Life is Good.

Inspired by my "Life is Good," water bottle that I drink out of, here are some pictures of the good life from the last four weeks here in Es'saba Village.

Crossing a stream on a walk with Ben

Patrick and Ben crossing the bridge

This was on the first day of the World Cup, June 11th. We went on a walk with Ben just before the first game between South Africa and Mexico, and brought a soccer ball along with us. As we were walking, these kids saw our soccer ball and came out of nowhere, sprinting towards us. So we stopped and played with them for about 30 minutes. They were reluctant to see us finally move on.

A scene of the Kenyan countryside while walking with Ben.

At home with Moraa, little Vincent, Divo, and neighbor Musa.

Divo now knows that "it's great to be a Florida Gator"

And he looks cool with it backwards too. (Also notice the mis-spellings on his shirt)

In the car with Okwemba. Patrick in the front seat.

That jerry can sitting on top of the chair is full of rain water. It's the water Patrick and I use to wash our hands, brush our teeth, and do other things of the sort.

Welliminah's beautiful home at sunset.

A freshly filled can of rainwater.

Neighborhood friends in the back of the house.

Peter (prounounced "Pita"), Divo, Boga.

Big little men at dusk.

Apparently the Terrible Turkey likes to hang out on top of the water tank sometimes. Little Vincent below.

Sitting in the front yard about to begin reading the final chapter of Three Cups of Tea. What an amazing book. So inspiring. One of the best written books I've ever read, as well.

Kitties in the house at the end of the day. Kenyans don't name their cats, so Patrick has named them "Lucky" (on the left, because she looks like his childhood cat, also named Lucky), and "Monkey" (on the right, for the annoying, monkey-like meow she makes). Lucky is Monkey's mother.

Hard at work late in the evening.

Half the Sky

Today I finished Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide, by New York Times writers Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, who are the first married couple to receive the Pulitzer Prize for their work.

The book is alarming in its endless presentation and collection of horrific stories of abuses women all over the world endure. The faces of the women on the cover (left) all belong to women who are featured in the book, each with a powerful story to tell. Their stories educated me on things that I have always heard of, but until now, never fully understood the complexities and horror of: sex slavery (the authors' correction of the term "sex trafficking"), genital cutting, honor killings, maternal health, as well as simple misogyny and discrimination. Yet the stories these women tell are exceptional because of how they have overcome the adversity to empower themselves and other women. All in all, the book has moved me deeply and inspired me to commit myself as a full member of the movement for equal human rights for women.

Like most of Kristof's columns, the solution that is presented here is education. Expanding educational opportunities for females and males alike all throughout the world is the single most important step that can be taken to combat poverty, terrorism, misogyny, and just about every problem the developing world faces. The book has powerful anecdotes and stories that illuminate the power and the impact education has made on developing populations all over the world.

This has been a good book for me to read while I am here promoting educational development in a very rural village in Kenya, and it has inspired me and reinforced my belief in Kijana. It makes me feel like I need to stay in the developing world and continue promoting education for the rest of my life. That honestly seems to be the best way to make use of a human life at this point in history.

I have a feeling the next book on my summer reading list will only make that feeling stronger: Three Cups of Tea.

In short, you need to read this book. Everybody does. As Kristof puts it, this is the cause of the 21st century, the way abolition was the cause of the 19th.

Two steps I am taking as soon as I return to the States: 1) Setting up an account at www.kiva.org to make loans to women in developing countries, and 2) Photocopying and mailing Chapter 2 to the headmaster of my high school, The Benjamin School. Read the book to understand why.

UPDATE/CORRECTION: It's actually the second half of Chapter 1 that I will be photocopying and mailing...