Tuesday 1 January 2008

My Visit to Kenya [Part II] - Trip to Kisii

The coast of Kenya, or at least the bit where I was, is beautiful. The beach is white coral sand protected from the Indian Ocean by a coral reef.

But it is hot. I could not stand the heat. I had to spend most of the day in the shade unless there was a strong breeze.

Even so, the two weeks passed too quickly and I found myself on the overnight coach back to Nairobi.

Nairobi is soooo cool. Everything is relative.

More meetings, phone calls and business followed. These included arranging a visit to Kisii to see the orphanage that I am representing.

The director of ACIS decided to come too, which meant we could use his car. That wa a blessing - I had seen enough of public transport.

We set off on Saturday after a lot of what I can only describe as faffing around. We eventually left Nairobi at about 10:30. Driving along the New Naivasha Road, we climbed and climbed. The Rift Valley was to our left and the foothills to the Aberdare Mountains on the right. We stopped at a viewpoint and got out of the car.

For the first time since my arrival in Kenya, I had to put my fleece on. It was bitterly cold, but then, we were at 8,000 ft and in the clouds. Despite this, we could see into the Rift Valley, Mount Suswa standing out like a beacon.

We were soon on our way again and descending rapidly into the Valley. It was soon hot and dusty - and the road was atrocious. If this was the New Naivasha Road, what is the old one like?

We passed through Nakuru and made for Kericho. We ate grilled corn cobs on the move as we were running late. At Kericho, we made our first stop. It was fabulous. It had rained recently so the dust had settled, the air was cool. We drank tea and relaxed for a while, talking to the locals.

Then, onto the lat phase of this trip, up to Sotik, then across to Kisii. We were met in the town centre by Vincent, the directo of the home, and he directed us to the home of his Pastor, who was putting us up for the night.

After a wash and a meal, we were taken to an annexe where some of the orphans were living.

As I entered, one little boy, Jospehat, who I recognised from photographs, took one look at me and fell off his stool. Josephat is only four years old and had never seen a close up mzungu.

Still, he soon regained his composure and planted himself on my lap to eat his supper.