Day Two - Kenyan Roads Don't Let You Forget You Are a Woman

We had a wonderful breakfast at the Mount Kenya Leisure Lodge. This place looks like it could serve hundreds of people yet we are the only ones here. Many tourists have cancelled their trips because of the political strife. There are twice as many staff here as customers. We drove to Muthoga's primary school. The roads here are terrible. Think of the worst road you know - these are worse than that. These roads are worse than the road from one field to the next on a farm. These roads make your brain rattle inside your brain box even when you are holding on the handles inside the van. Due to fundraising efforts of people from Minnesota, a stone building is being erected. The school is the site of a farm owned by a colonial. The actual school is in the barn. Each grade is separated by rickety wood walls. Noise from each classroom will clearly carry through the walls. School was supposed to start today but was delayed because of the politics. Some parts of the country do not have the fuel needed for transportation so the kids get an extra week off. They have been on holiday since before Thanksgiving. We are introduced to the men working on the building construction. We visit with some children who are hanging around the school. We walk across the road to a hotel (bar) where a retired school teacher lives. He invites us into his garden where he has tables and chairs set up. His sons serve us bottled pop and packaged crackers. He gives us a lesson on the history of Kenya up to and including modern politics. Later the men who are working on the school come over for tea and bread. We all chat and I feel very welcome. The teacher talks about his income. He is getting by on about a dollar a day per person in his household. He has a wife, two married sons, a daughter, and some grandchildren. Suddenly I feel so very humble. Why am I drinking this man's soda and eating his cookies? My traveling companions share their books about Kenya with me. In one of the books I read that visits to Kenyan homes can be humbling because the less they have, the more anxious they are to share with you. Yeah, that rings true for me. I brought some solar calculators and pens to donate to the school. Other people brought things too. One of the construction workers has two very small children with him. At first we think his wife has died. We learn she didn't die but left him to go home to her parents after a disagreement. She is not allowed to take the children with her. If she doesn't come back for a week, he will send his village elders to visit her family to negotiate her return. He might have to give her family a goat to show his sincerity. I can tell he isn't comfortable with us talking about his situation. After leaving the school we visit Muthoga's family home and meet his mother, his sister, and some nieces and nephews. The compound has a beautifully painted gate. There are four buildings. One building is the kitchen. They are boiling water over a wood fire to make us some hot chocolate. Another building is a living room and bedroom. We sit in the living room on beautiful furniture with embroidered linen. There is room for 10 people to sit. On the wall is a picture of a Korean baby with a soccer ball and an inspirational quote. I see another picture with an elephant and a inspirational quote. We had a great morning. We head back over the bumpy roads to the lodge for lunch. Then we go to Sweetwater Game Refuge - home of Jane Goodall's chimpanzees. Our van has a pop up roof so we can stand and look out to see zebra, warthog families, gazelles, water bucks, giraffe, white rhino and cape buffalo. At one glance I can see 6 different species with Mount Kenya in the background. The wildlife is absolutely amazing. We stop to pet the black rhino, Moroni. I told my doctor I would not pet any wild animals but I do. Moroni is eating and there is a Kenyan park ranger standing right there with a gun so I think it is safe. Moroni has very rough skin. The chimpanzees were all behind barbed wire. When we left Sweetwater, we crossed the equator. There is a sign marking the equator and we stop at the little shop. A man named Joseph gives us a physics lesson on the Coriolis effect. He has a pitcher of water and bowl with a hole in the bottom. He goes 15 meters north of the equator and fills the bowl with water and throws a twig in. The twig spins as the water empties from the bowl. He does the same thing 15 meters south of the equator and the twig spins in the other direction. He repeats his experiment exactly on the equator and the twig doesn't spin either way - it just sits there as the water drains out. I am totally fascinated. I am so impressed that I pay 200 shillings for an officially stamped paper saying I was at the equator. We head back over the bumpy roads and my head is pounding. Is it the malaria medication making my head hurt or is the bumpy roads? Kenyan roads don't let you forget you are a woman. Thank goodness for my high impact sport bra.