Diani

Our daughters had a school vacation recently and were not able to take advantage of it due to the fact that I was in the US. Technically, they could have but it’s just easier and more enjoyable when we do that sort of thing all together. As such, they mostly ended up staying around Nairobi (part of the time with their aunt who was visiting from Thailand). I felt bad since we normally go on safari or to the coast this time of year. Alas, I didn’t arrive until the end of the break on Easter Sunday.

Mt. Kilimanjaro through the clouds as flew towards the coast

 

The good news was that only a two weeks later there were a couple of school holidays that merged together providing a possible window for a short trip. It was the convergence of the Muslim holiday of Eid combined with the Kenyan Labor Day and an impromptu holiday to commemorate the passing of a former Kenyan president who passed away. All this resulted in an unexpected five-day weekend. So we quickly sprang into action and booked flights to the coast.

Our customary tuk tuk from the airport

I hadn’t been to the Kenyan coast with the family since last October. I’d been to the Somali coast but that wasn’t a holiday and there wasn’t much beach time. In practical terms, from Nairobi to the Indian Ocean is either a day’s drive or an hour or so flight. There’s now a train which we’ve never done. It’s apparently almost as long as driving when you consider that it doesn’t take you all the way to the coast and you need to take an Uber or taxi for an hour to complete the journey. We’d still like to do it at some point but you need to be able to give up a day on each end of the vacation for travel purposes.

* * *

Pretty stunning

We arrived in Diani on a Friday. We weren’t sure how the crowds would be. The convergence of holidays might create some busyness but that would be tempered by the fact that it’s rainy season. Thanks to a few group bookings, the hotel was quite full most of the week. As is often the case when we travel, I would work by day and vacation by night.

Rainbow at high tide

The first few days showed some signs of rainy season but it frequently cleared up and was sunny. But by the middle of the week, a couple of days went by without any sun. It wasn’t the end of the world for us given that we’d had plenty of sun prior to that but we felt bad for those who had arrived at the inopportune time. It was even less of an issue for me given that my routine dictated that I was on my laptop until evening anyway. I would generally have the time for a quick swim before getting ready for dinner.

Evening entertainment

Having kids, it’s always better when they have peers around. Because their school is on break, we were fortunate enough to have a few kids from their school in the hotel. Makes a big difference in keeping them entertained.

Kinaya getting into the act

The white, sandy beaches are amazing but during the day, at least for our family, most of the action is at the pool. The beach is exposed and generally hot in addition to hawkers constantly trying to sell you stuff. You end up with people either in the water or back at the hotel.

The dinner is buffet style. Prior to the pandemic it was self-serve buffet. It’s still buffet but there’s someone at each station serving you. After dinner there is usually some sort of entertainment. They occasionally show a kid’s film and they often have some sort of performance by local groups (tribal dances, acrobatics, etc.). These groups move from hotel to hotel along the coast performing for tourists. Some of the talent is amazing. It’s unfortunate that they are in front of such small crowds. They deserve much more acclaim (and more income). One, or both, of the girls have been pulled into the act on multiple occasions.

Water polo

Interestingly, we’ve picked up the habit over the years of going to the beach in the evening after the evening’s entertainment. There’s always a constant breeze and, given the relatively low ambient light on the coast, the stars stretch all the way to the horizon. We often run around and burn whatever energy is left in us before making our way back to the room for the night.

Colubus monkey

One thing that’s changed over the years is internet access. Wireless has existed in these hotels for a long time but it has generally been pathetic, even in some of the nicer hotels. Recently, I’ve seen significant improvement, particularly on this trip. It was important given that I had several video calls and even a couple of media interviews. For the latter you don’t want any hiccups in the connection. Thankfully, there weren’t any.

* * *

After a few days, I’m sort of done with the beach thing. I do find it relaxing and wonderful but after a while I’m ready to get home and get back to my routines. It was more acute this time given that I have been away from home so much over the past couple of months. And it wouldn’t be long until I would be traveling again.

 

The True Test of Civilization

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

 

I’m back in Nairobi. The six weeks in the US seem like a distant memory as my work has been intensifying. The situation in Somalia continues to worsen. The figures are staggering:

•        451,000 drought-related displacements in the past 90 days (people seeking aid); 760K overall displaced.

•        Of the locations where the displaced have congregated, only about a third have water.

•        6.1 million in IPC 3&4 (serious need of assistance); 81,000 in IPC 5 (catastrophic situation)

•        Over a hundred schools closed as children and/or teachers have been displaced.

•        90% of the country’s water sources have dried up.

•        Livestock herds and crops have been decimated, likely impacting food security for years to come.

It’s hard to describe what’s going on. It’s hard to make it matter for people who would be able to share a bit of what they have for those in need. I was interviewed two days ago by ABC News and the guy asked me how I could make a compelling description for people to understand the disaster that continues to unfold in the Horn of Africa. I realize that the data can make people’s eyes glaze over. I told him that a million and a half children are suffering from acute malnutrition, many of whom are going to die. Sometimes focusing on children will get a rise out of people. But so far, with about 5% of the funding received compared to what is needed, even the idea of children needlessly suffering doesn’t seem to jar people enough to refrain from upgrading their lawnmowers or dumping money into clothes they don’t need. People don’t necessarily need to change their lifestyles, skip vacations, etc. (though cutting back on food wouldn’t hurt some people). The world would be a lot better off if people just shared a bit of their surplus, particularly the millionaires and billionaires.

It might be helpful to shed some light on what people are experiencing right now. The main concerns are starvation, dehydration, waterborne illnesses (from drinking contaminated water) and malnutrition. Measles and other diseases are also on the rise. Just to home in on one. What does dehydration look like?

Water makes up about 55 to 65% of your body. It’s a crucial ingredient in the chemistry that helps your brain think, your blood flow and your muscles move. When thirst kicks in, your body clings to all remaining moisture. As time goes by, your kidneys send less water to your bladder, darkening your urine. As you sweat less, your body temperature rises. Your blood becomes thicker and sluggish. To maintain oxygen levels, your heart rate increases. Your blood is so concentrated that the resulting decrease in blood flow makes your skin shrivel. Eventually, your blood pressure drops, making you prone to fainting. You’ve basically stopped sweating, and without this coolant, you start to overheat. Your body is having trouble maintaining blood pressure. To survive, it slows blood flow to non-vital organs, such as your kidneys and gut, causing damage. Without your kidneys filtering your blood, cellular waste quickly builds up. Your uncontrollable body temperature means your vital organs risk overheating; liver failure will probably kill you. But if conditions are mild, toxic sludge builds up in your blood and the thing that will do you in is likely to be kidney failure. It's an unpleasant way to go.

The last question the journalist asked me was to provide a final comment: if you had 15 seconds, what you would like the American audience to know about the situation in the Horn of Africa – something to stick with the viewers. I thought back to the severe drought in Somalia in 2017. I referred to something that the UN Secretary General (who I had a glass of wine with many years ago in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania) said at the time. With climate change, severe droughts are unavoidable. They will come and go. However famine is preventable. Famine is the result of the lack of response to the severe drought. The path we’re on is currently leading us in the direction of famine, though we’re not there yet. If we get there, it’s on us. We could have avoided it had we responded sooner.

Back Across the Pond

"We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It's easy to say, 'It's not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.' Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes." -Fred Rogers, television host and author (20 Mar 1928-2003)

 

The moment I fell from my bicycle back in November, I knew it was broken. Even then as I got to my feet, I was aware that my right wrist was broken and probably my left thumb. However the implications of that break were something that I could not have imagined at the time. I anticipated that I would be in a cast for a period of time. I anticipated that there would be a long period of healing. But I never would have guessed that it would require a trip to the US, surgery, a re-breaking of the bone, six weeks away from my family, etc. It’s a very good thing that we don’t know the future.

Departing solo

Other than the medical appointments and work mentioned in the previous post, I did do a number of other things in my spare time. It was a challenge since I wanted to take advantage of time with family based in Idaho, at the same time I was trying to make it clear that my priority was to get my wrist taken care of and stay on top of things at work. This would not be vacation.

Happy it's done. Not enjoying the pain.

For the most part, it worked well and I was able to balance everything. The part that took the biggest hit was my sleep. I felt that for the full six weeks, I probably averaged 4-5 hours of sleep per night and almost constantly felt tired. Even on mornings which technically were considered a weekend, I wasn’t able to get extra sleep for some reason. I toughed it out knowing that it was only going to be for a few weeks.

* * *

One project that has been on my mind for some time has been the need to digitize my parents’ pre-digital era photography. I knew it would be a daunting task but it wasn’t clear to me what we were talking about in terms of volume. But once I knew I was going to the US, and I would have a period of time where I wouldn’t be able to be that active, this seemed like the ideal opportunity.

Thousand Springs (though nowadays it's more like a dozen)

Not too long after arriving in country, I made my way to visit my parents and began digging around the boxes of media. There were boxes of reel-to-reel audio, VHS tapes, slides, negatives and some photos (though the majority of the photos were elsewhere in albums). I homed in on the slides for a few reasons. One is that for a period from the late 1950s to the mid-70s, my parents seemed to have predominately maintained slide film in their camera. It was the thing to do at the time and gathering around a screen to view projected photos was a nice way to re-visit one’s experiences, particularly as a group.

I know slide shows got a bad rap over time as a boring thing your father did, but for some reason I always enjoyed them. It was like movie night at home (since we didn’t have Netflix back then). My dad (or grandfather when we were at their house) would break out the projection screen. The lights would be dimmed and the kids would assemble on the floor. The grown-ups would sit in chairs around the perimeter. As the round slide carousel would be loaded (or changed), the kids would often take advantage of the white projection screen and make shadow puppets. One by one the photos would click by, often times upside down or inverted. If it was an interesting photo, it would be corrected. Otherwise, we’d just continue on. There was no photo editing at the time for the layperson. If the lighting was bad, you’d squint to try to make out what the photos was but that was it. If the photo would be better cropped, oh well.

One of the precious scanned images; me on the left

The second reason that I focused on slides was that, given the way slides were shared, if you didn’t see it projected, you generally didn’t see it. With photos, you could casually browse through an album sitting on the coffee table and frequently tap into them on occasion for reference. As such, the slides provide some images of a couple decades that, at least for our family, haven’t otherwise seen the light of day.

I had previously owned a slide/negative scanner but after several attempts to resurrect it, I gave up and bought a new one. I looked into outsourcing the scanning but, in addition to the expense, I realized that I sort of enjoyed the browsing of the past and it could be done while watching the NCAA college basketball tournament and/or chatting with family.

* * *

Given that it was still the waning days of winter, one thing I wanted to do during the window that I had prior to the scheduled surgery was go skiing. It’s not really a recommended activity for someone with a jacked-up wrist, and it would have been a precarious thing to do to fall on my nearly constantly painful wrist, but I rarely fall when I ski and I convinced myself that I would make a special effort to reel in my often aggressive approach to skiing.

Amazing day on the mountain

It’s an activity that is of deeper importance to me than simply sliding down a mountain on a couple of boards. I’ve been skiing since my youth, throughout my eight years in Switzerland, and off and on since. It’s almost as much the connection to an incredibly beautiful slice of nature, on a snowy mountain, as much as it is the act of skiing itself. There are very few activities that resonate with me quite like it. I knew I had one chance to go before my operation and it would not be possible thereafter. I wasn’t able to use my poles due to my wrist, but I really didn’t need them. The day that I was able to go was gorgeous. The snow was great. The weather was sunny. I was surprised how good I felt given how rarely I get to ski these days. It was a wonderful gift for which I am immensely thankful.

* * *

Allegedly Ben Franklin used to say that guests are like fish in that they begin to stink after three days. As such, I sort of kept on the move. It was also to make sure I fit into people’s schedules along the way. I would stay a few days with a family member and then move on to the next.

Soon after surgery I headed up to the mountains to hang out with family up there. Once again, it was a time of year that I haven’t seen in Idaho for many years. When I first arrived, there was still considerable snow on the ground. But over the span of just a couple weeks, it changed radically. The weather warmed and the valleys became green. Massive temperature swings from one day to the next. Lots of unsettled weather, which I like.

One of my many work spaces

I was able to stay at both my brother and sister’s houses. I checked on the construction of our house, which is moving at a snail’s pace. But it is moving forward. It could be worse given the demands on contractors these days.

* * *

After almost a week in the mountains, I headed south to return to the flatlands with a planned stop to see my brother on the way. However, soon after leaving my sister’s place, I had a flat tire. It’s been years since I’ve had a flat. Apparently I had hit a rock that had come loose on the hillside due to the spring thawing. Its jagged edge punctured the sidewall and I was now stranded on the side of the road. I grabbed my phone to notify by brother who lives another fifteen minutes or so down the road. Unfortunately there was no cell reception – not uncommon on a windy, mountain road in Idaho. But it was created a dilemma for me on this occasion.

My next thought was to simply expedite the tire change so as to limit the delay. I don’t like people waiting on me. I got out of the car, went back to the trunk and noticed that there was no spare tire and no tools!? When I was in my twenties, I worked at a car rental agency and we always made sure vehicles had spare tires and tools. Apparently, things have changed.

As I got back in the car to warm up and sort out my next move, it occurred to me that with my broken forearm, I likely wouldn’t have been able to use the jack anyway. As I began to take in my setting, I noticed to my left that across the river and through some trees there was a pick-up and trailer. I could also see what appeared to be someone walking nearby. It looked like my best chance to get out of my current mess.

I grabbed my coat and headed up the road to a small bridge that allowed me to cross over and backtrack towards the pick-up. The man, likely in his late 60s, seemed a bit startled to see me, understandably since he likely doesn’t get too many visitors, certainly those arriving on foot. I greeted him and explained my situation. He didn’t make much eye contact and carried on loading things in the back of his pick-up as I talked. He eventually stopped working and offered to let me use his landline at his house up the hill. He let his dog out of the pick-up and the three of us walked about a quarter mile up to his small cabin. It was impressive how quickly he launched into his political leanings. I just smiled and kept walking. I’ve always considered myself mostly in the political center but some of my home state, particularly in these more remote areas, seem to have wandered to the extreme right. I just kept my mouth shut. I wanted to make sure I accessed his phone before any possibility of him changing his mind.

The cabin had a fire going in the fireplace and I was comforted by the warmth and the likelihood that I was going to sort this out. Soon my brother was on his way and the man, the dog and I made our way back down the hill. I thanked him for being so gracious to drop what he was doing and take the time for me to use his phone. I headed back to the car to wait for my brother.  

Broken wrist; making my brother do the work

When he arrived, we rolled the car down the hill a ways to get it further off the road. We removed the tire and proceeded to head towards the town of Council. On top of the other challenges, this was a Sunday and nothing was open – no chance of getting the tire fixed until at least the following day. As such, we headed to the local pub for a drink and to hang out with the gang.

Cabin with a fire - few things I like better

After spending the night at my brother’s place, we headed to the town of McCall to get the tire fixed. With amazing efficiency, it was repaired before we finished our breakfast. We ended up buying some cook-at-home pizza and headed back to his mountainside cabin for the evening, binging on James Dean movies, hanging out and enjoying my last day in the woods.

* * *

I was also able to spend quite a bit of time with my parents and do a bit of exploring around the Magic Valley. The “magic” refers to the transformation of the valley into farmland as a result of the construction of dams and an extensive canal system in the early 1900s. It is the phenomenon that lured my grandparents’ families out West. Over time, however, this amazingly productive farmland is being covered by concrete and houses. Hard to say if builders stop to appreciate the backbreaking efforts of early farmers (including my grandparents) in removing rocks and unknowingly making it easier for construction rather than agriculture (there’s no shortage of land that is poor quality for farming but suitable for housing). In any case, this permanent loss of arable lands is continuing unabated and I do wonder if it will be to our regret one day as the world increasingly struggles to feed itself. In the meantime, the “magic” is sadly becoming less magical.

Shoshone Falls from afar

* * *

After returning to Boise, we were hit with a decent snowstorm which covered the spring blossoms. After a front-loaded day of work, my sister and I took a 40-minute break to quickly build snow people. It had to be fast not only because we still had more work to do, but the spring snow quickly began to melt. Parts would fall to the ground soon after attaching them. 

My delicate construction lasted about as long as it took to build it. My sister’s fared better, but nonetheless face-planted by the following day.

He was an inspiration to us all...

One first for me was attending a lacrosse game. My brother-in-law’s son was coaching and my sister and I thought it might be a fun way to spend a couple hours. I grew up around sports but lacrosse wasn’t one of them. I knew very little about it and, to be honest, I still don’t know that much. I get the overall objective of launching a little ball into a net with a stick with a small basket on the end, but most of the stuff that leads up to that point isn’t very clear. I see the appeal though. It’s pretty fast. There’s a bit of roughing each other up. What’s not to like?

We were late getting to the game and missed the first quarter blizzard. But by the second half, the weather was mostly sunny. The pleasant weather didn’t help our team’s cause and they lost by one point. It was in the stadium which accentuated the sparse crowds. I played on artificial turf several decades ago and the technology has clearly improved over the years. We were able to go out on the field briefly after the game and it feel nothing like turf in the old days.

Another first was attending a comedy club. Quite fun actually. I'm not even sure they existed in Boise when I lived there. Maybe. But I didn't have much money back then and I likely wouldn't have used what little I had on going to a club.

* * *

On Wednesday, April 13, I had my final doctor appointment. It was sort of like passing an exam to be able to fly home to Nairobi to see my family. But pass it I did. Doctors are good at looking at gross things and saying, “That looks really good!”. I’ll take his word for it. I put on my arm brace that Friday and headed to the airport. The longest time being away from my wife and children was coming to an end.

 

I wouldn’t be home until Sunday morning, flying directly over the North Pole from Seattle to Dubai, but it was all worth it. My arm was more or less fixed. I was able to keep up with my work. Spend time with my parents and siblings. Scan a couple thousand slides of family history. Mission accomplished.