Big Man

Government officials fit into a variety of categories in Kenya. Some are helpful, others bored. Some incompetant, others corrupt. Yesterday I found a new type- an agricultural officer suffering from what I call, "big man" syndrome. He was the type of person that was clearly impressed with the power he held (which was minimal) and wanted to make sure everybody else acknowledged his "size" and were humbled in his office.
The background story is that while in the process of writing a report for a Food For Work report, we needed data on monthly rainfall in the project area. The coordinator of MIDI and I went to the office of the local agricultural officer to get this data. We soon found the person who had the data, but it was clear he wasn't about to just give it to us. He starts grilling us about the project, sceptically telling us why we were doing the wrong thing or quizzing us to make sure we were doing things properly. He lectured us both about everything from relief, to the role of the church, to which plants to grow. My friend did a great job is simply humbling himself and not taking any offense. We both agreed with his endless rants and tried to wait him out until he just gave us what we wanted.
Finally he broke down, decided we'd paid enough homage and gave us some of the numbers we wanted. After leaving his "office" (corrugated metal sheet shanty) he returned with a second file of data that was less helpful before leaving a second time to find more files. I paged through what he gave us and found that the monthly data we wanted was hidden in the midst of the folder, he just had missed it. We quickly wrote down the numbers and left the office before he returned for another round of lectures.

Overall, we got what we wanted. It required some humbling and a little grovelling but in the end we succeeded.

Suswa Round 2

On April Fools' Day 2010, we made a second attempt at summiting nearby Mt. Suswa. We had tried walking from our house to Suswa with Dad Kistler but came up short and ended up very sore. The score stood at Suswa: 1, Kistlers: 0. This time we had a new gameplan.

With Ned and Steph we decided we were headed for the summit. So instead of trying to go door-to-door, we'd take motorcycles to the foot of the mountain, saving 2 hours of our trip. This way we'd be at the top by noon and be going downhill in the heat of the day. At 6:15 our motorcycles arrived at our door and we were off.

The roads were slick with mud and on the way both bikes fell at least once, and one had a flat tire. None of this deterred us and we started our ascent by 7. The morning was overcast, perfect for climbing a mountain. We had no guide, but hoped that we would not need one. When our friend Simion guided us before, it seemed like he was blazing his own trail, so we looked to do the same.

Progress went quickly. We walked straight up the mountain and by 9:30 we were beyond the highest point we reached with dad. By 10, the summit was in our sites and we charged up the final cliffs. The mountain would not go down easily however. The peak seemed to move further and further away as we approached it. Despite this, by 11:30, we reached a beautiful lookout near the summit above the crater. We ate lunch there and Ned and I made our way up the last bit to try and reach the highest peak. Ned had brought a sign to nail to a tree and mark a spot on Suswa for himself. After finding a suitable tree we turned home in triumph.

It took another 4 hours to walk back to Najile. It was nearly 5:30 before we were home but we had conquered the mountain. We were tired and sore, but could honestly say we had evened the score with Suswa. Suswa: 1, Kistlers: 1.

Holiday

As an ending to Steph and Ned's trip to Kenya we all traveled into Nairobi and enjoyed some of the sights around town. The matatu ride into Ngong was a bit precarious, featuring 4 smelly goats and sheep riding in the back of a pickup with us. However, we have had a great time over Easter weekend.

On friday, we visited the Bomas of Kenya and the Giraffe Center in Langata. The Giraffe Center allows you to feed and be up close (and personal) with giraffes. The Bomas works to present the various cultures of Kenya and includes lots of traditional dancing. Both were enjoyable, especially for Steph and I since we were eligible for the very cheap resident entrance fees.

On saturday, we were truly blessed. Most of the morning we worked at getting a taxi and every option seemed very expensive. However, a guy at our camp came up to us and asked if we needed a ride which we gladly took. That ride was to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust where we could see the 21 orphaned elephants the trust cares for and eventually will reintroduce to the wild.

After the Sheldrick Center we were again without a vehicle. We headed towards our next destination, the Nairobi Safari Walk when a man in a safari van pulls over and asks us where we wanted to go. He was headed to the same place and drove us without a second question. Praise God!

The Safari Walk is a beautiful zoo-like experience where you walk around a boardwalk to view animals in large, "natural" pens. For example, the leopard was in a pen more than an acre in size with lots of trees and grass. We enjoyed seeing more animals, including a cheetah and some red-stripped zebras. After a quick matatu to our camp, we had spent a total of $1.50 for travel for the day. Wow!

Finally on sunday, we went to Easter service at Nairobi Baptist Church, our home church in Kenya. It was wonderful to celebrate Christ's resurrection in English and with friends. The worship time and sermon were great and we ended up with a Easter dinner (ham!) with other Mennonites followed by a hymn-sing.

Overall, the last part of Ned and Steph's visit has been a blast and we appreciate their time here with us!