So despite my pledge to stay in last week, I ended up going to town and work anyway -- there was just too much that had to be done. But things were relatively calm, and on Friday, Maina Njenga called off the protests after hearing Raila say that the Mungiki members had the potential to be productive citizens (or something to that effect) and that he was willing to hold talks with them. Apparently, Njenga was "touched" by the comments and said that he believed that Raila will create jobs for the Mungiki. We'll see about that. People here are pretty divided about whether or not entering into talks with a group that has been engaged in violently terrorizing citizens is a good idea. In any case, the city went back to normal after only a few days last week.

This weekend, I took a break from the city and went to visit my friend Agnes in Oloshoibor, Ngong Hills. It's only about an hour outside of Nairobi but feels like another world. I had met Agnes in 2006 when I wrote a story on her group, Namayiana. It's a Maasai women's self-help group, which raises money through the production of really spectacular beadwork. They've actually become suppliers to Ten Thousand Villages, so if you go there and see beading from Kenya, it might just be from Namayiana. This time, Agnes was working on Christmas tree decorations -- multi-coloured stars with cowrie shells. I'm actually really curious about how much the group itself gets back from Ten Thousand Villages -- how fair is fair trade? -- but I didn't have the chance to ask in my short visit. Next time.

Usually when I visit Agnes, I spend most of my time with her son Isaiah, who is the same age as me. This time, however, he was off at college to study teaching. But I met his sister Rait for the first time, and her three young boys. One thing I really love about traditional (or semi-traditional) Maasai homes is that there are always a ton of little kids running around, ready to play and get into mischief. The thing I really don't love are the flies that swarm around everywhere, especially after it's been raining -- since the houses are in the same compound as the cattle and goats, the flies come right into the house and crawl over everything. I felt sorry for the youngest boy, Vinnie. He was only about a year and a half old and hadn't yet learned to swat the flies away from his face. As a result, his eyes were infected and crusty. He didn't seem to mind too much, though. All of the boys were just full of giggles the whole time I was there. I'm hoping to get another visit in soon.

Back in Nairobi, things are as hectic as ever as I am attempting to get some publications out and coordinate the Francophone indigenous delegates' visas and plane tickets to Germany. I also had a bit of a downer on the weekend, as my hard drive bit the dust and I lost all of my music and most of the photos that hadn't been posted to flickr. The music is a particularly irritating loss, as listening to music from home was one of my methods of combating homesickness. Oh well. Next time I'll have to be more vigilant about saving.