We've been having earthquakes lately here! Sometimes 2-3 a day since Sunday. a volcano 500 km away is becoming active, creating the quakes-
so,in any case, a few quick comments about cars, kids and cats:

cars, first; - a pedestrian here has all the negotiating power of a cow- if a car is backing up and you're in the way you'll get a nudge, just like a cow. the other day a car came careening too fast around a sleepy corner, spun up onto the sidewalk and hit a woman who jumped away just in time only to get a bump not a serious hit- the driver came running out of the car and inspected his bumper!, then went to check in on the lady. I asked him if he was drunk, and told him he was dangerous, with bad behavior. Oh don't talk like that mazungu he said.

Kids- Kids here are communal property, not the exclusive property of parents- the other day i was visiting my old home-stay family, and there was a very cute, happy baby i didn't recognize, amongst the other mix of kids, cousins and neighbors- who's this? ah, this is the son of my daughter who lives in Scotland. She came to visit and brought him; she's back in Scotland now, and he'll stay with us for a while. How long? Until he's ready for primary school!
At solomon's complex, there are all sorts of kids running around and it's hard to keep them all straight. There's a set of twins, for one, and a couple of others, who live in the complex with their grandparents. Their mother lives an eight minute walk through the banana grove away. I’m told the kids think it's fun to live with their grandparents, so they just stay there instead. I may not be getting the whole story, but I think it may be just as simple as that- kids bounce around here a lot more than at home. They seem happier for it; more free, and more in the company of all their cousins and friends.

The dogs and cats here are also very free. flea-infested, malnourished, and tattered. But free! it’s so rare to see a neurotic dog or cat. They are contently lounging with all those of their kind alongside the roads and so forth. Never yapping. never jumping or creating a public nuisance- unless of course you come across a pack of them at night, which is another story.

Some volunteers here I know here went on safari and decided to sleep outside their tents under the stars. Those wacky volunteers. They were sniffed by a hyena according to one, and only feet away from some buffalo wandering through. If true, they truly risked their lives! I have to say safari operators are lax on warning tourists to stay in their tents. The safari I went on last year I left my tent in the middle of the night to pee outside, 10 feet away. Back in the tent 20 minutes later I heard lions growling near our tent! They don’t attack tents because they look for a neck, but me out peeing would have made a nice target.