KENYA:

1. Vegetable Curry (Social/Cultural)

Ingredients:
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 tblsp. oil
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. mustard seeds (the black kind, if possible)
8 medium potatoes, quartered
1 and 1/2 tsp. fresh ginger, crushed
1 large garlic clove, minced and crushed
1 tblsp. ground cumin
1 tblsp. whole coriander, crushed
2 chili peppers or 1 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. salt
4 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
4 oz. tomato paste
1/2 lb. green beans
1/2 of a small cauliflower
1 medium eggplant
1/2 lb. fresh green peas, shelled, or 1 small package of frozen green peas
1 bunch of fresh leafy greens (kale, spinach, collards, etc.), or 1 small package of frozen greens
1/2 cup dry chickpeas, cooked (optional)

Serves 6

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a large, heavy skillet or pot, brown the onions in moderately hot oil
along with the cumin seeds and mustard seeds.
Add the potato pieces (peeling is optional), and stir to coat each piece with the spices. Now add the
remaining spices and continue to stir for several minutes.
Thin the tomato paste with about 2/3 cup of water. Stir into the pot. Add vegetables, one at a time,
cooking for a minute or so between each addition, and put in the cooked chickpeas last.
If your pot is not oven proof, transfer mixture to one that is.
Cover with a lid or seal with foil and bake for about 45 minutes, checking after the first 20 minutes.
The consistency should be rather thick, but add liquid if necessary to prevent burning. Stir
occasionally to prevent sticking.
Serve over rice or with Indian bread.
http://www.kenyatravelideas.com/kenya-recipes.html

2. Kenya Lawmakers Pass Draft Constitution is Limiting Presidency

(Politics/Government)

Today in history, Kenyan lawmakers passed a constitution that would cut short the powers of
Kenya’s imperial-like presidency, embrace personal rights and give more power to local governments.
Much of Kenyan companionship have been desiring for a new constitution for more than ten years.
But many politicians, furious about multiple sections in the draft, are threatening to gathering their
supporters to defeat the new constitution when it goes in front voters this year in the voting on the
issue. The constitution, which was written mostly by a committee of constitutional scholars, now
moves to Kenya’s attorney general, who was recently prohibited by the American government from
visiting the United States because of his inaction on corruption. The attorney general’s office can
make minor changes, in line with Kenya’s legal code, before the constitution is put to a referendum,
currently scheduled for this summer. Kenya’s last draft constitution was soundly defeated in 2005,
setting up the ethnic-based political alliances that fought one another during the violence in 2008.
The draft constitution, which was written mostly by a committee of constitutional scholars, now
moves to Kenya’s attorney general, who was recently prohibited by the American government from
visiting the United States because of his inaction on corruption. The attorney general’s office can
make minor changes, in line with Kenya’s legal code, before the constitution is put to a referendum,
currently scheduled for this summer.

http://globalvoicesonline.org/2010/04/04/kenya-draft-constitution-passed-by-
parliament/

3. Kenya’s Economy

Fortunately, the Kenyan people know how to make some money. Kenya's economy is market-
based, with some state-owned infrastructure commercial businesses, and maintains a reform outside
of the trade system. The economy’s heavy dependence on rain-fed agriculture and the tourists coming
and leaving money. The agricultural sector employs nearly 75 percent of the country’s 38 million
people. Half of the sector’s output remains subsistence production. Kenya’s gross domestic product
(GDP) growth rate declined continuously from a peak of about 6.5 percent per year during the first
decade after independence to less than 4 percent per year in the following decade, to only about 1.5
percent per year during the 1990s. It has experienced an upturn to more than 5 percent per year since
2004. Several decades of declining economic performance, combined with rapid population growth,
translated over time into reduced income per head, increased poverty, and worsening unemployment.
Between the 1970s and 2000, the number of Kenyans classified as poor grew from 29 percent to about
57 percent.

http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0107678.html

4. Kenyan Geography

This just in, Kenya has now been confirmed that it lies across the equator in east-central Africa,
on the coast of the Indian Ocean. It is has also been confirmed that it is twice the size of Nevada.
Kenya borders Somalia to the east, Ethiopia to the north, Tanzania to the south, Uganda to the west,
and Sudan to the northwest. In the north, the land is arid; the southwest corner is in the fertile Lake
Victoria Basin; and a length of the eastern depression of the Great Rift Valley separates western
highlands from those that rise from the lowland coastal strip.