Two months and counting

As of this afternoon, we have been in Eldoret for two months. We are starting to feel like we are settling in, but there are still some unsettling or unusual experiences we have to deal with on a regular basis. Matt was driving through downtown El.doret yesterday, and he is starting to get used to the feel of driving in Kenya. However, there is no sense of common courtesy on the road, it is pretty much everyone for himself (and every chicken, goat, and cow for that matter). As Matt turned right to go down one of the main streets of Eldoret, two cars behind him turning right didn't just follow him - they passed him in the intersection as people, cows, and goats dodged the oncoming traffic. However, that wasn't an isolated incident. The same thing happened about eight times before he got back to the house (and Matt is not normally a conservative or slow driver by US standards - he has quite a collection of speeding tickets in the past thirty years to prove that).

What slows drivers down here in Kenya is not the goats, cows, pedestrians, cars, or even the police, but speed bumps and pot holes, and lots of them I might add. On a one mile stretch of road leading out of Eldoret, one would usually encounter about 25 speed bumps and about 200 pot holes. What usually keeps the mechanics around here pretty busy are broken axles, worn shock absorbers, and bent wheel rims. The tire shops also do a pretty good busy with tires being constantly out of balance.

Earlier this week, Cheryl took a road trip to Kisumu to pick up passports for two of the babies at the house, Belle and Esther. Kisumu is approximately 75 miles from Eldoret but it took about 3 hours to get there (apparently there are quite a few more of those speed bumps and potholes on the road to Kisumu). She left Eldoret at 6:30AM with a car full of people including Ruth who was holding one of the babies, Roselyn, who works as the local child sponsorship director for Open Arms in Kenya, Levi who also works with Open Arms and was driving the car, and a local immigration officer from Eldoret, along with two babies. Actually seven people (albeit two of them being babies) is actually a fairly uncrowded vehicle by Kenyan standards. Kenyans, as well as many other Africans, have taken car pooling to a new level.

After a long day at the immigration office, and a quick glance at Lake Victoria (a first for Cheryl)the five people and two babies clambored back in the vehicle for the long road trip back to Eldoret. Along the way, Roselyn mentioned she needed to drop something off to some relatives of hers just off the main road, which in Kenyan really meant that they needed to drive on a side dirt road for 30 minutes and drink Chai tea for an hour. They arrived back at home in Eldoret very tired at 7:30PM that night and grateful for some dinner and sleep.

In spite of the driving in Kenya, or maybe sometimes because of it, there are a lot of things we love about being here. The people are wonderful, the scenery is spectacular, the climate is perhaps the best in the world (it was sunny and 75 degrees today), and we love spending time with the babies and the children at the village. We hope that things are well back in cold rainy Oregon, where the car pooling is less crowded, and the drivers are a little more courteous.

Matt and Cheryl