A trip to Bukoba

Monday May 4thThis time our sleep was disturbed by a mosquito, then poor Meshaki woke up in the middle of the night coughing. There seemed to be a big discussion going on between pastor and mama, and they all seemed to go outside for some time. Meshaki was crying, and still couldn’t stop coughing. it gook ages to get back to sleep, especially as the rats were very active. One fell with a great thump in the main room, from the top of the rafters. After some wild dreams, I was woken again by the rats, then a bat – which landed on me twice! At one stage, it seemed to be being chased around the room by a rat, and that made me really nervous. I’m glad that vampire bats only live in South America, it was rather worrying to have it land on my shoulder on one occasion. Then the mosquito returned, and at 2 am when pastor’s alarm clock rang, a peal of thunder crashed out and lasted for some time. A second thunderstorm began just before 6 am.
We left the house at 7 just as the rain was stopping, aiming at reaching Rushonga in time to catch the 8 am boat. However, pastor kept stopping and looking back to the hills where black clouds were amassing. he said that yet another storm was brewing. He hoped we’d be able to reach the primary school on top of the hill.
We just got there when the rains burst – it poured for about 20 minutes then stopped as suddenly as it had begun. There were impressive displays of lightning and huge roars of thunder, some right overhead. It was too noisy to be able to hear pastor and the headmaster’s conversation across the other side of the room.
As we were now too late to reach Rushonga in time, we decided to head to another landing stage where the boat would leave from at around 8.30. Danieli ran ahead once we reached the flat near the lake to warn the boat that we were coming. They’d started to blow the horn, the signal that they were about to depart.
We were very surprised to find out after some time that pastor hadn’t joined us on the boat – on previous occasions he’s come ashore with us – but I guess it was a good cost-cutting measure, it costs 10,000 Tsh to make the round trip – a lot of money over there.
On the way to Kemondo, we stopped at two more places to pick up passengers, but unfortunately, at the second, on another island, another boat had already taken all waiting travellers and goods on board so we didn’t draw right up close to the shore. It was quite windy by this stage, and we had to stand out some way from the landing.
Once out away from the islands, the waves became quite large, and at one point, the engine stopped! This meant that we had no steering and we started to get tossed around by the waves, the boat rocking further and further over onto each side so that the water came close to coming inboard. I estimated that the swell was about 1.5 metres.
We were glad when the engine was able to be restarted, and we soon landed at Kemondo, at 10.40 am – a quick trip really.
We went to a small cafe where we’d picked up a snack on previous occasions – but as it was too early for lunch, they only had 2 left-over chapattis from breakfast – but these were really nice so we enjoyed them with some Fanta.
Whilst we were there, a man came in, claiming to have seen us in Bukoba a few times when we were living there. He said he used to work at the Fido Dido but now worked taking tourists around and organising trips for them. He said he could speak German well, as well as English.
He told us he could get us a ride in a taxi for only 1,000 Tsh each, which we thought was much cheaper than the fare we’d paid with Gayle which was Tsh 1,500 each. So we agreed – although I did say that we’d much prefer to go in a daladala.
However, once he hailed a taxi that had a couple of spare seats in it, it appeared that he himself along with his elderly father would ride with us to Bukoba, and that we’d pay for all 4! There were already several people in the car, but the driver pushed most of them out, much to their anger and our horror – and I was about to remonstrate with him and say that we’d go by daladala and to let the other passengers use the taxi when he slammed the boot lid down on our cases and shoved us into the car. It was a squash – seven or eight of us in total! We were glad when 2 got out part-way to Bukoba, and another one on the outskirts, so that we ended up the journey in a little more comfort. However, the driver only took us to the taxi stand, not to our hotel – but as it wasn’t much further, we decided to walk. It proved to be a little hard to shake off our ‘Fido Dido’ friend and his father, but eventually, once at the hotel, they left and we were able to proceed to our room in peace.
As it was only lunch time, we went to the Rose Cafe for a snack and were warmly greeted by the proprietor, who knows us quite well from our Bukoba days. Many of these cafes have some rather unusual-looking menus – you can get ‘paper’ steak and chips, bittings (snacks) including ‘burns’, and in Uganda one was selling ‘diary’ food.
We visited the main market – the Soko Kuu – where we had had a number of friends including an elderly lady who sells fruit, eggs and vegetables. We bought some fruit from her and had a good chat. She had had a very sore, swollen foot for some time. One of our ex-students just happened to pass by and looked very surprised to see us but didn’t stop to do more than say hello. Apparently he’s doing very well, has now completed Form 4.
Inside the main building, we went to look for our old friends, the Fataks – but they were not there. A neighbouring stallholder told us that they’d gone to Arusha. We were greeted by several people who wanted to know how we were.
We started off to go to the lake to find an organisation called BUDAP – the Bukoba Disabled Assistance Project – as we’d put a friend of ours in touch with them and wanted to find out more about them and see the project up close.
After a bit of wandering around and asking some passersby, we found it by the lakeshore – an office containing a few of the items the disabled members produce – belts, jandals, postcards, jewellery and traditional drums. The man I’d corresponded with via email was very welcoming and told us a bit more about the project, but said that it is really difficult to continue, as, once trained-up, the members tend to end up starting up their own small businesses and cease bringing in income to the project. They are looking for more sponsors, as they are lacking tools and equipment, and are thinking of working more with widows. The project was started with the intention of helping the many victims of polio to learn a handcraft and thus be able to sustain themselves and their families.
Our friend Aristides Petromulaki had been one of the fundis that worked on the building site at Harvest alongside Bruce. He’d become quite friendly, and had invited us to his home shortly before we returned to NZ. There, we were able to share the Gospel, and we heard a few months later that he’d become a Christian, also his wife and children. Unfortunately he then fell on hard times – he had an accident whilst working chipping stone, and had to have an operation on one foot. We’d sent over some money to pay for the operation because we knew the family couldn’t afford it. Unfortunately this operation had left the wound infected, and over the course of almost a year, his foot had swollen up, then his leg right up to his knee and it of course became extremely painful. He delayed getting medical help, believing his leg to be infested by a demon, but we assured him that if it were due to that reason, that he could command the evil spirit to leave in Jesus’ Name – and if he found no relief, he needed to get medical help urgently.
He had a second operation after Christmas – they amputated his leg up to close to his knee, and he started a long period of recovery. Thanks to our putting him in touch with BUDAP, he was able to get their advice and help, and ended up going to Uganda to get an artificial leg. Unfortunately this cost him a huge sum of money that he had to borrow.
Whilst on the way back to our hotel, we met a mama in the street, an old friend of ours and retired nurse, mama Hermalinda Gabriel. She was one of the people that we hadn’t been able to let know about our visit, so it was a special joy to meet with her like that, especially as she now lives in a different place from when we were last in Bukoba. She was really keen for us to go to her home the next day, and gave us her phone number.
We had a lovely dinner at the hotel of fish, chips and salad. I enjoyed drinking the spiced milk that you were supposed to put coffee in – but I liked it just as it was! Unfortunately we got well-bitten by mosquitoes every time we entered that restaurant!

Part VI - Homeward Bound; Part VII - Where to from now?

Part VI - Homeward Bound
Saturday July 25th - Sunday 26th We had a good flight to Dubai, landing earlier than expected at 11.30 p.m. The heat (38°) hit you as you walked down the steps to the waiting bus; it takes about 1/2 hour to reach the new terminal, air-bridges are so much quicker!
After finding the information desk, we had a long wait before we got the information we needed. From then on, it went much faster. The Marriott lady confirmed our booking, told us where to find a taxi, and gave us a much-needed bottle of ice-cold water – wonderful! It was quite good to be able to use up some Skywards points!
We had a very interesting taxi driver from Eritrea, who took us on the scenic route on Sheik Zayed Road past a lot of immense and rather overly-opulent hotels. It was rather hard to concentrate on the scenery as all we wanted to go to bed, but we woke up a little when he started to tell us about his family/life in Eritrea.
He said that life there has been crazy under the current president who took over 15 years ago, & who doesn’t appear to know anything apart from running an army & waging war as he is a former guerrilla fighter.
The National Draft snares people once they finish school. If you try to run away to avoid it, they arrest and even torture your father till you return.
Life in the army is hard: although you get fed, you only get US$20/month for your family’s needs. There is no guarantee of when you will be released, & it’s hard to get a good job as there are no universities; the president closed them down following Chinese revolutionary principles. One of the taxi driver's brothers are still in the army after 10 years, the other after 15, and there's no knowing when they will be released from service!
He has told them many times to leave the country, via Sudan or Somalia, or even via Mauritius to Italy, so that they could live in peace/safety, but they are too scared and don’t want to leave their families behind. But these days all fleeing Eritreans are automatically guaranteed full refugee status, which makes it possible to rescue families that have been left behind.
He has a sister in Belgium & a brother in Chicago; all three send money back to help the rest of the family, but they find it very hard knowing how tough life is there. He says he never wants to go back!
We arrived at The Courtyard at 1.20 a.m. for our free stay. Unfortunately there was no free airport shuttle, but taking a taxi was still a lot cheaper than paying for a room! It was lovely to be able to shower to get rid of the rest of the African dust, we must have been well-coated in windy Dar – our refresher towels looked embarrassingly brown on the plane after use! My flannel turned a similar shade in the bathroom!
After washing my sandals so they’d pass inspection in NZ, I left them to dry in the bath, then went to bed to get about 4 hours sleep before the alarm went off at 6. I took the photo on the left from our window before going down to catch the taxi at 6.30. This time we had a bearded Muslim driver, who took us on the quicker route via the coast – mostly construction sites & sand dunes!
We had fascinating views of the long, strip-like fields and all the waterways near Bangkok on the way down. It was such a contrast after the aridity of Africa and the deserts of Dubai. It was a warm 32° at around six p.m.. Once again, there was no time to hang around and explore the airport, straight to the boarding lounge!
Monday, 26th July I managed to sleep a little on the way to Sydney, which was a fresh 9° when we landed! This time we were able to walk around the terminal several times, looking at the interesting goods on display, we didn’t want to sit down again too soon!
There were very few passengers to Christchurch - whole rows empty behind us – so it was easy for everyone to see the spectacular views of the Southern Alps, viewed in crystal-clear conditions, covered with fresh snow. Mt Cook looked amazing! Unfortunately the photo doesn’t do it justice! The pilot flew up the West Coast from quite far south, so we saw all the lakes. We crossed the alps just north of the Rakaia River, to start our descent over the plains towards Christchurch.
It was a beautiful day, sunny & calm, so 11° didn’t feel too cold after all! Bronwyn soon arrived with our car, which seemed to have survived its outdoor storage very well.
The concrete-block motel unit seemed very cold, and there was only a small fan heater, so after a hot shower, we put on layers of clothing.
We had a lovely long sleep once we got back from our restaurant dinner and brief shopping expedition.
We woke at 9, just time to get up & eat breakfast before checking out an hour later.
We were glad to be able to spend the night with my parents in Oamaru, we were feeling very tired, but the next day we went all the way home to Gore, where Bruce's brother Colin had been looking after our new house.
Part VII – Where to from now?
Our daughter Eleanor started an au pair job in October looking after three little children; Anthony is still looking for work as a builder and Nicola only has a part-time job cleaning at a school; Jeremy lives part of the week in Mannheim with Judith, but still spends a couple of days in Duisburg where his work is. He's been doing a bit of globe-trotting recently - Japan and Canada - on behalf of the firm.
Bruce eventually found work (19/9) on a 900-cow dairy farm while another worker recuperates from a serious knee injury, but I still am jobless.
Our Maasai friends are sinking into ever deeper trouble with hardship increasing every day, their remaining livestock dying. They have so far not managed to get any government or NGO help. The CBO has no funds. People are now burning the scarce trees to get income from selling charcoal. However, one good thing is that they are now linked in to the CHE movement and we hope that will help effect some long-term changes in their community that will benefit them all. BUT IF YOU'D LIKE TO HELP, PLEASE LET US KNOW!

Tazengwa at last!

Friday 17th July  We woke up far too early at 3.30!  We'd just finished getting ready when suddenly, loud cries rang out: “Mwezi, mwezi” (Thief, thief!).  My blood ran cold: if a thief gets caught, they are often stoned to death! Michael turned up soon afterwards, & went to find out what had happened - the thief had used a wire to open a window & hooked out some money + a cell phone.  He hadn’t been caught.  We were glad we’d put our things well away from the window, we’d locked it but the bars were rather far apart.
We weren't pleased when the taxi driver charged double because it was night.  We could easily have walked but it isn’t safe; even taxis get held up, especially when carrying Wazungu: we show up like beacons!
The bus was in a poor state of repair: our seats tended to recline if someone put a hand on the back.  My seat cushion wasn’t fixed in either, so I had to push it back every so often to stop being squashed into the seats in front; the men behind us had their feet under the seat!  At least we were able to all sit together this time!
We set off at 6 sharp, but after an hour on tarmac, it was bumpy roads. We stopped at a petrol station in Singida for 20 minutes, just time for a comfort stop and to buy some food and water.  It was expensive: takeaway chicken/chips was 3,000 Tsh, twice the price and half the quantity of our tea - so we ate buns! An earlier toilet stop had involved using the roadside, not so bad for men, but no good for the ladies, unless you have the right kind of skirt!  It pays not to drink very much on bus trips so that you last out! 
We arrived in the dusty bus park at Nzega at 2.30, then took a car to Tazengwa a few kms away, turning off down a wide sandy track - the main road to Tabora - before leaving the road for an even-smaller one winding between trees past a couple of houses towards 2 entwined bougainvillea trees, 1 orange and 1 purple, in front of bibi’s house. 








Well, she actually has two houses now: the old house (left, front entrance) is only used as a store as it’s getting too broken-down to sleep in, + the newer one (right, back entrance) was built about 5 years ago (or less) with the help of missionaries when they saw the condition the old one was in.
After greeting bibi, who was just as I'd imagined her, except shorter!, our bags were put into the new house, then we went for a little walk with Michael round part of the  shamba, which is partly native vegetation, & partly ridged for cultivation.  The remains of maize, beans, + cow peas were dried up & breaking down. 
At one side of the old house is the ‘bafu’ (bathing shelter) made from branches covered with long grass, but as it was rather broken down, it would be our job to repair it the next day. We were told we'd go to Mama Lucia’s to bathe this time. 
Further over are the remains of the small 2-roomed house where Michael lived with an uncle, (well, a 1st cousin once removed – but most relatives your parent’s generation are ‘uncles’ or ‘aunts’ – apart from your mother’s sisters who are mamas, & your father’s brothers who are babas!)  After the back wall fell down it was used for goats, but these are now in another village. 
A section further on has been set aside for a school or another project.  At one side is where his mother & Boniface lived before she died - now it’s just scrub!  Returning towards the old house we turned left past the brush-walled pit toilet: the curtain door is a bit low down & is a bit tricky when it’s windy – but at least the neighbours are some distance away! 
Closer to the main track is what remains of Michael’s little house. He made his own bricks and built it with the aid of a fundi.  He was so sad, when he came home after being away for more than 2 years, to find it had fallen down: he’d obviously been very proud of it, he kept saying in English, “Good house, good house!”  Cheeky me said it couldn’t have been that good, or it wouldn’t have fallen down!  He moved into bibi’s new house after that. 
Bordering most of the paths is a succulent hedge that he planted, it needed pruning, but you have to be very careful, the sap can damage your eyes: the antidote is milk from a nursing mother!
I was interested to hear that he’d been born near Shinyanga, but a year later, his grandfather moved the family to live next to the Free Pentecostal Church of Tanzania (FPCT) in Tazengwa, he’d been called to become its second pastor.  They went to the shamba later on when he retired and another pastor took over.
We sat down on chairs outside the old house, then some of Michael's cousins turned up – they were happy to greet him, but not us, preferring to stand behind the porch giggling!  So he put a small stool on the ground (just a few inches high, used for sitting on when you’re cooking over the open fire), said it was the welcoming seat, & made each sit on it in turn & greet us in English!  It was very funny! 
Mama Lucia also came to greet us briefly, saying she’d return later.  Her husband, Enock, had gone with some other village folk to a neighbour’s funeral in Bukoba.  They have 4 daughters: Martha (19), Maria (15), Magdalena (10) & Margaret (who’ll be 3 in November). 
‘Uncle’ Paulo arrived later on – first we were told he’s babu’s sister’s son, but later on that he’s Michael’s great-grandfather’s first wife’s sister’s son – no blood relationship at all as babu was one of the second wife’s sons! Confused yet?There was a bit of a lull in activities: Michael went indoors presumably to sort things out for later on, the cousins lounged around outside or helped bibi cook, so I spent a little time playing soccer with Michael mdogo.  It was quite fun and eventually Bruce joined in too.  We were glad to have some ugali + chicken mchuzi after a while, very welcome!
Mama Lucia came back to take us to her house to bathe and to put on clean clothes – ours were filthy after the dusty trip!  I got worried when she told me she wanted me to dress in two kangas (a rectangle of cotton) afterwards like the local women do!  They don't seem to like to change into their clean clothes in the bafu, I don't know why!
I don't mind wearing a kanga as a skirt with a T-shirt on top; it was wearing just a piece of cloth on top that bothered me, it leaves your shoulders and half your back bare!  Being so pale I felt a bit like a beacon, and the bafu was between their house and the neighbours'!  I was glad no-one was outside, but felt really embarrassed to see Michael looking at me from the sofa as I dashed past to reach the safety of the bedroom! 
After bathing, we returned to bibi’s, but Michael stayed behind. He soon appeared with a small procession of cousins bearing a bedstead, mattress, mosquito net & bedding.  We went inside when it got too cold, but as everyone seemed so busy, I didn't want to bother them about trying to find our sweaters.  Instead we sat all alone in the gloomy sitting room, which was lit only by a candle, until all was ready – then we had peanuts + Fanta before going off to bed.

Off to Arusha

Thursday July 16th We were up at 7 and went outside to wait for Michael as usual, then Ntarula came out, hearing us talking, and told us Michael had already gone to Rosa's, so we went together to look for him. He was outside cleaning his teeth!
At breakfast, we were joined by another of the Mzee’s brothers, Saidi’s father, who’d come down the mountain for the day.
We went to the bus stand around 9, Michael had wanted to leave earlier, Rosa wanted us to delay! We were to take Michael mdogo with us too (pictured with mama + Bruce)!!
It seemed a long wait before we left in a battered old landrover. First Michael had to bargain over the price: the driver wanted to charge for little Michael, although small children normally travel free as they sit on a lap. It's always a bit nerve-wracking waiting, they keep on tooting the horn like they’re ready to go, then drive away to make a circuit of the village to try to find more passengers before returning to the bus stand. Our luggage stayed up on top without being tied on for ages, but once it was fastened, it was REALLY time to go.
We drove off the road into part of the village criss-crossing a drain + squeezing between trees to pick up a passenger from his house. Back on the ‘main road’ – a dirt track wide enough for 2 vehicles - we stopped to hoist a motorcycle onto the roof, it almost didn’t make it! We ended up with several people on the roof + hanging off the back door!
We'd been told Same was only 1/2 hour away, but we Took 1 ½ hours! It was a very rough road, the countryside a mixture of lush, wetter areas & dry thornbush-covered land. Little Michael was very proud to be coming with us, not at all concerned to be away from home, but he soon thought we’d already arrived!
Once in Same, we travelled down the dusty streets to gingerly cross a drain on wooden boards to arrive outside a mechanic’s workshop to drop off the motorbike. It took a bit of manoeuvring to reverse the Land Rover back onto the street, there was no room to turn round!
It took a while to find a bus with enough spare seats going to Arusha at the bus stand. We'd decided to stop there for the night instead of Moshi, to be able to visit Michael’s sister Evelina. We bought some bananas, biscuits, juice & water while we waited. Bruce + both Michaels sat in the back seat, but I had to sit by a rather sulky lady + young baby. It was nice to have tar-seal roads, although shortly after reaching a large town at noon, the bus broke down, just 28 kms from Moshi - a broken tie-rod.
Many got off the bus or stood up during the 25 minutes it took to fix it. Unfortunately my neighbour spilt juice on my seat, and I started to wonder if it was ‘accidentally on purpose!’ as she didn’t even want me to sit on the edge of the seat.
I was very pleased to be able to change seats after Moshi, where a lot of people disembarked, and Michael even came over to sit next to me and chatted the rest of the way to Arusha!
I was very impressed by Moshi, it's very clean & beautiful – the only part of Tanzania to have anti-litter laws! This region is lush & green, there are lots of good crops & trees, very unlike many other parts we passed through.
We arrived in Arusha about 3.30, and Michael left us with the bags + little M to buy tickets to Nzega + find a taxi to take us to a guest house. We then went to a nearby ATM, as we didn't have enough cash for both the tickets + a guest house. The glass cubicle was guarded by an armed man sitting inside a small room with a roll-up door. As the taxi was waiting, I only briefly checked the money, and later on found the last 3 notes were only 5,000 Tsh each instead of 10,000!
The guest house was nice, quite close to the bus stand in a very quiet street. We were glad to put on our sweaters before going by daladala to Eve's. The busy streets were lined with people selling wares, and we even saw 6 Europeans!
Once off the daladala, we walked along a narrow, raised dirt pavement alongside a deep drain, and stopped at a small shop to ask where Evelina was; Michael had expected to see her selling corn but she’d gone home early.
We went through a dirty alleyways, stepping over a smelly drain to enter a gate in a tall mud brick wall. Eve’s was the last on the left in a small alleyway between 2 buildings. 2 small boys, Joshua & David, came out from the opposite curtained doorway to greet us, then Mary (Evelina’s step-mother - Boniface has remarried) invited us into her small living room: a bed on the right, 2 sets of chairs with a low table in the middle (not much leg-room!) + a large wall unit on the left. A second curtained doorway leads into another room. It's typical rental accommodation: you rent 1-2 rooms in a house and share an outdoor kitchen, choo & bafu.
We sat on the chairs, Michael on the bed, listening to Mary. She’d just got over being sick for a month, firstly a lung infection then a painful stomach. Eve entered without greeting us properly, rather reluctantly sitting next to Michael, who eventually got her to greet us in English, even to answer a couple of questions + count to 100! She likes school & is in Standard 4.
She was sent back out with the 2 boys to buy soft drinks; Bruce had fun trying to take the tops off with no opener! Betty (Mary’s teenage daughter from another marriage) came in with the pastor’s eldest daughter who's 19 and has excellent English. Her mother came round with her youngest son Tito (6), inviting us over for a chai afterwards, although her husband was still at church.
Boniface turned up later on his bicycle, he’d had trouble getting back from work as the roads were so busy. He’s a salesman. He’s very nice but isn’t a Christian, unlike his wife.
We all went to the pastor’s for chai, and were told it was the first time they’d had such visitors, other Wazungu have refused to come! How rude!
I tried to take a photo of Eve, her father + the rest, but the battery went flat & the spare one was in the guest house! That was sad, our only opportunity.
Both families accompanied us out to the street, we caught a daladala with Boniface back to the guesthouse, then he left us at a nearby café where we ate chicken/chips for tea – yummy! Little Michael ate an omelette with his & whilst we were waiting, we played with a marble on the tabletop! But it escaped & got lost!!!
We went to bed about 9.40, arranging to meet at 5 the next day for another early bus.

Back to Nairobi

Saturday July 11th It was a somewhat cool night disturbed by hyenas, and was cloudy when we got up at 6.15, but cleared up later, and was very hot in Nairobi! After an early chai, there were lots more farewells. We left at quarter to 8 to walk to Ezekiel’s where we had some more chai before walking to the school. The taxi driver had refused to return to Luka’s, saying it was too far and too expensive – TOO TRUE! - but he wouldn’t drop his fee for the shorter trip – GRR! There were lots of passengers this time: us, John, Ezekiel + Joseph (one of the Enkiloriti teachers). Daniel accompanied us to the car to see us off.
It only took 40 minutes to get to Duka Moja this time. On this better road/track, it was possible to drive at 20 kph! Ezekiel farewelled us there, having business to attend to, but Joseph came all the way to Nairobi with us to get some exam papers for the school.
I had a private giggle in the taxi: the radio announcer was talking about various celebrities who were sharing a 'bath day'!!!!!
We reached Nairobi soon after 11, it was a good trip, but we were shocked at the condition of the cattle we passed, and of course the maize was in an even worse state.
At the internet, I still couldn’t access Xnet mail, but was pleased to have an email from my parents on Yahoo saying they’d successfully contacted Amex on our behalf. We changed some USD into Ksh to cover our last expenses in Kenya, also giving John his wedding present.
After a cheap lunch, and even cheaper public toilets (10 Ksh for two), we took a bus back to near Nicholas’ – but during the slow journey bin heavy traffic, it caught the edge of a matatu whilst on lane-changing manoeuvres. They just swerve from lane to lane without indicating or checking that the way is clear, it's amazing there aren't more collisions. Quite a kerfuffle ensued, each driver accusing the other of causing the damage, some of the passengers got involved too! I was praying it wouldn't become physical!
As our bus had ended up diagonally across 1 ½ lanes in a 3-lane carriageway, vehicles on our left had to veer onto the footpath to get past! Some of the passengers started to complain vociferously about the long delay, some even got off the bus and started walking to find another.
Eventually a police van passed us, without slowing down or showing any sign they’d observed the problem, but it must have stopped at the next roundabout & told one of those on point-duty to attend to it, as soon afterwards, a policeman was seen striding purposefully towards us. After a quick word to both drivers, both vehicles started up & drew into the nearby petrol station. Another brief discussion, then we were on our way again – don’t know if any money changed hands or not, couldn’t see.
When we reached our stop, Joseph accompanied our bags on a motorbike taxi back to the ‘shopping centre’ whilst we walked! Poor Bruce wrenched his back again stumbling on a stone. We were saddened to see a dead cow in a patch of grass on the way.
After backpacking our bags from the centre to Nicholas', arriving at about 2.30 to a quiet house, we were greeted by Elizabeth, Emily + the little ones. We wennt to bed to rest whilst John & Joseph returned to town to find the exam papers. We got up a couple of hours later when some children started playing noisily outside. After repacking our bags, we sat in the living room waiting for someone to turn up.
I walked round looking at all the pictures and calendars festooning the wall. One calendar (from a Pentecostal church) had ‘miraculous’ stories – one situation was frankly impossible: a woman gave birth after being pregnant for three years! Another one really made me laugh: “a woman conceived and gave birth to a boy after being in bareness for 4 years!”
After John & Joseph returned at 6.30, we were offered ‘cocoa chai’!!! John was very surprised to hear we hadn’t been offered anything earlier on - so were we! He told us Yasintha is also drinking cocoa instead of tea, they believe it’s bad for mother & baby. She’ll also have LOTS of uji, like the Wahaya in the Bukoba region – they get really fed up with it in the end!
John got Michael on the phone unexpectedly. He was so excited to hear me speak, his voice sprang up an octave, but we didn’t have much time for more than greetings, as John's phone ran out of credit. Michael didn’t ring back but we'd be meeting the next day anyway!
We talked about visiting the local pastor again, but again John was too tired. We watched the TV news & weather, surprised to see the maximum temperature was only 22 deg, it seemed much hotter! We spent the rest of the evening chatting with Nicholas, who'd come to Nairobi 17 years ago to be closer to good grazing. They are used to having the kiangazi (drought/dry season), but it’s the worst he’s known.
Our supper was very late, at ten, but was very delicious: cabbage (a vege at last!) + chapattis, followed by pieces of orange & banana – YUM! Poor Maurice had gone to sleep on a chair, but could only eat just a mouthful or two before slipping back into sleep again, nearly in his plate! It seems cruel to expect little kids (he's only 4!) to stay up so late, I don’t think they realise how much sleep they need.
We didn't get much of that, it was a VERY noisy night: barking dogs outside till early in the morning, then a rooster clapped its wings together & started to crow well before dawn!