Arrival in Kenya

March 12, 2008

We arrived safely in Matoso on Wednesday night after 3 long days of travel. We stayed in Nairobi overnight on Tuesday then flew on to Kisumu, Kenya where we were met by the American volunteer doctor Jeevan and the Lalmba Program Director Marico. They never drive the 6 hours into Kisumu without having a long list of errands to run. So, first we stopped to pick up truck parts and a new blood pressure cuff. While standing outside the store we saw our first Masai warriors, walking down the side of the road and wearing the characteristic red robes. I was so stunned to see them in the city that I failed to even take a picture.

Next we stopped at the Natamatt, a large grocery store to buy provisions. They told us to pick out what we thought we’d need but there were so many unusual and unknown products and we were so tired that we came home with things like chocolate and oranges. They told us not to worry as there’s a lot of provisions in the cook house at the compound that we can supplement with local produce.
The drive from Kisumu to Matoso takes 5-6 hours on a 2 lane and often rough road. The most interesting thing to me was the number of people traveling on foot and by bike along the side of the road. Kids in school uniforms, men pulling huge wooden carts full of sugar cane, women with tall baskets or pots on their heads. We passed vans and buses so full of people that men were hanging from the side of the vehicle. We saw small farms with the round mud huts with thatch roofs called tukuls as well as the more “modern” stone or cinder block houses with tin roofs. And every time we passed children they would yell “Mzunga”!! -which means white person- with the same excitement that we would have if we spied a zebra. We were the only Mzunga we saw once we left Kisumu. We were told that we'll meet people here who have never seen a white person before. The sight of us so scared a toddler yesterday that he howled in fear until we left the area.

We’ve been warmly welcomed at the Matoso compound and made to feel comfortable. The big surprise is that they installed a bathroom in our house before we arrived so we don’t need to use the communal bathroom. Nothing could make me happier. We have a veranda were we can sit and look out at Lake Victoria. At night we fall asleep to the sound of waves and wake up before dawn to the sound of birds and insects. It’s so loud that it’s impossible to fall back asleep, although Jeevan told us he’s learned to sleep right through it so maybe we will too.

This morning we heard a deep grunting and walked down to the lake to see our first hippo. There are mongoose, monitor lizards that grow to 5 feet and lots of beautiful birds. The weather is surprisingly comfortable with warm days and cool nights. There's nearly always a breeze off the lake too. We're told that soon the rains will come but for now it's dry and pleasant. At night we sleep with our windows open and a big net over our bed to keep the critters out. It gets chilly enough in the early morning that we need to pull a blanket over our shoulders. Not what we expected from equatorial Africa.