February 2020 - Carnival

February was the month when the world began to take coronavirus seriously. Footage from China, Italy and Iran became increasingly horrifying. The word “pandemic” was starting to be floated (though it wouldn’t be declared until March 13). The contagious, lethal nature of the virus was becoming increasingly clear over the course of the month. 

In my job we began contingency planning for both Somalia and Nairobi. We began examining our existing contingency plans and modifying them for what would be a crisis unlike any other we’d faced. We looked at duty of care for our staff. We quickly began to sort out the implications of working from home and business continuity. Our largest sector is health so we looked at how we might pivot towards supporting a rapidly spreading virus.

On the personal side, we slowly began to build our stocks of food and other non-food items. I was scheduled to fly to the US in early April and it was beginning to look increasingly unlikely. The soon-to-be-called Covid-19 was blazing across the globe faster than people could react, practically or emotionally. 

This was the backdrop for the month. Other things were going on, obviously, but by late February the virus was on everyone’s mind.

Other things going on:

While I was in Somalia during January, I kept hearing of all the rains in Nairobi. Relatively speaking, Mogadishu is not that far from Nairobi (about a 1:45min. flight) but the weather patterns are drastically different. In Kenya, the "long rains" season normally occurs from about March to May/June. The "short rains" season occurs from October to November/December. The temperature remains fairly warm throughout these months of tropical rain. The warmest period is normally February and March, leading into the season of the long rains, and the coldest is in July, until mid-August.

Note: The equator runs right through the middle of the country and Nairobi is just barely in the Southern Hemisphere (like 1 degree south). Though the proximity to the equator makes the temperatures relatively constant year round, it’s far enough south that toilets indeed drain counter-clockwise. 

But with the climate changing, all bets are off. 2017 was dry and severe drought was prevalent in East Africa. By 2019 rains went a bit crazy and we shifted to flooding. As we have moved into early 2020, the rains continued. In other words, the short rains weren’t so short and are sort of bridging the gap to the long rains. Forecasts, which I track for my job more than for my lifestyle, indicate that we should expect a wet year.

Carnival

Carnival is the Western Christian season prior to Lent. The party atmosphere known to be associated with the season has its roots in its connection to the traditional sacrifices of the Lenten season. It’s the enjoyment of excesses prior to the self-deprivation that prepares believers for Easter. 

Bonn, 1994

Probably the biggest carnival celebration I’ve ever participated in was in Bonn, Germany, back in 1994 or so. I was living in Switzerland at the time and I didn’t go to Germany specifically for that reason but it happened to fall during the time that I was there. I had no idea that was such a big thing.

at the end of the day, after the snow

 We painted our faces and headed out among the throngs. Soon after leaving the apartment, a massive snow storm hit. It was pretty crazy. In general I’m not big on such things. It was interesting to see all the costumes and the parade, listen to the music, particularly in the beautiful old city of Cologne. But after about an hour or so I was pretty much done. My friend seemed to enjoy it more than I and we stuck it out for a couple hours more. To be honest, once the drinking takes hold of people, I start looking for the exit. I’m not necessarily a prude but some enjoy watching people vomit down the steps of the subway more than I do.

not much of a costume

The French are also known to make merry this time of year. As with many other French customs, this tradition makes its way every year to the French school in Nairobi and each year they have a nice celebration for the kids. In addition to homemade crepes, they also dress up in costumes, to some degree based on a particular theme, and then they have a small parade where they walk around the campus with their respective classes. This year the theme was something to do with sustainability and the kids all made costumes with recycled materials. For some it was just rubbish glued to a homemade hat but there was a bit of creativity. I was able to briefly take in the event during a gap between my trips to Somalia. I was able to take some photos, have a crepe and then needed to get to work. Good thing they were able to make it happen before Covid-19 began to have a grip on the city.

a slightly better effort