Canadians in Kitale

An excerpt from an email I sent... sorry I've been so poor at posting to the blog... it seems that the biggest reason for me to be online is now sitting beside me, so waiting for slow internet connections no longer seems appealing! All is going well, and we are in the final feedback stage of the research... hard to believe it is less than two weeks before we leave this town and go for safari!

Last night we went to the monthly potluck gathering of most Mzungus in the Kitale area. Everyone except Me, Mike, and the friend we brought were connected with some sort of Christian children's organisation in town, so the conversation inevitably turned to the robbery and vicious assault of John and Eloise from Vernon BC, who had been living about 20km from town, near a small IDP camp, for the last six months and had been working with one of those Christian organisations.

Although no Kenyan here knows about what happened to them, because it doesn't make for a good news story to run by the government controlled media houses, I understand it was in the news a bit in Canada. I just wanted to let people know that everyone in the expatriate community felt totally shocked and angered that it happened. However, we feel that it was totally unusual for this area and that it was an isolated incident, so we all still feel quite safe. Especially Mike and I as we are on a large guarded compound filled with 200 pastors :)

The police did their jobs...out of the five guys plus two guards that were involved, all have been arrested, charged, and have had their trial dates set, except for one guy who is still seen sporadically in the slum in Kitale that they all came from. We can praise God for the miracle that John is alive since he was beaten for an hour with four men with machetes and clubs, and that Eloise has survived also, since she was also assaulted for an hour as well. As far as I know both John and Eloise are flying back to Canada shortly for further medical treatment. We can pray that they heal emotionally as well as physically, as well as for the police, court system, and their team here.

Mike's African Adventures

A contribution from Mike:

On Tuesday July 15 I followed Allison to the field. But, this time when Allison and her research assistants were speaking in Swahili to the various farm wives in their dark mud huts, I decided to sieze the opportunity and venture off to explore rural life in Africa. Nomadically walking up and down the six-ft wide washed-out red dirt roads (impassable for any road vehicle) I saw several African women carrying either bananas or 10 L water jugs on their heads. Being that I was very curious and wanted to see the source from which they drew their water, I walked in the direction they were coming from. After about 100 yards, down a steep embankment, I saw the river. It was very silty and dirty... I couldn't imagine drinking the stuff. When I walked back from the river to main road, I talked to a cow-herdsman around my age. He mentioned to me that some mzungus (white people) have a 1800 acre dairy farm about 1km from his. So, after we said our goodbyes, I ventured off to see the people of my own colour.

While I was walking up the long treed farm lane I noticed about 30 Ayrshire heifers grazing in the tall grass. They are the healthiest cows I have seen in my entire stay here. As I approached the house, I couldn't help but notice the highly manicured gardens as well as mature trees. It was an Old- Victorian house painted white with a thatched roof. The estate comfortably sat upon a hill with full view of the rolling Kenyan landscape to the west. A black Kenyan gardener was cutting the lawn just in front of the house so I stopped to ask him if the mzungus were home. He said 'no'. I mentioned to him I did not know the mzungus who lived here and that I was just a passing mzungu. After saying this, I complimented him on the grounds, and on that note he gave me a tour of all of the gardens around the house. At the end of the tour, he phoned the native Kenyan cook to prepare some chai for the me- the mzungu. The cook escorted me into the Victorian mansion and had me sit on a comfortable couch in the parlour whereby he gave me the daily paper to read. After I finished reading the headlines, and listening to the sound of the push lawnmower (a sound reminiscent of home), the cook came back carrying a tray with fine bone china and hot chai! So, for about half an hour during the heat of the day, I relaxed in the cool renaissance house reading the daily paper and drinking my Kenyan chai with sweet sugarcane sugar. After I finished my delicious chai, I then began retracing my steps through the large house. When I arrived at the door that I entered in from, I couldn't help but notice that my shoes were gone!!! When I looked around the corner, I saw the cook polishing my shoes on the nicely cut grass of the back lawn. When he saw me at the door, he apologized for taking my shoes, and he quickly looped the shoelaces through the shoes and gave them another quick polish. I then said my thank yous and good byes to the cook and gardener and then continued on my role as a nomadic mzungu wandering up and down the dusty African country roads.

Mike arrived!

Addendum...Apologies for no posts lately... The internet has been spotty at best since Mike arrived on July 2, and understandably (I hope!) I have had othter things to keep me occupied, since he came, which meant less time looking for internet connections!

A quick note to say that my husband Mike has arrived safe and sound on Kenyan soil, after a couple flight delays... But, nothing out of the ordinary for transcontinental flights, I'm sure!

Luckily I have made a friend who is a travel agent in town, and she managed to switch Mike's internal flight to land at Eldoret (2 hours away) since he had missed his flight to Kitale (10 minutes away!).

I think Kenya, it's transport, the chaos of matatu touts vying for business, the cows on the road, the garbage everywhere, and the sight of a bare-bottomed baby sitting in a pile of maize meant for human consumption has left him wondering just where his dear wife has brought him...But, thank goodness there is still cold Coca-Cola and french fries at easy reach.

Each day seems to be getting a bit better- today he has started using a little notebook to record phrases he learns, and is getting lots of laughs when he tries them out :) A crowd pleaser, for sure!

After a day of rest and 'orientation' to Kitale, Mike joined us in field work, which meant riding public transport- the buses and bicycles- and talking to local farmers. I felt a bit badly for Mike as, amazingly, my Swahili is getting much better, and it is harder for someone who doesn't know the language to follow along on the conversation. Twice I have even conducted the whole interview in Swahili, which was thrilling for me... tough, I was very happy to have my research assistants madly writing notes as I didn't always get EXACTLY what the respondent was saying... that's okay... I could follow along, and we sorted the details later.