It's Called Shutdown

Well, I was supposed to be spending this weekend near Mt. Kenya, visiting with the sheep grandmothers and going to the chimpanzee center, but during the night on Friday, my body absolutely rebelled...chills and fever (very low-grade) alternated with sweating. Add the vivid dreams and by morning, I was completely wiped out and could barely drag myself out of bed. Made the decision (in consultation with my  body which was shrieking, REST! REST! REST!) to forego the trip, which would have involved a good deal of driving both days and, instead, stay at the Wildebeest.

What is the saying about the best-laid plans? Seems the Wildebeest was completely booked for Saturday night and so, after the sweet receptionist made a call for me, I landed at the Fairview Hotel nearer downtown Nairobi. It turned out to be a lovely place where I slept, blogged, ate a little, took a short walk late in the afternoon, and then slept some more. This morning, there was a delicious breakfast buffet downstairs in the atrium (included in the room rate), and later, Charlie-the-taxi-driver, will pick me up and return me to the Wildebeest for at least the next 2 nights. Have you followed all this? The saying here when things happen in unexpected ways is TIA- "This Is Africa".

What I've been finding is that as much as I enjoy going the simpler, cheaper route, staying in hostels and camps, my aging body periodically rebels and demands a bit of comfort. Makes me feel totally spoiled...after all, the people we're meeting and working with have no such options. And many of the grandmothers are around my age...some older...with huge burdens of responsibility. Philosophically, the question arises: why is each of us in the particular life situation in which we find ourselves? Me, born in the U.S. admittedly to hard-working first-generation citizens who struggled all their lives to give my sisters and me a life better than theirs...and the women here, born to hard-working parents who also struggled to give them a better life- but in very different terms and circumstances. And now, because of the AIDS pandemic on this continent, many are left in their fifties, sixties, seventies, caring for their orphaned grandchildren, struggling to give them a better life.

The struggle is etched on their faces...your sisters and mine. And answers are not forth-coming- at least not for this intrepid traveler on this Sunday morning in Nairobi, Kenya.