LEAVING KASIGAU

We left Kasigau on 31 July with many people giving us gifts and "a push" (seeing us off), after a couple days of good-byes all around. It is difficult to leave knowing it will be a long time before we return to see the new babies now on the way, young children growing up and starting school, school children finishing primary school, secondary students graduating, and our adult friends moving forward with their lives. The interns we took to Kasigau have become well-know and well-loved throughout the villages, and known as the teachers who have improved performance for many children in primary schools. In the photo here are Amy, Madeline, Chanda, and Molly on our last evening in Bungule, at Stanley the community librarian's house for tea.

Our little Rav 4 had become well-known as the "Bungule ambulance" because there are still very few cars on the roads in Kasigau and we always had a full load of passengers who were mostly on their way to the health clinic in Rukanga, 8 km away. We met a lot of people and made some good friends in the car, from newborn babies to grandparents. This was very welcome for me because I was reluctant to leave off walking everywhere for fear of missing out on the social aspects of going around Kasigau on foot and greeting everyone. Kenyan driving is on the left side of the road, which meant I only drove on the Kasigau roads where there was no traffic beyond cattle & cattle carts & bicycles.

LAMU
After leaving Kasigau we spent a week in Lamu on the north coast of Kenya, along the Indian Ocean. It is a beautiful seafaring town of about 18,000 people and 4,000 donkeys. We only saw two motorized vehicles - one tractor and a three wheeled ambulance. The seafood is fantastic and the population is 90% Muslim, so we are used to hearing the call to prayer many times each day. We were connected in a roundabout way (a friend from Nairobi we met in Kasigau called a friend of his in Mombasa who called a connection in Nairobi who called a former employee in Lamu) with Omari, who has been our companion and guide for the days in Lamu.

He found us a wonderful place to stay in an old Swahili multi-storied house called Wildebeast. We have a two-level apartment with a rooftop sleeping room and terrace. The place is also an art gallery with many interesting displays throughout the apartments and in the gallery itself.

The big news while while we were in Lamu was the referendum on August 4th for the proposed new constitution. There was a hard fought campaign on both sides, and the YES vote took it more than two to one. We were glad because everyone we knew in Lamu and in Kasigau was in favor of the new constitution. Ken and I watched the results come in with other Lamu political types in a rooftop bar with a big screen TV and many celebratory Tusker beers.


Omari also arranged a dhow boat tour with his cousin and we visited the village on a neighboring island where coral bricks are cut from the earth, one by one with hand tools. Coral in one form or another is used in construction of all buildings in Lamu, along with wood from mangrove trees and mortar to hold it all together. All I could think was that in the Pacific Northwest, these buildings would melt from the rain.

Lamu was a wonderful place to close out our trip to East Africa. We were fortunate to have met so many good people, updated friendships, seen a variety of animals and geography, and had student interns who were enthusiastic, resilient, and good travellers. I'll post more specifics about the Kasigau schools when I get home and have a more reliable connection.