Party on

The early evening is a lovely time in Kosele. As dusk settles in the community starts stirring itself. It’s a very sociable time of day as people take advantage of the cool of the evening to get things done and catch up with each other. It’s also, often, a very beautiful time of day. The sky changes dramatically as the sun goes down and the Homa Hills seem to loom forward from the distance, bathed in red and orange. Sometimes it looks like the sky is on fire. The sky is so big this close to the equator that it dwarfs everything else. You can understand why people worshipped the sun and the elements when you see them so close up and so powerfully. This evening the sky was particularly spectacular – like looking at heaven. Often the clouds just pile up over the edge of Lake Victoria then seem to drift towards us. The sun behind this evening’s clouds looked like a huge light show – straight rods of light shooting out of the billowing grey mountains of cloud. It was awe-inspiring.

If the early evening is a sociable time in Kosele the night-time and early hours of the morning are party time. As I write, (10.30 p.m. Kosele time), the first wave of noise from the disco over the road and a little way up the hill are drifting towards us. From here it sounds like a badly distorted version of the tune from The Magic Roundabout, (a children’s TV show in the UK). The same thing happened last night, (and will, in all probability happen tomorrow). The reason for the ‘party’ is sure to be a funeral. Funerals are, sadly, the most frequently occurring ‘social’ event around Kosele, (and many other parts of Kenya). HIV/AIDS has taken a dreadful toll around here, leaving a trail of orphans and hard pressed grandparents in its wake. Once the funeral has been conducted, and the body has been buried, the sound system goes into action. A properly managed sound system can keep going until the crack of dawn – the system that has started up tonight was playing as I woke up this morning. This is an impressive achievement, given that car batteries are the main source of power at these events.

The organisers of tonight’s wake have obviously not been reading the national press much this week. Area officials in another part of Kenya have banned discos until the KCSE exams have finished in a couple of weeks time to improve student performance. I can’t imagine that going down very well in the UK. It is a serious issue though. Concern about the goings on at discos is widespread. Having a good time is seriously dangerous to your health in Kenya. In addition to the very strong risk of becoming HIV positive as a result of a casual liaison, the locally brewed ‘changa’ can also be lethal. The press regularly carries stories about people being blinded and even killed by this badly prepared hooch. The curse of poverty is all pervasive. The cavalier attitude of ‘eat, drink and be merry’ has more serious consequences in this part of Kenya than some other parts of the world. Unfortunately it doesn’t put people off. The batteries are holding out up the road and the night is still young.