Arrived in Nyeri! – Day 1

As our plane flew over the Kenyan countryside, the view of the amazing topography quickly distracted us from the weariness of what was then 36 hours since we woke up and started our journey from
San Jose. Whatever my mental picture was of “Africa” before, it was quickly replaced with views of vast green stretches, drastic elevation changes, sparse evidence of population (except in the large city of Nariobi), simply a sheer, natural beauty I had not seen contained in one single location ever before. I think that was the first time it really hit me that we were in “
Africa”. 

Getting through customs was painless. The queue for the VISA was quite long, and Tim and I  envisioned a wait of at least 30 minutes, maybe 45. We were at the very back of an apparent non-moving line when a very “helpful local” struck up a conversation with us and ultimately took us to another part of the airport where we were immediately #2 in a VISA line. Only cost us 500 shillings (about USD $7) for his help and well worth it to avoid the line. After spending the next 30 minutes looking for our luggage, one of a traveler’s most dreaded fears, “lost luggage”, became real as we discovered Tim’s bag never made it. We think it must have been held up in Heathrow customs as it contained a couple of firewall devices his company “SonicWall” generously donated for this trip. Unfortunately it also contained all the soccer balls, Frisbees, chocolate (Thank you Dr. Ho) and various other “gifts” we were bringing to the children. Oh, and of course, all of Tim’s clothes. The search is on, and maybe we will still see it before too many days have passed. Tim needs clean underwear….. 

Father JB was there to greet us, having arrived on time, and thankfully had sufficient patience to still be warm and welcoming as we walked through the arrival gate “only” an hour and 15 minutes late. The weather was rainy but fairly warm, and we set out on our 90 mile journey through
Nairobi and on to Nyeri, our final destination. Monday morning traffic through Nairobi was not unlike any other overcrowded city having wet streets, and lanes being shared by autos, buses, bicycles loaded down with goods, people drawn wagons and many, many pedestrians. I found myself thinking that although from the sky this area seemed very enticing, once on the ground, this would not be a tourist destination I would ever likely choose. 

Once out of
Nairobi, the travel proceeded at a very fast pace. I have not seen so many animals along the roadside. Cattle, donkeys, lambs, and all with many seemingly newborn additions, and all quite domesticated. And oblivious to our car passing by. Or trying to pass by. Beautiful country though. This area is world famous for their coffee (one of their biggest customers is Starbucks) and their tea. What was surprising was also how prevalent was also pineapple, mango, grapes (yes, they make wine here too), corn……virtually anything they wanted to grow. The climate and fertile soil is very conducive to growing almost anything. Dotted often along the way were small fruit stands, all selling the local produce.  We stopped at a few of the roadside stands, the people were very friendly and the prices were quite reasonable. The taste was excellent. 

One thing that struck me was how many of the pedestrians all along the drive, wore no shoes. Apparently, although often a necessity due to lack of money, much of the time this is a preference. Seemed odd considering the weather was rainy and the roadside was rocky. And so many pedestrians, even far out in the country. 

We finally arrived at Father JB’s “residence”. This is where we were informed we would be staying as well. Although very humble, and scarce of luxury, it is a very warm and loving environment. We are very happy to have an opportunity to make this our home for the next couple of weeks. 

After a luke-warm shower and a nap for about an hour, it was off for a quick tour of some of the Parish coffee fields and then “dinner” prepared and served by the children living in the compound run by Father JB. 

The children are wonderful. They were so excited to receive us. The food was very tasty, and the serving size was far more than we could finish. The meal was made up of a little mutton, and lots of vegetables. Desert was fresh pineapple and watermelon and limes. The children then sang several songs to us, some in English, some in Swahili, and all with a very heartfelt expression of welcome. Two very young children, maybe 4 or 5 years old, then recited two poems to us that they had written. They were in Swahili, but we were told they were about AIDS and having hope and how thankful they were to go to school everyday. Perspective to be cherished and coveted to be sure. Tim and I both are excited about the opportunity to spend time with these “role models” starting tomorrow. 

OK, sorry for rambling on. I want to write much more about the children, but something tells me there will be opportunity often over the course of the enxt several days. I am ready for a much needed night’s sleep. I think Tim is already counting sheep, and I will be out as soon as my head hits the pillow. Good first day. Exciting to think about what tomorrow will bring.  

Good night. 

Day 2 in Nyeri – Coffee Anyone?

After the rainy day yesterday, the sunshine was a welcome alarm clock this morning. A bit chilly last night, surprisingly, but today was warm and clear. After a quick breakfast of local coffee and local fruit, we set off for our education of the Diocese’s biggest revenue producer, coffee.

My expectation of the process and the technical infrastructure was not high considering this was still a “developing” country. Much to my surprise, we found a very organized process, and a strong understanding of agricultural practices. The missionaries first developed these fields in 1902, and much of the original coffee trees were still in place and productive. The attention to detail was impressive. More impressive was just how hard these people work. My back got tired just watching the women as they seemed in a constant bent over position. Rarely bending their knees, they adopted a position similar to one where we try to touch our toes and stretch our hamstrings. I don’t know how they do it. I would last maybe 10 minutes, certainly not a full day, and to think these people do it everyday for many, many years. Amazing. And all for about USD $2/day. I don’t think I will drink a cup of coffee again without thinking about the effort going into producing that cup.

We took a little time to stop by the kindergarten and 1^st grade classes. The students were hard at work and of course, extremely friendly. We also stopped by the hospital to meet the doctor in charge. Tomorrow we will spend most of the day with him working with the various patients in whatever way we can. Trying the patience of the Doctor and nurses is probably more like it.

Tim and I have both commented often how different the interaction is here in Nyeri. After two full days here, only today did we see another “white person”. There was a group of 4 tourists who passed through the area. Otherwise, we have been the only two. For many of the children we are the first non-black people they have ever seen. While at first most of the people we come across just look at us, fairly expressionless (unless we are being introduced to them by father JB), but as soon as we smile and wave, they immediately break into a wide grin and couldn’t be more friendly. This is true whether they are children, young and old adults as well. A very friendly people. We went into town today for a brief shop, had to pick up some supplies for the school meal, and being the only two white people amongst the literally thousands of town people, every person we greeted responded with a very friendly reply. Every person. A very cherished experience.

Tim’s “lost” luggage was “found” today after we called a couple of times. The first explanation was that the bag was damaged. After a while though it became clear that the firewall Tim brought was being held by customs and we needed to come “pay” the duty. Clearly just a money issue. Problem is that the airport is 90 minutes away. The plan now is that we will go there on Thursday. I just hope all the items we brought for the children are still in the suitcase. Apparently we should be able to negotiate the amount. (Too bad we don’t have procurement to organize the bid process. JJ)

We hope to have internet access soon, maybe even tomorrow. We went into town earlier today to get the equipment needed and open the account for the parish, but there was a surprise set up fee equal to about USD $500. That would be a lot of money in the States for setup, so you can imagine what a setback this was for this struggling Parish. Unfortunately, it is just very expensive to set up here, but we are trying to get the price reduced as we will do all the installation work for the Parish. I say “we”, but as y’all know, that means “Tim”. I hope we can work something out tomorrow.

Ok, time for bed. Early day tomorrow as we will get dropped off at the hospital and spend a good part of the day trying to be helpful. At least not get in the way. Today was another special day.

Aloha. (I have to learn how to say Aloha in Swahili.) J