Census Strangeness

Tomorrow is a holiday in Kenya. It's one of those strange, stealth holidays that just pop up because President Kibaki says "Make it so." (My favorite was Obama Day...the day after the U.S. election. I thought it was weird and wonderful that I had a holiday here in Kenya to celebrate Obama's historic victory, while it was business as usual in the U.S.)

This one is prompted by the start of Kenya's decennial census, a week-long exercise in counting Kenyans and gathering household data. The census started this evening at 6, and all the bars in the country have been ordered to close early so people get home.

There is a lot of anxiety about the census. For one thing, enumerators will be asking people to identify their tribe, which is a vexed question here, especially after the post-election violence of 2007/2008. For another, people don't like to open their doors to strangers at night!

I went grocery shopping and the supermarket was packed. People seemed to be stocking up, and the mood seemed poised between "getting ready to party" and "getting ready for Hurricane Hilda".

We'll see. I was hoping to take advantage and trailer J. up to Tigoni for a long, long ride in the gorgeous tea, but my riding buddy J2 has other plans. So I'll stick to plan A, my regular dressage lesson, and hope that the census is peaceful and successful.