Waggy wagtail?

Salama!

I’ve been using the little Kiswahili I have in my memory bank, revising what I ought to know and trying to learn a few new words too.  It really is words too, not sentences!  Still, I think my hosts appreciate the effort, although they still sometimes laugh at my pronunciation.

I spent the morning talking to a few of the school staff and helping Rachel in the office.  A frequent visitor to the water in a gulley nearby was what I took to be some sort of East African wagtail.  He certainly wagged his tail in an appropriate fashion and exhibited similarities to “our” pied wagtail.

One of the things that has struck me since my arrival is Josphat’s campaign to save the donkey from cruelty.  When driving along, he makes it his business to slow down and speak to anyone he sees “encouraging” their  donkeys along with too much urgency or too many cracks of the whip or stick.  This afternoon we stopped as we came upon a man with two donkeys pulling a laden cart and as Josphat and the driver chatted, I was surprised to see the donkeys continue on their way without any kind of guide.

Donkeys and cart

Just before I arrived in Kenya there was an announcement from an Anglo-Irish exploration company that there had been an oil strike in the northern part of the country.  It's not clear how viable the find will be - and there are mixed feelings as to what difference it will make to Kenya as a whole.  On the one hand it has been welcomed as  great new for this less developed, arid region that traditionally has supported a sparse population of nomads.  On the other hand, some commentators have pointed to the problems that oil has brought to countries like Nigeria. 

Qua heri!