I hope it's more than 1,000.

Since being in Kenya, I've started a number of blog entries that haven't been posted. In spite of numerous revisions and hours spent thinking about how to best tell these stories, the writings just aren't enough. Words fail, or I fail to find the words.

So even though it makes me feel and look like more of an outsider, I've started carrying my camera more often. I hope the pictures will portray what I have thus far struggled to convey.


This is Charlie, the stud of the Kageno's Dairy Goat Project. He was brought all the way from South Africa to improve the gene's of the current goats on the island.



Fishing is the main livelihood for most of this island. They catch small fish called "omena" which are dried in the sun and then eaten whole. These children are resting on one of the boats the men paddle at night as they work their nets. Due to an extremely high unemployment rate, many women have resorted to trading sex for fish. This practice has lead to an HIV/AIDS rate the ranges from 40-80%, depending on the demographic.


Meet George. You may get the chance to meet him in person. He could be sitting next to Dennis on the flight back to America.


The Kageno Community Center shares a beach with the fishing boats shown above. If I had any desire to try omena it was squelched after seeing cows, like this one, drop massive amounts of manure on the drying fish.


At some point roughly 50 years ago a shipment of bicycles washed up on the shore of Lake Victoria and they are still being used today. It's amazing to see a child leap onto the moving bike and then have to lean to the left and right so his feet can reach the pedals.




This is Norah jumping rope behind one of the best schools on Rusinga. There are no windows, dirt floors, and the children sit 4 in a row on a small wooden benches.


At the end of a term, the students line up in front of the rest of the school in order of their marks; the highest are on the left, the lowest on the right. If that wasn't enough motivation/humiliation, the teachers sometimes separate those who failed and those who passed by about 20 feet and then lecture them on getting to the other side of the gap.


Protesting a goal during a soccer match with a homemade ball.