Disenchanted & Kenya (the country) - Teleurgesteld & Kenia (het land)

So, we had contact with our agency again. And this is what it is at the moment.
The medical part of the file on our prospective child is in the Netherlands already, but the file was not complete, therefore more info is requested before the complete file can be send to the Ministry of Justice to be examined after which (if all is found to be well) we will finally get "the phone call".
I do not know how many shades of disappointment and impatience exist, but I am certain we have had them all by now.  There really is not a lot more to say.

Dus, we hebben contact gehad met onze vergunninghouder. En dit is de situatie op dit moment.
De medische gegevens van het dossier van 'ons' kind in al in Nederland,  (dus iemand weet al meer ..;-) .

Maar het dossier was niet compleet, daarom is er gevraagd om meer info voordat het complete dossier naar het Min. van Justitie gestuurd kan worden en daar bekeken wordt waarna  (als alles goed bevonden wordt)  we uiteindelijk "het telefoontje" zullen krijgen.  Ik weet niet welke gradaties er allemaal bestaan in teleurstelling en ongeduld, maar ik ben er zeker van dat we ze nu allemaal wel gehad hebben.  Er is weinig anders aan toe tevoegen.

" Hurrying has no blessing " : Kenyan Proverb

Kenya & Kenia facts & figures

Here some facts about the country where our latest family member will come from.
Maybe boring for some of you, but also hopefully some things that you did not know yet!? Information from various reference books, the latest published in 2012. Any mistakes made are totally my fault.

Independent from 1963 on with president Jomo Kenyatta.
Formerly ruled by the United Kingdom.
Which was followed by, the presidents Moi KANU party, and Kibaki from NARC.
In December 2007 there were violent demonstrations around the elections.
An powersharing accord brought relative rest with Odinga from the ODM as prime minister.

Kenya is bordered by Uganda, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Somalia and Sudan and has a coastline of 536 km.
Mombasa situated on a peninsula, in the south-west of the country, is a very important harbour for Kenya and the other landlocked countries.  There are plans for a bigger harbour at Lamu in the north, to serve South Sudan and Ethiopia.
(google Lapsset for more info)

The Highest point at 5,199 metres is Mount Kenya.

Natural resources: limsestone, soda ash, salt, gemstones, fluorspar, zinc, diatomite, gypsum, wildlife, hydropower.

The climate depends on the location with:
the coast & Great Rift Valley hot & humid
the plateau interior temperate (Nairobi)
and the northeastern desert hot & dry
There are 2 rainy seasons;  the main one in April-May-June  and another in November-December.

38 million people
Ethinicity: Kikuyu, Luhya, Luo, Kalenjin, Kamba, Kisi, Meru, and other African and Non-African tribes.

Religion: around 75% is believed to be Christian, the percentage of believers in local beliefs and Islam vary widely.

Languages: official English and Kiswahili, the languge of the coastal people.

Independence Day 12 December 1963, independent from the UK.

One of the greatest flags!   The black represents the black majority and determination, red represents the bloodshed during the struggle for freedom, green represents the land and the white is peace, overlaid with a Masaai shield. 

Trade: tea, horticultural products, petroleum products, fish, cement.
Export partners, Uganda, UK, US, Netherlands, Tanzania, Pakistan.

Famous people from or associated with Kenya:

- Jomo Kenyatta
First president of Kenya after the the independence.
Leader of the KANU political movement which strived for independence.

- Richard Leakey
Son of Louis and Mary archeologists, who did groundbreaking research to the origin of humans in East Africa.  Richard started with a safari company but soon followed his parents as an archeologist and a palaeontologist.  Later he was active in government and politics, as head of the forerunner of the Kenya Wildlife Service, and later even as a Cabinet Secretary and overall head of civil service.

- Prof.Wangari Maathai
A female Kenyan enviromentalist and Human Rights Activist.
The first African woman to receive the Nobel Peace Price in 2004.

- Catharine Ndereba
The first woman to run the marathon in a time under 2.19, 2.18.47 in Chicago.
She also competed in the Olympic Games in 2004 & 2008.

- Paul Tergat
World record holder of the marathon.  Started as a 10 km runner, lost to Haile Gebrselassie at the Olympics of Atlanta and Sydney.  After half marathons he started with the marathon.

Also well known in association ;-)

Barack Hussein Obama (senior) of the Luo tribe and born in Kenya in the western Nyanza province.
He emigrated to the USA with a scholarship and studied at the University of Hawaii where he met Ann Dunham and they are the parents of Obama the current US president who was born in Honolulu.

ther American-Kenyan people are (amongst others);
- Edi Gathegi, actor born in Nairobi known from House, Twilight and X Men.
- Mwende Window Snyder, computer software engineer at Mozilla and now at Apple, Kenyan mother.
-Tom Morello, musician, guitarist, Kenyan father and his great uncle is Jomo Kenyatta.
- Karen Blixen born in Denmark but emigrated to Kenya and lived there for most of her life
Known for her books about Kenya and Africa on which the film Out of Africa was based.

Tourism, to the coastal region but also for wildlife in the many parks is a major source of income.

One more Kenyan proverb:

" However much it rains on you, no wild banana tree will grow on your head"