Bumpy ride to the Shamba

November the 8th, 2009

I feel the words are going to fail me tonight… see they already did. Let me just say what I saw today without all the fancy talk. We met our host families today. My Mama, Sofi is a short Kikuyu woman who speaks impeccable English and dresses very well. Equally well dressed is her Maasai husband, Enoch, who I saw briefly at the mechanics. Yes, the mechanic, who is just some guy near a nondescript brown building with light blue shutters in the center of town. What happened was, Sofi drove to Outward Bound to meet me, but along the way she came upon a puddle whose depth deceived her. After several false starts she decided that something was awry. And the mechanic confirmed that some of the spark plugs got wet and weren’t firing correctly. But this guy didn’t have the tool to get them out of the block, so he made one. Welded it together right there on the spot! “He knows how to improvise” says Sofi. And boy was Kapucinski right about crowds forming around cars being worked on, everyone watching while one guy does his thing.

Turns out their other car, a pickup truck, had just been fixed that morning. So I transferred my stuff to that and we went of to the house where I will spend the next two months. They have lots of land, mostly devoted to farming (coffee, maize, beans, kale, other stuff). There are also a few goats and a very unfriendly dog, but I’m sure he’ll come around. The house is charming; they have electricity, and a few nice things. Hot shower (scalding hot!) No toilet, just the choo (read: concrete hole in the ground). It’s all very functional. My room is fine, one light bulb, no outlets, and a few insects, but no problem.

As I was unpacking my stuff I came across a goodbye note from Mom, and for the first time since I boarded the airplane my eyes filled with tears. I think that was the moment it finally became real. But no time for regret now, there is work to be done. I keep hoping Swahili will come easy, but it won’t. Now’s the time to “finally” knuckle down. Tomorrow is lesson #2.