Observations and News

Some random observations that I have noted while here:
-The people in Nairobi dress really nice, the men usually wear suites or at least button up shirts with dress pants
-When I and the rest of the students walk around we here the following: Mzungu! (white person), Hakuna Matata! or Obama!
-Muslims are very dedicated to their religion! There’s a mosque behind my house, and there is always people there praying and talking with each other. I spy on them from my window! It’s really interesting to see what goes on there. There is also a tower next to the mosque with megaphones on it, so the whole neighborhood can hear when they pray I think it’s 5 times a day. The 3 a.m. prayers are definitely NOT my favorite!! A few nights ago, a man prayed for 45 minutes! I think he was just trying to be obnoxious, seriously, who does that?
-Newspapers are the valued literature here. The newspapers are like mini novels! They’re way thicker than American newspapers.
-people generally go to bed pretty early here. I’m usually in bed by 9:45. It gets dark here at about 6:30, so it’s not really safe to be roaming around much past that, I think that has something to do with it.

Some newsworthy events happening here:
-There is a severe drought going on in Kenya. Because of this, the electricity goes off quite a bit because the power is hydroelectric. Many of the people of Kenya are really suffering from the lack of water, especially the pastoralists. Many of their cattle are dying and some communities have even begun raiding other communities for cattle. A few days ago, 32 people in one pastoral community were killed when another group came in to steal their cattle. Some of the Massai herders have even come to Nairobi to graze their cattle on the sides of the road. It’s quite a site! The crops are also not doing very good here and food prices are increasing. Many kids have even had to quit going to school to try to earn money for their families in order to buy food.
-I’m sure this may have been in the news at home, but a few days ago, an important Taliban guy was killed in Somalia by US forces. He organized the attack on a hotel in Mombasa, which is on the coast of Kenya. I didn’t even know that this happened. Normally, if I were at home, I wouldn’t have thought much of it, but now those the man was leading have vowed to retaliate. It’s kind of scary to live in the country where the group would probably attack.