Things are quiet

The long rains have arrived early by at least a month. It rained all night for the last two nights with lightning, thunder and power outages. The temperature has cooled considerably. We sometimes have to wear a long sleeved shirt in the evening!
Things are fairly quiet for us since the elementary schools are closed with the teachers’ strike. Despite the government threat of firings 200,000 teachers have not reported to school.
Today I met (off site) the Head Teacher of Emmaloba, the recipient of our Rotary ‘Adopt a Village’ grant and received his first list of books they want to buy. I am pleased they have chosen books for teachers (revisionary series) in this first ‘tranche’ that will help the school assess specifics of learning and thus improve their performance.
We have also set dates in February for Virtues training for three schools in the area. Improving relationships, eliminating the free use of the cane and setting clear rules will go a long way to improving school atmosphere and performance. Another head teacher in the area who is a strong proponent of Virtues will assist me.
The head teacher is hopeful the children will be back next Wednesday when we will be able to embark on the uniforms and feeding program for vulnerable children.
The well we put in two years ago has gone dry so we have arranged for the workers to come to dig deeper while the children are out of school. This will start tomorrow.
Obamamania peaked this week and now we have many articles telling us why we should not expect too much even if he is black and his father was Kenyan.
What the presidential inauguration has sparked is a serious look at governance in this country. Everyone knows that a man like Obama could not have been elected in Kenya. He is of mixed race, bears no allegiance to a specific tribe, has values that would not allow him to indulge in the rampant corruption around him. His father was fired from his government job for speaking his mind too freely. Who will come forward to lead and put things right?
Today the President shuffled the cabinet (there are 42 of them) in a token gesture of reform after having told them to work harder and stop public backbiting.