Forums and Flights

I’ve been slacking. I could blame the faulty internet on Lamu (how can it be a tropical paradise without broadband?) and the bustle of Nairobi (an additional 100,000 foreigners in town for the World Social Forum has turned the place upside-down). But really? I’m just lazy.

It would be difficult to be otherwise after a month lounging on a breezy balcony, playing dominoes, writing songs, eating coconut prawns, and watching colorful Bollywood movies at the local cinema. After the first week, Randy and I had eaten at every restaurant on the island. After the second, we knew where to go to get the best spicy potato samoes by 8am sharp. And by the end of our holiday, the neighbor’s baby finally, finally stopped crying whenever it saw us. I view this as a major breakthrough.

Oh Lamu, island of 7-cent coconuts and stifling humidity! I won’t miss the 5am mosque calls or the dhau captains…but I will miss the donkeys. Sweet, misunderstood beasts.

The biggest thing that came out of our month on Lamu was an answer to the question, What Next? Turns out we’re putting off the real world for a few more months, and heading to India. New continent, new culture, new ways of making our tastebuds tingle with delight. (Also new ways of making our stomachs tingle with something else. That’s why we’re packing the Cipro.)

After taking our leave from Lamu, we spent a few days in Mombasa probing various shipping agencies to see how difficult it would be to hitch a ride on a freighter traveling to India. Very difficult, as it turns out. Thanks to the American anti-terrorism obsession, gaining passage on non-passenger ships is no longer a viable option for budget travelers like ourselves. We were heartbroken. But we bucked ourselves up and are now busy in Nairobi finding the cheapest plane ticket possible that will get us to Mumbai in one piece.

We’re also two of the many, many thousands of people who have thronged to Nairobi to attend the 2007 World Social Forum (check out www.wsf2007.org). I’ve been blown away by the number of issues being covered and the number of organizations with the aim of “making the world a better place.” It’s pretty paralyzing to be honest: where do we even start? But I suppose being here at all is as good a start as any. The next few days might not shed light on my “calling” in the vast ocean of social movements, but it will certainly give me a taste of what a future in NGO work would be like. (So far it’s looking like banners, big neclaces, and being technologically useless when it comes to microphones–one down, two to go…)

Next post from India if all goes well (fingers crossed!).