kenyan soap opera stars

yes, so what does a girl to celebrate here in Nairobi when she gets some good news?

well, she spends the night in a karaoke bar and then heads to a reggae club to dance the night away with a kenyan soap opera star who goes by the name of 6Pack.

Right.

Actors are the same the world over I have decided. Egos crowding the room, pick-up lines dripping with syrup, and the most shallow deep statements I have ever heard. No, that is harsh. But the melodrama is the same, the swagger is the same...

One of our friends here in Kenya runs a touring theatre company that performs set books for the secondary schools-- I have mentioned her before. Last night we went out and randomly met multitudes of the acting circles of Kenya, oh yes, the smooth cool operators of this country. Two of them accompanied us to a club called Madhouse which is often overrun with prostitutes... And geez, some of the men hanging round there have the most leering eyes I have ever seen. Actually, in particular the approaching-middle-aged white men near the entrance were most clearly there for one thing and one thing only. No mystery about it.

But, it was fun and having missed dancing for a while, I enjoyed the dance floor even if it meant having to laugh off the romantic sugar-spun comments of my casting director, soap opera actor companion. He was quite a gentleman it must be said however in his defense.

I got home at half four and then woke up to let my friend in at 6...finally getting back to sleep half an hour later, I then woke up at half 8 to go a meeting at OXFAM with their trade coordinator. I managed to stay awake and concentrate and also to arrive there by matatu and with the help of Paul, a friendly Citi Hoppa (local bus system) route manager. After a brief stop at home to rehash the fun and annoyances of last night, it was back to Adams Centre to meet with someone from Christian Aid. I really enjoyed our discussion as he was talking about the proposed structure of the TJN for Africa. We then moved on to discuss the politics of the state in Africa, the effects and causes of the patronage system, and the changing dynamics of the aid industry. He also happened to be reading the same book as me-- Emma's War so that helped fill our two hour lunch meeting.

You know, I am beginning to get a little freaked out about all the coincidences. I randomly saw Emma's War in a bookshop in DC over a year ago and finally bought it to read after my exams. It tells the story of a British aid worker that falls in love with a Sudanese guerrilla leader. She studied art at a college in Oxford (maybe at Brooks, can't remember) and her parents grew up and were married in India. The author of the book works for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and also speaks of Carol Berger, a journalist who came to speak at St. Anne's last year. Since I have started reading it, I have seen it at bookstores here, found it at the book launch I went to, convinced my Finnish friend to buy it, been asked if I in fact also plan to marry a Sudanese warlord (me and the main character apparently have the same nose), and now found that my Christian Aid friend is also reading it. Weird.

Anyway, I think that is most of the coincidences and news. Oh apart from the fact that I was asked a while ago to run a nursery school in Kampala for 6 months. The main reason I was asked, the Ugandan guy bluntly told me was that parents would think a school run by a white person would be a good one. Hmmm. How do I feel about this?

Wil be heading to the coast this weekend...bring on the sunshine. Hoping we can go on an overnight dhow trip...

xx