"true at first light and a lie by noon...but now it is there absolutely true, beautiful and believable"

sadly, i taught my final class at akiba today. for the last 10 or 15 minutes of class i said they could ask me whatever they wanted. they wondered if i knew michael jordan and obama. we sang some jay-z and they asked me if i could dance like shakira. i explained our seasons and weather and they wanted to know which football (soccer) team i support. i asked them why kenyan children never say tafdhali or asante (please and thank you). one boy told me that kenyans do not ask for things, they demand them! i gave them all sketch books and insisted on an "asante".
then i went to light and power where they were finishing up silkscreening and gluing a batch of bags. abda, one of the guys insisted on taking me for an insider's look at nairobi. so we spent the next 5 hours on the most amazing walking tour. we walked through kawangware, through fields and under broken fences covered in barbed wire and shards of glass. we walked through a few people's homes..i'm pretty sure. "this is a short cut" abda kept assuring me. finally we came to a blue corrugated tin house with a dog-sized front door. inside i met david gathere. or "the picasso of the ghetto" as someone wrote about him..(i think you can find it online) we sat in his studio/bedroom and he told me his beliefs about art and showed me his huge and varied body of work. i was sure we were there to buy drugs, but it turns out it was much more innocent! abda had ordered a necklace with my name (magret) on it. i wrote down all the contacts i could think of for art schools in nyc--where he wants to go. i swear this guy is alex seel's black doppelganger!
then we walked through kibera, the largest slum in africa. i am working in gatina and kangemi, two smaller slums. but kibera, wow, there are no words. if you want to see it in motion, watch the constant gardener. when the pregnant main character is walking through kibera and the kids are yelling "how are you!!!". that's me. so all this walking and sun, i am hungry and thirsty, buying sausages and bread from people in kibera. meanwhile my fearless guide is observing ramadan and does not eat or drink anything. he walked me all the way back to westlands and then got on his matatu which he drives at night! what a gift of a day.