great food & crappy internet

may get bumped off at any moment, but will write until I do. Am at an internet cafe downtown (Ksh 1/per minute - an amount too small to convert in US$) after being dumped from my friends' currently spotty service. I've been told that this is probably the most reliable internet of the trip, so don't worry too much if I drop out of sight. Also you might just need to check the blog occasionally to see what I'm doing as the yahoo seems terminably slow. All a real eye opener in terms of access issues.

In any case, on other (human) technology fronts, I had a wonderful time meeting some local women working with Solar Cookers International. My friend Cathy just finished a short promo piece for them & so in preparation for a public screening, she had me tag along to help sort out the connections from her puter & camera. We got treated to some Kenyan food (greens, a nice lentil dish, rice, bbq meat, even cake) all cooked in the sun. fantastic! The need for firewood among the mostly rural population to cook food has decimated whole areas of forest here, as well as causing great conflict among the populations who are most in need (refugees and indigenous tribes), so this low-cost alternative is being championed as one possible solution.

here is one in action:


Since Cathy is a really good director, the tape was inspirational, but probably most because of its main "star" Margaret Owinha - a really amazing local woman who heads up the project here in Kenya. I'll take some pics tomorrow (and hopefully can post them) so you can see it in action. I plan to purchase one of their Cook-its for use at the Hobe Chobe when I return.



Hung went off on a matatu (small minibus) to a town not far from here. We are being adventurous by white Kenyan standards just walking and going about, but the city is quite populous and during the day it feels completely fine. I'll try & get Hung to post something about his day when he returns.