Health:  47 % of the population has access to clean drinking water and 23 % to adequate sanitation.    We saw many people walking for miles down the road with buckets to fill them with water.   AIDS is a huge problem in Kenya, with an estimate of 25 % of the population infected and approximately 50 % of hospital cases are HIV related.  The life expectancy is 52 years and the infant mortality rate is 57 per 1000 births.  The people are still wonderfully optimistic, but not naive to changes they need to strive to make.

Economy:  The GDP per capita is $ 372 and Kenya is the 22nd poorest country in the world with the 3rd largest gap between rich and poor.

Religion:  70 % of the population is Christian, as a result of the missionaries during the last 2 centuries.  The other 30 % are mainly Muslims, with the majority of the population on the coast, from the heavy influence of the trading and settlement of the Islamic states in the 18th and 19th century.

Language:  English and Swahili are the official languages of Kenya.  There are 70 different tribal groups in Kenya, most using Swahili as a common language.

Tribal Custom:  Long practiced and recently officially denounced by the Kenyan government is the tribal practice of female circumcision.  While Bruce and Julia try to keep an open mind of the different cultures we encounter and go by the motto of "Seek first to understand, then to be understood", we find the practice dehumanizing and completely denounce it.  Some of the items we encounter and share on our website are not pleasant and we try to write objectively, but this is our site, and believe that some traditions in the world are without merit and should be abolished.