Tidbits...truth is stranger than fiction!

Two chairs: I mentioned to Charles, my Kenyan son, I was hoping he could come live with me in Ngong instead of at the farm where he stays now because there is no room for him where I stay. He said, “Mom, two chairs.” What he meant was that I could push to chairs together and he could sleep on them. Dear God, I love that kid! I hope living with an 11-year-old boy won’t make me crazy, but even if it does. All I need to remember are those two sweet words – two chairs.

Bald and Beautiful: Last Saturday I went to the farm to spend the day with the kids. I brought them two art projects. I wanted Ian, Grace’s grandson, who happens to be a great artist, to make a stenciled alphabet for my classroom in Ilkiloret and I needed some art for my room in Ngong, so the rest of the kids drew me pictures and then helped color in the stenciled letters. Then we had lunch and I met with Grace. While we were meeting I mentioned that a number of the kids needed their heads shaved. Grace said there was a barber in Kimuka and I could walk down to the kinyozi (barber shop) with whoever wanted to go. So 15 minutes later I was headed down the road with 9 kids in tow. We took before and after pictures and played along the way, singing, dancing and skipping our way home. The next day in Ngong I met a taxi driver I know who said. “I saw you yesterday, skipping down the road with little girls under both arms,” he said. “You looked like you were having a blast.”

“It was pure bliss!” I said.

More snakes: Two new snake sightings in two days. Was on the way home from Ilkiloret on Thursday when my pikipiki driver pulled over to point out a very large cobra about 30 feet behind us on the side of the road. The next day Veronica, who rents a room in the Kingatua compound, but is only there a month or so of the year, was home for a rare visit. She opened her door and flipped her light switch but the bulb was burnt out. She saw something black on a ledge on the wall and didn't remember leaving anything there so she nudged it with the end of a mop and it moved by itself. Veronica appeared at our door and said simply, "SNAKE!"

It escaped but without a light bulb in her room Veronica slept on the couch in my living room. We discussed Ruth, who lives in my living room, moving into her room so it doesn't stay vacant and thus seem welcoming to undesirable guests. Which solves two problems, because then Charles, my son can move in with me!

New friends: Have randomly said hi to a young man who keeps popping up in my life. Today I finally sat down and had a cup of tea with him. He talked incessantly so I didn’t get to ask a lot of questions. He’s a runner – no surprise in Ngong, but he’s a sprinter/short distance runner, not a marathoner. He’s training for the world junior championships in Barcelona in 2012. His name is Mohamed Hassan or Hassan Mohamed - not quite sure, but like I said couldn’t get a word in the monologue. He’s one of the most positive people I’ve ever met and I’ve actually met quite a few. He’s incredibly focused and forthright. He also is blind in his right eye. It’s actually missing completely. The reporter in me is dying to get him to shut up for 2 minutes so I can pump him for information about himself, but that will have to wait for another day.

Motorcycle Thief: Njenga was all excited when he picked me up today.

“We caught a motorcycle thief,” he said. “Motorcycles have been disappearing, but last night about 10 pm, we caught one guy in the act.”

“What happened,” I said.

“Mob justice,” Njenga replied. “He was burned.”

“He’s dead?” I ask.

“Yeah, he died.” Njenga replied.

Kenya’s don’t spend a lot of time waiting for the police to act. Mob justice is seen as a good deterent against future crimes. If you scream “thief” when someone runs off with your cell phone or your purse, and that person is caught, the least that will happen is that the thief is beaten by those who come to your rescue; depending on the severity of the crime and the demeanor of the mob that forms, and the availability of flammable materials, a thief can also meet his/her demise.


Negotiations: Not only do I have to do the normal bartering that you do here…I also have to barter down from the mzungu (foreigner) price. Luckily we used the same hardware store for most of our building needs in Ilkiloret. But when I went to see him alone (without a fundi) he started his 'different brand, prices have gone up' speech. “Pax,” I said. (Business owners are often called by the name of their business.) “I’m already over budget, but if you can give me a good quote on interior wall paint, we can talk about the price of cement.”

Pax went on to save me $50 on paint. But we will spend that on ceiling boards that the fundi, Steven, texted me today that we need more of! Lovely!!!

Steven also texted me a grocery list. There is however a small shop near Ilkiloret where they could pick most of the items they need. Why they are texting me and not asking Janet who is at the site and supposed to be helping them with whatever they need, I don’t know. I really wish common sense had been distributed more evenly.

Njenga told me as we were leaving on Thursday that the fundis working on the classroom building are afraid of me. “They want me to bring them back cigarettes but they don’t want you to know,” Njenga said. “So they finally decided they could wait.”

Anytime I can keep someone from indulging in a cancer stick brings me a certain amount of delight, but the fact that I can instill so much fear in men I barely know, gives me a serious power rush!