First order of business is to book flights to Kigali, Rwanda for Friday. I found out you can't book tickets online for persons under eighteen. The solution was to walk 25 minutes down the road to the YaYa mall and the Kenya Airways outlet. I love walking and there are lots of interesting people along the way! Well, we ended up walking past the mall for about 10 minutes and got directions to go back to the main intersection. Of course, we remembered that. It was the major intersection with no lights, no 4-way stops, no obvious procedures and where traffic just went in to the center and jostled and blew horns to bully their way through. By the time we got back, there was a policeman and a civilian frantically waving their arms to get the traffic moving again. And a bus trying to make a u-turn in the middle of it all. We stood there for a few minutes watching the chaos unfold. That's probably what distracted us from seeing the mall when we went by the first time.
The mall is new and shiny, and six storeys tall. To enter, you are met by two guards, who use one of those airport security wands to detect metal and you have to empty your pockets of everything that sets off the alarm. We found the Kenya Airways office and were able to secure the tickets we needed. Then we went and had breakfast at the Java House. Very fine breakfast at a very reasonable price. We checked for the date and time of the Masai Market which we had heard about earlier. We strolled through the mall window shopping and planning on coming back with more shillings. An interesting expat who has lived in Kenya for 45 years had some personal perspectives to share with us. When she found out we were going to Rwanda, she insisted we go see the mountain gorillas. She had been within 20 feet of a huge silverback for an hour on her trip there and refused to leave with her tour group until she was satisfied with her visit. The cost was $700 each. We thought we should just hike in through the mountains and see them for ourselves without the wardens. You should have seen her face! Priceless. As we left the mall, we stopped to thank the security guards for their thorough work in making us feel safe while we relaxed at breakfast.
Back to the flat and past the Kenyan cooking show on our lane. We saw how they were washing their eating bowls, so went to the flat and got a tin server for the ugale and a bowl for the meat and veggie relish and asked Joel, the gate keeper, to go and buy some for us. He would know which vendor to go to. So we had ugale (oo-gawl-ee) for lunch! The taste, the texture, the one-handed procedure for forming the ball and impressing your thumb to make a spoon-like depression with which to scoop up some relish and put it into your mouth brought back many memories. It was so good!
While waiting for Bishop Stephen, we unpacked and sorted out things for the school and the orphanage. We heard kids playing on the other side of the security fence. It sounded like a school yard so we went in search of the entrance. Out our security gate and through the neighboring security gate, getting permission from the gate keeper, we found kids. We had taken a handful of the really bouncy balls and showed the kids how to bounce them off the ground and about 20 feet into the air. Well, there were kids running in every direction trying to catch the erratic balls as they bounced every which way. Then in the chase one of the boys stepped on the back of a sandal of a little girl and she went down hard on the broken tarmac, tearing out the knee in her slacks and skinning her knee quite badly. So much fun suddenly came to an end. Five balls were still going, but the girl was on the ground crying. We hadn't brought slacks or trousers with us, but I went back to our flat and found a fancy white t-shirt with glitter, went and asked for her as she had gone into one of the apartments. Lavalee came out without her pink slacks and wearing a hijab and bare legs. I examined her road-rash which looked painful. I apologized for causing such a commotion that resulted in her being hurt, sorry I couldn't replace her slacks, but would she accept a gift to make up for it. She smiled and said yes and thank you. Branden almost lost his camera as children wanted to see it and he learned how quickly and easily it could be grabbed and gone. Now we have to face 64 orphans who all want a piece of whatever we have to give. I think we will involve the orphanage staff to keep chaos under control when the time comes. Good insight for Branden as to how quickly we can instigate a riot, a revolution and a ruckus!
Eventually, Bishop Stephen arrived and we visited for an hour and made plans for our schedule as he still had a part to play in the conference as the plenary speaker tomorrow. We will start on Sunday afternoon.
It was now approaching 5:30 pm and time to go for supper. Branden and I struck out in the same direction as the Fairview Hotel because there had been another Java House along the way. We were stopped along the way by a sock salesman, so I bought a pair of cotton socks for about $1.85 and we chatted for awhile about Canada and snow. It took awhile for our orders to come and darkness was falling only as it does in Africa, like a curtain! It was raining and dark when we left the restaurant and the sidewalks are neither wheelchair friendly nor pedestrian friendly. There are many tripping hazards and cavernous holes where storm drain covers are missing and then watching out for cars and thugs hiding in the darkness. No streetlights to speak of, only vehicle lights if they are not glaring in your face. Branden has a theory that if you walk along cracking jokes, the Africans will smile and the white smile will immediately give them away in the darkness. So we chat it up with the people in the road side market who are now packing up their fruits and vegetables and flowers. We ask them if it is going to rain and they retort vehemently that it IS raining. Oh, "yanera pura", which is Chibemba for "It's raining", that I learned in Zambia. Then they teach me the Kiswahili expression with another comment which I wasn't supposed to understand. So I just replied back, "Inkoko" (chicken) and they breakout in peels of laughter. Now we can see them! We were wet but warm when we arrived back at the flat. Still about 24 degrees, even in the rain. Time to wind down for the night now. It's nightfall for us and your day is just starting back in BC. Have a great day!
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