Kenyan whistle blower

Mon 05/10

By now it has rained once and because of that the water truck also came by today to supply us with long overdue water. Last night I got my first bite but as were still in Nairobi I doubt it will result in malaria. To everybodies surprise here Lariam, a malaria medication I take as prophylaxis known to have serious side effects, still shows none.

I have started reading "It's our turn to eat" a book written by the Financial Times correspondent for Africa about a former minister responsible for reducing curroption under Kibeki the president of Kenya and resigning after realising that the same game of curropt officials was being continued just under a new administration. I have only reached chapter 6 so I do not know whether the minister will release the documents but undoubtedly given the nature of the book he has. This story also explained the recent headlines on the front pages of Nairobi's newspapers such as "Kenya vs. World". At least 8 government officials face proscecution by an international court for involvement in the slaughter of 1600 Kenyans last year and corruption.
The book gave me a very good chance to catch up on my admittedly spongy history on Kenya. In 1963 their year of independence Kenyans earned on average as much as Malaysians today the latter earn 10 times more, which leads to the question what went wrong in such a promising country that unlike its neighbours remained more or less peaceful.
Today I found out the only volunteer in my project before me was a 47 year old who sold his house and car and came to Africa with all his money to find a wife. He was kicked out of the project after demanding the money he had handed out at first back with legal backing forcing some of the villagers to sell their land and taking a 17 year old with him to Italy. Awesome for me!
Swahili word of the day!
Ahsante sana = thank you very much