Life in a Mud Hut (May 29/03)

Jambo watu wangu!! Habari ya Kanada?

(yes, I'm getting half-decent in Kiswahili! The lessons help - not to mention the fact that Anthony's family doesn't speak English!!)

I'm been conspicuously absent from email, I know... but the mudhut doesn't have the greatest internet access so you'll have to bear with me! I've been having numerous (mis)adventures, not the least of which is the utter lack of water in my apartment.... for over 3 weeks now!!! Sheesh, I never truly appreciated Canada's abundance of fresh water, but when you open your taps and nothing comes out, you certainly miss the developed world.... Ironically, it's rainy season here and certain parts of Western Kenya are completely flooded. Got so much rain the dam broke.. which is why we have no water in the city. So I'm collecting jerricans of water from work, buckets from the pool for flushing, mineral water by the 5L jug, and recycling every drop possible. Showering is quite difficult... not to mention washing dishes or clothes (remember that's by hand!)

So I escaped the Green City in the Sun for the white highlands - Kitale again, to be specific! Anthony started his leave on May 16, and after spending the weekend at home (mine), we headed for his home (mudhut). The trip in the overloaded station wagon was mostly uneventful - except for the phone call I received from home (my real one)!! I got to talk to Tracey, Angela, and sonJa for about an hour - planning the trip back and psyching Anthony up for the deadly partying in store for him!! Luckily the girls didn't scare him too much, but he now thinks he has to walk around wearing nothing but a Canadian flag!!

Stopped at a casino in Eldoret - Anthony had never been to one, so I proceeded to play 100 shillings in a slot machine and won 400!! (ok, that's only about $8, but it paid for our dinner!!). We spent the first night in yet a different hotel in Kitale - we're both the type to try every single one before we start again! This was luxurious at 1000 shillings a night ($20) - we were feeling rich from our big win :) Headed to the rural home the next day, got the furniture delivered that we had ordered the last time we were there (really, a bed even!!), and basically stayed there the entire week - moving between Mois Bridge (the village), Kitale (the town), home, and various relatives.

So now I'll describe a typical day in a mudhut....

- Wake up around 6:30, as the sun rises and the roosters crow, and hope to go back to sleep.
- Wake up again around 7am by the baby crying on the floor next to its mother, and hope to go back to sleep.
- Wake up again around 7:30 by more babies and roosters and decide to get up.
- Put on yesterday's clothes, step over miscellaneous babies sleeping on the floor, grab a bottle of water, and head outside.
- Mmm... warm sunshine, fields of maize growing, palm trees lining the stream, breezes blowing through the eucalyptus trees, ahhhhhh! Kids running around, Belinda crying (his 1.5 year niece), sisters-in-law bent over a basin on the ground washing clothes, another one drying dishes on the outdoor wooden rack.
- Damn, remember that I have to pee... now where?? Refuse to go to the outhouse - it's a bit of a hike away, and plus there just might be cockroaches. Check to make sure no-one's looking (would bring unbearable shame to Anthony for anyone to see my white butt!) and scoot behind the shower room. Pretend I'm just brushing teeth back there, and come back to the veranda holding toothbrush (PS thanks to Dayna and Gene for the Immodium)
- Time to relax. Sit on the chair made from branches, listen to the battery-powered radio, and hope someone brings me tea.
- Mmm, chai! Sweet, smoky, milky tea made over a charcoal stove. Plus bread if Anthony sent someone to buy some, blue band margarine if we're even luckier, or maybe an egg from one of his many chickens. Definitely lots of salt.
- After breakfast, check the kids' schoolbooks and try to pick up some more Kiswahili. Look around wondering what to do since everyone seems so busy and I'm not really supposed to actually *do* anything, include get water for my "shower" (that is, my bucket) - not that I could carry a 20L jerrican up from the river on my head anyway!).
- Splash around in the shower room, wash my hair with bar soap, and put on yet another skirt since ladies don't wear pants around here. Hope someone will wash my clothes (they do).
- On one day, walk up the dirt road around 2 km to the primary school - where the kids wave and stare, amazed at white me, and Anthony introduces me to his children's headmaster as his 'missus'. I'm now Joan Khisa!! Get really sunburnt on the way. (The kids are doing fine, we just wanted to check).
- Arrive back at home for lunch, where we're presented with a pitcher of water for washing hands (obligatory before eating), a ton of ugali (the maize-flour-and-water mixture that I now love), a few greens done Kenyan style (another winner!), and tons of chai (which I'm now addicted to).
- On a different day, take his sister Nafula to a different primary school, and get her enrolled... she's 22, has a kid, and needs to finish grade 8. She finally accepted to go back, and I'm now her sponsor and mentor. Cost me about $150 for books, school supplies, uniform, shoes, socks, 2 sweaters, jacket, school bag, lunch for 2 months, transportation for 1 month, the school term, and a new bicycle.... not bad, I think! Also includes a bribe for the headmaster to make sure she passes her exam... well, I really wanted him to use the extra money for the school, but I'm sure it'll go right into his pocket...
- Arrive back at home for dinner, again the same, though a couple of times Anthony bought some goat or beef, and once we got the freshly killed rooster complete with the special guts reserved for visitors. Yum.
- Sit around the hurricane lamp in the now-furnished sitting room. Chat with the kids, give them lots of homework to do, lecture the sisters-in-law about birth control, dish out medicine such as cough syrup, ibuprofen, and antibiotics, look at Anthony's photos, help Nafula with her math (like I'm the right one to ask!), and generally behave like a family! Said family consists of Mai (Susana, Anthony's mother), Davey (an uncle who stays there), Nafula & baby Belinda, Geoffrey's wife & baby Samuel, Kennedy's wife & baby Constant, plus Anthony's kids Leah and Kelvin... the cuties!! btw, we get along famously even though they've figured out I can't really speak Swahili! Took them to the museum on afternoon - a regular family outing!!! hehehe :)
- Realize there's only one (single) bed.. Kids/babies fall asleep anywhere, and later the women bring in beds rolls - thin mattresses and blankets rolled up in a bamboo-like mat. They move the furniture, spread out the rolls, and hit the cement floor. Take out my contacts outside with a flashlight, mirror, and bucket of water, brush the teeth, and blow out the candles. At one point we had 5 people in "our" room, plus another 5 or 6 in the sitting room! And these rooms are small!! The other option is to sleep in the kitchen hut (mud floor, next to the fire) with the calf, 2 sheep, and many chickens - which Susana and the kids did a few times!! Me? Well, I really liked the new bed ;)

So that's what it's like.. reminds me of staying at Oma's in Cape Breton actually - combined with camping! - mostly the green rolling farmland and the relaxed rural way of life.... I enjoyed it immensely. The only drama was the time we came back from the village around 8pm (full night), jumped off the matatu at the main road, and then the heavens opened - raining so hard it hurt, thunder and lightning like crazy! Beelined it to the nearest house, where we had kept our bicycle anyway, and listened to the rain pounding the iron-sheet roof till it abated at least a bit. Decided to go for it - downhill 3km in the rain and the mud, with me sitting on the crossbar, holding onto a flashlight (and dear life) to light our way through the puddles! Anthony pedaling and singing "I am unbwogable" and making me laugh the whole time.. and we only fell off twice....!

OK, now that's it, fingers sore and so must be your eyes! Just realized the last photos (Easter in Loki) didn't get sent, so I'll try again... Also have some shots of Lake Nakuru national park from earlier in May - I borrowed the brand new diesel Toyota pickup from work and took Jeniffer, her daughter Terri, and Joseph from work. Bad news - broke the camera that day - so these are the last photos for now. Don't ask, I'm rather peeved.

A couple final points...
- I'm finished with VSF-B on Friday, they're having a going away party for me and everything!
- Still working out the details for a consulting arrangement with a local business but all looks good.
- Moving on the weekend from my current apt to a friend's while she's in Saudi Arabia - for half the price, it's a good deal!
- As for security warnings and the like - don't worry, I'm staying away from those nasty Americans and British!! I don't frequent likely target areas, and I stay in a quiet little suburb far from the centre of terrorist action... so no worrying!

Miss you all, and remember to check the photos on www.photo.epson.com (visit album johanna@istar.ca (I think) but don't use that email address anymore to write to me!! use the ca.inter.net address... asante sana)

Kwahereni!
Jo

 

 

Copyright Johanna Voerman Khisa, 2002-03. Reprinting or reposting without permission is prohibited.