A village a day...

In an attempt to not leave anyone out on this trip, I traveled to Kisii, Kisumu, Nyaoga and Kagamega in four days. This is no small feat. I also drove about 200 km of the trip in a manual car in and out of the Rift Valley. Yes, you could say I was bragging. I loved it. Still haven't gotten up the nerve or had the opportunity to drive in Nairobi.

Judie and I and my friend Julius (whose car we traveled in) left for Kisii Monday morning. We arrived in Kisii Monday afternoon and went to see Buddha. He was initially very reserved. But the old Buddha came back in no time. He's such a great kid. And his Daddy said he would like Buddha to go to high school in the states which makes my parents very happy! We spent the night with Buddha at his father Josiah's house. Then we took Buddha to school in the morning and continued on to Kisumu... I think I may have already blogged about this... anyway... we met my friend Dorothy Awino for lunch in Kisumu. She took us to a lakeside cafe on the Shore of Lake Victory.  It wasn't much to look at but whole fish is one of my most favorite things in the whole world and it was phenomenal. Dorothy is an activist. She has about 7 jobs. Each of which she does will so much grace and resolve you would think she gives it all her attention.

We took her to a meeting in the afternoon because her car was in the shop and then stopped to check into the Green View Guesthouse in Kisumu East which is right around the corner from where Sally and Elijah (GUW Kenyan staff) stay when they are in Kisumu. When we got back into town Mary Steiner and the rest of the GUW volunteers and staff had arrived in town so we went to meet them. They were having trouble finding accommodations so we hung out with them until they finally got rooms at the Sunset Hotel. It's supposed to be fancy, but it's government run and reminds me of the communist presence in Cuba. Bare essentials.

While the wingers were meeting and settling in Judie, Julius and I went with Joe Nyagah (who does transport for Mary) and is my good friend... I stay with him and his wife Wawira in Nairobi) went to have drinks at the Kiboko Bay Resort down the roadaways from the Sunset Hotel. Talk about the opposite extreme in accommodations. It was beautiful. If I ever have a decent amount of money, I'm going to stay there for at least one night. It was so amazing. The rooms are tented... it's so romantic.  Then we went back to the Sunset for dinner with the GUW gang where Mary and I discussed what photos and video she wanted me to take in Tororo and then we took Sally and Elijah home on our way to Greenview.

On Wednesday we headed out for Nyaoga. I drove from Katito to Nyaoga through Kendu Bay. Yes ME!
We arrived around 11 a.m. did some laundry and had a snack and then headed out to visit people in the village. I first visited a dani (grandmother) that lived in the same compound with Auntie Jane, one of the GUW members who died this year. No one else was home in the compound because it was market day, so we kept going. We saw Margaret and her twin grandaughter's Mary and Molly who are about 6 months old. We made a big circle around the village, I was able to spend time with Nick who is the husband another GUW member, Rose who died last year. Milka and Nina were home and we gossiped about the goings on in the village. Then I ran into Bernard whose children I'd seen earlier. He was widowed to years ago. Both he and Nick are HIV positive and on ARV's and doing well. Then Bernard went and found James, whose wife Everlyne I've blogged about before. My family helped me take her back to high school. She got pregnant in high school and had four children before going back to school. She is now in college and we are all so proud of her. She never stopped believing she would return to school. She interpreted for me when I did GUW surveys in Nyaoga and we have become like sisters... maybe too much so...she told her husband that the only way he could have a second wife was if it was me. Yikes. James took me to their new home. They built on the land James inherited. He said he plans to build a bigger house their someday soon, with a room for me and another one for Everlyn...oye veh! That wasn't our last stop for the night. We still had to visit Justina, Charles Omondi's grandmother. She is 80 something and is the sole caregiver of 9 year old Charles who is a somewhat wild child. He would make a great street boy, and that is precisely what we are trying to avoid.
The plan with Justina's okay, is to take him to live with Grace Kingatua in Ngong. She runs an orphanage and she and her husband have righted the paths of many a wayward youth. We of course have to figure all of this out in the next week...as it is my parents that will pay his school fees and my availability to transport him from Nyaoga to Ngong that will determine our schedule.

Thursday we stopped to see Everlyn at university in Kagamega and then headed back to Nairobi. Driving was fun but I was plum tuckered out by the time we reached Joe and Wawira's about 9 p.m. Every time I am exhausted Judie is talkative. She chatters away at me and then gets put out when I can't carry on a conversation... I can't understand how she is never tired! Anyway, someone else's home never felt so good after four day of a different bed every night.