50 kms = 75 minutes & 140 kms = insane

So Monday night began the journey; the journey back to Nairobi. I boarded the bust at 8:40 p.m. and at 9:02 p.m., we were off.

I sat next to this sweet girl name Julia. She was doing a bit of work in Kitale but was excited about heading back home to Nairobi. She told me a bit of her story; she was sponsored growing up by a Spanish family; her parents unable to properly care for her. They sponsored her all the way through university and they still maintain a strong connection and friendship, even now that she has graduated and has a job in an optometrist office.

She got polio when she was four and therefore lost the mobility in her right leg however with some metal bars and surgery of sort, she is able to walk on it and move around. We ended up talking for quite awhile and as we went our separate ways, we exchanged phone numbers so the next time she is in Kitale, hopefully we can get together.

At one point during the drive, I remember looking out the window and seeing a sign that said “Nakuru – 50kms”. I was so happy because I really needed to go to the bathroom and the closer to Nakuru we were, the closer to Nairobi we were getting. I used to do a lot of driving between Windsor and Toronto (as my family was in Windsor and I was living in either London or Toronto area). And to me 50 kms should take no more than 35 minutes (less for us lead foot drivers – yes, I am one of them!). But here in Kenya, with the lovely roads, it took just over 75 minutes to get 50 kms. As my friend Kate describes it, the pot holes are big enough to bathe a large family in them. :-)

I arrived in Nairobi at 5:30 in the morning and since nothing was open and I wasn’t meeting Todd until 8:15 am, I had time to kill so I sat in a restaurant by the bus station and people watched (one of my favorite things to do!). In walks in a woman with a young man and she’s holding his hand. They looked alike so I assumed they were related, quickly finding out it was his mother. I then realized that he was mentally challenged. He looked to be in his early 20s and was just a big cute teddy bear. He would shout out “Mommy” when he wanted his mother’s attention. His voice was that of a child’s; a sweet innocent child. It was such a wonderful sound to hear. He was constantly smiling and having fun with his rope that he would twist and unravel, over and over again.

His mother sat beside him, beaming and laughing with him. She displayed such motherly affection and protection of her son. It was such a beautiful thing to see, considering that mentally and physically challenged children in Kenya (and most African countries) are usually seen as a burden and therefore are usually abandon and at some times, even killed by their family members. So to see the opposite in this family was such a blessing.

Then it was time to go and meet Todd. Crossing the roads in Nairobi can be a bit dangerous as it is constantly flooded by cars and millions of people. There are no real street lights so all you can do is cross when there’s a little break and pray the car that’s coming full speed, stops. When I cross the road, I make sure that I cross with a huge crowd of other people crossing and I get in the middle of the crowd. I figure I’m less likely to get hit that way.

I was meeting Todd outside the Hilton hotel and since he was late in arriving, I got to do more people watching. The amount of white people coming in and out of the hotel and going in to or coming out of safari vans was crazy (We, the TI team, prefer the $6 per night motels on the “wrong side” of Moi Avenue and taking $8 bus rides to and from Nairobi. True, crazy missionaries!). There were women coming out of the hotel dressed as if they just stepped out of a Vogue magazine. Or, they looked like the typical white tourist – cameras around their next and full-on safari gear, from the shoes to the safari hat. They definitely stand out. I chuckle to myself when I see these things – I’m way too African now.

I met up with Todd and we headed to where we needed to get to. Who knew that would be a crazy time. But as a HUGE praise shout out to God, all that needed to be done in Nairobi was done. Finished, complete, done!!! I was so happy. It took 3 hours to complete and 5 different counters to go to (because their offices are so disorganized) but all is good now. Thank you Lord!!!

After lunch and getting some things for Todd, we were on the road back to Kitale. We grabbed a shuttle (11 passenger van) and got stuck in the back. We left Nairobi at around 3:30 p.m. The first few hours were fine and even up to the point of reaching Nakuru was fine (minus Todd and I dying of heat because my window was broken and the roads were dusty so no one wanted to roll their windows down so Todd and I (with another Kenyan woman in the back with us) were sweating. After Nakuru, I started to get a really bad headache, a migraine quickly approaching. One, because I only slept one hour on the night bus to Nairobi and two, I didn’t eat enough in the day. And when I get the migraines, I get nauseous. And when I get nauseous, the last thing I want is to be in a vehicle that is swerving back and forth and slamming on the brakes to miss the millions of potholes all over the road and the driver fully knowing that he is going to hit those potholes no matter what he does or where he goes. And it’s now cold outside, no one has their window open and my window is broken. So finally, I ask the guy in front of me to please open up the window, he says, “its cold.” I said, “I’ll throw up if you don’t.” I won; he opened up the window. I’m not the motion sickness type of person at all but mix my migraines up with a rocky road, and I just might blow chunks!

Then the lady next to Todd gets out early so I move over to her window. I opened it up all the way and stuck my head out, breathing in the fresh cold air. Then it started to rain, I didn’t care though, I needed that fresh air and also the open window in case my stomach couldn’t handle it anymore. And then, thankfully, we hit the good road (which means we were closer to Eldoret now, which means we were even closer to home). I was able to fall asleep for about 5 minutes until I lost head control and smashed my head on the window. Yeah, that jolted me awake. So much for sleeping!!!

We got to Eldoret and headed straight for the stage (it’s a parking lot where all the matatus, taxis and small vehicles wait for passengers). We were able to find a small taxi that was heading direct to Kitale, which was great since it was 10:30 at night by this time. As we were sitting in the taxi, I could see a street boy up ahead. I couldn’t see his face, more of his silhouette. All of a sudden his hands went in the air and he came running to the tax, “Mary, Mary!” It was a Kitale street boy, but he was in Eldoret. I asked him what he was doing there and he said that he decided to come and see Eldoret. He told me that he would be back in Kitale the next day.

By 10:50, we were off. And the taxi driver obviously wanted to get home as well. We were doing about 140 kms/hour from Eldoret to Kitale. It was insane; the driver didn’t care about the potholes. In fact, it’s like the faster you go, the more you just…glide over them. Except for the odd “BANG” as you’d hit a really big one (big enough to bathe a large family in) but it didn’t stop the driver. He maintained the speed. What usually takes an hour and ten minutes of travel time, took under 40 minutes (and that’s stopping to let one person off and one person on). We made it to town and grabbed a town taxi home. I was home by 11:35 p.m., exhausted and desperately wanting to go to bed.

The last time I looked at my clock it was 1:00 a.m. and I knew that I was getting up in less than 5 hours to go to Eldoret again for a meeting. Why didn’t I just sleep in Eldoret? I wanted my bed; I needed my bed.

So as I begin to wrap up this adventure for you, I must say: 1) I’m extremely tired and 2) I don’t want to have to go back to Nairobi for a long time. I’m done with the crazy driving for a little while. J

Prayer requests:

1. Daniel is in Nairobi now. Pray for a safe time for him and that he gets all he needs to do, done.

2. Our cool friends Eva Joy and Caleb are coming to live with us for six months. They arrive in Kitale tomorrow. Pray that they feel at home with us and that they accomplish what they need to do.

3. Our fourth intern, Jared (from my church in Canada) is coming to Kenya. He arrives on Saturday morning in Nairobi and he and Daniel are traveling back during the day on Saturday. Pray that he gets what needs to be done this week and that he and Daniel have a safe journey back to Kitale.

4. Kate & Amanda (our interns) are both sick, flu-like stuff. Pray for healing for them.

I think that’s all for now.

Mungu Akubariki.
xoxoxo