We woke up late this morning. Apparently, when I set the alarm for 6am, I
also needed to specify the days. I just
assumed that it would ring at 6am every day.
Well, it didn’t today. I woke up
at 6:47… we were supposed to be on the road at 7 to be at the school by
8:30. We showered quickly and grabbed a
piki piki. These are motorcycle drivers
that are verified with the university to transport people from place to place. It was 100ksh/person, or $1.25. It was worth it. We got to the school by 7:40.
There weren’t many teachers there yet, so we took our pack
to the health clinic. There, we tried to
grab a quick bite for breakfast - a couple (4) breakfast bars for Kevin, and a
clif bar for me. We waited for the
morning assembly to end before we returned to the primary school to meet with
the headmaster Charles Odiero.
It could have gone better.
Tensions existed between the clinic committee, the school committee and
Charles. We talked for over 5 hours
before we finally had to stop to see the clinic committee. I repeated most of my comments from my
meeting with Charles. Ultimately, it was
a “let’s play nice in the sand box” speech.
The clinic committee seemed more grateful than Charles and the School
Committee members that were present. The
meeting with the clinic committee lasted another 3 hours. Afterward, we headed to the secondary school
for lunch. Before lunch, however, Job
and Kevin decided to race again. Job was
really pushing for a rematch. This time
he had many onlookers, so he was definitely going to win. Samuel was the starter, I stood right on the finish line to take
pictures, and Caleb took the video. This race was well documented.
Job lost. Again. He appeared to start a little earlier than
Kevin, but Kevin overtook him at the halfway point. The crowd cheered! A picture speaks a thousand words. 3 pictures speak even more.
Afterward, we walked around the Secondary School, inspecting
the floor for repairs. Lunch was waiting
in the last classroom. Kuku, ugali, rice
and soup. I thought it was
delicious. It was now close to 4, and we
were supposed to join Marlene, Peter and Patti to play softball with Caleb and
his team. I snapped some pictures before
the rain started falling, and it really
fell. I took shelter after 30 minutes;
Kevin took shelter when he saw lightening.
Smart kid.
We waited for it to subside a bit before heading over to
Susan and Emmah’s house to Skype with Andrea and Karen. It was only sprinkling, so we didn’t get too
wet. When we arrived at the house, the
rain started again. I was afraid that
Ann and Karen wouldn’t be able to hear us… the baby started crying, and that
didn’t help. It didn’t matter, though,
because we were having great difficulty connecting. After 15 minutes of fiddling with it, we
finally got it to work! Their home was
very dark, but mother nature decided to help by stopping the rain, so I sat on
the floor in front of the door (it was the only place that light was coming in)
with Susan on my left leg, Emmah on my right, and Danton between them. IT WAS WONDERFUL! Everyone enjoyed it immensely. I’m quite certain that the clan never
participated in something like this before.
Questions and comments went back and forth and laughter was
constant. We eventually had to stop
because it was getting late. It was
already close to 5:30 and it was time for us to start the walk back. Job was complaining that his legs were very
sore. Susan’s grandmother Ester is a
local “Medicine Woman” and offered to help massage them. Job declined.
As we walked away from the house, Job told me of a story about a young
girl who was brought to Ester. She had
been complaining about arm pain for as long as she could remember. Ester grabbed the girl’s arm and broke it
over her leg so that it could mend properly.
“Imagine!” Job said. I’m sure it
was all here say and rumor… well, maybe.
We continued to laugh the entire way home. Job was pushing Samuel’s bike, because he
wasn’t big enough to ride it. The seat
was level with Job’s chest. Kevin was
joking with both of them the entire time, while Caleb and I continued a short
distance behind him. “Kevin is very
funny,” Caleb said. “I like him.” We like him, too.
We stopped at the T where Kevin and I go right and the
others go left. Before our goodbyes, Sammy
had a brief conversation with Kevin. You
see, Sam always wears a head covering.
Always. Job and Caleb always want
to see his dreadlocks, so they told Kevin that Sam was bald, thinking that Sam
would want to prove them wrong. Little
did they know that Sam made a deal with Kevin – he will remove his head
covering for Kevin, but only Kevin.
Nobody else is allowed to see.
Caleb and Job whined about it while Sam and Kevin laughed. 3 more miles to go.
 |
| 3 little strangers stopped to say hi |
I’m completely exhausted, and periodically nodding off while
I write this. Thank heaven for spellcheck,
although I’m not sure I’m going to be able to double check my entry. We’re heading back to the school to deal with some more
politics, then we’ll meet with Simon the Contractor, start some digging, then
take the Building Futures staff for lunch in Kisumu. They’re long overdue for a special treat, and
kuku at Mamba’s will fit the bill. We’ll
then return to the school, do some more work, and try skyping again.
I am utterly exhausted.
Kevin is already asleep. Again. He was waiting for me to finish the blog
before checking in on his mail. He didn’t
make it. I’ll wake him so he sleeps
through the night.
Tutaoanana
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