Literary Activism

Harriet Levin Millan

Saturday, December 4, 2010

First fall day in Nairobi

Well I just spent a full day in Nairobi and did quite a lot. Went into town to buy a cheap cell phone with SLS leaders Tom and Rich.  Went to the Nairobi synagogue--it was closed and I couldn't get through the security gate. Had a long talk with poet and fiction writer Terese Svoboda all the way to the Rift Valley. Saw part of the Rift Valley from an overlook (place where Leaky explored, where the Garden of Eden existed, where humankind began).  Met Bishee's mother and brother-in-law and delivered to them their gifts. Attended SLS opening reception where I met among others the Kenyan poet Ngwtilo Mawiyoo.  Here's the final stanza from her poem Childhood Revisited:  "The grass is dead, the last generation gathered in a heap at the foot of the hill.  No one has offered last rites, else it would rot, become part of the healing.  The soil has slid downhill since earth has limited and receding immunity.  There is no hedge..."

Am exhausted!

1 comment:

Mrs. Cohan said...

Yeah! You got their safely and it sounds like you had a wonderful and full first day!! Thanks for posting your experiences on this amazing journey you are on:)