Amidst heavy traffic, we made our way to the bus station, which, occupying a central place in Nairobi, was already buzzing with life, huge crowds walking up and down the streets. For me it was impossible to ascertain which building was the bus station – it did not differ in any ways from the rest of the buildings. We arrived so early that we had to time to have breakfast in a nearby hotel’s restaurant. I ordered full breakfast to keep me going during the day, and it consisted of a banana, some melon and papaya. Then came a cereal stick with hot milk, an omelette with some sausage, and orange juice and tea with milk. Boohoo, some real calories!
So I boarded the bus at 8:30am, but we only left off just after 9am. It is very typical that buses do not observe their schedule – however, they always arrive on time, due to some reasons nobody seems to be able to grasp. Voi is on the Mombasa highway, which is a 2-lane asphalt road, ridden with rather slow traffic. It is the trucks that slow it down, as oftentimes they do not go faster than 30 or 40km/h, so the bus, which was a luxurious one according to Kenyan standards, had to overtake continuously these slowly moving vehicles. Quite an adventure in itself… I have seen too many near-collisions to my taste, so ultimately I stopped looking ahead and enjoyed the side-view. The bus crossed some villages here and there, the roadsides full of garbage – there is no waste collection in Kenya, so people burn everything: organic waste, plastic, glass, metal, even medicine and batteries. And this leaves traces and waste. Many Kenyans sell their products to transient traffic: onions, some citric fruits in nets, refreshments, etc. My bus did not stop at any time, only once before Voi, where the passengers could refresh themselves and have some grub. Somewhat tired of the journey and of continuously observing the countryside – beautiful hills, mountains, some zebras, baboons, and termite castles – I arrived at Voi at 3pm, where Andras and Barbara were already waiting for me. They put me in a bar near the station to look out for our luggage (including mine, of 34 kilos!) while they did their shopping around the city. They bought some vinegar to disinfect things, oil, and some tools for the garden project. In the meantime I was left alone with a bottle of Tuskan, the best and most famous Kenyan beer, which seemed quite a good pastime. Naturally, people came around to see the Hungarian stranger and talk a little, and tried to sell me some stuff like shoes, CD’s, clothes, and whatnot.
Finally, the guys came back and we boarded the renowned Matatu! This is a Nissan transporter reconverted into a bus-like thing, with 12 seats. The Matatus here only leave when they are full, so we had to wait a little (half an hour) to get the thing full. So that you have an idea, the Hungarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs advise heavily against taking the Matatu anywhere and now I understand why. The vehicle cannot be trusted, it is slow like hell (or at least this one was), battered, shabby, and some Kenyan pop music (in Swahili) is screaming all the time (or psalms). But it is not bad at all, since all of this is very cheerful – makes you feel better about betting your life for a small journey to paradise. The journey took about an hour and a half (80km distance from Voi to Bura), and we were stopping here and there to drop off or pick up passengers. When I counted mid-journey, we were around 18 in the Matatu, squeezed in like sardines in a box. Luckily I had good company to the right, a guy named Christmas who explained me the song that was booming: it was about a woman, who cheated on her husband with another husband; the first husband then tried to murder the other one, but got injured or sick in the attempt; so the woman went to the doctor to ask for help, who got her pregnant in exchange, but saved the first husband’s life. And the husband and the wife lived happily ever after. The story was much more complicated than this – more complicated than a Brazilian soap opera – but I only managed to grab this much:)
It was getting dark when we arrived to Bura Mission, and I got my first view of the Saint Joseph’s, where I am to support the experimental garden project. The orphanage is a crazy but happy place… the kids were chanting my name (thanks to Barbara and Andras who already told them about me) and hell, they are saying my name correctly! Fantastic little guys, very friendly and full of love and in need of lots of love. The orphanage itself lies in a valley, surrounded by majestic mountains, whose tops are covered in clouds the moment I write. Rainy season is saying hello. The building is made of stone, has a patio inside where the kids can play and pray. I moved in with Andras in the volunteer shack, which is a two-bed room with full comfort: we have a wellness section (a tube coming out of the wall where you can take a shower and a bucket if you want to save the water) and a loo equipped with a tap and a mirror. We have electricity, clean water (I was told water is brown here but it looks crystal clear to me), and to be fair, that is all we need.
The personnel in the orphanage are great: Sister Willy (Wilhelmina) is the boss, a lady of some 60 years of age, joyful but strict with the kids and very loving. I have also met Prudence, Clement, and some other people whose name I keep forgetting, but learning.
Food is also great; very organic and delicious. The guys here eat meat twice a week (arrived too late for that… Tuesday was the first meat-day this week) and lots of veggies: rice, spinach, beans, lentils, cabbage (sukuma wiki), tomato, kasawa, onion, all cooked into some great dishes whose names I am just learning. Chapati, a corn/wheat flour tortilla serves as bread. I miss meat though, but my vegetarian friends are gonna be proud of me I guess. Oh, and lots of fruits, especially bananas, but other stuff too.
After dinner and a welcome party Andras and Barbara threw for me, I went to bed exhausted, dreaming that I live in a village in Africa… and funnily enough, it came true:)
I managed to shrink some photos too – more are on the way!
No comments:
Post a Comment