The Maui of Lake Victoria

Friday morning I set off for Mfangano Island. I brought along a couple of our football players, Dorine and Phenny. Our goal was to visit the home of three of their teammates. I have coached these girls for a couple of years now and they have always begged me to visit their home, but I never have so this was the time. After getting the soles of my tennis shoes fixed and ready for hiking we arrived at the beach before 8:00 and the touts for the different boats clamored to get us to board theirs. After climbing in the big wooden boat we sat in the sun for about an hour waiting for the boat to fill up before departing. I found an old friend in the boat that we sat by and were able to get caught up on each other's lives. Only one of the families actually knew that we were coming, so we were hoping we would be able to find the other two. Luckily, once reaching Sena beach on the island, we ran into one of the girls (Pauline) we were coming to visit. She was actually getting ready to leave for Mbita to attend a burial, but she was so happy to see us coming to her home that she changed her plans. She led us through the bush and up the mountain to the top of the island where there is a plateau called Soklo. It was a vigorous two hour hike with some breathtaking views of the lake and the surrounding islands.

The family greeted us warmly as Pauline's mother quickly grabbed a chicken that wandered into their house and began preparing lunch. Pauline and her brother showed us around their former primary school and some of the other local places such as "network" which is named that because it is the only place in the area that has cell-phone coverage. Her parents are elderly and do some small scale farming to earn a living, mostly from maize, casava and potatoes. The father has two wives and 11 children, but 5 of those have already passed away. Pauline's older sisters were all married after finishing 8th grade so she is attempting to be the first girl in their family to get a High School education. With my player, Dorine, translating for me, I shared with the family about God and explained the importance of putting Him 1st in your life, and described the value of education and what we are trying to do with our football club.

We were able to spend around three hours with the family before we had to set off on the remainder of our journey. This time the hike was a little easier since we were going down more than up, though we were already tired when we started because of the morning hike. It took over two and a half hours to reach Uozi, the home of Leah. We were happy to see her big smile as she took us in the house so we could finally sit down and rest. There wasn't much energy left in us that night; only enough to take a splash bath and eat a hearty meal. We went to bed early. The next morning we hiked down to the lake shore. It isn't very far away, but is is bit steep and rocky climbing down to it and there were swarms of lake flies after the rain had come that night. We were able to see the garden Leah's brother has started with cabbage, onions, tomatoes and other vegetables. We spotted a few monkeys that were trying to enjoy the garden too. Leah's friendly personality draws lots of friends which was easy to see as we walked through the small center on the way to the road. I got to meet her headteacher and discuss her academic progress with him.

Afterwards we boarded some motorbikes and raced to Mauta to see Dorothy and her family. When we reached they were still in church (Seventh Day Adventist), but were excited to see us. The father kept saying that he had planned to come to Mbita in the next week to talk with me. He couldn't believe that I would come all the way out to the island. He took us through the bush to his home and introduced us to his two wives and Dorothy's five sisters and one brother. We hiked down to the lake. It was a beautiful view of the lake with Remba Island in the distance. We sat by the seashore with our feet in the water, talking and enjoying the view. We went back up and took some tea and ate some mandazzis. Dorothy is the girl that we had taken last month to Kisumu to get fitted for hearing aids. She has been hearing impaired her whole life, but now is able to hear through the aids.

The family was disappointed that we couldn't stay the night and that we had to leave quickly because the last boat was coming through. They insisted that we had to plan another trip to come back and spend the night. We didn't get a chance to talk enough about Dorothy and her hearing issues and how it affects her education and her future. We hope that we can go back soon with my speech therapist friend to discuss the best way that we can help her.

While we were sitting outside their house, we saw the last engine boat taxi going by without stopping at the local beach. We had to quickly make our way to the road and find a motorcycle taxi to beat the boat to the next beach so we could travel back to Mbita. Fortunately we made it in the nick of time and were able to reach safely in good time.