Africa
Book Review: Don’t Let’s Go to the Dogs Tonight: An African Childhood
– Why do you keep going to all these… war-torn places? Why can’t you just stay here?
– Mom, the researchers of human DNA say that all of us still lived in Africa 60,000 years ago. In a geneticist’s calendar, that’s two minutes.
– What are you trying to say, that you miss “home?”
– Don’t you?
24 Hours in Nairobi
It’s been a while since I posted here and I wanted to get back to it. I miss Africa and I miss blogging about it. So here it goes – my brief guide to Kenya’s capital for those who are looking to spend a day in the city.
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Thousands of tourists pass through Nairobi every year on their way to safaris in Kenya’s numerous national parks, eager to spot the “big five” game animals of the beautiful East African savannah. Not many realize, however, that the country’s capital has a lot of its own charm to offer to visitors who fit it into their busy itineraries.
Stopping by the Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage is a great way to start your day in Nairobi. The David Sheldrick Animal Trust takes care of baby rhinos, elephants and other animals are rescued from the wild when their parents die from the hands of poachers, or as a result of drought or disease. Check the trust’s website for information on fostering one of the recently saved orphans.
Two Cows for a Childhood
I lower my head and step into the darkness, where a teenage girl welcomes me with a smile, a little boy cuddled in her arms. Her worn out white dress, studded with tiny blue flowers, nearly reaches her ankles, creating an image too serious for her age. The boy must be around 2 years old, and the girl is in her teens.
“Where is the mother?” I ask the woman who brought us here.
“She is the mother,” Virginia says. Read the rest of this entry »
Why
I believe we can stay together
Work together
Make this land a better place Read the rest of this entry »
Volunteering Q&A
Do you want to know what volunteering in Kenya is like? Would you like to do what I did? Are you wondering how? See if my Volunteering Q&A can be of any help. Check them out under one of the tabs in the blog’s header. Let me know if you have any other questions and I’ll be more than happy to help if I can.
I Bless the Rains Down in Africa
To experience true rebirth of your world, wait for the rain in Kenya. Wait just long enough during the intolerably hot dry season and you, too, will be reborn.
We had a week of the most impossible, scorching heat, when the back of your neck feels like a skillet, and the tiny drops of sweat emerge just under the tip of your nose. Read the rest of this entry »
Black and White
I know, I said I’d try to write on weekends. And I’ve tried. But the Internet access I have (or rather don’t have) is far from adequate, so without further explanations, I’ll get to the point.
To say that I love it in the Maasailand in Kenya would be saying nothing. Words are weak carriers of the things I see, hear and learn every day. Life is comprised of drastic differences here: Read the rest of this entry »
It’s Not You, Europe; It’s Me…
Rome was grey and rainy this morning, and I figured I’d stay in and do some reading, a certain mental preparation for tomorrow’s trip. I feel as if my brain has been detached from my body lately. My legs wonder among the ruins of this ancient civilization, but my mind is deeply rooted in the present. Read the rest of this entry »
Africa
Thus she had lain
sugercane sweet
deserts her hair
golden her feet
mountains her breasts
two Niles her tears.
Thus she has lain
Black through the years.
Over the white seas
rime white and cold
brigands ungentled
icicle bold
took her young daughters
sold her strong sons
churched her with Jesus
bled her with guns.
Thus she has lain.
Now she is rising
remember her pain
remember the losses
her screams loud and vain
remember her riches
her history slain
now she is striding
although she has lain.
– Maya Angelou
Dreaming of Africa 