• The Republic of Kenya is a nation located in East Africa with a southeastern border on the shores of the Indian Ocean. Kenya is bordered by five other African nations: Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, and Sudan.

  In April 2009, a coalition of women's organizations known as G-10 called on Kenya's women to boycott the bedroom. The sex strike was held in order to protest political gridlock in the strained government coalition led by President Mwai Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga. Wives, single women and sex workers were all asked to join the demonstration. Odinga's wife, Ida Odinga, supported the action.CNN.com: Kenyan women ban sex over political reform (April 30, 2009)

• Fast Facts:

  1. Capital: Nairobi
  2. Government: Republic
  3. Languages spoken: English and Swahili
  4. Currency: Kenyan shilling (KES)
  5. Country code: 254
  6. Time zone: EAT (GMT + 3 hrs)
  7. Nairobi airport code: NBO
  8. Inhabited by a Cushitic tribe around 2000 B.C.
  9. Population: 37,953,840 (2008 est.) CIA: The World Factbook: Kenya
  10. Climate: Warm desert to warm semi-arid
  11. Bordered by: Uganda, Somalia, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Sudan and the Indian Ocean

• Brief History

  Excavations in Kenya's Rift Valley have discovered the remains of human ancestors more than one million years old, and many paleontologists believe that it was from this area that humans eventually evolved and spread out across the globe. Politically, Kenya achieved its independence from the United Kingdom (who had referred to the area as British East Africa) in December 1963, and Jomo Kenyatta, a former rebel leader, became the nation's first President.

• Attractions

  Kenya is home to Nairobi National Park and populations of African wildlife including wildebeest, giraffes, rhinoceroses, leopards, lions, and elephants. Nairobi is the capital of Kenya and East Africa's major transportation hub and population center. The highest mountain in Kenya, Mount Kenya, is over 15,000 feet high and has glaciers at the top.

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