You haven't LIVED until you have been on a bus for two days!

Sorry for the stint of incognito. In the time lapse, I have left Kenya to delightfully visit Uganda for two days and then into Rwanda (where plastic bags are illegal) and am one week into my human rights training program.

But, to backtrack, because Lamu needs its due description. Craig (who has thus departed back to Canada) and I spent two wonderful weeks amongst 10,000 donkeys and two cars on the island of Lamu. There is a very large Muslim population on the island of Lamu and the call to prayer rings out five times a day. The first couple of days I would wake up still inside of a stupor and wonder if I was in a dream. Then I realized that the first call to prayer in the day was at 4:45am, followed by 6:45am. So, after I internalized that information into the main frame I would habitually wake up one minute before the call to prayer at 4:45am, listen to the call, and then fall back to sleep. Very surreal daily practice to get into.
And as I know about the callers to prayer from studying about it at Columbia, the singers must dedicate a big part of their lives to pronouncing the sacred words correctly.

Many women chose to cover their entire bodies and faces, some covered their bodies and heads, and some covered their bodies alone. And if I was there any longer I think I would start wearing the full face/body garb because woman not covered receive ALOT of attention and it is very tiresome. I met a very interesting western woman who married a Muslim man (non-practicing, I think) and she chose to wear the covering in the Lamu community because she felt you were not respected as a woman if you are not covered.

I found out that Swahili weddings are completely gender segregated and the Muslim woman dress in gold to the 9's and dance with each other all evening. It was also a sign of wealth status previously to have enough clothes to cover yourself as a woman and now-a-days poorer Muslim woman choose to completely cover to show it as a sign of being financially well off. I thought that was a particularly interesting facet of the community.

The Muslim woman also swim in the ocean in their full dress.

The streets of Lamu are narrow and winding, and anytime a donkey passes you must step into someone's doorway to allow the donkey to pass (he is usually carrying a big load).

I met wonderful people and made many friends on Lamu. They taught us how to make ugali, which is a staple Eastern Africa uses instead of a spoon. It's great! It is made from casava or corn meal and after cooking it comes out in the consistency on play-dough. And after a bowl and poured water is brought around to wash everyones hands, you break off and mold pieces of the ugali and use it as a spoon (that you eat with the bite) to pick up the other food like vegetables or meat.

I must apologize because I had a great blog written before this that got erased.....:( So there is more to come, 2 day bus ride, Kampala the capital of Uganda, motorcycles, and human rights. Oh and yesterday I saw the President of Rwanda, Kigame. Crazy.

Thank you for reading, more to come.

Love,
Chelsea