Sigh...

I'm in Mombasa after a couple of days at the beach. I needed a couple of days to regroup, I think but it was hard to stay at a touristy beach alone. I stayed at this lovely beach house recommended to me by Jason (a friend of a friend who works at the UN in Nairobi). As long as I didn't venture onto the beach, it was an extremely relaxing place. Luckily a friend from Israel, who I met on the course, hung out with me on the first day but yesterday I was left to my own demons and the tourist hounds on the beach. All day I was chased down by men wanting to sell me things, tell me how poor they are, ask me where my husband is, and don't I need a man to stay with me since my husband is so far away. NO, NO, NO!! You can probably tell that I was/am going a little crazy. I just wonder what we (as western society) have done to make this kind of behaviour acceptable. On that beach, I am a white woman alone. Which obviously means that a) I am rich, b) I need to be taken care of, and c) want to buy stuff. I realize that I am rich compared to these people. It's just very disconcerting to me. My conclusion is that many white, rich people have come before me and made the local population think that we can help them out of their relative misery. But are we really making their lives better? By flaunting how rich we are? I doubt it. I don't know what the answer is... but thanks for listening to my venting.
I am extremely happy to be back to a city where I am still a white woman travelling alone but I am slightly less conspicuous here. It's really an interesting city - a land of differences. There are many Muslims here, along with the usual Christians. Lots of different clothing styles. Nairobi is extremely formal with most people wearing suits. I felt a little out of place there in my travelling digs. I'm excited to explore the old city a little more this afternoon - lots of interesting architecture...
I had a nice couple of days in Nairobi saying goodbye to the rest of the YES (my course) crew. We ate well at the Java coffee house. Sadly, most coffee in this country is Nescafe. I'd like to start a personal crusade against (Swiss) multi-national companies that keep me from having a good cup of coffee in a coffee producing country (Peru was the same). So far, I've had two good cups of coffee... at the java house and at the Karen Blixen house.
Outside Nairobi, I also had the pleasure of being licked by a giraffe! It was pretty gross actually but a fun adventure. I don't really like it when dogs lick me and I've learned that giraffes have very long tongues!
The course ended on a real high note. We spent the last days working on a group project. I worked with a bunch of scientists and engineers to come up with a project that could be implemented in Africa. It was really cool. We decided to propose a source water protection project outside Kigali, Rwanda. Interestingly, we may just be able to implement the project. I'm quite excited about the idea of using some of my skills in an African setting.
I think that it's time to head back out to the chaos of Africa. I can't hide in an internet cafe forever, I suppose :). I'm going to Nairobi tonight and plan to organize a trek (e.g. go with a group) to Mt. Kenya or Kilimanjaro which ever time allows.
Take care!