I am not pestered by mosquitos, as I wrote yesterday, I have
all the measures to keep them away, but I was stung by a bee today and where…….in
the shower, unbelievable. Thank god, I am not allergic, so I was calm, took the
sting out, finished my cold shower, have to remind you guys, of my suffering…ha
ha ha. And then wrote Eli a WhatsApp- he called me within 1 second, so my pains
went away, with the help of Eli and fenistil gel. I came prepared. I have
almost any medication, a small pharmacy in fact.
The crime scene
So today all about my day to day
Today is Sunday, when Gertrude and I clean the house, it
amazing the amount of bugs I find everytime……. I really like Sunday, because I get
to wake up late and after cleaning, I get to sit in clean room and summarize the
meeting and interviews I have done in the week. I try to do it, that same day,
but sometimes, I am just too tiered.
In the weekdays, I wake up early and between 7-8 we leave the
house to different places around the county and come back by 6-7, not much to
do when it is dark, hardly any lights so driving is also quite difficult. There
are six sub counties, so we are trying to see the different establishments,
households, villages in each sub-county. The whole county is not so big only 2,530.4
sq. km, but when it rains in Siaya town, it does not necessarily rain in Bondo
town around ¾ of an hour drive away. I have between 4-5 meeting a day, some are
spontaneous, some arranged. With a record of 11 one day, it was house to house.
Jackson my assistant researcher, lovely caring and diligent person, usually
makes the appointments the day before and the appointment is not made for a
specific hour but for a time frame. The morning, afternoon or just the day. It
is very different to my usual time schedule arrangements, but I find that it is
very convenient here, because it allows for spontaneity. Some people we just
ask, do you have time now and they usually say sure, Karibu – welcome, how are
you? And we might spend an hour or two
and it would be fine and acceptable. Very convenient for me. I must say that
people are being very cooperative and trying to assist. Water is a dire problem
here and anything to do with it is taken seriously as well as my research. So, they share quite a lot of information with
me. and looking forward to getting a copy of the paper at the end and I am
happy to share. I am hearing some fascinating stuff, from theories about world war
four happening in Africa over water. To the Riparian law, that does not allow Kenya
– a food insecure country - to use Lake Victoria for mass irrigation, because
of a colonial law that protected the water of the Nile (mid you the Nile needs
to be protected, but not like this, people are on the lake and cannot water
their crops, so they wait for the rains. From self-criticism, about the Kenya
culture to anger and disappointment with government and leader that quote “only
look after their stomachs”,
I have No AC in the room, so I open the window, this of
course lets the bugs in, since it is quite mild weather I am still ok, but come
august I have to prepare and get a fan. This is my next task, I eventually
found a water scooper in Nairobi. Real upgrade. Next time about transportation –
quite fascinating. By the way – bee sting – still hurting.
On the shores of Lake Victoria
Jackson Achuti - Lake Victoria
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