Where am I?

1. I am in East Africa.

2. I am in Western Kenya, bordered by Ethiopia to the north, Somalia and the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the south, and Uganda, Sudan, and Lake Victoria to the west.

3. I am in Kenya's Western Province just northwest of Kenya's third biggest city, Kisumu, which is located on Lake Victoria. My nearest town is Luanda, which is marked on the map below. Luanda is about a 45 minute drive from Kisumu (although, really it's only about 20 miles away - the road conditions are not like the United States!). It's a very underdeveloped, poor part of not only the world, but even sub-Saharan Africa itself. It's telling that the United Nations Millennium Development Project launched their first of over 80 Millennium Villages in the region - in a village called Sauri, which is not very far at all from where I am working.

Below is a picture of the market area in Luanda - you can buy everything you need there - vegetables, meat, water, flashlights, toilet paper, cell phone calling cards, and even an ice-cold Coca-Cola.

4. Even more specifically, I'm in a small village that's about a 30-40 minute walk from Luanda, called Essaba. I'm living with a close friend of Kijana's director in their house, pictured below. I took this picture when I was there in 2007. It's a beautiful, peaceful home. :)