- Cliché shot of footsteps in the sand
July 21. We have a meeting scheduled for the afternoon, and before that we go with J. to the school manager, who is part of the organization we are working for. He gives us a (very) brief overview of the Lamu Town performance. “Our school is always the first in the county…but our county is the last in the country.” Fairly sad, if you ask me, and such a pity. Everyone in Kenya seems to have high hopes from going to school (in Elangata Wuas, all the high-school kids we talked to wanted to become lawyers), but there’s little employment to be found. There’s no comfort in having computer science certificates, if there’s not even electricity in your village, let alone computers. Much like in Romania, the vocational education seems to be looked down upon, and it’s not particularly well thought-out either, so there are a lot of gaps to be filled there.
The school manager asks us to sign in the visitors’ book – I honestly think Kenya may be the main consumer of these things. We’ve been asked to sign them virtually everywhere; from schools to the flower farm…I’m surprised the church didn’t have one, too!
At the meeting, one of the committee members suggests involving the Lamu City Council or the mayor in the radio project. He says that the mayor will be proud of the radio project, and they may decide to help us, for example facilitating the licensing (or even sponsoring it). However, everyone agreed that we should tread carefully, because “when we use politicians, they will also use us,” so it is important to be very clear about these implications.
In regard to sustainability, the topic was left for the next meeting. Although the members agreed that it is important to find methods of self-financing the radio station, they were all very optimistic about this point. “Give us the legs, and we will walk,” they said, implying that once the station is set up, more opportunities will arise. Funding agencies, however, don’t work according to the same mantra, so it will be necessary that we identify credible means for sustainability, if we are to receive any funding to begin with.
July 23. First week-end in Lamu, yay! In the morning we go to the market, and do a bit of shopping, then we come back home and wait for J., as we’re having lunch at her place today. We walk to Kashimiri, a neighboring village, where cats are a lot more shy than in Lamu.
After lunch, we go to Shela, another hour’s walk or so, over sand dunes and through stupid heat. Hint: I don’t particularly like walking in the sun. Anyway, after a maze of little streets in Shela, we finally see the water, and it is gorgeous! There are at most 10 people on the entire strip, the sand is super fine and the water is just the right temperature. It absolutely kills me that I did not being a bathing suit, I literally wanted to hug the ocean. We sit down on a towel and stare into the distance for a while – the only downside is that there are mangroves pretty close by, so you can’t really dwell into the endlessness of the water. But it’s a pretty good view nonetheless. Karen has a short nap (who could blame her?), and I listen to some music: we must seem so funny to J. and her cousins 
.
From Shela, we walk by the shore till Lamu, and it’s really pleasant, with fewer beach boys than usual and a lot less sun. As soon as we reach Lamu Palace, it starts to rain, just enough to cool us down for a bit. Just as it did the first time we came here.
