http://www.shannonmay.com/shannonmay.com/In_other_news/In_other_news.html There’s not always time to listen to the main news out there in a day, let alone what may be considered less important, more eccentric, or simply in a place in the world you wouldn’t normally think you cared about. <br/><br/>Here’s to the odder things that happen in our world that give good cause to pause, and ponder them for an internet minute.<br/><br/>I’ll warn that as a new resident in Nairobi, entries may tend to relate to circumstances and surprises here than elsewhere. iWeb 2.0.4 http://www.shannonmay.com/shannonmay.com/In_other_news/In_other_news_files/dv1634003_c.jpg http://www.shannonmay.com/shannonmay.com/In_other_news/In_other_news.html http://www.shannonmay.com/shannonmay.com/In_other_news/Entries/2009/2/9_Report_Suspected_Witches_to_the_Police.html a50b2f51-5c6d-4758-8ef4-792fff27449e Mon, 9 Feb 2009 21:07:44 +0300 In the past six months, 15 people have been killed in the small town of Magarini, just north of Malindi on Kenya’s coast, the <a href="http://www.eastandard.net/oddnews/InsidePage.php%253Fid%253D1144006226%2526cid%253D527%2526">East African Standard</a> reported today. The population is only some 6000 in the area. A father was killed by his own relatives for practicing witchcraft at the funeral of his son. The boy had died of a “mysterious illness” and in need for explanation, decided to accuse and lynch the boy’s father. <br/><br/>While you might think that tales of witchcraft and the murdering of witches would draw great attention, it does not. The news report in the East African Standards is so matter of fact as to be banal. The killings are so numerous that it is difficult to keep straight who has been killed where as described by the article. The bodies just keep piling up, and no one seems all that shocked.<br/><br/>At least, the report does state that they police have asked residents to stop “targeting old people on suspicion of witchcraft.” What about the young or middle aged? Are they on their own, to fend off lynch mobs of people looking for answers that will never come?<br/><br/>