When Marilyn and George Chabbott of Dover were on a recent three-week trip in Africa, with emphasis on Kenya, they stopped at one point and talked to a group of elementary school children.

    George, always one to test reaction to an interesting question, asked: “How many of you would like to go to America?”

    All hands shot up.

    “And how many of you would like to go to China?”

    No hands were raised.

    This was especially interesting to the Chabbotts because China obviously has a strong presence in Africa, one instance of this being a new highway China has recently built.

    It should be noted that, along with their native languages, the members of the semi-nomadic Maasai tribe, which they met, spoke excellent English.

    They were talking to a quartet of Maasai warriors one day — the slim and tall men were dressed in their native clothing — and George handed one of them his business card.

    “I’ll email you,” the man promptly replied.

    George was interested enough in the Chinese presence in Kenya to write to members of the Delaware Congressional delegation about his observations.

    One question they often heard — 10 people were in the small group tour — was “Where are the Americans?”

    While the touring group was interested in everyone they met, they did not run across any U.S. embassy personnel.

    Besides having their photo taken with Maasai tribesmen while they held a Dover Post, the Chabbotts were kind enough to bring back for me a copy of the Daily Nation newspaper. It is based in Nairobi, printed in English, and is well-designed with a variety of news and feature stories.

    Another newspaper, The Standard, asks in a front-page headline: “Is Kenya becoming a pirates’ paradise?” Inside is a major story telling how money the Indian Ocean pirates are getting from capturing ships is being used in Kenya for business investments.

    George said the newspapers don’t seem to have any worries about speaking out frankly.

    *****

    Talking about trips, I happened to see a review in the Washington Post about the book “Harry Truman’s Excellent Adventure,” which tells about a motor trip which Harry and Bess Truman took after Harry left office in 1953.

    I was attracted to the review in part because it was written by Christopher Buckley, whose memoir of his parents I had just finished reading. The parents were William F. Buckley Jr., the famous writer, and Patricia Taylor Buckley, a leading member of New York society and a vivacious personality.

    The name of the book is “Losing Mum and Pup,” and despite this offhand sort of a title, I can recommend it very highly.

    Back to the Truman trip.

    Christopher Buckley calls the book by Matthew Algeo “an extremely excellent adventure by ex-President Harry Truman and his wife, Bess, in the form of a road trip they both made — just the two of them — not long after Harry had left the White House with a 22% approval rating.

    “Twenty-two percent … why does that sound familiar? (Confidential memo to George W: Pack up that car with Laura and hit the road!)”

    The review goes on to mention that at that time Harry Truman was broke, with his only source of income his $111.96 per-month World War I pension. In those days, ex-presidents didn’t get a pension.

    The Chrysler company did give him a new Chrysler, which would have cost about $4,000 then. That number was also the average yearly salary of an American worker. And gas was 27 cents per gallon.

    No one went with the Trumans. They mostly stayed in motels and ate in diners.

    Buckley writes:

    “All this is, to be sure, an America that no longer exists. The thought of an ex-president jumping into a car with just his wife, no Secret Service, packing his own bags, pumping his own gas, drinking Cokes with grease monkeys is … well, it ain’t gonna happen, and we’re the poorer nation for that.”

    *****

    While the shooter in the tragic killing of a guard at the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington has generally been identified as James W. von Brunn of Annapolis, Md., the fact is that von Brunn lived for many years in Easton on the Delmarva Peninsula.

    He was known chiefly as an artist at the time, and an article in the Star Democrat (Easton) tells of what could have been a killing at a St. Michaels studio/gallery in 2001.

    Von Brunn had asked the gallery owner if he could display some of his paintings there. Jesse Demolli, the gallery owner, at first said yes but took back that permission after von Brunn began making increasingly inflammatory comments about Jews and immigrants.

    When von Brunn was told to remove his paintings, Demolli told the Star Democrat, “He pulled a gun on me and said it was my lucky day.”

    Demolli, who now lives in Florida, did not report the incident then or call police, but today does consider himself lucky.

    *****

    Steve Burd, the CEO of Safeway, Inc., made some very interesting comments concerning the national health care question a few days ago in a television interview.

    Burd, whose company has 200,000 employees, including the staff in Dover, noted that 70% of national health care costs are “driven by behavior” of the patients.

    He outlined a plan in operation in the Safeway company, which takes behavior into consideration in terms of how the company helps funding employees’ health care.

    The kinds of behavior he mentioned, like smoking and obesity, can be affected by the patients themselves, he said. And by a series of “positive incentives” the company has seen health costs “flatlined” — remain steady — for four years even though nationally the costs have risen considerably during that period

    It’s not possible to outline the whole plan here, but basic to it is the ingredient of personal responsibility — the idea that there are areas of health which can be controlled. If a program identifies them and rewards persons who respond accordingly, then costs can be kept down.

    Burd said he is talking to members of Congress and to the White House and has gotten some encouragement.

    All of us will be affected by whatever happens in the field of health care coverage and costs, and it seems to me that Burd is making an important contribution in promoting his company’s experience.

    *****

    A guy is driving down the road and runs over a rooster. He feels guilty so he stops, goes up to the farmhouse, and says to the farmer: “I’d like to replace your rooster.”

    And the farmer says, “OK. The chickens are out back!”