LOL!!! Yes I. In one word Africa is fantastic. Nairobi was hectic and wonderful all in one - although I much more enjoyed the countryside and coast of Kenya...The coast is how one might imagine Jamaica / Trinidad...white sandy unspoiled beaches and so forth.

Kenya is a very big country and my work took me all over. Of course, though poverty in many areas is extreme in both the urban and rural areas. In some places like Kibera and other 'slums' the living conditions are indescribable.

Even though I was a volunteer..we lived in what would be described as 'uptown' in Westlands...like the Shaker Heights of Cleveland...but the roads was still pretty bad in this area... and lights go out at least 5 x per week from anywhere from 1hr to all day/night.

Corruption....well - I hate to say it but its rampant from the President on down....the conditions of the roads and infrastructure speaks to the high levels of corruption....BUT the people in Kenya are some of the most wonderful hardworking people you will ever meet ... Kenya...man I loved the place, and would have stayed if I could have found another contract that was suitable....but its a place worth visiting and living...I hope that my picture did not come off negative but I think its important to note thatwith all the external factors that affect Africa...one of our primary problems we create in a contemporary sense we perpetuate it...Example, most in teh West view Jomo Kenyatta as the Burning Spear/African leberator..etc...but MOST of the Kenyan I met, even those of the same ethnic group (kikuyus) despised him...if you go to the Coast and parts of the Rift Valley 10s of thousand of hecatars of land are 'owned' by his family..while millions of people are landless...his son teh minister of finance uhuru kenyatta was indicted by the ICC for teh post election violence in 2007...among with other high level polytricksters ....if kenyan politics would straighten up....u would really have an amazing country.

I did lots of work in the tea an coffe producing areas...Kericho, Nandi Hills, Machakos etc - ccompanies like 'lipton' have hUGE tea plantations...but the people that work there make pennies for picking tea leaves all day...same for the coffee farmers...some even own the farms but they are paid so little for the coffee many are trying to diversify to other cash crops..while as we all know kenya coffee in the international market fetches a very high price...

But the culture of Kenya is pervasive in everything...music food clothes, worldview etc and my brothers and sistas there are fighting to make the country great...i was lucky that the new constituion was passed while i was there and i think this is another great achievement for the country...but when you vist the must sees are watamu and mombasa on the coast/all of rift valley/homa bay and Kendu bay in Nyanza province on lake victoria / isiolo (about 500 miles from ethiopia) and naivasha! all of these places are ilaful!!!

We left in december and took a bus from Nairobi to Namibia a 5 day journey (with my 6 year old son and 3 year old dawta) we traveled through Tanzania and Zambia...an d saw even more beautiful people and land. Make no mistake Africa is the place to be. I came to kenya in 2009 with $300 USD and survived with my family after I found my way..so money should be no obstacle for any1 that really wants to forward. Come with about 10,000 USD and ones can set up nice business in just about any sector ..theres places in the Coast of Kenya where ones can get land for farming for less that 1000 USD...so Africa awaits its creators...Im Home Brother...Home!!!

im still workin in HIV related sector in Namibia,,and strides are being made but there is still huge challenge ahead...last month I went to a conference in South africa and there is some headway being made with something called PREP which reduces the transmission rate by 60% in trials conducted and it may be available to the general public in a few years...but still many many challenges here related to HIV and gender based violence...if you google "forced sterilization of hiv + women in namibia" you will come across much of the work that a sista from ZIM that i work for has single handily done to highlight this issue and bring justice to the women affected

Namibia is wonderful as well although much too many mazungus/whites ... and there is still a high level of racism that exists in some parts of the country

I started blogging when I first came,, then I started to get a lil stressed and stopped but I still posted quite a few photos from the travels/work and i linked them here..sadly enough my comp crashed and i lost a few thousand pics...but heres a few linked.

http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x341/RasIfree/

and blog/pictorial below

Bless