Feasts and Riots

Hi All!

Sorry for the bombardment of posts. There was a storm, which isn’t very favorable for relying on solar panels to charge our electronics. But here you go!

This past weekend was amazing. We went to Auindo, which is about 3 1/2 hours away from Matoso. We ordered a private car because the public transport is also what carries the fish for the 2 hours to Migori. It was so hot and I was so grateful that we paid the extra $4USD to have our own “luxury car.” Well, it wasn’t really a car so much as it was a minivan. A minivan that had to fit 18 people and their overnight bags. That was quite the experience. We were jam packed in!

The ride was worth it. We went to another one of Semi’s really amazing friend’s houses. Her name is Jane. She worked for the BBC in London and was also involved in journalism in Japan. She is so well traveled and smart. It was so refreshing to meet a progressive and proactive African woman. Her whole house is green. She gets her water from the earth. I don’t know exactly all of the technology, but she essentially drilled down until water. Solar panels and a windmill power her house. Everything she eats, she grows. She has four fishponds, cattle, goats, lamb, chickens and turkeys.

She gladly opened her house up to 18 people. To me, that speaks volumes. Ontop of that, she had a full banquet for us. Literally, a rain tent with tables and chairs covered with beautiful linens. We ate like kings that night. I have never been so well fed in my life! Well, in the past 4 weeks.

It was great! I used a REAL toilet that flushes. I took a shower with running water. I slept inside a home. I could not believe all of the effort that she put into having guests.

It made me reevaluate my standards for hosting!

This week should be really interesting. I went to Migori on Monday. There was a riot. I was pretty scared. People were so angry and outraged. All I could hear people yelling was, “this is how we do things in Africa.” That in itself was frightening. Then to top it off, people were putting up roadblocks…and we were stuck! Our car was stuck in the middle of it all. As it turns out, there was a really bad accident and a few people died. There is a lack of driving laws throughout Kenya. People go as fast as they want and yield to no one. The community was so sick of people speeding through their town that they decided to stop traffic and create cement speed bumps. The two hour drive took us an extra 2 hours because we were trying to take the ONE back road, which everyone else was on. It was quite the experience! I am so glad everything turned out well.

That is all for now!

Love to you all!