Days Two and Three in Nairobi

On Monday and ‪Tuesday evening, Chris and Bob attended Rotary meetings for the purpose of expanding a network of clubs wanting to partner to do good works in Kenya. Both meetings were impressive. The Rotary Club of Muthaiga has expanded its membership 27% in the last year, now having 83 members. The meeting was one where 7 new members were inducted, all ladies. This club is in fact 50.6% women. The inductees were truly impressive with one being a medical doctor, 2 from the financial world, one with a PHD in animal husbandry, 2 in human resources and one heading up a NGO that had raised $47 million USA dollars last year, the largest ever by a Kenyan NGO. Laughter and jokes were the mainstream of the meeting. I sat next to Peter who was from the UK but had lived in Kenya for 30 plus years. We had an interesting interface about bridges. He had a friend that builds bridges. I told him about a bridge in East Pokot that has been out since 1999. Peter said send me a picture and I will get my friend to look at it. Rotary builds some of the strangest networks. At our second meeting, I and Hifafdhi Africa were actually the program. We made a presentation on our next Rotary Global Grant and are asking this club if they wanted to partner with us to put in 4 sand dams in East Pokot. The meeting was favorable, again filled with lots of laughter. The average age of this club was 25 years old. I told them that since I had been a Rotarian for 31 years, I had been in Rotary before most of them were even born. What a world of difference between Rotary in Africa and Rotary in North America. We are meeting again on 29 Jun to discuss more details. 

All Rotary Clubs do fun things and the event this evening was a 20 question quiz on soccer. It sparked a lot of discussion about soccer and it being the most prominent sport in the world. While living in Spain in 1984, I attended a World Cup again in Seville. When you see a guy use his head to do a header from one end of the stadium to the other, you have seen real soccer.

One of the interesting things that has happened in Kenya is that the Kenyan government has suspended customs inspections. One of the dreaded things we endure each year is having your luggage ramshackle through and then have someone try to extort money from you from charitable goods that are going to be left in Kenya. Seems that the ministry of Tourism determined that harassing tourists was not a good idea and so no more customs inspections for now. We had bought 6 laptops with us which will be donated to the 9 schools we support in East Pokot. Thanks to all those who donated laptops and thanks to Dave Weikel, a Port Orchard Rotarian, who reconditioned each one of these laptops. 

Nairobi is bustling as always. Construction cranes are everywhere, much like Seattle. Traffic is heavy as usual but at least there is not as much dust and fumes. Kenya has been experienced unprecentended rains and flooding. I am told that the countryside has been transformed with new vegetation because of all the rain. It also has been cold here. Yes, I said cold. We have been struggling to stay warm. Jun and July are their winter and temps have been in the 50’s. Sweaters and jackets are the uniform of the day.

We normally stay at HEART Lodge our entire time in Nairobi. But HEART Lodge was full yesterday with 45 people which rarely happens. So the management had a partner organization that would put us up for one night. Turns out we are staying in a 3 bedroom house, marble floors, kitchen, landscaped yards and most importantly a king size bed. Surprises are what make these trips so memorable and it is so hard to rough it sometimes.

We met Collins’s 5 month old daughter. She stared and stared at Chris. Guess she hadn’t seen many white folks or blond hair or something. As most babies are, she is very cute.

We discovered a new departmental store that would be the envy of any community in the USA. Nakumatt was the store we went to in previous years to get supplies and provisions. Navias has a great deli and we took several meals from there. The prices are very reasonable. And Kenya has banned plastic bags. So most bring their own bags but they furnish a quite nice cloth bag, but you must pay for them. From what I have seen, I would vote for their system over our plastic bags which abound everywhere and contaminate our environment.

After breakfast, we strike out for East Pokot. There will be 4 of us initially and then on Saturday, Collins, an Arizona State University Student and a videographer named Ben. A professional video is being made of our journey and we have been taped at the Rotary meetings and at a meeting with World Vision. Yesterday we meet with 3 individuals at World Vision Headquarters and made some proposals on partnering with them to do projects in Kenya. Meeting seemed somewhat favorable so we will see where it goes. We are to meet with the Regional Field Person for Baringo County in Marigat for further discussions. We shall see where this goes.

I will close for now as it is time to pack up and head out into the countryside. Kenya is a beautiful country particularly when it is green and lush as it is now.

Sincerely

African Adventurer Bob