18JAN2007 "Getting a flavor for Kilifi-life"

After three straight days of hassling with paperwork, badges, email, and various other new-employee type transactions, we are finally settling down to work. Yesterday we decided to bike to work for the first time (in case you missed it, we brought our mtn bikes with us!). Even though we left at 8:30 am, it was hot and sticky and we were sweat-soaked after the 30-minute ride. The best part about riding to work is going through Mfoumbini village. All the little kids run to the edge of the road waving and yelling ‘Jambo! Jambo!’ (Swahili for hello) over and over again. It’s like being in a parade. Sometimes you cannot even see who is yelling to you, so it feels more like tourist marco-polo or something. Today we also had to navigate through a small herd of goats coming the other way on the road - pretty tricky on a bike. Chickens, it turns out, are much less predictable than goats, but a little faster. You are never quite sure which way they will dart and you certainly don’t want to hit one!












There is currently an outbreak of Rift Valley Fever in Kenya. Cases started reporting to the Kilifi District Hospital shortly after Christmas. RVF is normally a bovine disease, although it can attack goats and sheep as well. It is transmitted by mosquitoes and occasionally it causes epidemics in humans. The case fatality rate for serious cases is 50% and there have already been about 10 deaths in Kilifi. KEMRI, the district public health team, and the Ministry of Health are still trying to determine whether the cases in Kilifi have been locally transmitted or if they were imported by people who traveled away from Kilifi for the holidays. So far, 50% of the cows they have tested have antibodies to RSV and they are currently trapping mosquitoes to see if transmission can be detected. Meanwhile, we have been advised to stay away from raw milk and beef or goat meat.

Suki’s transformation into a Kenyan dog is ongoing. On Tuesday, she demonstrated her willingness to protect her territory by getting into a scuffle with the two neighbor dogs that wandered onto our property. Suki came out with a little puncture wound on her hind leg, but one of the neighbor’s dogs had a nice gash in her side. We went over to apologize and offer to pay any vet bills. Claire and Benji Bowles (retired British couple) were very nice and quite understanding and seemed pleasantly surprised that we stopped by to check on their dog. Apparently dogs in Kenya are more for security than company…Wendy later explained to Suki that we really don’t need her to help us find excuses to go visit the neighbors.

Working late at home is better than late at KEMRI, but *horrors* no internet!…


















We stayed late at work on Tuesday to try to take care of a few odds and ends like canceling our cell phone service in the US and canceling Suki’s pet insurance. Skype is really not as convenient as I had hoped it would be - I am sure it was a combination of the poor internet connection and the fact that Skype is not compatible with many of the automated phone menu thingys. Two hours later, Patrick had finally managed to cancel our cell phones, but I had not been able to get through to the insurance folks. We left somewhat frustrated and very hungry. There was not a tuk-tuk to be found anywhere since it was after dark on a weeknight. We finally spotted one in the parking lot of a local restaurant and made a bee-line for it. Unfortunately, it already had a fare. We must have looked rather crestfallen (and very hungry) because the couple took pity on us and offered to drop us to meet our group at Member’s club (a local bar/restaurant on the beach) on their way home. The four of us squeezed into the little tuk-tuk and off we went. Turns out that the friendly passenger is the largest chili sauce producer on the coast. He grows his peppers on the plantation, all organic, pesticide free, etc… We plan to pick up some of his product in the local market.

Never know who you will meet around here. For example, the owner of the restaurant where we picked up the tuk-tuk is rumored to be a former advisor to Sadaam Hussein. He is a fairly unsavory character—rude to his staff, racist and obnoxious—so it seems believable, although that is probably not an appropriate litmus test for such things. Wonder who we will meet next!