Would anyone believe that it could be cold in Kenya in the middle of July even though the country sits right on the equator? I wouldn’t if I hadn’t flown from a sweltering Rome to a shivering Nairobi this summer. With a backpack brimming with essays, my laptop, heavy duty bug spray, and summer clothing I was venturing to Eastern Africa to learn about the agricultural development organizations there. Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and Kampala, the capital of Uganda, were my main destinations. The first lesson I learned was that America’s summer was Africa’s winter, plus Nairobi’s very high elevation causes it to be cooler than the rest of Africa. I later learned how the simple facts of geography are central to many of the challenges facing Africa: drought, vicious strains of malaria, and little
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