What is in a name?

O'loitokitok in kimaasai means a land bubbling with water. Loitokitok gets its name from the several springs found in the area. After several weeks in this area without seeing this famous springs I set out looking for them.

Loitokitok is one very cosmopolitan town. Its predominantly Maasai, followed by Kikuyus and Kambas, then a sprinkling of all the other communities (I even met a third generation Turkana family living in Loitokitok!). Mama Elvis, my neighbor, tells me Loitokitok was heavily forested until as recently as twenty years ago, when Maasai land owners started actively selling land to outsiders.

I followed a foot path out side my house to some hills south of my house. What a beauty this place is! The rain is slowing down and the once bare land is now covered in beautiful green folliage. Vast areas have been cleared to make way for shambas. You can tell from the exotic trees in the area, the few odd indigenous trees in the area, and sadly tree stumps in the middle of shambas.
A little forested area caught my eye, and I walked over to it. I was told its Kawele springs, it was my first time to see a spring and I spent some time th

ere. It has been covered with concrete for protection, and fro

m the inscriptions I could gather the construction was sponsored by AMREF and that Nasepa Welfare Association 'take care of it'. I chatted up a herdsman who was watering his huge grade-ish cows and he told me Kawele Springs is gradually drying off. It used to take a minute to fill up a twenty liter jerican. He also told me that Kawele is not the springs that supplies Loitokitok with its water, and pointed me in the direction of it.

Nalemuru
Along Nalemuru River is a deep gorge that houses Nalemuru springs. I remember being hit by several distinct emotions. One was a feeling of awe at the beauty of the gorge. The other was the calming effect the trees and the sound of the river flowing below

had on me. Its cold in Loitokitok but there was a bunch of kids

engaging in swimming mischief at the small waterfall.

The week that was

It was a kawaida week. My life in Loitokitok is pretty much routine; I go to work, eat, sleep, and write a little once in a while, Oh! And I go over to Ark 2 Hotel every evening to watch Storm over Paradise:-), all tv-lovers without a tv set converge there. On Wednesday I learnt some Behavior Change Communication games – almost a week later my arms are still aching from throwing balls, catching balls and running, I really should try to exercise more – but it was fun. Have you ever been happy you got out of your house? I did on Thursday. I wanted to find out what is beyond my house. That story will be blogged some other time.

The new road is almost reaching Loitokitok and new shuttle ma3s are starting to ply the Nairobi-Loitokitok route. Nairobi has never been so accessible. Finally I can finish work on Friday afternoon, hop into a mat3 and go back to ‘Naisanity’. Being the late adopter I am, I should be the only Non-Loitokitokian who is yet to sample this civilization:-), that’s why Saturday morning saw me on a Secret Admirer bus to Nairobi.

Speaking of Nairobi, I did not do much of what I planned to do – it was Jamhuri day, most places were closed. The city was pleasantly deserted though, you could walk in peace. Pictures from the Kenya Burning Photo Exhibition are on display at the Hilton hotel Park and walking through it I could almost hack the poignancy in the air with a machete! There weren’t any nice movies worth going into; there is a Jim Carrey one coming soon called A Christmas carol and I’m a fan of Jim Carrey. That makes it number one on my must watch list

I have a day trip tomorrow to a town called Rombo. If it’s interesting enough for Snippets of a diary I will tell you about it.

Meanwhile you have yourself a nice week ahead.

Crazy about blogger widgets

I have spent this whole weekend changing the outlook of Snippets of a diary. I have also installed a few fun gadgets here and there to make sure you have a good laugh while in there. Check out the baboon pondering about some things in life. There is the funny quotes area with some really hilarious and witty quotes. And tips on whitening you pearly whites:-)! I think I was hungry at one point, that is how come we end up with a Burger game at the very bottom. while down there get a dose of inspiration from the daily inspiration area.



Have fun.

Of lives past and occupational hazards

The tens of deja vu sensations I have been getting all my life have convinced me that I'm in my third life. I am also convinced I was a garbage-collector in my last life, and some occupational hazards transited into my present life. That explains why I’m a pack rat; I do not like throwing things away. It also explains why I love going through discarded stuff (and looking through the trash when I can get away with). I stumbled upon a joke the other day and it made my otherwise bland week. Here goes:

Dear Tech Support:

Re: Installing a husband

Last year I upgraded from Boyfriend 5.0 to Husband 1.0 and noticed a distinct slow down in overall system performance, particularly in the Jewellery and Flower applications, which operated flawlessly under Boyfriend 5.0.
In addition, Husband 1.0 uninstalled many other valuable programs such as Romance 9.5, and Personal Attention 6.5, and then installed undesirable programs such as NBA 5.0, NFL 3.0 and Golf Clubs 4.1. Conversation 8.0 no longer runs and House Cleaning 2.6 simply crashes the system. Please note that I have tried running Nagging 5.3 to fix this problems, but to no avail.

What can I do?

Signed
Desperate.

Dear Desperate;

First, keep in mind, Boyfriend 5.0 is an Entertainment Package, while Husband 1.0 an Operating System. Please enter command: ithotyoulovedme.html and try to download Tears 6.2 and do not forget to install the Guilt 3.0 update. If this application works as designed, Husband should then automatically run the applications Jewellery 2.0 and Flowers 3.5. However, remember, overuse of the above application can cause Husband to default to Grumpy silence 2.5, and Happy Hour 7.0 or Beer 6.1. Please note that beer 6.1 is a very bad program that will download the farting and Snoring Loudly Beta.

Whatever you do DO NOT under any circumstances install Mother-In-Law 1.0 (It runs a virus in the background that will eventually seize all your system resources.)

In addition, please do not attempt to reinstall the Boyfriend 5.0 program. These are unsupported applications and will crash Husband 1.0.

In summary, Husband 1.0 is a great program, but it does have limited memory and cannot learn new applications quickly. You might consider buying additional software to improve memory and performance. We recommend Cooking 3.0 and Lingerie 7.7

Good Luck
Tech Support.

How the HIV Red Ribbon came about

Its exactly 32 days since I last blogged, half of which I did not use the internet. I never thought that could ever happen, but karibu loitokitok.

Today is World AIDS day. A day set aside to create awareness about this pandemic, raise funds, fight prejudice and improve education. The theme this year is ‘universal access and human rights’. It’s about time for a country which has about a quarter of its HIV+ population on ARVs.

A Masai lady hawking red ribbons in Loitokitok town today made me realize I really didn’t know how it came about, so I made a point of asking around, and finally I resorted to my good friend google. Apparently there is an assortment of colored ribbons for a myriad of courses; the red ribbon is a symbol for heart disease, stroke, substance abuse, and several other conditions, but it has been completely usurped for the fight against HIV and AIDS- thanks to the Visual AIDS Artists Caucus. It’s worn all year round and particularly around World Aids day to demonstrate care and concern about HIV and AIDS, and to remind others of the need for their support and commitment. First worn publicly by Jeremy Irons (the guy who voices Scar in Lion King), the ribbon soon became a politically correct fashion accessory on the lapels of celebrities. It continues to be a force in the fight to increase public awareness of HIV and AIDS and in Lobbying efforts to increase funding for AIDS services and research.


Now you know :-)