Suburban Living

It occurred to me the other day that I have not talked about where I have been living. The great thing about doing research at home is that I get to stay at my parent's house.  The house is about 20 minutes from the center of Kisumu.

Here are some pictures of it (If you want to see the inside, you'll have to come visit me).

A view from the driveway to the front of the house

Closer to the house

A view from the back of the house

Why have just one?

So I am seeing my time here coming to a close really quickly and as is often the case, I am taking stock of what I have accomplished. In all, not as much as I would have liked research-wise but that is the joy of fieldwork, right?

I just put the MOU in the mail to the University of Nairobi (I am in Kisumu) so hopefully it will be officially signed by the Vice Chancellor there next week. I say hopefully because the Professor who I have been working with had back surgery and has been out for a while I tell you, if it is not one thing, it's another.

In the meantime, I continue to try meeting as many people because I know I am coming back for another stint and I need to lay the foundation for that trip. Sigh.

That said, I have had a wonderful opportunity as I think I have mentioned before, to hang out with family that I never get to see. As sad occasion, a funeral, took me to my paternal grandmother's side of the family's home. I met relatives I had never met before.

It is also on these occasions that you find out interesting things about your family. Turns out my Dad's side of the family is rife with polygamy. My great-grandfather had not one, not even two but THREE wives. Apparently, so did my grandfather. Three, yes three wives. How that escaped me, I do not know. Silpah (pictured below) is the only survivor. As Wasatch Brewery's Polygamy Porter asked "Why have just one?"