21 Grams

Hey you!How have you been? Long time no see. How as that little vacation/business trip you had? How's the family doing? And work, going ok I hope? I hope all is well with you.Me? I'm great. Was a bit sick this past week with a cough/cold. So that kept me from working out until Thursday night. I'm assuming you're reading this on a Monday, so I have 31 more days until I fly the coop. 6 weeks until I'm home in Toronto. I cannot wait to eat all the food that I'm not getting in Kenya - salmon fillets, sushi, berries: blue, straw, rasp, black, and cold milk that must be refrigerated. With the end approach so close, I realize I may have a bit of a predicament. My baggage allowance is 32 kgs from here to Canada. But from Vancouver to TO is only 23 KGs - damn you Air Canada. Now I'm leaving some clothes, and shoes here. And the almonds and walnuts I brought too are being left behind in a different form. But I have bought a bunch of books (in addition to the 13 I brought with me) and the souvenirs... needless to say I may be in a bit of a quandry. It's the Rungu sticks that are weighing the most - the traditional Massai clubs that are beaded. What for? I have no idea. At the time I thought I'd need them to start my own Massai army but I don't know if that's such a great idea now.Fedexing stuff is not an option. It would cost me nearly $200 US to just FedEx something as little as 10 kgs. So on Monday, I told a bunch of the street vendors that if I need anything I'll come to them. I thought this would solve my problem, but alas they are a wiley bunch. One of them saw me today and instead of asking me if I want cards asked me if I'm coming to see him for cards. So my new tactic: total ignorance. It's a shame it's reached the point where I can't even acknowledge them but they are like piranhas after that first drop of blood hits the water. A lot of them are also shysters in my opinion. Last Monday when I was supposed to buy the wares from Cosmas, one of the street vendors, one other was telling me that the wares he had belonged to Cosmas. I've cut a number of deals with Cosmas since then but he has yet to deliver. I'm not in a rush but thankfully I never pay in advance. The only thing I pay for in advance is my pizzas and guess what - next week: FREE PIZZA. CHA CHING!!! So how was my Thursday? Absolutely boring. I went to a graduation ceremony - not even mine. It was for those farmer groups graduating from Farmer Field Schools. Now the actual ceremony itself was not boring b/c when each group got called up to get their certificates, they'd be dancing and singing but everything till then - boring. Partly b/c the Kenyans have no concept of time. So about 4 pm we're packing it in and all the farmers who want to buy the OF decide at that time they should. One of the officials of Farmers Field Schools comes and invites me to lunch (at 4 pm?) I really wanted to get out of there ASAP so I went with him, more out of concern of offending him, and when I got to the To start, I was there b/c I was representing Practical Action (represent represent) and the organic fertilizer. We (me and Mildred, the woman who works for NAWACOM, which is the investment co-op that actually makes the fertilizer) at about 7:50 am to set up our tent. However a few hours later we were told we had to move the tent. Around 11 am I got hungry so I went into town for lunch. I get cranky if I don't eat every 2 to 3 hours. Needless to say Yom Kippur is a real bad day for me. Picked up my magazines - Time and the Economist and headed back to the show grounds. Still, no ceremony starting yet. I think. When they do things in kiswahili I'm not too up and up on what is going on. Around 4pm, we're packing it up and that's when the farmers decide they want to buy the OF. Great timing. One of the officials of Farmers Field Schools invited me to the lunch (at 4pm? What the?) Not wanting to offend them, I went but when I got to the serving area, I just grabbed two chipati and walked back out to get back to our truck. At that exact moment, the Ministry of Agriculture District Officer called for a rep from PA to come present the next group with their certificates. Mildred sees me and waves towards me to go up on stage. So there I am, with chipati in my left hand and having to present the certificate with my right. The farmers' group to whom I had to present came up dancing, and singing (not a clue what), so I threw my right hand in the air and waved it all around like I just did not care. I think all graduation type ceremonies should have a little dance number attached to them. Unfortunately, I got a sunburn on my upper right arm b/c I wasn't wearing sunscreen as I was sitting there during the graduation ceremony.I did have an interesting conversation that morning with a guy who works for an NGO. He used to work with the street kids in Kenya and he explained to me how some of them end up on the street. And he told me that it's about 1 in 10 people in Kenya that have HIV/AIDS. Imagine that - 10% of the people here are infected. Life of Pi is a very interesting book. Very well written. Not one of my top 10 favorites but so far a very interesting story. Of course, by the time you read this I'll have finished it. May have to take a trip to Nairobi to get some more books. At least this time around all of my flights to and fro are at night so I can just sleep on the plane. What's on tap for me this weekend? I'm hoping to run with the big boys tomorrow on the court (the adults not the kids), and hit the gym. I have to write my next couple of columns this weekend. Well write one for next week and then start the rest. I'm hoping to squeeze out at least 2 if not 3 columns over the duration of my time here. On that note, have a great week. Looking forward to seeing you!Jacob