Heat, Holidays, and Headlines

So its been a while since I wrote. I blame the heat. I’ve been blaming the heat for a lot of things these days, and, given the title above, the heat is one of 3 H’s on my mind. Its hot. Really hot. And its December. I feel tired, sluggish, and slow. My mind is not as sharp, I feel lazy and complacent. Hey! I fit right in with the rest of the people here. Ohh..ok..maybe that’s a little harsh. But, as if we didn’t operate slowly enough, with the seasons somewhere between hottest and scorched earth, as impossible as it is for me to believe, we’ve slowed down even more. But that’s ok, its hot to even bother. I don’t even bother doing cardio workouts at the gym anymore because its just too hot. Unless your sitting directly under a fan, or an a/c, (or you’re outside in a breeze) its hot, which is funny considering the time of year. Which brings me to the next H – Holidays.

It doesn’t feel like the holidays. Probably because it’s a balmy 35 degrees outside and xmas is about 10-12 days away. But I’m not just talking about the holiday season here, I’m talking about public holidays. We have A LOT of them! Today happens to be uhuru day or something, whatever its called, its Kenya’s independence day. Which I thought we celebrated on Kenyatta day, but I guess that’s more of a president’s day, which is what I thought we celebrated on Moi day, but… anyways, thats another story. So in October we had, Eid, Moi day, and Kenyatta day, in November we had Obama day, in December we’ve had an Eid (although it was not technically a public holiday but a lot of people took the day off) and today’s independence day, and starting dec 22nd, most businesses (including my 'little engine that could' of an NGO) will close for 2 weeks for the holidays. So that’s 6 holidays, and 2 weeks off in a span of 3 months. A little much I think, and kind of disrupts the flow of work. A lot of staff here have just taken the whole month of December off and starting next week I think there will be a total of 5 staff in our office (of 15). Oh, and an irony that I have to point out, somehow, I have had to come into work (yes, by choice, but also b/c of deadlines) on everyone of those holidays. Given that my job is not the busiest one in the world, it’s a little ironic. When I left home this morning my roommate remarked that she was going to spend the day decorating our house with some xmas stuff to at least try and make it seem a little more holiday-ish. We have a little Charlie brown xmas tree and some other stuff, but I’m not entirely sure what to expect when I get home. Gotta love her for trying…

The 3rd H is unrelated but whatever. Headlines. I read the nation newspaper here pretty much everyday so that I can keep up to date with the latest Kenyan news. A sample of the headlines will give you a taste of whats going on. The Waki commission looking at last year’s post election violence, random politics (which is huge here) food shortages and the rise in food prices making basic staples unaffordable for most kenyans, and an ad for a oxygen therapy clinic that promises to cure you of a multitude of diseases including arthritis, cancer, stroke, HIV/AIDS, heart disease……wait a sec….you can cure HIV/AIDS??? Cancer??? Does the rest of the world know about this??? The miracle of oxygen therapy!! Ok..its a lie..a big lie…and I was shocked/annoyed to read it! Shocked that this place is so unscrupulous that it would sucker people into thinking that HIV/AIDS or cancer can be cured, and annoyed that the newspaper did not feel it was responsible for editing the content of the ad to ensure that it wasn’t blatantly lying! But its just a sign of the place, time, and society. You can get all worked up about it, you can scream and shout from the rooftops, you can fight and argue and make all sorts of noise…but its too hot.

Happy Holidays to you all, wishing you a safe and enjoyable holiday season!