Sleepless night

Clock ticking.

Crickets making there cricket noise... one might call it singing.

Frogs doing their thing.

Dogs barking.

Mind spinning.

Mosquitoes buzzing outside my net.  Or are they inside, trying to get out.  Sometimes it is more like a mosquitoe trap.

Could it be the full moon... well, almost full moon that's causing my insomnia?  Or maybe the cup of green tea I had at four o'clock this afternoon (yes, I found green tea at Nakumat :o)?  Or is it that I am super bugged about a bloody trojan virus that is threatening my camera with .exe files called Porn and Sexy and Secret?

Or is it that Terry saw a boy die today.  At least he thinks he did from the back of a piki piki as he was driving past on the way to view protect springs... past a big truck, a crowd gathered around a boda boda, driver lying on the ground with a pool of blood around his head.  Terry said it was weird that the traffic didn't slow down.

We had a bit of a fight today, Terry and I, about the computer.  His keeps overheating and shutting off, it's old.  Mine keeps warning of a virus.  I think maybe we weren't really fighting about the computer tonight.  Kind of like the lulu lemon socks.

We lost a couple of days in Nairobi -- god damned simosas got us again.  I don't think I have ever been so sick.  We have kind of made a decision to leave Kakamega on the 15th and spend a couple of days on the coast before we head home.  The rains have come and we want to come home with a tan... or maybe we want a couple of buffer days, something resembling a holiday, on our way home.  But if we leave on the 15th, that means we only have... 8 more days here. 

See what I mean about mind spinning.  Sorry to drag you through this.  Feel free to skim this post as I don't know how coherant I am sounding... did I mention it is 2:15am?

The springs project is going so well.  Terry really really really wants to see it completed before we come home -- remember, we thought this project would take up to a year and a half!  And it is soooo sooo close after only two and a bit months.  He definitely gets the credit; the ever ready bunny in him really keeps things moving.  I do believe we (the collective "we"... namely Rotary) have really done something worthwhile with these protected springs.  At one site, we had a long stairway put in as it was totally inaccessable, and the only other water source nearby was on private land (the owner of the land charged people to use his spring... grrrr, just another thing that makes me mad).  During Terry's visit today, one woman told him that she had never been able to "go down there" or cross over to the other side of the village.  Not only do people in the area now have access to free, clean water, but children are using the stairs as a short cut to get to school.  Women can visit the other side of the village without a long journey.

I read today that the Millenium Development Goal of improving access to safe drinking water by 50% has been achieved.  That's pretty amazing.  From where we are sitting, though, there is a long way to go.  But as far as this spring project goes... I am all smiles.  This is very, very good.

Our fish farm grant isn't going as well as we'd hoped.  I feel lke blaming the Kenyan men for this one. 

This is what I do at two in the morning when I can't sleep, by the way... have you noticed?  I look for people to blame, for somewhere to point my anger.

My piki piki driver made me mad tonight.  First time.  He was just a kid, we were heading down the main street too fast over the speed bumps -- I don't know if we've mentioned the speed bumps here, but basically that is how they control their speed here.  Speed limits have no effect, so town centres or past schools and markets there are speed humps and little speed bumps that are three in a row.  Anyway, it's super irritating at the best of times when you are on the back of a piki piki, but going fast over them just sucks.   

"Hey, polé polé," I said, that means slow down.  And then I saw him in the side mirror -- he was DANCING!  Grooving along with NO HANDS!  The little bugger.  Then his bike stalled.  I wanted to get off, but didn't.  It started right away and we were just about there.  When I got off I gave him shit.  "Hey, you have to hold on to the handlebars when you have a passenger.  You are carrying precious cargo -- ME!"  He laughed, and told me not to worry, he has been riding since he was little.  I paid him (ugh, why did I pay him???  I really have to do something about the polite Canadian in me!) and he said, "Welcome, anytime."

On my way home, I was chasing the rain and the light, so I looked for a boda boda.  It was close to 7pm, so things are kind of changing gears in town... it is always busy, but at this time of the evening it is a different kind of busy.  People are winding down to shop on their way home.  So, I found a boda boda -- I had to find one, usually you can't walk past without being offered a ride (offered isn't exactly the right word).  He got me home safe and sound.  I handed him a hundred and said asante.  He looked a little surprised at first and then actually clenched his fist and gave a little Yessss!... with a big smile.

It's getting late... I think I might sleep soon.  Tomorrow is meeting with the "Co-operative Group" in the morning, lunch with Katie (she wants to hear what's up for International Women's Day -- I'm so proud of the girls who are putting it together, though I do have my fingers crossed that they are allowing themselves enough time to prepare...), then checking in on the progress of the fish ponds, and Rotaract meeting at 5pm.  Thursday is training all day with Grace and her Village Enterprise Group (I told you about them... they give 9,000 shilling grants to rural women for income generating activities).  Friday and Saturday is a two day intensive Train the Trainer with Alex which will serve (we hope) as continuity for the Community Development work we have been doing through Tembo.  Saturday is also the celebration at the university for International Women's Day, and I think the Rotary Club of Kakamega is hoping to hold the handover ceremony for the springs on Saturday as well (I'm going to my vote in for Sunday).  Monday we have a trip to Bondo planned for the KASFOOK widows (I hate that word widow... they are so much more than the absence of their husbands); we also hope to order and pay for the fingerlings on the same trip.  Then Tuesday I read to class 8 with Marie and Bondini Primary... and, is that it?  Pack on Wednesday.  Nairobi on Thursday, Mombassa Friday-Sunday, then home Monday, March 19th.

Phew.  We'll see.