Moore Family Blog |
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Friday, December 31, 2004
Kisumu, Uganda border, JinjaWe skipped a Luo cultural museum in the morning so that we'd have plenty of time to cross the Uganda border. Good thing we skipped the museum because the border crossing ended up being an almost two-hour ordeal. An entrepreneurial young man named Victor helped us navigate the crossing. He talked with a few officials, got some documents, and told us where to go next. We ended up paying him $7 for his labor, which included a bribe for an official who overlooked a missing document. When an official looked at our passports to stamp us out of Kenya, he found that Daddy's visa expired! He kindly overlooked the overstay with no bribe. We had another problem with our papers, though. We didn't have the original car log, which is a log of the ownership history of the car. The border officials want the original log book to make sure we don't leave Kenya with one car and enter with another. Victor said he bribed the official to overlook our missing log book.[ We bought Uganda visas for $30 each. Jay saw that student visas are only $20 each so she got $10 * 2 = $20 back from the visa seller. Victor bought us a Uganda road license for the pickup for $20. A Uganda official told us that we needed to buy car insurance for $50. Jay talked with him and he halved the fee to $25 for two-week insurance instead of $50 for one-month insurance. In the end, we crossed the border for $145 in official fees and $7 in "border helper" fees. Jay did most of the talking and negotiating at the border. Daddy was with her but let her speak because the male officials were likely to be kinder to a girl. While Jay and Daddy walked around getting papers, Mommy and I guarded our bags in the car. Mommy spoke with two boys selling bananas. One said he hadn't sold anything in two days so he hadn't eaten. He gets beaten if he eats his own bananas. Mommy gave him and his friend a few hard-boiled eggs with salt. As we drove off from the border into Uganda, we saw menacing clouds, so we brought in the bags from the back and piled them on us in the car to keep them dry. The drive to Jinja scared me. One pothole was so big I thought we'd get stuck or get a flat or break an axle. Everyone screamed but we came out fine. Daddy forced some oncoming traffic to the side of the road when he passed a car. An aggressive bus driver passed us a few times. I finally gave up trying to help us avoid hazards and closed my eyes. We arrived in Jinja, a little town on Lake Victoria at the source of the Nile River. We stayed in the Hotel Triangle and got another beautiful view of the lake. We saw lots of bats flying and hanging from the trees. (0) comments Thursday, December 30, 2004
Ewaso Ngiro, Narok, Kericho, KisumuI had a hot shower this morning! I ate a scone for breakfast. Mommy washed my clothes and I wrung them out and hanged them to dry. We drove into Narok. Daddy visited a clinic with John, and Mommy and Jay and I went to a local market. We bought more Masai bead souvenirs: belts, bracelets, and baskets. We also bought a plastic tub, a knife, four pineapples, and sandals made of rubber tires ("giniara"). We drove many hours through Kericho to Kisumu. Kericho is a tea-plantation town like Nazareth. We stopped for gas but didn't spend the night. We carried a couple hitchhikers for an hour. We stopped to buy roasted corn and a father asked us, "Will you please take my two children?" So we took his 14-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son. Not a lot of other countries would trust strangers with their children. When we hit Kisumu, I jumped out and rode in the back of the pickup to guard the bags. We were moving slowly through a crowded market and were worried that someone would snatch a bag as we passed. We stayed at the Sunset Hotel, in a top-floor room with a beautiful view of Lake Victoria. Expensive--$65--but comfortable and beautiful. We visited Jegatha and Raj, an Indian couple that has been working in Kenya for 20 years. We know them through the nuns of Nazareth. Raj is a tax accountant and Jegatha is the principal of a private school. Raj said that the Kenyans he works with are lazy. Analogy: "If I point out a cobweb, my coworker will clean that cobweb. If I point to another, he'll clean that one. Where I stop pointing, he stops cleaning." He said that Kenya is a beautiful country with great natural resources and has the potential to be "heaven on earth." We saw on the news at Raj's house that more than 100,000 people died in the tsunami. Unbelievable. Jegatha told us of her visit to Lake Turkana, a remote part of northern Kenya. The people who live there are half naked and use a barter system. Some missionaries (Indian sisters and Irish priests) run a local hospital. When a local needs a big surgery, he brings a camel. A small surgery brings a goat and a lesser visit brings firewood. The missionaries are careful not to tell a patient's family that he is sick or might die because the locals think death brings bad luck. If locals think someone is dying, they'll put him out in the forest to get eaten by hyenas so that he doesn't tarnish their house with death. (0) comments Wednesday, December 29, 2004
Masai Mara, William's Masai village, Ewaso Ngiro, NarokWe went on a morning game drive from 6:30 to 9:15. We watched lions mating for most of the drive--more than an hour continuously watching. One couple mated in the road several times, surrounded by 10 safari vans. We drove out of the Mara to William's Masai village. William is an educated Masai helping his village with health, water, and school via foreigner funding. Daddy knows William through Marty Graber, a 72-year-old who has worked for the past 20 years with the Masai. Marty asked Daddy and the CDC for funding. William and Moses showed us around their village. Moses is also educated. For the past 14-16 years, since 24, he has represented his community/village to the Kenya government. He carries a wooden scepter to show his status. Moses showed us where they are building a well. The well will make life much easier. Now, they walk an hour each way, over a hill, to fetch water. Moses took us inside his boma, which is a Masai house made of cow dung and sticks. The boma had a few "windows," which were 1 foot x 1 foot holes in the cow dung. The boma was tiny. I had to turn sideways to get in, and I couldn't stand up straight inside. It was almost pitch black--no light but the fire to heat the place. The fire had no chimney. The smoke was so thick that it hurt to open my eyes or take a deep breath. Jay saw 10 one-inch-long cockroaches on the wall. Goats sleep inside at night to keep warm. I'm amazed that Moses's daughter and mother spend much of the day in the dark, small, smoky boma. Moses's daughter has minor epilepsy. He's worried about her "fainting" once or twice a year and so asked Daddy whether it was a heart or brain problem. Daddy advised Moses to get a CT scan. We played with the Masai children all over Moses's village. They greet you by offering you their head. You're supposed to put your hand on their head. Each child has one set of clothes that they wear always. Many clothes and shoes are coming apart. Many are barefoot. The kids are playful and seem happy. They did a ceremonial chant and dance for us. They gathered around our cameras again and went wild looking at themselves. One of them touched my arm as if to see whether I was real. Flies are in most kids' eyes and mouths. They spread infection. One kid had an eye infection and another had a lip infection. The kids care for each other. An older girl shielded the infected eye of a younger girl. Moses has one wife but will marry two or three more. He needs multiple wives to care for the children and livestock. Traditional Masai make big holes in their ear lobes, but the educated Masai don't. William had droopy ears but had them sewn up before he went to the city for school. He said that non-Masai will tie the Masai's ear tot he bed while they're sleeping. Moses said that water is the highest priority for the village. Then health, then school. If they build a school, which costs $4000, the government will provide teachers. The safari van left us in William's village and we transferred our bags to a pickup that we're borrowing from Marty for the next couple weeks to go to Uganda. We drove from William's village to Ewaso Ngiro with our bags in the back and got hit with a torrential downpour that lasted an hour. The muddy road became a river and our bags got soaked. We arrived at the Ewaso Ngiro clinic where Masai John is caring for Masai. We hung our clothes to dry. John said that this was the first rain in six months. Masai sometimes tell their age in terms of droughts. "I was born during the drought of '74." Droughts kill lots of cattle. There seems to be a drought every 6-10 years. We drove to the nearby town of Narok to have dinner with John and his family. They were celebrating their daughter Sharon's birthday. Grace is John's wife and Sharon (12), Amanda (6), and Maximillian (9) are their children. Julius is their driver. The restaurant was insanely slow. It took hours to make barbecue chicken and french fries. Julius and Grace took Mommy and Jay and me into town and we bought Masai-beaded bracelets, belts, and keychains. The guest house has a hot shower, clean outhouse, and clean beds! We've been sleeping at 8-9 pm. (0) comments Tuesday, December 28, 2004
Masai MaraWe had omelettes, crepes, and toast for breakfast. All-day game drive today: saw lions, cheetahs (!), hippos, crocodiles, zebras, impalas, monkeys, and baboons. We saw two lion couples mating from just 20 feet away! The male and female were lying next to each other. Seems like they do that most of the day. The female got up and stretched and then signaled to the male by prostrating herself. The male mounted for just a few seconds. Then they roared, the male jumped off, and the female rolled on her back. We saw two females near the two couples. The guide said that the two females were waiting to mate with the male. I guess they were a pride. Before lunch we visited a muddy river and saw hippos submerged and crocodiles sunning themselves on the banks. The gazelles and impalas are beautiful. They're so clean. We had lunch at the same place as other vans because there was water and a toilet there. The monkeys know it's a lunch spot and are quite aggressive. Our guide had a stick or rock in hand the whole lunch. After lunch we saw a mother cheetah and her three cubs! We stayed with them for half an hour. They climbed onto dirt mounds and gazed across the plains. They are thin! Saw elephants from about 30 feet. Bathing in river, destroying brush. We got to know Simon better today. Simon is the head Masai at this camp. He speaks english. He has four wives. He is 28 and his fourth and youngest wife is 15. Simon gave his father-in-law 20 cows for his youngest wife. Simon has 5+6+1 = 12 children! Daddy offered Simon an HIV test just now. You take a cheek swab and 10 minutes later you know whether you're positive. Simon declined the HIV test and said that he'll bring his wives and get tested all together. (0) comments Monday, December 27, 2004
Nazareth, Masai MaraJay and I couldn't sleep from 3 am to when we finally got up at 6. Still jetlagged. Drove to Masai Mara in pop-top minivan with driver, cook, and mother and son. Beautiful descent into plains ("Mara"). Dropped camera and broke it at lookout. Lesson: be careful exchanging camera; bring extra. Ate tasty roasted corn at lookout. Ana is single mother to son Mandela. She's 32, he's 11. She never married his father, which is common in Kenya. "Don't rely on them," she said, "because they will disappoint you." It's hard to distinguish Kenyans. While we were having lunch in Narok, Daddy called his friend "William" and asked him to come see us. Daddy met him downstairs and brought him up to where we were having lunch. "This is William," said Daddy. Mommy introduced herself: "I'm Wan. You are William?" "No, I'm Daniel," he replied. A "Who's On First"-like exchange ensued. It turned out that this guy was a complete stranger! He had lent his cell phone to William to call Daddy, which is why Daddy thought he called William. Daniel kindly came out to meet us even though he had no idea who we were. Kenya has 50 % unemployment. And that's just counting the people looking for work. We stopped in a tiny village and played with the Masai children. My camera and Jay's video camera (both digital) fascinated them. We went on an evening game drive and saw gazelles, lions, wildebeest, giraffe, and buffalo, but no leopard. We drove through terrain that you wouldn't expect a two-wheel-drive minivan to go, but the leopard eluded us. The "Big 5" that people like to see in the Mara are: lion, giraffe, rhino, leopard, and buffalo. We have yet to see the leopard and rhino. In the evening we sat around a fire and talked with a few young Masai males. They are the security for the camp. They patrol at night for lions. We had spaghetti for dinner and slept in two tents--the semi-permanent kind, like in Yosemite Housekeeping Camp. Bright, full moon at night. (0) comments Sunday, December 26, 2004
Nairobi, NazarethToured house with Edward. He's one of 14 children. 20 years old. Came from countryside. Works with father as car mechanic, gardener. Doesn't get paid. Father, Simon, gets $50 a month. More than half of Kenya lives on less that $1 a day. Mom bargained with vendor for mangos. They all speak english. Drove up to Nazareth hospital. Passed billboard of Kenyan Nobel Peace Prize 2004 winner who says AIDS is fabricated by whites to kill and exploit Africans. Had lunch with Nuns at Nazareth. They're from India. Many from Madras. Saw 30-year-old female AIDS patient in coma. Emaciated, tube up nose, teeth coated with something. Should have been on ARVs since August when she got sick. Probably could be walking around today but now has only a few weeks. Her husband died of AIDS in March. Daddy used to make rounds in Nazareth hospital for 3 months. Got close to 17-year-old Rwandan who escaped genocide. Parents escaped to Uganda, evacuated to Belgium, France. Egide ("iggidy") escaped overland to Kenya. Got sent to Nazareth because of AIDS. Very sick. Daddy put him on ARVs and he walked out. Daddy saw him working in Nairobi and said, "I can't believe you're still alive!" He said he felt great. Two months later he died. Mommy has built so much at the hospital! Colorful benches, shelters, swings, slide. It was visiting day today and people were sitting under the shelters. Daddy took me on a motorbike to see countryside. Everywhere is tea. Beautiful green hills. Everyone waves and says hello. Visited Edith. 92 years old from England. Spent whole life in Kenya. Speaks Queen's English. "It's horrible what they've done with the language in England today!" Edith was here when the British colonized Kenya. She *was* the British! She almost got carjacked 10 days ago on her way to Nairobi. An oncoming car stopped her and pulled out a gun. She went into reverse, they pursued. She thought she was going into a ditch so she stopped. They stopped too, but they left just enough space for her to get by. She thinks she might have hit their open door as she passed. "Good thing they didn't get off a shot," I said. "I don't think the gun was loaded," she said. Not only can the 92-year-old woman drive--she escaped a carjacking! Mommy cooked oyster-sauce chicken and curry for dinner. (0) comments Saturday, December 25, 2004
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