Kenya Report #0

To all,

  I returned from Kenya this afternoon, having had a great time.  I
  hope to write a fairly long description of my experiences there in
  the next day or so.  If not, I will do so in about a week.  

  I paid 80 shillings (about $1) to send an email, but it apparently
  failed to get through.  Here it is.  I sent it 24 May.

  --Ed
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Edwin J. Kay, EECS, 19 Memorial Drive West, Lehigh U, (204B Packard Lab)
Bethlehem PA 18015 (610)758-3623 EJK0@LEHIGH.EDU  FAX:(610)758-6279
                                    ^"zero"
Web page: http://www.lehigh.edu/~ejk0/ejk0.html

Dear All,

  I have a fleeting chance to send some email, so this letter will be a bit
  scattered.  We flew to Amsterdam, arriving last Sunday morning, and then
  we flew to Nairobi in the afternoon, arriving around 8 PM (the time
  difference is seven hours).  We stayed overnight in the Methodist Guest
  House, which caters to Europeans and is very nicely appointed.  The next
  morning a school bus took us to Meru, which is about 180 miles from
  Nairobi.  Despite some Lehigh information describing Meru as isolated,
  a "dual carriageway" (British for divided highway) goes all the way from
  Nairobi to Meru.  In Meru we dined with the schoolmasters and
  the schoolmistresses of the various schools to which we are contributing
  computers.  After dinner, the students were paire with a host
  families (usually a schoolmaster or schoolmistress), with whom they are
  staying.

  Let me say immediately, that all of the Lehigh students are doing just
  fine and are enjoying their visit immensely.  Whenever I see them they
  are all smiles.

  We originally hoped to have the computers cleared through customs and
  brought here on Tuesday, but we have had trouble getting clearance for
  the computers.  We only got clearance this morning (Friday), and we
  hope to have them here this evening.  Meanwhile, the students have spent
  time at their respective schools, trying to help with problems with the
  computers previously donated and with computer instruction.  Meanhwile,
  I have been touring "in the bush," visiting all the schools, trying to
  assess the condition of previously donated computers and to assess to
  what good use the computers have been put.  Succinctly, conditions
  variably considerably, depending mostly on the degree of isolation.
  A few of the schools are, indeed, isolated, accessible only by barely
  serviceable dirt roads.  A number of the schools depend upon generators
  for electricity.

  Yesterday we had free time.  The Lehigh students toured some "touristic
  sites" in the neighborhood.  Meanwhile, I spent some time at Kenya
  Method University, where the wife of the schoolmaster with whom I stay
  is a student.  They brought me there in the morning to see the university
  and showed me the computer lab.  I ended up staying for the day and
  installing a bunch of free software I had with me.  It turns out that
  the software was on their must-have list.

  One of my reasons for coming to Kenya was to understand better my
  experience in Cameroon.  How much was particular to Buea, how much
  to Cameroon, how much to Africa, how much to the third world?  I have
  not the time for detail (which I hope to provide later, probably when
  I return), the much of what I learned about Cameroon applies to Kenya.
  I felt tremendously complimented when one Kenyan said to me that I
  seemed to be quite comfortable here.  I think that is true becaue of
  my having lived in Cameroon.

  I had intentions of finding out from Peace Corps the status of the
  Kenyan program, with the intention of finding some PCV's if there were
  any here.  I had a suspicion I would find them if they were about.  In
  some sense, I found them.  Chris Harris is posted to a school which
  adjoins one of the schools to which we are giving the computers.  The
  computers are housed at his school because it has electricity while the
  other school does not.  Chris has been giving very good assistance to
  his school and finishes his service in July.  The other two PCV's in
  Meru stay a few hundred meters from where I stay, but they left for the
  states on Wednesday for vacation, so I never got to meet them.

  Janice, please forward this to Donna Goldfeder.  I apologize for not
  sending private email and for not being able to call.  I get fine chop.
  I shidown wit Mr. Muchai and Dauphin. Dey get two pikin dem.  Two
  girl dem, 9 and 4.  I walka plenty fine.  Ashia.  You were right, I am
  enjoying the stay immensely.