Tonight through Wednesday the Government of Kenya is conducting its national census by going door-to-door to every household in the country. Remember when I wrote yesterday that sometimes it is easy to forget that you are in Kenya? Well let me clarify that by saying this: participating in the national census is the most sure-fire way to remember where you are.
Kristoffer had gone to the airport earlier tonight to pick up his friend Christian who will be visiting for the next month, and so Grace and I home were home alone, with Ida in her quarters too. I thought about not answering the door when they came a-knockin', because there are security concerns about people posing as census officials to rob others, etc. But then I saw who it was exactly that came to call: 2 armed militia, 2 regular security guards, our caretaker (who I don't trust, but definitely know), and 2 government guys actually doing data entry for the census. So instead of letting them into my house with my sleeping baby, we all sat outside on the couch on our front patio or stood in our driveway for the 30-minute intake. And how was this data collected? With one really large notebook (granted, pre-printed with questions and columns for coding), 1 pencil, 1 eraser, and 1 book with all of the necessary codes. Our census guy was very nice (only one guy spoke, the other guy was there for "quality control" I think), especially given how tedious his work is. The census is estimated to take 30 minutes per household, which I can confirm almost to the minute. I swear I am not making this up!
So I answered questions about Kristoffer, Grace and me, and Ida answered questions about herself. At one point one of the militia - a female, which is rare! - demanded that Ida bring her a glass of water. It was really strange. And either the census guy must be told to conduct the census in English since that is the official language of the country (Swahili is the national language) OR he was doing so because I am not Kenyan, but the guy kept asking questions in English. Maybe Ida didn't want me to know what her answers were because she kept answering in Swahili and asking him questions in Swahili, and the guy kept responding in English. He seemed a bit irritated that she wasn't speaking English too. I also found it interesting that he knew some of her answers to the questions before she even told him: based on her last name he told her what tribe she was and where she was born!
As I said, 30 minutes later they leave and I am furiously writing this blog before I forget all the details and because, of course, we will not have any electricity tomorrow. I can't believe this was a truly, truly Kenyan experience and Kristoffer missed the whole thing! Sheesh!
LMW
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