Matutu to Musingu

OK, matatu rides are starting to lose their novelty. Imagine a small pick up, a really small pick up, then imagine 4 people crammed in the front and 15, yes 15, squeezed into a cab mounted on the back. Fine, now imagine that the road is full of potholes, more potholes than smooth parts, and this high-weighted human bomb is swerving to find the smoothest path. Every once and a while (like every 5 minutes) it pulls over to the side either to avoid an oncoming vehicle (that's looking for smooth spots on our side of the road) or to p/u and d/o people or a police check ( I'm not sure what they are checking for or why we make it through any checkpoint- I'm told it is just a bribe point- as there is not a rule we are not breaking). The edge of the road is 5" below the edge of the asphalt. It truly feels like the beginning of a roll-over each time, except for the impassive black faces of our fellow chicken and baby holding passengers.

This describes every trip so far. Every 5 minutes feels like an hour. Fortunately there are plenty of sights to see, and friendly faces, to distract from the spine pounding.

En route to Musingu High School (MSH) I chatted with Nora. She's an elder British ex pat who has a soft spot for brilliant boys who cannot afford the school fees to graduate from primary school (about $500.00 CDN per for full boarding school per year). I also finally found out why the Rotary High School in Kakemega has no Rotary support (Rotary doesn't build and this one is built on public land and operated like a private business- another thing Rotary doesn't do). It apparently will be renamed shortly. When Nora was a Rotarian (she left after blowing the whistle on Rotary high school shenanigans) she started a joint project between Strathcona Sunrise and Kakemega Rotary clubs to put 8 poor (extremely smart, they finished #1 in their primary school and must continue to place in the top 50 of their 250 boy class- they exceed this by quite some measure, beating out the rich boys) smart boys through the full 4 years of high school ($500x8x4= .$16000). The project is now just starting year 3 (Kenyan school year starts in January). Unfortunately Francis, a boy genius, was killed in a matatu accident last year (he stepped out of the way of one and was hit by another). He was a very nice boy. A replacement was easy to find. Emboso has been trying to get to secondary school for years, he tried selling the school hedge trees in the effort to pay for school fees. He kept repeating primary school to re write the test and kept placing number 1. He is now 20 and an excellent choice to replace Francis.

We met all 8 boys. They were very shy. I gave a rousing speech to blank faces as I described our club and how pleased and proud we were to support them. More blank faces as I presented each with a Club banner, Canada pin and fancy pen. We took pictures. Afterwards several came up to me and very quietly thanked me for letting them go to school. The desperation these boys have to be in school is palpable. In Canada we would be afraid to be putting so much pressure on them. Can you imagine telling a Canadian boy that he is out on the street if he doesn't score in the top 20% of his class each of his final 4 years.

We then toured the apparently empty school grounds of 1000 boys. On a Sunday, with no supervision, the classrooms were stuffed full of boys studying. The place was silent as a library. Except the drama hall- there, over 20 boys, no teacher, were rehearsing for a drama contest- singing marching etc. Cody was asked if Canadian boys study this hard sans supervision- he said they don't study this hard with supervision. MSH, we were told by our guide, tries to win everything, from rugby to Drama to academics- and succeeds. They are the current rugby champs. Out of 83 schools in the Western Province MSH placed #2 academically (Rotary High placed 73rd). For such a high rated school the grounds were run down as were the outhouses and school uniforms.

Nora told many heart breaking stories of the boys that get turned away, despite straight A's in primary school. She now runs a high Achievers program that, via the Unitarian Church, supports 25 other boys in the district. It is not odd for a boy to enter high school at the age of 20+ years, each time retaking the primary school finals to prove his worth (you have to be invited to high school, sort of like a draft pick), before he has the grades and the money to get into the first year. What's really heart breaking is when they ace first year, but cant afford the fees for second year and have to leave.

We ended the day, tired but satisfied that this project is an excellent one and our home club should be proud. Full Marks to Nora and her Courtenay contact Chip Ross.


So to sum up we have visited and learned of several projects:

The CEDAR foundation which puts about 250 girls per year through school
The Bukura Fish Farmers Organization
The Bukura Tailoring School
The Friends Care Centre (Orphanage)
Daisy School for the Handicapped

And a few more where we met the people that worked on stuff. Each of these people seemed to have taken several kids under their wing and put them through school. Susan, Alinda, Nora all have put several kids through school on their own dime and these kids are no longer kids, but adults who keep in touch.


Coming soon: Terry's solo run through the buggy jungle just as it is getting dark while monkeys crash (loudly) about in trees above and images of the Green Bush Viper and Forest Cobra that he saw 1 hour earlier, dance through his head… if anyone should get malaria or killed by wildlife in Africa its me - yet the matatu's scare me more.

Terry