just another day in…*psst* (where are we?)

We just rolled in to Nairobi after 2.5 weeks ‘living the dream’ in masai mara. The 5 hour matatu ride, however, felt like 10 hours as most of the red dirt roads are unpaved and full of potholes. I’m still vibrating. The law dictates that Kenyans learn to drive on the left side of the road, but this means nothing in actual life, especially for your average matatu driver who probably has window decals, flashing disco lights, and music videos distracting him from what’s happening outside his sheet metal bread box on wheels. What an adventure we were laughing, then crying almost the whole way to Nairobi.

Although i’m happy to be continuing on our journey my soul felt heavy as masai mara escaped from view. 2.5 weeks doesn’t sound as long now as it did the night we arrive on the mara. We set up our blue sierra designs tent outside Ombati’s house as curious neighbors and masai milled around the spaceship worrying that elephants or hyenas would take advantage of our humble abode. We later learned that they only believed the tent was for our luggage anyways and that we were married to Ombati and Saitoti and were sleeping inside the house. Now that we’re gone though we will miss seeing elephants, gazelles, and zebras meandering through the fields. We’ll also miss falling asleep to haunting howls of the hyenas as they look for food close by our tent at night.

After the sun set OS (ombati & Saitoti) worked hard to clean the house so we’d feel more comfortable. Their standards however were far different from our own. Saitoti, a 20 year old masai warrior, lived for 20 years in a hut made of cow dung and sticks, sleeping on a cowhide shared with 3-4 other people and lived on a diet of cow milk, blood, corn and meat. Ombati is not masai, but definitely had different standards. Needless to say Keli and i spend the next 2 days thoroughly cleaning the house, ridding it of cobwebs and cockroaches, this was a task which occupied our time everyday. An average day consisted of visits to the market, planning for lunch and dinner, washing dishes and transferring the lantern from one room to the other as there was no electricity. Our headlamps were very popular. When we needed to charge our cell phone (what?!) we’d take it down to Sekenani (town) and pay the barber $.50 to charge it by generator.

We volunteered in Sekenani primary school and spent a lot of time speaking with the masai people, first trying to understand their culture and practices, then sharing when asked how this was different from the world we’re accustomed to. School was incredibly disorganized and we quickly realized what ‘africa time’ really means. We’d show up one morning and ask where we could help. ‘Do you feel comfortable teaching 7th grade science? The class is ready for you now.’ ‘Um, sure. Could i have some time to review their book first?’ We would finish teaching a subject then get thrown from 7th grade science into 5th grade math, then 3rd grade english and so on. I was teaching the 6th graders about water pollution and conservation one day and just had to laugh at the content of their books. First of all, these kids are all masai meaning they speak masai. If they go to school they have to learn english because exams are in english, then they learn kiswah ili as well. I can only imagine how frustrating school must be for these kids. So, i have a funny accent and am dialoguing with them about water pollution which is an issue they seem to understand pretty well. When we got to the part about conservation i saw a section in their book about water treatment plants and just started laughing imagining how and with what body language i was going to explain that one to their wide-eyed faces. Everyday on the mara was a beautiful adventure. We hit many road blocks and frustrations and found joy in the faces of so many people we met. OS will be lifelong friends and brothers as they not only protected and aided us but showed us a side of Africa through conversation and laughter that cannot be seen through safari bus windows and cannot be heard from the mouths of corrupt officials.

I apologize. There are so many stories and insights running through my mind it’s difficult to organize them and throw them down on this keyboard. During our day in Nairobi we are relaxing and taking care of some errands. Keli re-braided her hair, we’re finally able to check and reply to e-mails and we’re feeling very brave and adventurous as we wander the streets of downtown nairobi. We’ll jump on a bus headed north to Mt. Kenya tomorrow hoping to hang glide around the rift valley. We’ll be in Meru for a Kenyan wedding on Saturday and Sunday, then will come back to Nairobi before heading north again. This time for a 3 day rafting trip on a class 4 with an outfitter that does business with NRS. It will be the first time both Keli and I have been on an outfitted multi-day trip and is funny because neither of us have the necessary apparel. We’ll survive.

Hopefully we can do another post before we leave for Tanzania. Thank you for all your e-mails and thoughts and prayers.

May you be filled full and fulfilled today

Emily (and Keli)