Our trip to Eldoret started at the Nakumat supercenter. You all should be familiar with that place by now. It is a good meeting place because everyone knows where it is. Our hosts in Kisumu picked us up from the Le Savanna Guesthouse and took us souvenir shopping in the morning, and then we met our Eldoret host and a matatu at the Nakumat.
Souvenir shopping was fun as usual. I have created a haggling monster in Chante. Originally fearful of haggling she was afraid she would hurt their feelings and insult the vendors. I told her over and over that they would not sell to you if they didn't want to. She took that to heart, and after early success, she proved to be better than the teacher in her abilities to get great prices. We shopped for a couple of hours, picking up loads of souvenirs. I am at the point where I look for special things...unusual things. This time I was able to find some unique crosses. I like collecting handmade crosses from the countries I visit. These crucifixes were carved from branches that had the shape of a cross naturally. The woodworker carved a face, hands, body, legs, etc. of Jesus into the branch. Crude, but beautiful. The vendor happened to be someone we knew, so he knows our price limits. He was able to find 3 different versions for me...he sold me 2 and gifted me one. You know what they say...if you get a gift from the vendor, it means you just paid too much! I also found a cool nativity set carved out of one chunk of wood. A section of a thick branch trunk is carved to have Mary, Joseph and baby Jesus appear when you unfold the trunk's 3 pieces. Everyone shopped like crazy. It was fun.
Lunch followed shopping at the Mon Ami restaurant outside the Nakumat. We met Francis at the auto repair shop next door. Uh oh, car trouble? He was just having the axle checked. We loaded his Landcruiser with our luggage and 4 bodies. The rest went into the matatu with the rest of our group. The drive to Eldoret is beautiful...especially when the area gets rain. Lush forests, farms and hillsides fill our camera memory cards. Eldoret is Northwest of Kisumu, and is the farming belt of Kenya. It sits on a plateau that separates the Nyanza and Rift Valleys. We saw sugarcane in the lowlands and as we climbed in elevation those plantations gave way to coffee and tea plantations. The tea fields are beautiful, lush, and verdant. The matatu was overheating and had to make unscheduled stops to cool down. On one of those stops the landcruiser I was riding in was about 2 miles ahead. We decided to stop on the side of the road and wait for the van. We were sitting in the truck listening to music, when some school kids heading home decided to hang out and stare at us. They would stare, and when we looked at them, they would look away and giggle. I think this is the first time to see westerners for a couple of them. Chante wanted to give them something and I happened to have a bag of candy just for this type of occasion. That brought them closer, and started some conversation. Kyle dragged out his two drums and one of the boys asked to play them. He was amazing!! He must have learned a little watching his dad or other older men at some point. One of the girls kept rhythm while he pounded away. Music is the easiest way to break down walls that separate people from each other, and Kyle is great at using music to connect us to locals. That is how we met our angel, Simon as well. But that comes later.
Our first stop is to check into our guesthouse for the week. The Reformed Church Guesthouse is surprisingly clean. The rooms each have a bathroom (in various states of repair), and the beds are comfortable. There is a large contingent of Dutch teenagers here on a mission trip, but they have zero awareness of others when it came to consideration...they were loud at night and in the wee early hours of the morning. Luckily they only stayed one night more and left on safari. We happened to see them in Nairobi on our way out as well.
We had a delicious dinner in the guesthouse dining room that first night and met the cook. Professionally trained, Erik knew how to use spices in Kenyan cooking. His tomato soup/sauce was delicious! He came out to meet us, and the group told him that I was a big time food person in the US...so we talked recipes that used Kenyan basics with western flair for a few minutes. He promised to try some of them for us while we were there. His favorite idea was fried leftover ugali...the cornmeal doughball that is the national dish of Kenya. Locals eat it fresh, and the chickens usually get the tough leftovers. I want to treat it like thick polenta and fry the leftovers in the morning. Erik made that dish one day for lunch, but unfortunately we weren't around. But his cooking was the best we have had in the area of traditional Kenyan cooking.
We spent Tuesday meeting all the ECAN (Eldoret Christian Aid Network) center managers and hearing about their centers. It was 4 hours of meetings. After lunch we broke up into groups to visit CRF projects in the area. My team (Melanie, Ericka and I) went out (way out as it turned out) to a remote center. It is so remote we prayed that the rains would stay away to keep the roads passable. As we headed out, I knew why. The roads are packed clay, and in the rain that clay turns slick. We were also heading up and down large hills that would be treacherous in the rain. As we were heading out further and further into the country-side, I casually mentioned that it seemed very remote. Ericka asked me where my sense of adventure was. I replied that I was too old for adventure.
As we pulled into the church, we were greeted by a contingent of old women clapping and singing to us. Each greeted us warmly and continued their singing. It was very moving. We arrived while the kids were still in school, so we headed into the church building (a tin shack!) to continue singing, praising and to give introductions. The hospitality of Kenyans is amazing. We have a few things to learn. They share their best and are always warm in their greeting and treatment of strangers. We seem to be suspicious of people we don't know and tend to shun strangers. The church had a dirt floor and was basically wood poles covered by corrugated tin sheets. We were in the middle of making introductions when lightning and thunder interrupted us. It started raining so hard that we couldn't hear anything. Francis gave me a look that worried me. He wanted to leave immediately because of the roads. The people wanted us to stay and have tea with them. We decided to pray and leave as soon as possible.
Our trip back was the adventure of a lifetime. The roads were so slick we got stuck numerous times. The first time was right outside the church...the locals pushed us out of the mud and we kept going. The second time was down at the bottom of the first small hill. We were stuck good. Francis gunned the Landcruiser and covered it with mud from the wash! Some of the locals followed us down and tried to help us, but we were stuck. We cut branches to stick under the wheels and we found a rope (like thick twine) to pull us out. 10 locals were able to pull us through the muck. They also pulled us up a large hill, and down another. We finally got totally stuck in the ditch on the last hill. No amount of pulling, pushing, rocking, or praying got us out. Ericka was worried and wanted to walk out. I was kidding and asked her where her spirit of adventure was now. She laughed and said she just wanted us to make it back! Someone knew of a tractor nearby and went to call the owner. An hour later he showed up with a small Ford tractor and length of chain. Ericka and Melanie cheered, but I was a little quiet. I wasn't sure a tractor could pull us out, and initially I was right when the tractor got stuck in the same ditch! But with human power and the tractor we finally got unstuck. I was covered in mud after helping push the truck. It was crazy...for a while I wasn't sure we would make it that night, but we did get out. I threw money at the tractor driver and the crowd that helped us, I was so relieved. The ride back to town was quiet as we considered how lucky we were to get out. Well not quite luck...the help of strangers to spend their entire afternoon getting filthy dirty to help fellow Christians. I was grateful for their willingness to help with zero thought of payment for services rendered. We ended up getting back at 9 pm...5 hours after starting our return journey. We spent an hour getting there, 30 minutes there, and hours getting back. Ugh. I spent an hour cleaning my shoes, and decided to throw away my pants, shirt and socks. I put them out on the railing outside my room to let them dry. I also wanted to show the group how dirty I had gotten...they were out having Chinese dinner, which I heard was awesome.
The next morning my pants and socks were gone! The gardener told me he had washed them for me...what a gentleman. He was about my size so I gave them to him. He was very thankful and appreciative of my castoffs.
Today we would spend at the Milton Jones Eagle's Academy. We met the kids in the morning and spent the morning in their classes to see what they were learning. I got the 1st graders...wow, am I impressed. All of them can read in English at a level better than American 1st graders. They are so smart and the curriculum so innovative! The way they learn is fun and engaging. Plus Kenyan children are respectful of their teachers and very helpful. They are quiet in class and very obedient. I haven't seen that much in the US. I see kids that are catered to and not given very high expectations of acceptable classroom behavior.
The afternoon was an assembly...the children performed skits (the forming of the school), sang songs, and read their poems to us. They also played games and danced for us. We returned the favor and sang them some songs and danced with them as well. It was a great day.
More to come! Stay tuned!
Chow!
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