Nick Wadhams

Traffic

A few months ago, traffic lights began to appear in downtown Nairobi. Drivers' evolving attitude toward them has been a neat study in human behavior.

At first, people didn't obey the lights. Pedestrians crossed when they weren't supposed to and cars blew right through. But gradually the law began to be obeyed. Now, the only vehicles that wantonly disregard a red seem to be buses. And whether due to the risk of death-by-bus or a simple desire to adhere to the law, lots of pedestrians stay put until they get the walk signal _ even if no cars are coming.

What's the significance of this? Someone somewhere said that corruption simply indicates an inefficiency in the system. In other words, if a society were 100 percent efficient, there would be no need for corruption. There are always those who will find ways to violate the law or make a buck unfairly, but the less hurdles there are to people getting what they want _ within reason, of course _ the less people will try to game the system.

House of Wind

The datebook is filled only with tumbleweeds. Assignments are as rare as a woodland bongo. Time for a vacation. So we're going here for a few nights:

Enkaji Osiwo ("House of Wind" in Masai, they tell us). Panoramic views of the Rift Valley, limited electricity, solitude. Fun.

Home again, home again

We have returned home at long last. As everyone else seems to say, the thing that struck me most about the United States, of course, was the wealth. The easiest way for me to quantify this was the road network. An insignificant exit on Interstate 95 on the East Coast involved the kinds of civil engineering, bridgework and columns that would be considered a major city project in Kenya.

Then, in the U.S. and Europe, looking out across the masses of people and knowing that the airport baggage handlers, the passport checkers, the construction workers, the pizza delivery men were all earning enough to make them middle class. When we returned to Nairobi, I watched a young guy diligently unloading bags at the airport, and guessed he was probably earning about $100 a month, if that. Sad.

So, back to work. Lots has happened since we left, but the story that got the most interest from anyone I spoke to was the killing of 11 alleged witches late last month. That merited a brief story in a lot of local papers. I never saw a scrap of reporting about Somalia or Sudan or Congo. That kind of remark is made so often about Africa that I almost feel embarrassed repeating it.

British Airways Blues II

I have to say that I'm getting some satisfaction from British Airways' problems with their new terminal, mostly because it looks like we're going to have to eat it and buy a $600 ticket ($85 plus $515 tax) for the kid to experience the privilege of sitting in our laps for two eight-hour BA flights.

This raises an interesting conundrum. I find myself pleased with British Airways' troubles, yet, as it turns out, we will be passing through London _ and possibly the very terminal in question _  in May and June. Does my desire to see BA's suffering last run so deep that I am prepared to suffer as well?

U.S. Embassy

Just visited the U.S. Embassy in Nairobi to get the documents that will be required to get a passport for the little one. A small fact that seems to me rather telling about the new attitude of the United States abroad: There is no public parking at the Embassy. A minor point, indeed, but why not? Surely the security risk of paving a small tract of land a few hundred yards away from the Embassy compound and allowing cars to park there would not be terribly high. In fact, most government institutions on the planet feature public parking lots, particularly those, like the U.S. Embassy, where hundreds of people come each day to do various kinds of business.