Back in my world

March 23, 2009

I just re-read my initial re-entry blog entry. And, I must say, it is a pretty accurate reflection of how this transition has been. And still is.

I'm feeling lonely, like I left such a huge part of myself in Kenya. I have wonderful friends and family here reaching out and I am slowly thawing to their love and support. I've basically spent a week under a blanket eating chocolate. Monday I promised myself I would get busy and get on with life. I have revamped my resume, condensing myself to one page of skills, experience and accomplishments that I think someone might want to pay me for. I wonder if anyone would like to pay me to spend money in Kenya protecting springs, sending kids to school, training teachers and families on their strengths and virtues, providing hope... building latrines, equipping classrooms with text books, producing youth leadership workshops, providing seed money for micro finance enterprises, putting in fish farms for food sustainability, feeding orphans, sponsoring salaries for nurses, physiotherapists and teachers... oh, so much to do that means so much.

I brought back little fired mud piggy banks from the Kakamega market... each day as I put in a 2-nie I feel that much closer to my next trip.

I hope to have some pictures posted on facebook this week and we will be scheduling some presentations soon for those who would like to hear about our experience of Kenya and the organizations that are doing such good work.

Thanks for being with us on this journey. And please accept my apology in advance as I stumble my way back to my world in the West. I really am grateful for you all.

Thank You

I just wanted to say thanks again for everyone that kicked in for our trip to Kenya. I am feeling good now,Tanya is still a bit shaken up, but we are both grateful. It is a real honour to be able to help people in need and those that contributed to this wedding present made it possible.

So, how was your trip?

I've only had to answer this question once since we landed on Tuesday early evening, and thankfully, the person who asked had read the blog. Such an innocent question with no possible answer.

One of the things that is standing out so strongly is how tidy everything here is. I don't think I have seen one little kid since we landed. And there seem to be no people walking on the street... it's damned cold, so I guess that one kind of makes sense. Everything is tucked away nicely. We live in a world of boxes here, everything behind a wall, a window or a door. The shops are all indoors, there is no one selling goods on the street, or from a basket on their head, or running up to the cars and buses to offer a bag of plums, or perhaps some socks or peanuts or a flashlight or a calculator... in Kenya you can buy just about anything you can imagine out the window of your bus.

I was talking with a friend yesterday and she said that I should write down what I am feeling and noticing while the re-entry is so fresh... it's really powerful, she said. Powerful is not a word I could use to describe how I am feeling. Stunned is more like it. Getting off the plane and into my car was the most natural thing in the world and yet it blew my mind. Smooth roads, traffic lights, it's all so civilized. And I fit right in. Was I really bouncing around in overcrowded matatus barreling down dusty pothole ridden streets dodging cattle, bicycles and babies only a few hours ago?

We had a 10 hour layover in Amsterdam on our way home. Now there is a city of contradictions. Quaint, beautiful, historic, charming and seedy and desparate all at the same time. We visited the Ann Frank museum which was so... It really rattled me to know that we were not only looking at history. Ethnic cleansing is alive and well in this world. When will we learn?

The weather, the long flight and the contridictions of Amsterdam lead to a mini breakdown on the train back to the airport. Quietly crying looking out the window, I noticed that I didn't see Schipol Airport listed as one of the upcoming stops. Until the train pulled away FROM THE SCHIPOL STOP, that is. Damn, we missed our stop. And of course we hadn't left ourselves much of a window. The crying stopped and now it was toe tapping anxiety. It was pretty dicey, missing our plane was a real possibility. Especially because we seemed to be on an express train traveling efficiently AWAY from the airport. When the train eventually did stop we sprinted down the platform to catch a train going back from whence we had just come. The door closed seconds after we got on the train. Then, once in the airport we had to find the locker where we had stored our backpacks and race through the airport to our gate. We did make it as the plane was loading.

And here we are. And I would go back in a second. We've been trying to figure out what it is we loved about it. Because frankly, in and of itself, it's pretty unappealing. Sure it's sunny and warm and the tea fields are lush and green and beautiful. And the birds sing so sweetly and the kids are gorgeous. But the poverty and the dust and the touts are pretty in your face.

I think it is the feeling of usefulness and purpose all the self help books talk about. We made a difference there, however small. There is no end to the ways one can contribute there. At times we were paralyzed by the scope of the need... we would just shake our heads and say, "They're fucked." And then we would concentrate on building desks or learning about the needs of a widows group, or give a soccer ball to some kids. Fredrick's baby girl has a chance because of us. The boys at Musingu Highschool have a chance because of Terry's Rotary group. Julius can plant because of the jewelry that you bought.

So, my job is to do the best I can with what we have been given. Which is so so much. I slept last night under a down quilt and spent $70 on one meal for my family. And I have never wondered, even when I was a struggling young mom, whether my children were going to eat, or go to school.

I hope I can still have compassion for our Cadillac problems here in the west. I hope I can feel grateful, not guilty for all that we have here. I hope I don't become a self righteous do-gooder. And I hope that I don't ever forget and slide into apathy to protect my heart from completely breaking.

For now, I'm turning to toast and cheese, brownies and sudoku.

I see white people

Its totally weird to be back. Cold, immaculate, sterile, empty streets, no colour, ridiculous wealth and landscaping. Amsterdam was the same.


I started with this blog after saying no to all my vaccine recomendations (as well as malaria and cepacol prescriptions etc)from our public health nurse with the exception of Yellow Fever. It turns out no one at any border asked us if we had had this shot. Another win for the pharmacy gods. Make vague threats about the neccesities of vaccines to boost sales. Total cost savings: $600.00. Plus I probably felt better and didnt get sick because I didnt take the drugs ie no drug side effect symptoms.

A week after getting the unnecessary vaccine I was sick with an aching body for four days. Turns out that after 2 months in Africa the only sickness I experienced (aside from a one day head cold) was from the side effects of the vaccine shot I got, but I didn't need. I will be going down to the public health nurse in Courtenay just to let them know they can stop falsely advising people that border guards are standing by to check your vaccine cards.

I guess Im talking about this because I feel so weird about all the other stuff. I don't know how to put it in words. Why am I sitting in totally luxury right now while a few friends of mine are living in abject poverty? Its easier just to talk about the stupidity and corruption of our drug addicted society.

I'm feeling weird. Similar to my trip back from India. Must be a bit like how war veterans feel. Not even much point in talking about stuff, it seems. People might just feel like I am trying to make them feel bad... I'll stop there, easier to just talk about the stupidity of drugs for now.

Last day in Kenya

I was happy this morning to receive a blog post from Cody! I know he has quite the fan base! His blog lightened my mood and has me overflowing with awe and gratitude for this trip. Thank you once again to everyone who has contributed in getting us here! I can't believe we're coming home today. Well, we are going to begin the long journey home... our flight leaves at 11pm, then 9 hours to Amsterdam, Steve Schut (our friend from Courtenay who is going to school in the Netherlands) is going to meet us in Amsterdam for a tour of some windmills, canals and quaint cafes. We'll have 10 hours or so in Amsterdam then a 9 or 10 hour flight home.

I can feel real life trying to bully its way into my brain. To do lists of taxes and bills and banking are dancing in my head -- I'm still managing to drown them out with images of Kenya. We've had nice texts and good bye phone calls from our new friends. Yesterday we met again with Joyce and Jackson in Kakamega. We gave them a very small gift (nice pen and a scarf)... we were saying that it is just something small and Joyce immediately cut me off in a very sincere voice saying, "We love them." I hope I can carry the Kenyan appreciation with me.

Time is ticking, but I don't feel any need to squeeze one last adventure in. I will be happy with a couple of hours by the pool at the YMCA here in Nairobi. I want to pick up a couple of books by African authors and we have a couple of short meetings to go to today. Oh and a cup of Kenyan coffee at the Java House -- there's no coffee to speak of in Kakamega... and even though I gave up coffee over 4 years ago, it is worth a small case of the jitters here as the Java House in Nairobi makes the best, richest, smoothest coffee I have ever tasted! We'll bring some home to share.

See you soon... we just may pop in to the blog again during our travels.

Cody's musings on the mara (finally!)

This blog entry might not be as good or I might be better then the other ones I’ve done before, because I can’t remember all the things that happened on my safari but I’ll try.

We had to wake up really early that morning and I didn’t like it at all. But the good part was that we didn’t have to walk anywhere to get to our ride, because it was literally right outside of our door. I took 2 steps before I got in the car it was that close. I can’t remember most of the drive but apparently it took like 11 or something hours to get there but it only felt like 2. When we got to the front gate of the Mara, there were these Masais that wanted to sell us stuff. I bought something and I thought they would leave us alone, but they kept trying to sell us stuff. I was thinking “Dude, how much little masks do you think we’re gonna buy?” but I never said anything like that. But before I knew it we were on our way again. When we arrived at the Fig Tree resort, I was so shocked that there was a place like this in Africa. Because from what I saw before, nothing compared to this place, money wise of course. It was really fancy, but one thing that bugged me about it was that whenever we ate our meals, there was only one African eating, everyone else was white, and that African was Jeremiah, our guide. I thought that was pretty racist. Oh yea, forgot to mention that we saw a bunch of animals before we even went out on our game drives. We saw a heard of giraffes (or whatever you call a group of giraffes) crossing the road right in front of us. It was pretty crazy. We also saw many antelope on the way.


The next morning, we had to get up really early again, but this time it didn’t bug me because I was so excited to go out on the drive. I got up, had some tea and maybe I had a little snack too but I can’t remember, and then we went in the van. Ok, for this part, I can’t remember what days we saw what animals, so I’ll just describe some of the things I saw. The first thing I loved about the drive was that it was so flat and there was a random tree every mile or so. It was like it was right out of The Lion King. One thing that I loved the most was the warthogs. Now when you think of warthogs, you probably think of nasty pigs but grey right? But the warthogs were so amazing and surprisingly clean, except for the ones in the mud, cooling off. But warthogs are extremely stupid, because they will forget why they’re running. For example, if they were being chased by a lion, they would run really fast for a bit, but then they’ll just stop and be like “Wait, why are we running?” And they would be eaten. That’s why they call them “Lion Sausages.” I saw them doing this first hand. There would be a couple warthogs on the road, and we would drive up and they would, obviously run away. But then they would just stop. They wouldn’t slow down at all, they would be running, and then they would be stopped. It was pretty hilarious. Another thing that was for sure a “once in a life time” type of thing was the cheetah. Now we didn’t only see a cheetah, we saw a cheetah hunting a gazelle. It was amazing; it stalked up to a gazelle and got only like 40m away. Then the gazelle spotted him and ran for its life. The cheetah ran after the gazelle, but cheetahs give up after a short amount of time. They only run for about 100m, then they quite, so the gazelle got away. But another thing with cheetahs, is that they remember that gazelle. If it goes on with a pack, the cheetah will only go after that one gazelle; it will leave the others alone.

We miss you

Today, our last day in Kakamega, has been sweet. We are saying good bye to all our friends. With each good-bye, we are met with "Oh, we will miss you." This even from my boda boda driver this morning whom I hadn't ever previously met!

We are sad that we only yesterday discovered that the "Fresh Juice" stand we have passed by every day is actually FRESH JUICE. We hadn't tried it up until now because we assumed it was sugar water (there is a row of coloured tubes behind the counter that threw us off). Terry, ever the adventurer said yesterday that he was game to try it. So, we have had at least four glasses each every time we have passed it since. You mean I could have been sipping freshly squeezed mango or passion fruit juice instead of Fanta for all this time??? Grrr.

Naturally today was spent discussing and thinking about all the things we could have done differently. Like gotten an internet connection at home so we could have used our locked-in evenings email Canada and the states for more money! That and the fresh juice stand are our biggest regrets. I, of course, also regret that I didn't put more effort in to running. I guess it was the heat and the altitude and the constant attention that turned me off early in the trip. Now, I wish I could have all those mornings back to do over again!

I've noticed that we've been answering people with, "maybe in one year's time," when they ask when we are coming back. Wishful thinking or foresight... I'm not sure.

I often hear people at the end of a holiday say it was wonderful, but I was ready to come home. We are definitely NOT ready to come home yet. It has been so incredible NOT to be wrapped up in the ramblings of my mind for the entire time we've been here. Sure there is the odd shallow self talk, like "hmmm, I've gotten a little pudgy," but for 95% of the time my thoughts have been on how blessed we are to be here and how much work there is to do. Ideas are pouring in for projects, fundraising, a youth leadership conference Alinda and I are wanting to produce here, a women's conference on the island to fundraise for here... etc. etc. My dreams have almost all been of Kenya. I hope Kenya stays alive in my mind when we are back home!

Last Day in Kakamega

I just got back from my last run. It was a good one. I headed for the tea fields and trails. Instead I found the gates to the Moi Showgrounds open. I went in with a wave to the group at the gate. Very strange, it looked nothing like a show grounds. No real field per se. Lops of men bent at the waist using machetes to cut the long grass. There was a dirt road and a little ghost town. One store was open: the Kenyan seed Company. I came acroos fields being dug and I could see my tea fields beyond the fence. I fantasized about building a utopia there for the starving people in NorthEast Kenya. As I ran I drafted in my mind the constitution and rules of the village: No men, but what happened as the boys grew up? A large pig ran across my path and brought me back to earth. Looks like there will be some bull fights today, groups of singing men following bulls around.

Last night after a visit to Daisy school where we presented a pretend Rotary plaque (the real one will be finished today) we went to movie night at Sheywe. We met Charlotte from a small private group of Canadian do-gooders called Suitcases for Africa. They had no big backing, all strictly volunteer. Over the years they had built dormitories and done feeding programs in African countries. We thought she’d be a perfect match for KASFOOC. We will try to connect the two today.

Right now Tanya is packing her jewellery in shredded newspaper and washing her clothes by hand. I am in a lawn chair outside on the lawn having just finished a very unsatisfying water melons. Melons are hit and miss the world over I conclude.

We leave at 0645 tomorrow, for likely a fairly, but not terribly, unpleasant bus trip back to Nairobi. If only they would announce when you are stopping and for how long. Most bus trips have been this way, with sudden changes of vehicles that you only learn about as people pour off the bus. Somehow it all works.

Tanya is ready, so off we go for a walk about the neighbourhood. One last look around. The changes are quite numerous. Several buildings and roads have been paved while we were here. All the fields that used to be forest of cornstalk sticks are now plowed and ready to plant.

3 hours later: we had a great 2 hr stroll through some quiet roads in the country, very nice, nice breeze, some breathtaking views it takes too long to describe in words. We got a little lost, but women digging in the hot sun in bare feet pointed out the right path. So friendly- i'd be bitter and twisted if I had to do what they were doing for 20 minutes. Im just checking email, looking for money (we have sent out several requests and have had a great response).

2nd to Last Day in Kakamega?

I’m not happy about it. It’s another beautiful warm morning, the birds are in full singing swing. We have just ate our fruit salad breakfast of locally grown mangoes, bananas, pineapple and passion fruit.

We have a long (and fun) to do list today as we tie up loose ends. Tanya is going to make the 2 hr round trip to Musingu High School [I actually went with her, i see she has blogged today, maybe she mentioned it] to give the boys the last of their things courtesy of our Rotary club. Iam going to have prints made and write instruction letters, make photocopies and present a plaque to Daisy School that officially hands over to them the 65 desks . It has been difficult to get this plaque made. The instruction letters contain the money and timelines for the remaining desk building projects. We also have soccer balls, pencils and love-bugs to give away. Giving sounds fun, but its quite complicated. What we want to do is to chuck the soccer balls into fields of children playing with plastic bag balls. However, who gets to take the ball home? Will this cause more problems than before?

I haven’t run for the past couple days because I got a head cold in Eldoret. Perhaps it is my punishment for getting too close to the running gods. More likely my body is just catching up on repairs and maintenance. Too much chai, chapatti and soda in the past two months. I am Jonesin’ for a run, but think I may wait for one more day. I will likely do my last African run in Nairobi on Monday . Then I give my shoes away, with all the usual complications that make giving stuff away complicated.

I really should write a separate blog for the Eldoret visit- it went so far beyond my wildest dreams. The thing I hate about blogging is the need to be accurate. I met about 6 Olympians there, but I don’t want to pull out my notebook and go online to get their names, events, PB times and metal standings correct. The german fellow we met won the marathon Olympic Gold in 1976 AND 1980. He was there coaching the #1, #3 and #5 fastest german marathoners in the country.

One thing I was amazed at was how poorly they all ate. Zero fruit and (raw) veggies. Breakfast was a fried egg, millet porridge, a stack of white bread with margarine and jam and tea. Followed by a slice of avocado each. No juice. I asked for a banana but they had none. To the German team I spoke about the “what if” idea that diet plays a huge role. They were 2:13 marathoners. “What if, diet, combined with genetics and training, was enough to oust the Kenyans out of running dominance?”. In response to the Raw food diet they said, “We’d be going to the bathroom a lot”. They weren’t interested. I asked more questions about their training and history but I won’t bore readers with that here. I was very present. I don’t think I’ll forget a word of that visit (I laso took notes!). Heaven.

I went for a run at 0615 Tuesday morning with the Kenyans-male and female. I asked the coach to puty my name on the schedule (amongst all the champions). He did so with a chuckle and a "of course".

I felt like a warthog among the gazelles. As expected, about 3 minutes into the run they warmed up and took off. I watched them go with admiration. As I hit the main road I saw another group of runners ahead. I easily caught up. They were also from the Camp. They were running easy because they had a track meet coming up Friday. They were jogging only.

I couldn’t believe my good luck. I chatted with each one, careful not to fawn too much on anyone in particular. A group of runners passed us coming the other way. One guy waved to us, I waved back. Andrew, beside me said, “He won silver in steeplechase at Bei Jing last year”. All I could do was laugh. Andrew was a new runner had only been training for 4 months. He was discovered at a track meet last December after doing 800m in 1:49. Ok, Ok, I’ll save the rest of the detail for the runners’ forum. Suffice to say I was in heaven. I would have been satisfied to have a picture of myself at the front gate of the training camp, and here I was running and eating with past and future world champions.

Wrapping Up

So here we are on the countdown home... I knew it would fly by. I remember the count down leading up to this trip (I think I started at 56 sleeps). I'm killing some time in the cyber cafe while I wait to meet Frederick in an hour or so to open up a bank account for him. Today is the day I give him the money to start a business for he and his wife. He has started training for carpentry and will have a used clothing business in the afternoons and on the days he is not working. His wife, Josephine, will be selling cereals (maise, beans, millet, etc.). Frederick's mother would also like a little business of selling rope and small fish. I told Frederick to get himself and Josephine established and perhaps I can help his mother in a few months. I have connected them with a lovely young woman with a passion for business, Rebecca. She has agreed to provide them with training and support along the way and William, the carpenter, will be a great mentor to Frederick. The rest is up to them and God, I suppose. We had tea yesterday and he said that he hopes God blesses me and my children and all of my decendents forever. He's pretty happy.

Hey, Cody has put some pictures up on facebook http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/album.php?aid=224974&id=757575580&ref=nf . I hope this link will take you there. If not, you should be able to see them on my profile as well. The ones with the kids were taken at the Maji Mazuri Care Centre (orphanage) in Nairobi.

Terry was down yesterday with a cold... I think he got it from me, he thinks he got it from too many sodas, chai and chapati. He's at a meeting with KASFOOC (the widows and orphans group), finalizing their budget proposal for a Rotary Grant. We heard that Rotary may not be approving any more matching grants this year because of the economic crisis -- their reserves have been hit pretty bad; they were probably in so called 'safe' investments like everyone else! We have a small amount of personal donations that will at least get them started with their fish ponds and then we'll do our best to find some money when we get home, through Rotary or maybe fish farm connections.

What I will miss most: the people, of course, the music, the sunshine, the kids, the animals (wild and domestic), the greetings (shaking hands with everyone), the feeling that so little can help so much and that we really are making a difference.

What I will not miss: the dust, the matatus, the yelling and being swarmed by touts, the dogs barking at night, the security lights, the feeling that there is so much to do and that we can't even possibly make a dent.

What I am looking forward to coming home to: walking down the street without being noticed, running, SALADS, and of course, friends and family.

Oh, it's going to be hard to leave... O.K., now for a cup of chai before I start to cry :o)

Rubbing running shoes with Olympians in Eldoret

I'll let Terry fill in the details on this one, but I just wanted to say that our excursion to Eldoret was perfect in every way. I was a bit reluctant to go and kind of grumpy about it even the morning of departure... I reminded myself of Jono and Cody moaning, "It's too far, it's too hot, what are we going to do there anyway, it's just another big, dirty city, blah blah blah." Thank God I ignored the whiney voice in my head long enough to get on the crowded matatu headed for Eldoret.

For those of you that don't know, Eldoret has been called the birthplace of marathon running, or something equally as cool in Runner's World Magazine. Unfortunately for us, the author's of our Lonely Planet Guide for Kenya aren't in to running and so we were going in blind. We did know that they have a cheese factory -- yup, you heard me right, cheese. And I like cheese, so that was enough to get me to go. So after 2 1/2 hours in the back of the hot, overcrowded, bumpy matatu, we arrived in Eldoret... surprise surprise, it was busy, noisy and dirty just like every other Kenyan city we've seen so far. But, we headed straight to the most expensive hotel in town so I could check out their pool. If all else failed, I would have a day by the pool.

We asked a tour company if they knew of any elite running training camps, fully expecting to come up empty. Just so happens that there are two close to town and also a stadium that is home to running. So we headed out on foot to have a bite to eat and find the stadium. We ended up in Will's Pub, recommended by Lonely Planet, and had an expensive, but pretty yummy lunch -- I had fish curry, Terry tried spaghetti again (noodles with frozen veggies and something resembling cheese on top). I was cheered up by the nice quiet restaurant... Terry was laughing at me saying that if this was Vancouver I wouldn't even go into a restaurant that looked like this and here I am going on and on about how nice it is.

After lunch we walked up to the stadium, maybe 10 minutes away. Terry was pretty tickled and we took lots of pictures of him alone on the dirt track in his CVRR singlet. There were no runners, of course, it was 1:30 in the afternoon. We asked a couple of women there if the runners come here. They said yes, at two. Two? Oh, we had heard about this time thing here where 6am is 0 and 7am is 1, 8am is 2, etc. We didn't believe it because up until now we hadn't come across it, but here it was. O.K., this is great. Terry will come back in the morning for a run and maybe get to do a couple of laps in the midst of greatness.

One down, now to find a taxi to take us to the training centre. Maybe we could peek over a fence or take a picture in front of a sign. We negotiated with a car on the street and got nowhere, so went back to our expensive hotel and went with the driver from the tour company. He definitely knew where he was going and even said that he was friends with some famous Kenyan runner, whose name escapes me.

So, after a 15 minute drive or so into the country we arrive at Kip Keino's Training Centre for Elite Athletes. Not only did we have a picture in front of the entrance sign, we got a tour, by the coach of the facilities and even snuck a peek at a couple of the athletes that were staying there. Terry was giggling like a school girl! Talking too much, asking too many questions... he even asked if we could stay there, to which the answer was, YES!

We settled in to our room and were told that we would be taking tea at 10 o'clock (there's that time thing again... if you count from 6am, then 10 o'clock means 4pm). We had Kenyan tea with bread and jam and saw a couple more elite runners. Then we went for a walk around the running circuit (I didn't even bring my runners with me), which is a nice one mile loop with turns in a treed area close by. The training centre is on a dairy farm, where they have a lot of cool things going on -- bio fuel, a dream of fish farming, honey bees, they get their hot water by running a pipe from the water supply to the house over a stove lit with corn cobs. They have room at the centre for up to 36 athletes and there is also another guest house on the property which will house several more. Currently there are 8 runners (6 men and 2 women) staying in the centre and the German Olympic marathon team is staying in the guest house. The German coach won the 197something Olympic marathon. (I'll leave the name dropping and stats for Terry).

Terry had a nice easy run; I took pictures of him running where the Kenyans train, and then we had dinner with everyone. We sat with the German team and Terry was in ecstasy as he peppered them with questions and of course, ranted about raw food :-) After dinner we chatted in the very comfortable sitting room with a young Sri Lankan athlete. They knick named him Indika, which means bicycle.

After a comfortable sleep... it was soooo sooo nice to go to sleep to the sounds of frogs and the odd bird (no dogs barking or security lights here). We set the alarm for 6:00am so Terry could at least take off with the group. He was the first up and dressed. It was still dark when they took off. The Kenyans dressed in tights, jackets and touques, and Terry in his shorts and a singlet. He managed about 4 minutes with the first group before they left him, but the second group were on a recovery run, so he was able to join them for the full 50 minutes! Unfortunately I missed their return because I was reading "The Perfect Mile" about the three runners racing to break the 4 minute mile.

Over breakfast we chatted with a few more of the runners, now that Terry had been out with them, we felt at home. We heard from Farah Mahamoud, Olympian in the 1500M and 800M, how he got his start. There used to be a famous runner in his village that he adored. He would always run beside him and be so happy. After primary school, his mother told him he had to stop running all the time and go to school. He said he would cry and cry, all he wanted to do was run. He did finish school and he did continue running. He used to run barefoot and thought he could be faster without carrying those heavy shoes. Needless to say his feet were covered in cuts and blisters and he had to wear shoes. (We also heard another story from the coach of an athlete that was sponsored by Puma... he had always worn bare feet and when he started with shoes his times suffered, so he went back to bare feet... Puma dropped him, it doesn't look good if your sponsored athletes are faster WITHOUT your product). Farah did learn about shoes after much trial and error. His 800M is about 1:50.

Dream come true kind of stuff for Terry!

The matatu ride on the way home wasn't quite bad enough to squeeze out the dreamy day. This one was a record -- 24 people in a 14 passenger van. Toyota really should do ads in Kenya, these vehicles really can take a beating.

The Real Deal

This is a letter that Patricia received from a primary school teacher. Not for the weak of heart... I have left the names blank as I have not asked permission to publish this letter. I thought it was important to share though.

Hello,

My name is -----. I have been the headteacher of ----- Primary School for the last 8 years and I have recently moved to ----- Primary School which is about three kilometers from -----. This School is one of the schools in the Maseno North Diocese of Anglican Church.

I am so sorry that all the teachers were caught up with issues that we could not attend the one day workshop that was at Ekwanda last week on Saturday. We had wished at least to have two representatives unfortunately we had previously arranged for a community meeting at school on that day, prior to receiveing your invitation.

I am interested to share with you the situation at ----- Primary School and invite you for a visit any time that you may have the chance to do so.

The school is right on the boundary of Western Province and Nyanza Province. We have an enrolment of 237 pupils from STD 1-8. Unfortunately this is a school that is facing very many crises that it is in deed crying for support. The drop out rate is very high in this school. Maybe because most people who were students in this school through the time have not been going to secondary school. Most children do not see the need to complete even their primary school education alone.

Girls becoming pregnant seems to be a norm. the STD 8 class of last year had 24 pupils in total. By the time of KCPE exam in November 4 girls had already given birth and two others were very pregnant. I am told that the joke was that they were bringing forth several "Obamas." The STD 8 of this year has two girls who carried out abortions last year. One small girl in STD 7 dropped out last week because she was pregnant.

In last year's KCPE examination virtually all the pupils failed the exam. In ranking of the schools in Emuhaya District we are among the last six schools in the same exam. Out of the 24 pupils only three have gone to secondary school. The community seem to be contented with the fate of the rest.

As for the boys the trend is that once they are registered for the KCPE exam they mostly drop out or start coming to school when they want and keep off when they do not want to be in school.

The facilities in the school are so dillapidated and my findings indicate that the poverty index in this community is extremely high. Mostly because not investing their future in education. We have only 9 classrooms. Fortunately the CDF gave us a grant of KSH 200,000 which we are using to renovate 4 classrooms. The rest have cracking walls or are falling apart. We have 3 pit latrines for all the girls and another 3 for all the boys. The latrines are equally in deplorable state.

We are all new teachers in this school and our main target at the moment is to restore hope in everyone. The response seems to be very good as there is a very strong goodwill from the community.

It is at this point that I wish to invite you to help us in the process of restoring the hope and the future of the community. My feeling would be that even by you meeting the pupils or the parents or by mounting workshops in this school can open it up and make the people here know that they belong to the larger community where people are responsible of each other.

Thank you so much for your patience in reading this mail and we hope to read from you soon.

Bye.

Close to Comfort

I believe I mentioned a few weeks back that I hoped to be able to walk through town ‘comfortably’. The last few days; I don’t know when it started really – I feel like I’ve arrived in that place of comfort, at least to the degree that is possible in Kakamega. A walk in Kakamega town includes hot sun, dust, noise, chaotic traffic of bikes, motorcycles, matatus, cars, livestock and pedestrians, diesel smoke, potholes, litter, men asking for 20 shillings or please buy me breakfast or where are you going, are you going to Kisumu (asking is far too light of a term), children shouting how are you relentlessly (I’ve seen mothers training their little babies to say how are you mzungu), street children sniffing glue walking too close with their hand out if your lucky, harassing you if your not so lucky.

So, as comfortable as you might expect one can be on a walk with all of the aforementioned, everytime… that’s how comfortable I am. The fear is gone. Not vanished gone, but far enough at bay that I am free to come and go as I please without needing Terry by my side every moment of every day – which is VERY good for our marriage :-) (Don’t worry mom, I’m safe and cautious, not taking any risks).

The Lonely Planet says about Kakamega, “There is no real reason to stay here,” I beg to differ. The authors clearly didn’t stick around long enough to appreciate all that this noisy, busy, dirty town has to offer.

More Memories of Maasai Mara

Continued from February 4th journal entry:

Cody and I fell in love instantly with the Fig Tree and it didn’t take too long for Terry to get over the cost… well, at least to stop grumbling about it.

Our room (looks like a canvass tent on the outside, feels like a finished, luxury hotel suite on the inside) is right on the Tarek river. We enjoyed a nice swim before dinner. It was strange seeing so many mzungus. Jeremiah was the only African who was seated as a guest, all the others worked there. Cody noticed right away and didn’t like it. “It kinda bothers me,” was his comment. A good thing to be bothered by, I think.

The food was good, though the drinks were expensive (100 shilling for a soda – it’s 20 or 30 at most in Kakamega). We offered to buy Jeremiah’s drinks during our stay, but he said, laughing, “Please don’t pay for my soda – you pay 100 /=, that’s triple what I would pay!”

During the dinner, a group of 8 or so Maasai Warriors sang and danced for us. They have jumping contests. It is tradition that whoever jumps the highest gets the girl. Man, can they jump! We ended the night watching an amazing lightening storm; Cody even caught a great bolt on video on his phone.

We left around 6:30am for our first game drive of the day. Not 5 minutes out of the gate we saw a cheetah stalking a gazelle. Everytime the gazelle would put her head down to eat, the cheetah would move a little closer. The gazelle would look up and the cheetah would crouch in the grass. After a few minutes of this, the cheetah made his move and the gazelle took off. I had no idea how fast gazelles could run! The gazelle got away. Terry attributes her speed to her raw vegan diet.

After seeing some nice ostriches, we hit about 20 minutes of fog. The effect on the trees was great, but not so great for spotting wildlife. Hmph.

Once the fog lifted, we thought we saw some lions, but they turned out to be hyenas! These are impressive animals, far more so than I ever imagined. They are huge! Not great posture. Very lazy according to Jeremiah, they only ever scavange. We then stopped so Terry could take a picture of an anthill and saw a herd of about 6 elephants. Every now and then it would hit us just how cool this is!

On our next drive in the afternoon, Jeremiah’s fried Steve joined us to help point out a few things. To us, Steve just doesn’t quite look like a Steve. Steve is a Maasai, about 4 ½ feet tall, with very long earlobes and a small moustache. He wears the traditional Maasai blanket and carries a small sword. We enjoyed having him along and he was a great help in navigating through the Mara, knowing where the slippery bits were and where the animals hang out. As just one example of his expertise, Jeremiah asked Steve what would happen if we went for a swim with the hippos. “I think you would have a problem,” was Steve’s most helpful response.

He also told us about the Rhinos. There are currently only 22 Rhinos in the Mara (we did not see them here, but did find some in Lake Nakuru National Park). The rhinos are protected now, but are having a hard time coming back. They only have one baby every 16 months to three years. And, Steve explained to us that they are very lazy and do not make good mothers. They prefer to sleep rather than take care of their babies and so many are lost to prey. Elephants on the other hand are very good mothers. The women, mothers, sisters and grandmothers always stay together. I am wearing an elephant necklace to remind me of the unique and important bond between women.