Travelling in Kenya is not something that I get to do much. I feel that Nairobi is where I am accustomed to and going out of town brings me out in something of a rash - I become crisis-oriented and think of all the things that could go wrong. When I actually pick up my bag and embark on the trip, I seem to find that it's not so bad after all.
Two weeks ago Janet and I had a wonderful trip. On the Sunday it was the dedication of the Bible in Sabaot and after this we had the opportunity to visit Mfangano Island in Lake Victoria. Here's how it went.
We left Nairobi at around 9:15am on a chilly Saturday morning in a fleet of minibuses. We headed out of town on the road that runs North-West towards Uganda. There was not much to do but try and rest in preparation for the coming few days of continuing travels. It didn't seem too long until we stopped for lunch - maybe even around 11:30. A smokey cafe was the venue and many staff piled in and ordered fried chicken and allsorts else. No less than two of our colleagues told us that they were avoiding the food though - "You cannot trust these places". Clearly many many people do though. Janet and I had been ultra organised and had made sandwiches as well as having pre-cooked some chicken (this was after the experience of a 13 or so hour coach ride from Kampala to Nairobi where a "five minute stop" by the driver was construed to mean that the whole coach except me and my friend disembarked and returned with quarter chickens on sticks, while I made do with an oversized bag of honey-covered peanuts for the rest of the journey, a food stuff I have never wanted to eat again since).
Anyway, I disgress, the journey continued after lunch. Janet and I have a small iPod Shuffle and the day before we loaded it up with a number of radio shows and music. We whiled away a couple of hours with
BBC Radio 5Live Film Reviews and Radio 4's
The Now Show. Time stretched out. We were beginning to flag, but started to see signs of being near Eldoret, our destination. After the longest entry to a small town ever - during which the bus seemed to be full of talk as to which world class runners lived in which houses - we arrived at our hotel: The Marriott Hotel or the Marriot Hotel - both spellings were evident. I don't think the other Marriott hotel chain have heard of them. We arrived in a torrential rainstorm which necessitated the bus being parked centimetres from the lobby. The staff were friendly and helpful and soon we all setted into rooms before dinner and European football.
The next day we had been told that departure was at 7am and to be at breakfast at 6am. One of the challenges of time-keeping in Kenya is knowing when is something a request or when is it just a vague wish. The previous morning's departure had been set for 8:30am which was very easily missed. This Sunday morning, at 7:03 we were the second to last people on the transport which was today a large school bus. The seats were a little too child sized to fit several grown adults in a line, and so I sat sideways out into the aisle.
We stopped in the centre of town to collect more travellers going to the Bible dedication. I only say this because I enjoyed snapping the photo below in the town hall.
The journey to Kapsakwony took slightly longer than planned; an hour and a half longer. The bus would go up one foothill and then down the other side which was only slighly shorter in height before the next climb would begin. The scenery was beautiful and a lush green. At one point we saw signs on buidling saying Kimilili. This surprised me somewhat as my brother's wife's brother and his wife live there. We carried on up the mountain. We started passing more and more people walking. It occurred to us that they were going to the same event. This is going to be big. Then a banner was over the road announcing the dedication of the Bible. And then we arrived at the sight of many coaches and vehicles parked up. Disembarking we followed the flow of people across the field. On the other side men and women were separated out in order to be frisked by the gender appropriate police officers. As an obvious non-Kenyan I was waved through the queue. Inside was a sea of people. I couldn't quite get my bearings there were so many. There were marquees arrange in a rectangular quad about 30 metres across the opening. After walking round three sides we found where we were supposed to be sitting. It was rammed with people and so I stood at the back with an umbrella to keep the sun off. Speeches were flowing - we had arrived very late. Even the politicians had beaten us there. No... wait.... a 4x4 drove into the middle of the quad, out got a woman with the most enormous head-dress. She walked towards the dignitaries and someone came running with a chair for her use.
Many of the speeches touched upon the role the Bible can play in reconciliation. Mount Elgon has had a recent history of violence. Time doesn't heal wounds very well but forgiveness does.
One of the highlights was listening to several people reading publicly from the Bible. An older woman had a go. "This is very hard" she said in Sabaot, and she's sort of right. Sabaot is a langauge that has 20 vowels and 11 consonants. Swahili has five vowels and so for her, as someone who had managed to read Swahili, it's hard going. Following her was a young girl in a yellow dress with a clear and high pitched voice which rang out clearly. She launched into her reading, which was fast and seemingly perfect - there was no stumbling. The crowd, by now around 10,000 gave her the best reception of the day - cheers, ululations and massive applause. She said more than any number of speakers with eloquent words. Take a look 2 minutes and 32 seconds into this news report to see for yourself.
As the day wore on the microphone opened up to the politicians present. The headline politician was the honerable William Ruto who is running to be President of Kenya. He is born a Kalenjin and that language is related to Sabaot. It's exciting to think what could come from him holding the Bible in a neighbouring language to his heart. What could the Holy Spirit impart to him that may change the face of Kenya?
Janet and I did not have much time to hang around. We had a boat to catch, and so soon after 2pm we met up with Naphtaly and his taxi driver for the day, and we began our trip south to Lake Victoria. We stopped off in Kimilili for some lunch - chicken and chips. Once again I rued the lack of a phone number for Mike and Becky, my brother's in-laws. We later learned that they were living just around the corner. What a shame. We carried on our journey. Naphtaly spent a while lamenting the instructions he had been given to come to the dedication. "take the left turn before the T-junction" - several miles before the T-junction - was a particularly amusing point. We carried on onto wide plains of sugar cane around Mamias. We missed one road bump at speed - perhaps 50mph - always enjoyable.
We stopped at the equator for photos and then ploughed on. The clock was somewhere near 6pm and the sky was darkening with rain clouds. We took a short cut for perhaps twenty minutes of dirt road. Turning back on to tarmac roads the skies opened. Lightning all around as the sun set and it became dark. The road wound down to the coast. In the rain there was nothing but the faintest shift of hue through the windscreen to seperate the road from the vegetation. Every few seconds the sky would flash and light up the next corner for us to take.
Finally the road petered out and we found ourselves in the dark looking out across water and boats. The rain was incessant. We waited. The rain slowed to that of a regular rainstorm. This was the cue for a boat to be bailed out and prepared. This was done under the
light of the car headlights. Our bags were next stowed under a
tarpaulin and next we clambered into the boat. We had an umbrella each -
you should never travel without one - and we must have looked a sight.
Iwas dressed somewhat smart casual, Naphtaly was in a smart grey suit
and Janet was wearing a pink dress down to her ankles. The engine started
into life at one of the first attempts, and we headed out into the
darkness.
The
water was surprisingly calm. The long thin boat has much in common
with a canoe and it sliced through any choppy waves there were. We angled
our brollies forwards to keep the light rain off us. We had no lights
on the boat or light jackets. The land was dark except for occasional
dots of brightness. The storm was still close enough for lightening to
flicker on the left and the right every second or so as we made our journey. The rumbles of thunder were hardly audible. The journey across the bay was about 30 minutes. It's hard to keep track of time on the water. It felt like a long time. I thought of Jesus asleep in the boat asleep while the disciples battled a storm. I wondered what insights I was gaining.
Arriving on the far shore we found a taxi waiting. We headed for some food of tilapia and from here we made our way to the International Center for Insect Physiology and Ecology. After such a long and eventful journey we felt so blessed to have arrived at such a welcoming centre with hot water in the taps. A good night's sleep commenced. Just one more boat ride till the island.
On the positive side of life we have managed to be hospitable with several friends and relatives popping in for cups of tea or staying over while passing by. This past weekend we went to London on Friday for the tennis ATP Tour Finals. We watched a good doubles match before witnessing Djokovic beat Berdych. BBC Sport wrote of the win that "When he [Djokovic] broke again in game three of the second there seemed little prospect of the muted afternoon crowd coming to life." That was us.
