Sunday December 22, 2013
Travel! Today we made our journey from Nairobi to Muhuru Bay, the site of Kristy’s Cape Academy. The school is on the shores of Lake Victoria, near the borders of Tanzania and Uganda in western Kenya. The day started with furious packing. The weight limit on each bag is 50 pounds. Each one of us brought extra baggage full of supplies for students. We also made purchases in Nairobi, and now we had about 600 pounds of cargo in our 12 bags!
We crammed into two vans and made it to the airport. Upon checking in, we were told that the weight limit was actually 45 pounds—which meant our bags were overweight. Fortunately, Kristy was able to convince the airline that since we were international travelers, the weight limit should be 50 pounds. Crisis adverted.
The flight to Kisumu is about one hour. Upon arrival, we were met by Simon (headmaster of Kristy’s Cape Academy) and Kennedy, our driver for the week. We then had to pack ourselves and all of our gear into an 11-passenger van. This was quite an ordeal, given that we had eight people, 12 large bags as well as backpacks and carry-on items. After some Kenyan ingenuity, we were able to fit everything and everyone into or on top of the van.
The next seven or eight hours we spent driving on the rough roads between Kisumu and Muhuru Bay. This type of driving is not for
the faint of heart. We arrived at Simon’s house around 9PM. Simon lives in a new house, which is large and modern by Kenyan standards. Though he has several rooms, there is no running water or electricity. Fortunately, we had several PBK samples that would let us light our rooms and recharge our devices. Simon and his wife Pendo are gracious hosts, cooking us dinner and making us as comfortable as possible.
I suspect that nobody had trouble sleeping after that long journey.
