Three Wednesdays in January

I should have known that when Kobe Bryant died unexpectedly one year ago that it was a sign a bad year was to come. The year sort of went from bad to worse. As I’ve said before, I shouldn’t complain since the events of the last 12 months have impacted us less than most. Nonetheless, watching terrible things happen to people, including people you know and populations we work with, has been, and continues to be, distressing. 

 

Three Historic Days

The hope has been that this year would be different. The former US president has been booted from office. The vaccine for the pandemic is now being rolled out. As the new year was being celebrated, most of the world anticipated a gradual move towards some sense of normality.

In a cruel twist in the wrong direction, on the first Wednesday of the year the former president unleashed an angry mob on the US Capitol, animosity that had been building for months due in large part to deceit peddled by conservative leadership. It was an unprecedented attack that reverberated beyond the borders of America. It frightened US allies and encouraged US enemies. America’s stature, which has taken a beating over the past four years, has never seemed more fragile in the 26 years that I have lived outside the country. It’s a stunning fall from grace that has made a mockery of the slogan adorning the red hats of the now ex-president’s supporters.

Seven days later, the soon-to-be ex-president becomes the first ever to be impeached twice after he incited the Capitol storming a week earlier. The notorious historical events just keep unfolding.

Finally, on the third Wednesday of the year, Joe Biden was inaugurated as the 46th President of the United States. Fortunately, with an insane amount of security the event took place without incident. 

Three historical events exactly seven days apart from each other.

As I type this, it is now the fourth Wednesday of the year. To my knowledge, nothing historical has happened but it’s still early. In fact it’s still Tuesday in most of the US right now.

 

 Vaccines for the Rich

There was a historical event that happened this past Monday. The world surpassed the milestone of 100 million Covid-19 (official) cases since the pandemic began. It’s a grim statistic, particularly because it is a false number. Countries around the world, including the US, don’t have accurate data. Many millions have been infected but were never tested and therefore don’t figure into the calculations. On my recent trip to Mogadishu, several of my staff admitted privately that they likely had the virus but didn’t want to be tested due to the stigma that has been associated with Covid in the country. I am aware that this has been the case in many contexts around the world. So, 100 million? Scary but the real number is likely more than twice that.

As we are already reaching the end of the first month of 2021, the outlook appears to be mixed. Better than 2020? Likely. Great year ahead? Likely not. But there are reasons for optimism. The rather passive US response to Covid-19 is moving into high gear with the new administration. Here in East Africa we’re not likely to see much penetration of the vaccine until 2022, if then, as rich countries take care of themselves first. But the population here has shown a bit more discipline than some other parts of the world when it comes to pandemic mitigation protocols. So the delay, albeit annoying, likely won’t have the same societal impact that it would have in places like the US and many parts of Europe. I suspect we’ll just plug along like we are, hopefully maintaining the current relatively low infection rate, until the vaccine finally shows up.

One concern is that if the vaccine is, as it appears, something that needs to be renewed every year like other flu vaccines, it could frustrate efforts to get the vaccine to places like Africa. Many in the West who are getting their vaccines now will be due for the boosters next year while we likely will not have even had our initial vaccination. It’s likely that Western countries will continue to prioritize themselves first and further delay first vaccines getting to poorer countries. The supply and distribution will really need to be ramped up to get these injections into the arms of those living in developing countries. And it's in the interest of the West, given that Covid anywhere is Covid everywhere.

 “A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization.” -Samuel Johnson, lexicographer (1709-1784)

 

Diani with Liz

The day after Christmas we made a quick trip to the coast. The plan was to enjoy Diani Beach with Liz and then be back in Nairobi before New Year’s Eve, hang out there until she would leave on the 2^nd. In the end, it went according to plan.

There are many places to go on the coast but we opted for something familiar since we were bringing a guest. Didn’t feel like leaving things to chance, particularly with all the other uncertainty these days.

Priya still had the phone number of a tuk-tuk driver from our previous visit so we arranged to have two of them take us the relatively short drive to the hotel. The kids LOVE those little 3-wheeled vehicles so it ends up being cheaper for us and more fun for them.

note the guy retrieving coconuts for us high in the tree

Though we hadn’t stayed at this particular hotel before, it is a sister hotel to one where we’ve stayed, along the same beach. So it was less of a risk. Booking wasn’t as easy as we expected since many of the hotels were booked. I suppose that’s a good sign for the economy.

massive baobab tree next to the dining area

Similar to our experience a couple of months ago on the coast, the Covid protocols were in full force. With a few exceptions, the guests generally toed the line. Almost everything takes place outdoors and that reduces the risk considerably. The place that seemed to provide the most risk was the dining area. It wasn’t outside but it had walls that were open to the outdoors and was well ventilated. Masks were mandatory and the only self-service was for plates that you take with you. Tables were a safe distance apart and staff seemed to be well-trained in keeping clients safe.

Having been in the pandemic for nearly a year now, much of the world has developed a pretty good sense of when we find ourselves in higher risk situations. When I jog or walk past someone who doesn’t provide me enough space, I instinctively hold my breath briefly as I pass, even when wearing masks. We have developed an idea where these “pain points” are and automatically avoid them. I feel naked without a mask when I’m outside. A cough draws my attention. It does make me wonder how long these instincts will last once we are in a post-Covid environment. My guess is that they’ll stick with me for a long time.

In any case, nothing is no risk but overall I never felt like there was any significant threat of infection. It made it much easier to relax and just enjoy being at the beach. The other thing that I found interesting is that most people we talked to who are from the area seem to feel that Covid isn’t really that much of a thing anymore, at least in their area. With the exception of people that were in some sort of service work (hotel staff, tuk-tuk/taxi drivers, tourist shops, etc.), almost no one in the town was wearing a mask. As we were driving from to the hotel, our tuk-tuk driver said, “You know, people here don’t think as much about Covid anymore. Most people that wear masks are doing it because we know that tourists expect us to. Otherwise it might hurt our business.” It could also be the perception that people coming from the outside may be bringing the virus with them.

evening entertainment

It’s true that the infection rate in Kenya is on the decline. Though official numbers show a limited picture of the real number of infections, a combination of indicators, including the apparent current impact on the healthcare system, seem to point to an improving situation – one that will need to improve on its own without the benefit of a vaccine which may be well off into the future for most of the continent. Regardless, we exercised caution as we went about our activities.

daytime entertainment

Most of the time we spent at the pool, at the beach or eating. Not a bad way to pass the time. We did go for a snorkel out on the reef. The girls have done it before but they’re still getting the hang of it. There are occasional fears of urchins or getting seasick (like last time), but we were able to get them out for a while before they went to go hang out on the sandbar. I think we just need to be patient with them, expose them to things gradually and let them decide what they like and don’t like. The temptation is for them to like all the things that we like but, obviously, that’s unrealistic.

the setting for the snorkeling

After a while I was the only one of our crew out in the warm, turquoise water. I snooped around the reef peacefully by myself. I came upon a deeper section of water that was teeming with beautiful fish. It was absolutely stunning. I stopped moving and just watched for several minutes. While I enjoy diving, snorkeling can be just as amazing, if not more so given that the lighting is normally much better.

large millipede

After dinner we would go to the beach and hang out, playing tag or making sandcastles. Evenings on the beach after dark with the cool, steady, evening breeze are amazing. I get tired of the tropical heat during the day but I can’t get enough of cool, tropical evenings. The moon was full, or nearly full, so the stars weren’t quite as vivid as they otherwise would have been. Nonetheless, the generally low ambient light of the Kenyan coast lends itself to see a starry sky that reaches all the way to the horizon.

Far too soon, we were back in our tuk-tuks and heading back to the airport. We would have a few days of downtime, including New Year’s, before the girls would make the monumental transition back to school for the first time in almost 10 months. Should be interesting.

 

 

Christmas and New Years in Nairobi

I’m never in Africa over the holidays. In fact I’ve only spent one Christmas outside the US in my entire life. Until this year.

The holidays are over as I write this and in retrospect, it hasn’t been all that bad. We had my sister-in-law visiting from Nepal and there are plenty of things to do in Kenya, so I shan’t complain. I also realize that so many people in the world are suffering terribly during this time so it seems a bit insensitive to go on about not being able to have a holiday in America with my family. Besides, people that are tired of the cold of the Northern Hemisphere would love to be in warm, sunny East Africa.

amazing how good you can sound with a mask

The evening that we returned from Amboseli, we were invited to some friends’ house for a small, relatively pandemic-friendly carol performance by a women’s choir. It was part fundraiser for them and part entertainment for us. They’re quite talented and I do love supporting groups like this. These are hard times for people economically and many such groups are disappearing. We normally sing carols when we are in the US this time of year with my in-laws and, though this wasn’t the same, it was a very nice substitute.

chocolate fondant...

Other than the safari, I worked up to Christmas day. Things are slow, obviously, with many of my colleagues in Europe and the US on holiday. However Somalia itself wasn’t taking much of a rest. The country is in the midst of a rather tense election season and terrorists apparently aren’t big on holidays. So in addition to cleaning out my email inbox, I would need to track events unfolding in the Horn of Africa.

Christmas Eve - our first Christmas ever in our own home

Though Liz visited us when we lived in Bujumbura, this was her first time to visit us in Nairobi. In addition to a safari and a trip to the coast, we had brainstormed about how best to use our time in the capital. It’s not as easy as one might think given that there are loads of things to do. There are endless restaurants to sample with Covid-safe outdoor dining. There are a few options to even see wildlife within 45 minutes of home. In the end we honed in on a few particularly good restaurants and hung out at home chatting, doing puzzles, watching movies, etc.

a walk in the forest

mask drop for the photo

For New Year’s we didn’t really make any plans. None of us were really keen on staying up to bring in the new year so we thought we’d have a nice dinner, have a toast to then make our way to bed. Liz bought some small fireworks so we thought we’d go up on the roof and light those after dinner. In the end, however, we connected with some good friends in the building (part of our Covid bubble). They joined us with their kids for a New Year’s toast on the roof. It was actually a very nice evening, with a fantastic view of various fireworks displays around the city. By 9pm they seemed to be happening in different directions. We suspected they were early because of the 10pm Covid curfew. By the time we had returned to the apartment, cleaned up and went to bed, we heard people outside counting down, “10, 9, 8…” Another round of loud fireworks ensured for a few minutes. As much as we had not intended on bringing in the new year, here it arrived anyway.