We kicked off the new-year by visiting the family of our friend, Ngoko (a teacher at PACE), who lives 20 kilometers outside of Nyahururu. Our original plan was to take a taxi with Joanie to save us from having to jump from one matatu to the next, but we were summoned at the last minute to high-tail it to the tarmac (highway) and catch a matatu into town where we would then hop on another matatu that would take us to our destination. This definitely wasn’t music to our ears, but we did eventually see the plus side – cheap travel! Too bad cheap travel isn’t synonymous with fast, reliable, comfortable travel.
We were supposed to meet Ngoko and his cousins in Nyahururu and leave from there at 10:00am so that we could get to the family homestead by noon (1 hour on the matatus and 1 hour of walking). However, due to engine trouble, Taryn and I were forced to sit in the back of our sweltering matatu until 11:30 – which is when the mechanic finally got things going. Meanwhile, we became the stars of our very own circus :-) Some locals brought their wide-eyed and terrified kids by to see “the muzungos caged in the back of the bus.” And on the bus, we had nearly every child and adult staring at us indiscreetly as if we’d make them our next meal if they didn’t watch out. To make the experience even more awkward, a man smelling thickly of “ode de Smirnoff” sat himself down very close to Taryn … which was his only option since this bus was a sea of people! By the time we finally got on the road, we were 25 people crammed like sardines into a minivan designed to hold 15 people. We would have been scared if not for the fact that these vehicles are reinforced to the hilt. But it turns out we should have been a little worried because fifteen minutes into our journey, we broke down again. This time we were almost to the edge of ‘Nowheresville’ – population: 25 people and 1 broken-down matatu. We decided it was time to call a taxi, but our driver said he already spent our fairs back in Nyahururu on the first mechanic so he couldn’t reimburse us. We wondered how he would pay a second (and currently non-existent) mechanic to fix the new problem. But another thing we learned about Kenya is that even if there is no mechanic in sight, you can always put four or five guys together to make one. We literally had four men scrounging around the bottom of the bus and after about an hour they miraculously managed to get it going again! I think the big mechanic in the sky had something (if not everything) to do with it – just a hunch. Anyway, we were off again but not for long. One by one, the pieces of luggage on the roof made their way to the ground at different times – 3 stops in total were needed to sort out the problem, which turned out to be a poor roping job, which was surprising because there were only three pieces of luggage to tie down and they had like 50 feet of rope! See, this is why we’re sure God got the bus going … these guys couldn’t even tie down luggage.
But finally, three hours into a 1-hour trip we arrived at our destination … or so we thought. We forgot that we still had to hike through the rolling hills to reach the homestead. This part of the journey, though very hot and very hilly, was also very beautiful – and made the trials of the morning worthwhile. We got to see backcountry Kenya – complete with ‘mud’ huts, farms, and trails that are actually reminiscent of Ontario Parks hiking trails.
We arrived at the homestead of Ngoko’s mother at 2pm, and stood in awe of the perfectly manicured gardens which accommodate an array of flowers, fruit trees and vegetables! We sat down to a lovely meal followed by tea, cokes and a tour of the property and then we went up to see Ngoko’s jolly old grandfather. This man is 86 years old and can make a room full of Kenyan twenty-somethings double over in laughter – can you believe it?!
We left the homestead only 1.5 hours after arriving, for the long journey home. What we soon discovered was that the walk ahead would be an hour-long trek up and down two steep hillsides to a different town centre. If only there was a hidden camera to capture our shocked looks when we learned this … it probably would have looked something like the fifty wide-eyed children that greeted us in town! Taryn got the brunt of the attention since she was ahead of me and Joanie – every man, woman and child had their eyes fixated on her every movement. Then Joanie and I arrived on the scene, and people basically started to hyperventilate with excitement at the sight of three muzungos in their town. The children followed us wherever we went, and some of them tried to touch our skin (and would then run away screaming and laughing) and the more daring ones even touched Taryn’s hair … and giggled the whole time. They were so cute!
The ride home was definitely much more comfortable than the first, as we strategically positioned ourselves at the front of the bus. The good road to town enabled our driver to reach warp-3 and cause a rip in the space-time continuum – he also nearly caused accidents when other warp speed drivers and crossing cattle got in his way. He must have been late for a hot date … or something.
That was definitely one of our most entertaining home visits. Speaking of homes, our apartment is now set-up with all the essentials (just a couple more odds and ends to purchase) and so tomorrow we’ll be spending our first night in our new home. Taryn is beaming with excitement!
On a more serious note, can you please keep us in your prayers over the next week as school begins on Monday and PACE is still short three teachers. Please pray that teachers are raised up quickly, and pray for Taryn that she will be placed in a role that is suitable for her.
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