June 1
Kissumu
Happy Madaraka Day! Our welcome to Kissumu was done by Dr. Ochieng of the Great Lake University of Kissumu (GLUK). The local tribe in Kissumu is Luo, the same tribe as the Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Thus, Kissumu area was the greatly affected by the Post-election violence of 2007. The major political party is ODM or the Orange Democratic Movement. He described how the party name came about and the new constitution. He knew alot about everything. It was refreshing to listen to. Kissumu brings in alot commercial business because it is right near Lake Victoria. He explained that the major agriculture is rice, fish, and sugar cane.
After talking with the students we went to a Madaraka Celebration occurring in Moi Stadium nearby. They performed tradition dances, skits, poems, and more. It was interesting...I ended up getting to a hot discussion with a guy about politics. We then proceeded to our favorite grocery store Nakumat to get some snacks. Our next destination was the second largest river in the world, Lake Victoria. We boarded one of the boast in search of hippos. We saw people bathing and washing clothes at the shore of the river. Earlier we heard that if we jump in the water too close to the shore we could get Schistosomaisis. We saw hippo and a baby hippo. We drove a little ways from the shore and then Emily jumped. Soon everyone started to follow suit. I jumped in but had the hardest time getting back in.
Once we got back I went to town with Hellen, Yvette, and Carlo in a tuk tuk. We ate pizza, laughed, and talked. It was nice to get away from the group for a bit.
While in Kissumu I noticed that there was a huge Indian population. Many of these Indians owned many businesses in Kenya.
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