It’s easy to get so caught up in logistics and ministry and write only about those things but as I find myself missing some sights and sounds of California I thought it would be good to write about what we see and experience everyday here. Some of our fellow missionary friends included a description in one of their newsletters about the streets of Kisumu. It was so well written I thought I would post it here. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
“Street scenes in Kisumu are beyond anything you could imagine. The crowds of people, cows, goats, pigs, huge cargo and fuel trucks, cars, matatus (passenger vans), tuk-tuks (three wheeled, three passenger vehicles with what amount to lawnmower motors), pickie-pickies (motor bikes), and boda-bodas (bicycles) all weaving in and out determined to get around whomever and whatever is in front of them is something to behold. Not to mention very stressful to drive through! Driving here is like being part of an old Keystone Cops chase scene from the movies—chaos everywhere with disaster narrowly being avoided at every moment. Boda-bodas are bicycles with a passenger seat on the back. You would not believe the things we have seen being transported on a boda. We have seen as many as four passengers. We have seen individual children so small we can’t imagine how they hang on. We have seen large pigs draped over the seat, cases of sodas (24 sodas per case) stacked up to five high, lumber, couches, roofing sheets, and even coffins. Things like wood, roofing sheets (called mabati here), couches, and coffins are strapped onto the seat, but always perpendicular to the line of travel, so they occupy 6 to 8 feet of width in the road. How many times have you had to dodge a coffin on your way to work?” The only thing I could add is the challenge of dodging many pot holes and finding speed bumps on just about every street. It is amazing that driving in the above description just becomes a way of life, though a simple drive can really tire you out."
There is so much incredible wildlife here in Kisumu; birds, monkeys, hippos, snakes, jumping spiders (though small have little pinchers), large lizards, large ants, little ants, bugs of course, as well as the typical farm animals that seem to roam wild. It is very common to hear a bird that sounds like a monkey and to hear a flock of birds that sound like children crying. It’s always a bit of a start when you hear these birds in the middle of the night. A fun sound we all enjoy is the sound of the lion from a nearby park. It’s groaning and occasional roaring at night make us smile and wonder about him. (We just this week went to visit him on our family day and found him to be amazing.) And then there are the unique sounds to Kenya like the sound of a stick broom being brushed on the cement vigorously, or a crowd banging drums and chanting off in the distance, or the truck parades driving by with their rather loud music and shouts of an advertisement or preaching. It is life for us here in Kenya and though it has become common, I find myself hearing a lawn mower in the distance, a water pump that sounds like a Jacuzzi turning on, the sound of seagull or pigeon and I am all of a sudden transported back to the States and the familiar sounds I once knew. I am reminded that truly the sights and sounds here are unique to what I have known and so worth writing about.
Peg for The P4
