Somehow our computers at work have been infected by a political virus. When you open an internet browser on any of the machines on the network, the first page that opens is brimming with Raila Odinga propaganda. How tiresome.

Weeks later, ODM and PNU are still in discussions. The latest news is that Kibaki is dragging his feet about the proposed formation of an executive prime ministerial position. He says that he would prefer to reach an agreement within the current constiutional structure and work out the PM position and constitutional reforms within a year. Of course he would prefer that. From what I can tell, the President's powers over parliament and the country are such that any agreement formed within the current structure would be mostly for show. Amazingly, although he is constantly in damage control mode since politicians continue to issue public statements after he has asked them repeatedly not to do so, Kofi Annan remains publically optimistic. The guy deserves an award for remaining absolutely calm, focused and on message in the face of such chaos, greed and immaturity. That's real leadership.

Condoleezza Rice came to town on Monday to add the Americans' call for power-sharing to the international pressure. Bush himself is on a mad dash around Africa, visiting five countries in six days. Kenya is not on the itinerary, though it is one of the major topics of discussion on the tour. Oddly enough, Kenya was also skipped on the last tour of Africa. The purpose of the tour appears to be mostly self-promotion, though he is also taking the time to give aid money. You can't do much more than that with six days. I believe he was only in Uganda for four hours. Here, Rice's presence was not met with much welcome. There were quite a few articles and letters in the papers to the effect of "don't tell us what to do" and "the US isn't in charge here", which is fair enough. People are tired of donors and 'well-wishers' and Western powers telling them how to run their country. There's also a great conspiracy theory going around that Air Force One is equipped with technology designed to disrupt the communication systems of any country that the President is visiting. Apparently it was designed as such so that any potential terrorists in the area would be unable to organize an attack. Obviously it must be true, since last time Bush was in Uganda, the mobile servers crashed!

Recently I've been working on my languages -- at work I'm translating articles related to the Covention on Biological Diversity (for which a Conference of Parties is coming up soon) into French for a Batwa organization in Burundi, as well as any other French-speaking indigenous groups that may be in attendance. The translation is a bit funny because the papers were originally written in English by a woman whose first language is Tagalog, I think; they are being translated by me, whose first language is English; and will be read by people whose first languages will be indigenous languages, with French as their second or third or fourth language. So we're all a bit out of our element, I suppose. It's been slow going, and I'd feel a bit more confident with someone to proof-read, but I'm happy to have the chance to improve my written French. Perhaps I'll meet someone to speak it with as well. I've also finally signed up for Kiswahili lessons through the Anglican Church of Kenya. They teach English, Kiswahili, various local languages and foreign languages to prepare local and foreign missionaries for work in all parts of the world. I should be starting at two hours, twice a week next week.

Meanwhile, I've been reading a great book by journalist Michaela Wrong called In the Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz. It's an account of the rise and fall of Mobutu Sese Seko, the former dictator of the country then known as Zaire, now the Democratic Republic of Congo. I haven't gotten very far yet, but so far it's been extremely interesting. Last time I was in Kenya, I read a book by the same author about the Eritrean revolution, called I Didn't Do It For You. It was absolutely fascinating, with tales of espionage, building railroads through impossible terrain, and learned revolutionaries performing piano concertos underground. That book kindled in me a desparate desire to visit Eritrea, though I understand that it's not exactly safe for travel at the moment. I would recommend either book to anyone interested in African history and politics, or just a damn good story. For that matter, another book about the history of the DRC, this one about horrors suffered by the people of Congo during the colonial era, is King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild. It's very disturbing, but well worth a look.

We're continuing to search for an apartment further West, though it's proving slightly more difficult than anticipated. It turns out that the people who post ads for apartments in the newspaper are con artists. They don't actually rent out apartments directly, but act as agents, taking you around to different residences. Which is great, until they start demanding fees for each apartment that they show you. It's hard to say whether you will find an apartment or run out of money first. For this reason, most people find apartments through friends, but unfortunately we don't have many connections in South B or C. My former landlady in South C did say that she would call me if she found anything suitable, but I'm not holding my breath. In the meantime, we'll be staying in Buruburu, making the long commute, resisting seduction by the second-hand clothing market and eating the best mangos of our lives.