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).