My Visit to Nakuru in the North
Trip Start
May 28, 2008
1
10
Trip End
Jun 30, 2009
Nairobi, Kenya
Saturday, July 12, 2008
We kept "dropping down" into the valley into a very dry, arid country where zebra and baboons hang out by the road side...a great sight for me but a very ordinary sight for everyone else of course. We arrived in Nakuru city central and were met by the Bishop who is a really wonderful, kind gentle man who zipped us out of downtown and into his neighborhood just outside the main town. After getting sorted and being greeted by many people (lots of people hang out at the Bishop's house to seek advice, help with the home, or cook for guests) we took a short walk. During our walk...some of our hosts told me about the post-election violence that was rampant in Nakuru (the worst in the country in fact). Various areas were pointed out to me as locations where people were killed by machete or gunfire. It was really kind of shocking. The bishop's home and his church are located in the middle of "ground zero" for the violence and the area remains sharply divided amongst tribal lines. The violence has subsided and the town is healing but the two primary tribes live in very distinct areas...so the divisions remain. Bea and I joined the Bishop and his family for a Thursday night sermon and we were also lucky enough to meet up with a group of kids who all sorts of questions about living in America. Some of them asked, "Do kids in America learn Swahili?" "Do they eat ugali?" "What time is it in America?" They were amazed to know that kids in America basically learn English and maybe another language in high school. Most African kids learn at least three languages - English, Swahili, and then their tribal language so they thought that American kids had it easy...!
We got back to the house and had a great meal and talked and talked. I could talk to the Bishop forever. He's just a tremendous person and wonderful presence...very humble. We went to bed pretty late but I didn't sleep (common for me right now) and was wide awake when their rooster crowed at 5AM. We were supposed to go on a short safari but we hung out at the house instead which was great because I wandered outside the gate to take some photos from the street. I was quickly joined by some cows and some small kids. Once I started to take pictures of them...the rest of the kids in the neighborhood came out in full force! Two hours later...I had three cameras going (Sam and Carol from the Bishop's house were with me) and tons of photos. It was a great time and the kids were, of course, wonderful.
Our trip back involved driving through rain, a dust storm, a long chug up the valley, some police check-points, and Friday traffic. We finally arrived in Nairobi three hours later--totally exhausted. It was a great trip and I was very glad to have gone and made new friends but I was just as glad to get home and take a nice, hot shower to get the dust out of my hair (Nakuru is famous for the dust as it's blowing constantly) and crawl into bed for a much-needed sound sleep. I'll definitely go back to the Bishop's house and visit again...they were all really lovely.
RC
