On the Bench at Jogoo House
February 2004 - Nairobi, Kenya "Take a Seat". Sounded at first like a welcome to a "mzungu" visiting Kenya for the first time. At least I would have a few minutes to rehearse what I wished to share. After all, I had just spent three months in a comprehensive national research project on the topic of the effects of HIV/Aids on the Kenyan school system. With support from the Commonwealth Secretariat Gender Affairs Branch in London UK I had managed an appointment that morning at Jogoo House in Nairobi. The Minister of Education would be happy to receive me, at least that's what I thought. An hour went by, I was ushered into a second waiting room and again, "take a seat." Getting closer, couldn't be long now. A cup of Kericho gold tea would helped ease the pain of sitting on the wooden bench. Two hours later, I had had enough. As I was leaving, there appeared from my right a young man in his early twenties, impeccably dressed. He smiled,