They drive on the left but you wouldn't know...

Salama.
Here I am in Nairobi, Kenya's bustling, somewhat chaotic capital city. I have spent the last 2 days familiarizing myself with the various projects I will be working on, and coordinating with SOTENI Kenya Program Director Edward Wanyoni on things like budget, travel arrangements, and my itinerary for the next three months. There are very few white faces to be seen and the traffic resembles rush-hour Manhattan without as much respect for traffic lights. Walking to the office this morning I noticed small piles of trash burning on the side of the path that winds through the University of Nairobi campus towards the city center. As an American well-versed in the Inconvenient Truths of global warming I was initially concerned with this method of waste management, but realized that paradoxically this was a sensible strategy of litter clean-up. Such is the dilemma of limited resources.

Tomorrow I will fly to the city of Kisumu and from there travel to my first SOTENI Village of Hope, Kuria which is in the western part of the country near Lake Victoria. I will be in Kuria for about one month, working closely with Mathias, the coordinator there to develop a work plan for a community center to be built on land owned by SOTENI. I look forward to getting out of the city and meeting my host family who are rumored to be extremely warm and generous when feeding their guests!