day two

Edward drove us around Nairobi today, mostly in search of a macbook charger since I am an IDIOT and left mine in the car. It was pretty painful to swipe that visa for such a needlessly pricey expenditure. Oh well. Now I have a macbook charger with a British/Kenyan plug. Guess I'll have to come back here more often to get my money's worth out of it.

Wade and I got dropped off at the Nakumatt Junction on the way home to get some stuff (they really do have everything there), and made the 13 minute walk back to Edward's house. It was delightfully chilly out today.

We finished dinner with the Simiyu family (and their South African friend Renee, so cool), and watched KTN news. So today, all Kenyan media outlets have been filled with news concerning the reappointment of Aaron Ringera, the national anti-corruption official. The US Ambassador has threatened sanctions imposed on Kenya in protest, saying that Ringera did not do his job the first time around as evidenced by the continued amount of corruption. However, according to Edward, another national official commented this morning and explained that Ringera's job description includes investigating and compiling evidence against corrupt individuals but does not include prosecuting. Which is why he hasn't locked up any crooks- it's not really his job.

On a visit to Nairobi about a month ago, our dear Secretary of State Hillary commented, "the absence of strong, effective democratic institutions has permitted ongoing corruption, impunity, politically motivated violence, human rights abuses and a lack of respect for the rule of law."

I'm not really sure who's right here. Kenya clearly has huge problems with corruption. But my question is this: can the US impose sanctions on countries (that rely pretty heavily on our business), just because we don't like how they do democracy? Is that really our job?

What I really think is weird, is that I can hear about this all day over here- but I highly doubt anyone across the pond over there has heard anything about it. It doesn't really affect Americans, so what's the point in covering it on CNN, right? I guess it just makes me wonder what else the US government is doing around the world that I don't know about...

And, end political rant.

I didn't bring my camera out today :( But I promise there are pictures to come...