Joking With Me

Note for the folks at home: I really like birds of prey, and there are all kinds of incredible specimens in Kenya. The most common, the Tawny Eagle, is a majestic light brown eagle that is often visible drifting effortlessly above the hills of Maralal, surveying the land below like the proud monarch of a raptor that it is. Other interesting carnivorous avians of the region include the Secretary Bird, which struts across the plains with predatory swagger, and the Hooded Vulture, a haggard-looking villain with an icy, unblinking stare.

First Week

Note for the folks at home: Kiswahili (usually called "Swahili" outside of East Africa) pervaded Kenya to the point of becoming the national language through its use as a trade language. Traders from the coast historically traveled inland, bringing their coastal language with them; "Swahili", in fact, means "coast-dwellers". Over time, Kiswahili became the common tongue to communicate between different African ethnic groups. Kiswahili is a melting-pot of a language: based on Bantu (a traditional African language root) and Arabic roots, Kiswahili has identifiably Portuguese, German, and English elements (among a slew of borrowed words from a huge number of other languages). As a very syllabic language, Kiswahili can be fun to read and speak. For instance: "kuna kuku marufuku huku" ("KOO-nah KOO-koo mah-roo-FOO-koo HOO-koo") means "there is a chicken prohibition hereabouts".

Translated Literally

Note for the folks at home: The outfits in today's comic point out a noticeable phenomenon among Kenyan locals: heavy coats. Coming from central Illinois, USA, I was astounded upon arriving in Kenya to see anything heavier than a cotton button-down being worn: not surprisingly, equatorial Africa is HOT. At higher elevations, mornings can be cool, but it would be hard to find a populous town anywhere in Kenya where the temperatures don't regularly pass 80 degrees Fahrenheit. I shouldn't, of course, have been surprised; the people who have lived here since who-knows-when would have to adapt to the local temperatures, and so "winter jacket" weather to a Kenyan is often "I'm thinking about taking off the t-shirt, too, and just going bare" weather to an American. This can cause problems when a foreigner shares a vehicle with Kenyans: the choice is either keep the windows closed, effectively baking me into a delicious pot roast, or open a window, immediately giving all the Kenyans pneumonia and frost bite.

Runners

Note for the folks at home: For the first time, I had a surplus of astounding (from an American viewpoint) Kenyan cultural facts for this comic. I literally couldn't fit it all into the space available. So: the wives of night runners are fully aware of what their husbands are doing. The wives, to protect their husbands during the event, must stay at home with one foot touching a cooking stone (where pots are placed during cooking). Failure to do this could (and generally would) result in the runner's injury or death. Night running is neither shameful nor proud --- it's just something that happens, like rain, or a sneeze. A night runner is not dangerous, but might hide in your front yard for a while waiting for you to move in sight of a window, to frighten you.