religiously pluralist, but after 2001 the USG apparently pressured the Kenyan govt to make the Islamic NGOs leave. Lots of life. Lots of little stalls everywhere. Lots of hardship, too, of course. One person said she thought that, in contrast to one of the other big slums, there is hope in Kibera.
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wish i was there
u guys r so lucky! i'm stuck trying to find a fun website that isn't blocked and hole punching stacks of paper for my mom while u pet cheetahs and baby elephants! u think it's too late for me to come out there and join u? it sure beats sitting in one of the offices at Mildred Avenue Middle School for half the summer.
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more torture!!!
i can't even go on any decent websites beacause this is a school computer and they're all blocked!
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torture!!!
I'm writing this on june 22nd-it's the first day of summer vacation and i am stuck in my mom's office!
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Jealous
I am glad to hear that you are having another action packed adventure. This blog fantastic and I can't wait to read your next post. You are one of the top families that I always enjoy living vicariously through. I can't wait for the picture presentation.
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Good thing you are visiting and helping out poor ppl as we are just about over shopping at South Coast Plaza and having dinner at Spago's, all with the assistance of a certain credit card holder who, naive as he was, gave his numbers to a "trusted" friend... We bought Jimmie Chou's shoes that look great with our new pedi/manicures, Armani outfits, but Diana insisted in getting a Norma Kamali dress, in which I have to admit, she looks stunning. Joei loves her new hair (and eyebrows and eyelashes), but more than anything she loved the facial and the mud bath. She had this really nice masseur who apparently did a great job, if you know what we mean, as all we could hear from her room were very happy "Oh Gods". Later on, as we found time in between shopping and dining, to hold each other's hands and give thanks to our benevolent sugardaddy Tom, Joei revealed that she spent her entire massage session praying out loud. Julie prayed out loud at Tiffany as she was holding her new diamond-encrusted cross...
We love you and we are praying for your safe return and an increase in your limit! The sisters
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