Will I Ever Reach Home?

Every day is an adventure in Kenya. After spending five days at Tenwek recovering from pneumonia and malaria, Tuesday was the big day to try and get my vehicle and return to Mbita. Jay, Jenny and I hired a taxi to take us to Bomet town. The plan was to meet Steve and Judi who were coming from Nairobi with four new tires for my Mitsubishi Pajero. We wanted to get the tires from them, drive out to the Mara Safari Club, put the tires on, return to Tenwek to get our luggage and then, time permitting, drive home to Mbita.

Steve and Judi arrived around 11:30 am. After exchanging greetings and transferring the tires, we were off to the Mara Safari Club. Pastor Amos had come and joined Jay and me for the journey. The taxi was a small Toyota Corolla. The driver was a very pleasant man with many years of experience. He wanted to take the “short cut” to the Club. Short cuts in Kenya can sometimes be very good, safe and fast, or sometimes they can be quite the adventure. This time it was the latter. The short-cut was once a toll road where people paid to use it and then the owner would maintain it. This practice stopped four years ago and the road has gradually deteriorated. Now it was full of big stones and huge puddles of standing water. We didn’t see one vehicle the entire time we were on that road and I think it is safe to assume the reason why that is. When we came to the first big pool of, the driver just gunned it right into the middle of the pool. About halfway through we hit a big rock and it stopped us dead in our tracks. Fortunately we were able to continue after a quick check under the car for damage.

A few minutes later we came to an even bigger pool of water that stretched across the whole road. The driver didn’t stop to check the depth or see the best way around it. He just plowed on. The water rose above the floor boards and started seeping through the cracks of the car. Waves came past us from behind because of the momentum of the car and we sputtered a few times, but luckily kept moving forward. We just barely made it out. All of us agreed we were within a few inches of being stuck for good on a road with no other traffic.

We finally arrived at the Mara Safari Club at 1:00, thankful to have survived the rough road. The mechanics were all on lunch so we quickly put the new tires on ourselves, loaded up and headed out. I had begged the taxi driver to lead us back the “long way” instead of coming through the short-cut. The only negative part was I was out of fuel, so we had to stop at a small village and they poured fuel into my tank through a funnel and a gas can. We didn’t make it back to Tenwek until 4:30 pm and quickly loaded all of our luggage and just as we were preparing to head out, I looked under the hood. Oil had splattered everywhere. We had a mechanic take a quick look at it. After giving us the go ahead we added some oil and decided to try and at least make it part way home before it got dark.

We arrived in Kisii around 6:30 pm and were able to find a good guesthouse, do some small grocery shopping, and get a good dinner. I retired early so that we could rise before dawn and finish the journey. We added some more oil and put a little more air in the tires. By 6:00 am we were on the road to Mbita. We arrived at school during the morning assembly time so all the students were together and singing. It was a great sight to see our 300 children standing in their uniform. This has been the longest time I have been away from Mbita since I moved here 5 years ago. I was able to greet the students, give them a few encouraging words and introduce our two visitors, Jay Forseth and Derek Snook. Most of the day was spent catching up with the teachers, staff and students. I also took the visitors to each classroom to hand out some gifts.

It felt very good to be back. Mbita feels like home, after living here for the past five years. It was difficult being away for four months. Especially after all the vehicle problems and being sick, it was nice to finally arrive in Mbita, even if it was a week later than expected.