Last Day in Kitale Kenya

Last Day in Kitale

May 24

It’s finally here, my last day in Kitale.  Kibet and I are going into town and I’m going to buy him lunch.  I also need to make a couple of stops around town as well.  I’m giving Kibet my modem so he’ll have internet access, so we can email each other as often as we want. 

Being in Kenya has not been easy.  At times its been difficult with the way the culture is so engrained into the lives of the people here.  When I see something that is just wrong I want to shout out, but of all those times it’s been a cultural thing. Here in Kenya culture often overrides Christianity and that is so sad. Traditional marriages happen often (having more than one wife) and no one here sees anything wrong with that.  It’s just another thing I really don’t understand at all, especially when the bible says a man of one wife.  I think what the Kenyan’s do is use the old testament as a foundation. I”m not sure, I could very well be wrong, but that’s what it seems like to me. 

Living on a farm is a total new experience for me as well. It’s nice in the fact that there are birds singing all day long and I can’t get enough of the song birds here. The livestock make all kinds of noises 24/7 and that’s OK too.  Chickens are wandering around the compound all day long, and now that there is a rooster here there’s a lot of crowing. It’s kinda funny cause he gets the morning and afternoons mixed up, but he’s like most male species only thinking with part of his brain. LOL All of this has been educational, but the one thing I won’t miss are the flies. Not sure but there are a constant pain in the ass here on the farm. I won’t miss the cockroaches that are just everywhere here in Kenya, and the many different spiders that I’ve seen. It’s a little disconcerting when bugs scurry across your bed. YEAH, that I won’t miss at all.  

What I will miss are the people, especially the kids that live in and around the compound. There are something like 7 or 8 kids and they run around all day long. They always come up and want to shake my hand and greet me properly. They are so darn cute.  I’ll miss Christie, the house girl here. She works so hard, and yet I don’t think she’s appreciated at all. My prayer for her is that she’ll find a way to support her daughter so she’ll be able to go to school in the new school year. I’ll miss Ednah and how she always says everything is medicinal. She cracks me up. I’ll miss little, well not so little, Michelle. She’s one happy baby, except when she’s pissed off. LOL  And I’ll miss Alice. That woman doesn’t know when to stop or slow down. I wish she would, and take time for herself every now and then.

So I’m off to Nairobi in the early morning. We aren’t taking the bus as originally planned. YEAH  Roseline Yego, the Bishops wife, is going into Nairobi and she will give us a ride.  Hopefully I’ll get to an Internet cafe so I can post another blog before I come home.

Internet

Internet

May 21 Saturday

Well I went to get online, and I couldn’t. I forgot to go to the Orange store and get more airtime for my modem yesterday. RATS!!! Today I don’t have the time to get into town. I’m speaking at the widows meeting and then apparently we are going to Alice’s Aunt’s home. Now personally I don’t want to go to the aunts house. It will be another day of people speaking in Swahili and me sitting there like an idiot. Drives me nuts.  I would like to go see the guys at the Orange store and shoot the &*%$ with them. LOL They are nice guys and I’m hoping they will have a Orange T-Shirt for me :o)

Like yesterday I sat there not knowing what anyone was saying unless Joe or Alice translated for me.  I only have 4 days left in Kitale, and I’d rather spend my day with Kibet and hang with my friends, Ann & Steve Muttai. I’d rather do what I want to do instead of being paraded around like some novelty.  I’d rather go see the kids that live on the road and say hello to my fan club. Those kids are so darn cute. Robb would have loved those little kids. So today I’ll be doing stuff that Alice wants to do, I’ll be a good girl and not say a word about what I want to do.  I not happy.

False Christians

False Christians

May 19

Something that I’ve seen here that really disturbs me and that is false Christians. I’m not saying there aren’t any in the U.S. but here is so blatant and right in your face. A woman here has actually said that the pastor doesn’t come to people’s homes to visit, he comes to eat food. Now I personally know the pastor in which this woman is speaking about, and one thing I know is he doesn’t go to visit anyone with the mindset of getting food in return. What I’d like to say to this woman is, well if that is true and he does just visit people to eat, then maybe the church should pay him more so he can feed himself more adequately. I don’t understand why anyone would say such a thing like that about a pastor.  The only answer I can come up with is jealousy. It’s kinda funny as well because this woman and her husband believe they are such “good” Christians, and here they are showing their true selves. All I can say I’m glad I’m not them. I’d hate to be on the receiving end when God speaks and calls them on the carpet for their actions.

I can only imagine what is being said about me behind my back by this person. I’ve come to be very close with the pastor. He’s a great guy, and we have some great discussions about the gospel and how to apply it to your life. He’s even counseled me on some areas in which I wanted to help someone here. I’ve helped a young man with school fees so he can learn more about computers and the windows operating system. But this young man isn’t the only one I’ve helped, there are a few others as well.  Then I’ve spent a lot of time with the pastor putting the bulletin together for the church. Both of us have agonized over getting the bulletin put together and copied so it’s available for the congregation every Sunday. It’s a lot of work, and I’ve spent a lot of time in the pastor’s house working on the bulletin.  Now most likely people have said a few uncalled things about me being in the house.  Well the only reason I’m there is because that is where the church’s computer is located, and its not in the church because the door locks aren’t good and the computer would get stolen. If the computer was at the church, then that’s where I’d be until 8:30pm on some nights. But it’s not, so go ahead and speak of things which you know nothing about, I’ll just let God handle the rest.

Should I have put this in my blog? I’m really not sure, but I can say one thing and that is I feel better now that I wrote it down.  I really can’t stand it when people are mean to my friends. It’s one of my worst faults because now I just want to go to that woman and give her a what for and not hold anything back. I’m extremely loyal to the people that I love, and watch out if you hurt one of them. I’m liable to come out spitting mad.

Gogo Rono's

Gogo Rono’s 

May 12

Today we went about 1.5 hours away to see Gogo Rono.  She is Alice’s mother and she lives with Alice’s brother Abraham. 

Getting there was quite the adventure. We drove to Mois Bridge and then we took a left onto a dirt road. Now we were in Alice’s new car and I must admit it’s a nice ride, but driving it on these dirt and gravel roads probably isn’t the best for the car. Nelson drove us (he is Alice’s oldest son) and he drives like a little ole man.  I’m told that he isn’t a risk taker, and I would have to agree with that assessment of his driving. Very causious and careful. 

Anyway we get to Abraham’s house and Gogo is sitting outside in a chair by herself. Ellen, Abraham’s wife is busy cooking and comes to greet us and goes back to being busy. So we sit and talk to Gogo for awhile. She’s in the beginnings of Alheimers and gets confused easily, but she is delightful to be around. She kept asking me if I was Michelle’s mother, which I thought was funny cause Michelle is black. 

Abraham’s place is really nice.  The house itself is surrounded by green grass, trees, and many flowering plants. Let’s not forget the chickens running around the yard as well. Abraham has dairy cows, like everyone else in this part of Kenya, but I don’t know how many he has. His dairy is really nice for Kenyan standards. He also has sheep and I didn’t get a chance to count them. One of the cows came looking for her baby and that baby got into the dairy area and then the cow broke down the gate to get to her baby. Then Sarah, Nelson’s wife, herds that calf and grabs it and gets it out of the dairy area, and then, this woman simply amazed me here, she hers that darn cow back out to the pasture. Sarah is definitely a force to be reckoned with, and the stupid cow didn’t have a change in staying close to her baby. Cracked me up to watch Sarah, the school secretary, chase that cow back out to the pasture.

After that fiasco we headed into the house to eat lunch. Lunch consisted of meat and potatoes, rice, chapati, chicken, and veggies. It was good and the company was very nice. The only downfall is that everyone speaks Swahili and most of the time I have no idea what is being said.  I feel very left out when this happens and it happens here a lot to me. Alice tries to translate for me but she often gets wrapped up in the conversation and forgets to translate until I remind her. 

After lunch was over we had tea.  I like Kenyan tea, it’s just like Chai back home. It felt good on my throat. After more talking we started to file outside to get ready to leave. Well it took us awhile to get out of the house and then everyone wanted pictures taken so I began to take pictures. Not sure how many I took, but I took a lot. 

Once we got back into the car we headed home, but we stopped in the small village to pick up something Alice wanted. I have no idea what it was, all I know is that on our way back home we had a chicken riding in the back of the car.

Apparently Abraham gave Ednah a gift and that gift was a chicken. I couldn’t believe we were taking a chicken back home with us in the car. At one point the chicken decided she wasn’t down with the whole riding in the back thing and she started to make a ruckus. Luckily for us, Ednah came to the rescue and subdued the chicken and got her back into the back of the car. 

We arrived back home after dark, and got everything out of the car, including the chicken which Ednah took care of. Chickens are kinda funny things. One minute they aren’t happy, but the next day they are happy as a chicken. lol 

Pokot Village Once Again

Pokot Village once again

May 8

A lot has happened since I last posted. I was in Nairobi and sicker than a hound dog. I do believe I have bronchitis once again, and what’s the pits is I’m in Kenya and my own doctor is way far away in Vancouver. UGG. I spent yesterday in bed all day trying to stay off the bronchitis, but I believe I’ve failed that quest.  Then today I spent the entire day going to and being at the Pokot village in West Pokot. I realize now I probably should have stayed here in Kitale and send my regrets to the people. OH well lesson learned right?

Anyway the trip wasn’t as bad as the first one because we had a Range Rover Defender and that rig went where ever Joseph (the driver) told it to go. YES!! So much better than a Matatu. So we got there and the service started and guess who preached? ME! I know, totally blows me away as well. Anyway I just encouraged the Pokot to continue in their walk with Jesus. I reminded them that life isn’t fair, but then God didn’t promise life would be fair. I told them to keep the faith and perserver under trial because it will be worth it in the end. That isn’t exactly what I said, but you get the gist of it, right?

Anyway, I had a good time and enjoyed my time up there. I also, hoping and praying, to help the Pokot become self sufficient and to be able to feed their children. This project is basically selling handmade crafts. This stuff is really unique and well done, now I just need to figure out how to market it and the proceeds return to the Pokot people. This is a huge undertaking for me, so if you can help me out in anyway please do, just contact me. 

OK, now I want to ask how many people can you get into a Range Rover Defender? 5? 6?, or 7? WRONG.... We got 13 people in the Defender today. YES 13!! I couldn’t believe it either. I counted everyone twice. We did this because the Tribe Chief’s mother died last night and we went over to his place to pay our condolences.  There was a ton of people there and while the others I was with went to view the body (NO I didn’t go) I sat and talked to one of the members of the tribe who spoke really good English. Then Pastor Evans spoke to the people and he introduced me and I spoke for a bit. I don’t really remember what I said, only that I was sorry for the loss of the Chief’s mother, and to keep the faith in Christ that you already have.  Then we left and went to the Generals house (not a real Army General) and had lunch. I just ate rice with some broth in it. Eating food in the bush is not easy for me to do and then being sick I just couldn’t even fake it today.  

When we finished Lunch we came outside of the hut and there was a little female puppy. So naturally I picked her up and talked to her and the Pokot people just laughed at me. I explained that it is our job to take care of God’s creatures, no matter what you may think of them. I told them that it is our responsibility to care for dogs and treat them with kindness, and not to kick them and beat them. Which happens often here in Kenya. Then I told them that in America there are dogs who lead blind people to work and home or wherever they need to go. Now they had a difficult time believing that, but I told them, “Have I lied to you yet?” Hopefully they believed me. 

Now I’m back home in the dinning area drinking hot chocolate (tea) and enjoying the fact that I’m back in my jammies. I still feel like crap and coughing like crazy. YEP I think I need to see the doctor tomorrow. 

Masai Mara Day 2

Masai Mara day 2

May 3

When you go looking for wildlife you never know what you’re gonna get. Kinda like Forrest Gump with candy, you just never know what you’re gonna see. Anyway, I didn’t have any great hopes of seeing anything spectacular at all. Why? I have no idea. What we did see was really awesome. Now how we got to see them is a tale I shall tell. You get into what is essentially a minivan. Now these vans have roofs that pop up so you can stand and take pictures of the various animals. What is so awesome about the whole idea of searching for wildlife is that all of the guides talk to each other and tell where you can find say a lion. They all have a CB radio in their van as well and they talk on that on what they have found and where. Personally I thought this was rather cool, considering they are all trying to get the most clients, and yet they help each other achieve their goal. Helping the clients see the “Big 5”. Buffalo, elephant, giraffe, lion, and rhino are the big 5 that everyone wants to see. Personally I wanted to see a cheetah, but no such luck on this trip. Maybe next time.

Anyway, so we drive around the park on first a dirt and gravel road, then we turn off if it and onto a 2 path lane and it is on these little lanes where you find the animals. Oh you see wildebeat, zebra’s, and the like on the main road, but on the lanes is where to good stuff happens. We had elephants cross the lane right in front of the van. We had a giraffe eating from a tree right next to the van. AND we got up close and personal with a lioness and her 3 cubs on one of these lanes. OH and we had to stop once and let the buffalo pass before we continued on the lane. Buffalo’s aren’t the nicest of beasts around. They can be rather particular on their territory, so we waited for them to cross.

I think the highlight of the safari was watching the lioness with her cubs, but then again the male lion eating a buffalo was pretty awesome too. It’s hard to say what was the best part about Masai Mara. The amazing thing is that these animals are still very much wild and dangerous, and yet they are all healthy looking and thriving. (Kaiser Perm. would love that lol) Kenya isn’t what a lot of people think. The lions, elephants, buffalo’s and etc don’t roam all over the country. These animals are mostly found in the National Parks, where it is illegal to hunt them. (except for the Masai people). Along the roads you will find baboons and different monkeys and we saw a couple of Zebra’s but that was it. Kenya isn’t rolling in wildlife any longer.  If you are walking down the road here in Kitale, the wildlife that you might encounter will most likely be domesticated and produce milk (cows and goats). So come to Kenya and see for yourself the beauty here.

Masai Mara

Masai Mara

May 2, 2011

Masai Mara is a national park here in Kenya. Here you can, on a good day, spot all 5 of the “Big Five” animals here in the park. From what I’m told spotting all of them is rare, but it has been done. 

To get to the park is nothing short of a trip to hell. The road is horrible, dusty, and all of the drivers go really fast even over pot holes. There are essentially no potty stops unless you go in the bush, and no place to purchase a soda or water on the way. From Nairobi it took us almost 6 hours to get there. Now if the road was a good road it would of only taken us about 4 to 5 hours. Once we arrived at the park and at the lodge we settled in in our individual rooms. The lodge was really unique in that all of the rooms were in a “hut” like building but had all of the modern conveniences needed to make our stay lovely. The lodge sits on a side of a mountain, well what they call a mountain here in Kenya at least and you can see it from the road, but it is well hidden withing the canopy. Most of the security guys on the grounds were Masai men/warriors. I asked one of them what he was doing with a machette. Then I was told that a Masai Warrior is never without his machette. Well that was comforting at least. I guess it is a real good thing too as the lodge sits right in the middle of the park and there is nothing seperating the lodge guests from the residents of the park (lions, buffalo, elephants, etc). One thing about being on this short safari is the ability I’ve had to take a hot shower. Can’t do that at Alice’s house, but the hotels and lodges have hot water even if it’s only for a certain number of hours each day.  Masai Mara is in the middle of nowhere to coin a phrase. It is essentially smack dab in the middle of Masai land. The Masai people have all of their rights to raise their cattle and goats, and if a lion kills one of their livestock, the Masai have the right to go and chase down the lion and kill it. Which they do on a normal basis. It is said that a Masai man can not become a warrior until he kills a lion. Poor lions :o(