News & Commentary

 

Today is the autumnal equinox. Technically I’m in the southern hemisphere so that would mean that our days will now be getting longer. Except that we’re more or less on the equator so in reality nothing much changes. We have roughly 12-hour days and 12-hour nights all year long.

On Sunday a new winner of the Tour de France was crowned. I was able to watch a few of the stages. It was carried by a French channel that we get here. I used to be a huge fan of cycling but my attention has waned over the past few years. I suppose doping scandal fatigue had something to do with it though I still believe such scandals were more prevalent because few sports have the testing regime that cycling has. I think my fading attention might have more to do with the fact that I don’t cycle anymore, at least not road cycling. I used to ride about ten hours a week until I moved to Africa and then it came to a halt. I have been doing some mountain biking here but it’s very much a different activity. I have seen an increasing number of road cyclist around Nairobi, complete with all the gear, so it is done here. It’s a challenging place to do it though. I see these guys out on often narrow, bumpy roads with trucks blowing black smoke in their faces and it doesn’t look that pleasant. It’s also probably considerably dangerous. Nairobi is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a pedestrian and that doesn’t bode well for cyclists. There are, however, some decent places to take a mountain bike. They’re not great but still quite enjoyable.

Then US Supreme Court judge Ruth Ginsberg passed away this week. Sad news. Incredible woman. About as much wisdom and power as you and fit into a meter and a half (5’ 1) frame. Alas, she wasn’t in the ground before the political fallout ignited. It’s inevitable but still disrespectful. It seems that the judiciary, designed to be a third pillar of an accountable government, is essentially an extension of the other two. Probably would be better to have them appointed by a different process than the current one (ex. judges appointing judges?). The Supreme Court should be more like an all-star team rather than reliable partisans of those in power. And then there’s the appointment-for-life thing which needs to be reviewed. I heard that one of the women being considered was in her early thirties with less than ten years as a judge (to cement the political leaning into the Court for as many years as possible). A ten- or fifteen-year term limit might allow these folks the freedom to nominate someone with a few more years between them and puberty.

Fires in the Western US and Brazil. The pandemic rolls on, even worsening in Europe. 200,000 deaths in the US! (Deserves a rare, but well-earned, exclamation point from me.) The polar ice caps are disappearing. The fact that there are so many serious things happening right now makes it difficult to respect the importance of each one. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have a responsibility to make an effort to do so rather than continuing to avert our eyes. It won’t make them go away.

Speaking of, we watched a movie/documentary last night called The Social Dilemma. Required viewing I think (particularly for someone who has two preteen daughters). You’ll understand why after you’ve seen it. Glad I'm not on Facebook.

Kenya has announced that they might be starting schools again in a few weeks. Might be a good idea depending on how it's done. Our kids are not in the Kenyan system but there is discussion that their school may follow suit. We were just talking this morning about how well they and their teachers have adjusted to online schooling. It's not ideal and there are complaints from some parents, but were simply thankful that they are able to continue their education and in a manner that seems to be relatively effective, all things considered. But yes, if we can get them back in a classroom, with something like the safety that we've seen in Germany and other places, it would be good for everyone.

 

 

End of "vacation" - reacting to the pandemic

 "Vacation" is over. Some are referring to these as “staycations”. I suppose that’s accurate in my case in the sense that we were unable to leave Kenya but we didn’t actually stay at home the entire time. So I’ll stick with the word as it is and maintain the quotes.

I should say that we have been doing our best to find that balance between staying at home and getting out a bit, albeit safely. In retrospect I feel like we sort of found that sweet spot, always wearing masks when outside our compound, including the kids. Physical distancing. No gym since March – most workouts taking place entirely in our building. Work and school at home since March. No parties. Etc.

At the same time we got out to visit some of Kenya. In doing so we pumped a little desperately needed money into the economy (small relative to what is needed but helpful nonetheless) and contributed to preserving our sanity. We did so in a way that was well within the limits of the government’s public health protocols for the pandemic and limited our contact with others. We traveled by vehicle on two of the three big outings, opted on a house in another and camped on another (avoiding hotels). Overall we probably did as much as we could without putting ourselves or others at any significant risk.

 Once I realized that my fiscal year vacation time would need to be used without international travel (can’t be carried over into the next fiscal year beginning in October), I honestly wasn’t sure what to expect. At the time, Nairobi was in full lockdown and there was no travel in or out. There was a chance that any outings would be severely limited. But, if the numbers can be trusted, the ministry of health seemed to be maintaining a handle on things. The public seemed to be, to a certain degree, respecting the communicated measures to contain the virus. At least in the parts of the city that we were frequenting, it went from feeling awkward to don a mask to awkward not to be wearing one.

I’ve often thought about the parallels to the time when seatbelts were being introduced. Today I put on a seatbelt without even thinking about it, but it wasn’t always the case. People that are younger than baby boomers likely have little to no recollection of life without mandatory safety belts, except in airplanes and race cars. In the US they were required in vehicles from 1968 onward though no one I knew actually used them in those days. Growing up, our family car’s belts were conveniently stuffed behind the seat out of sight. Over time they went from being recommended to, around the mid-1980s, mandatory in most of the US and around the world (each US state determines its own seatbelt laws). There was pushback, I remember, with people saying that the government can’t make them wear a seatbelt but that diminished over time. It’s an example of how mandating, however uncomfortable it was at the time, led eventually to a healthy normalization. The Libertarian movement would probably get more traction if it weren’t for the fact that humans frequently have disastrously high levels of stupidity and selfishness that need to be reined in.

Sidenote: While I consider my native state of Idaho as being relatively renegade when it comes to these sorts of limits on “personal freedoms”, I read that the US state of New Hampshire is the only state in the country that doesn’t require adult drivers to wear safety belts while operating a motor vehicle. I think that’s fascinating for some reason, particularly given how the rest of the world has recognized belts as being critical to saving lives during vehicle accidents.

When the pandemic hit, the way the world reacted had a lot to do with the underlying cultural norms. In the US, with Covid-19 hitting during an election season, of course public health protocols had to be politicized. If some people today don’t see this as ridiculous, history surely will. We have enough data now to see that masks save lives and prevent unnecessary sickness but it will likely be even more apparent over time as the pandemic winds down and (hopefully) moves into the history books. Obviously with the mask and some of the other protocols, I hope that they serve their purpose for now and then fade as the pandemic gets under control.

Some good friends from my past who died in car accidents back in the day would likely be alive today had they been wearing seatbelts. We could probably say that things were different back then, that we didn’t know better. Maybe so, but we can’t say that now, about seatbelts or masks. Clearly most people that wear a seatbelt will never be in a situation where it saves their lives. But the world (except maybe New Hampshire) has determined that we should put them on for the minority that will benefit. The same goes for masks. Watching footage of people throwing selfish tantrums when required to don a mask in a supermarket is rather pathetic. Interestingly, I saw this come together on some video of a guy throwing a fit because he had to wear a mask on a plane, apparently never having complained about his “human rights” infringed by wearing his seatbelt or putting up his tray table.

As I write this, around a thousand people are dying in the US per day due to the coronavirus. The total is approaching 200,000. That’s insane. That’s about four airliners crashing every single day. Other countries, including developing countries with lower education levels and weak healthcare systems, figured this out far more quickly and effectively. US leaders need to get on the same page, regardless of political persuasion, and rally the public to do the right thing (spoiler alert; they won’t). Early on people thought they could benefit the economy by not instituting or ignoring public health protocols. It’s clear now that being soft early on has not only cost thousands more lives, it has done far more economic damage as the virus has not been contained. I believe it’s one of the reasons that Africa has fared so well. People here have more experience with deadly viruses and are well aware you don’t mess around when they hit. There also seems to be a greater sense of community well-being. It has been enough to elicit a healthy respect and humility that allows a society to work together more effectively when it needs to.

As we head into the last quarter of 2020, it’s clear that this year will go in the books as being possibly the most bizarre year of this generation. And it ain’t over yet, as the contentious US elections approach. Fasten your seatbelts.