Day 3: Karibu Mzungus

Welcome White People

Hi, it’s Tristen, and I speak for everyone when I say last night was rough. We stayed at a hotel in Nairobi that happened to be next door to a club, and Kenyans sure can party. We heard their music blaring, and it just happens to be American club music. We could hear “My anaconda don’t…” until 4 in the morning, only to be awoken by a husband yelling at his wife a couple hours later. People in Kenya must never sleep.

After a quick breakfast of toast and eggs, we said our goodbyes to Ajay and Tom and began our journey out of Nairobi. We came to learn that the Kenyan country side is nothing like the flat plains we expected. Once out of Nairobi’s outskirts, Kenya opened up to hills and mountains in the distance, and is quite beautiful.  Cows and their herders can be seen everywhere, along with people just walking along the street.

Thankfully the scenery distracted us from the driving, because things are quite chaotic on Kenya’s roads, no matter where you go. It seems to always look like you’re heading for a head on collision because people are constantly trying to pass.  Thankfully our driver John knows what he is doing and did a fantastic job. He turned on the Bongo tunes, taught us about the country, and has been a great guide.

Soon after entering the country side we finally saw what we all were waiting for, a zebra! We saw zebra after zebra, and never did we miss the chance to yell ZEBRA! They appeared every so often in small herds on the side of the road and are more common than deer in New Jersey. The animal life in Kenya is so foreign to us and so exciting. Just driving through the country is like a safari.

A couple hours into our drive the trees opened up and revealed the Great Rift Valley, which was easily the most amazing view we saw all day. 2400 feet in elevation, we were able to stop and take some awesome pictures of the valley and take in this incredible view. A dormant volcano known as Mt. Longonot rose up in the distance over the valley, and was source of volcanic rock that a bunch of the locals use to carve souvenirs.

At our stop we also managed to visit a shop where local artisans sold their goods as souvenirs, and received our first introduction to the welcoming culture here. “Karibu, Karibu, Karibu”. We heard it from everyone we met, and learned very early on that it means welcome. People here live simple, humble lives, and seem to be very relaxed. They are laid back about everything, and greet newcomers with warm welcomes. Even the merchants we haggled with were kind and if you didn’t purchase anything, it was hakuna matata. Despite that, we purchased quite a bit from them, practicing our negotiating skills and bringing with us some really cool handmade stuff.

The drive from Nairobi to Kisumu, and then Kolunje, is a good six hours, so half way through we decided to stop for lunch in the town of Nakuru. All we needed to find was a decent looking restaurant that we deemed safe, and a pizza restaurant called Yummys suited our needs.  They were cheap, but we decided pizza in Kenya isn’t the best choice. Yummys’ idea of pizza was cooked dough covered in ketchup and cheese, so no more pizza for us. We couldn’t wait to get to Kolunje and try some traditional Kenyan food.

The remaining drive to Kisumu was relatively eventful. It started with me paying the price for forgetting sunscreen before the drive. Taking a steady stream of pictures out the window has left my one arm scarlet red, and will hopefully be the last of my burns.  Along the road we began to see large masses of people in each of the town centers, and were curious as to what was going on.  Eventually after seeing multiple pass by over the course of an hour, we ran into the answer. A caravan passed by us carrying Prophet Awour, who is believed by all of these people to be the prophet, and they have been gathering to watch his passing. With every kilometer we are learning so much more about Kenyan culture!

Our travels have been pretty taxing, and left everyone taking a short nap on the last stretch of our drive into Kisumu. We awoke to the slowing of the van as we stopped to meet Peter Oduor, our NGO representative. Again welcomed to the sound of “Karibu!” he told us to follow him the rest of the way to Kolunje. The streets quickly turned from rough pavement to dirt as we travelled into even more rural Kenya.

Along the path to our guest house, we saw a lot of the locals who were here to help, and got to say hi to all of the kids.  Every time a kid saw us we would hear “Mzungu, Mzungu! How are you?”. We said hello and waved to everyone, and nearly everyone waved back and said hello. Some of the kids even tried to chase us as we drove along. The people are so nice and welcoming here! It’s very fortunate that a majority of people in Kenya speak English, since it is the official language of the country. Swahili is only their local tongue.  Even many the very young children already know some English, which will make our education plans much easier.

After 8 hours of traveling and we arrived at our final destination, and got to see for the first time where we would be living for the next two weeks. They are MUCH nicer than anything we imagined, and are actually nicer then the hotel we stayed at in Nairobi. Everyone gets their own bed, and though bugs seem to be everywhere, we have mosquito nets to protect us at night while we sleep.

 At first arrival we met many of the community officials, and learned a new way of greeting each other. In Kenya, a higher level of respect comes from grabbing your right arm with your left as you shake.  We noticed the officials greeting us like this and it quickly became how we greet everyone.

After getting settled, it was time for tea and biscuits. Milk tea is popular here, and is delicious! Over our African tea, we discussed plans for our upcoming weeks and made a game plan for the next day. We plan on visiting the schools, where we will be able to meet the kids for the first time, and start an assessment of the rainwater catchment systems we need to repair. We know they’re in bad shape, but everyone is excited to find out what needs to get done.

Julia has now decided to become a vegetarian for the remainder of the trip! We had our first experience with Kenyan cuisine, and it is very similar to Indian cuisine. The women of the household cooked so much food for us, and we had several curries, salads, and a dish known as Ugali, which is cornmeal. The chicken curry was interesting, in that not only wings and legs were in the bowl. Jared picked out a braided piece of something, and we found out that they were the intestines. Apparently they tasted good, according to Jared, but seeing the insides basically made Julia a vegetarian while we’re here. The food was all very good though, and eating here will be a fun experience!  

Dinner was the end of our day, and it was finally time to relax. After four days of travel and little sleep, it was time to settle down for the night and get the rest we all needed so much. Ajay and Tom got the bags and will be on their way in the morning. Things are looking up for our trip, and were all excited to see what we can accomplish.