Mikinduri Children of Hope

Written by Phil Handrahan, a member of the Mikinduri Children of Hope Tour Group, November 2006

The drive to Meru was “smooth sailing”. We arrived in Meru within approximately two hours. We are also getting very used to the bumps, and potholes and we have come to better appreciate Kenyan time. Ten minutes or ten hours is relatively the same timeframe providing the event occurs within the same day.

Weather has remained constant as in changing every ten minutes from sunny to overcast to rain to sunny. The luggage discussions continue. Ted reported that he had good news in that we could change clothes…Phil reported that we simply had to decide who we wanted to change with.

We settled into the Blue Towers Hotel, which is relatively new hotel in Meru. As we get closer to Mikinduri, the standard of accommodations is declining slightly. The Hotel also had souvenir shop where someone was able to purchase an African dress shirt and leave his shirt standing in a corner. Our group went out to enjoy “happy hour” in Meru so as to to experience traditional African music and dancing. The local bar was certainly a popular spot for local men and there was a two-man band playing with several locals dancing. Some of the women in our group were quick to get on the dance floor and the men followed or were dragged up . Some felt we blended into the crowd very well. Everyone enjoyed the African experience.

Following our “happy hour” we went back to the hotel for dinner and then a local drama group entertained us. The youth group was very talented and included a skit aimed to broadcast the issues and challenges of Aids in their community. The evening came to a thunderous close when the skies opened with heavy rain.  Heavy rain continued throughout the night.  

On the morning of November 20, we met for breakfast and reviewed our agenda. After several very enjoyable days, everyone is very excited at the thoughts of reaching Mikinduri later today to begin our work with the people of Mikinduri.. We will hold our first medical clinic, a vision clinic as well as hold meetings with the community Development Committees regarding our projects. Everyone is anxious to get to Mikinduri.

Travelling out of Meru after heavy, heavy rain is certainly a very interesting adventure. We are literally sliding thru the muddy streets of Meru trying to keep the van in the middle of the road so we don’t end up in the ditch. We just received a valuable tip from a local who was watching us slide downhill…”don’t use the brake!”. We are certainly very lucky to have two experienced drivers in Benson and Paul. Thankfully, Mikinduri is only 20 miles away so hopefully we will be there without too many troubles. In some cases we are having to stop on the street and wait for the locals to pull the vehicles up the road, as the vehicles do not have enough power to drive the hill without the manual labour on the tow lines. Speaking of manual labour the women in our group have noticed that it is good to see the men hard at work, because usually it is only the women that you see lugging wood and water to keep the home fires burning. The men in our group are pleased that Ted has equitably distributed the women in our vans in the event we get stuck. It seems to be though, as vehicles experience problems, the locals are very willing to help to push and pull wherever required so traffic continues to move along.

As I prepare to conclude my report, our other van in front is unable to drive to the top of the hill and locals are assisting our male passengers to push the van up the hill. This concludes the morning Kenya Report on November 20, 2006 of our activities of the past 24 hours or so. The mood of our group is very positive and everyone is enjoying our travels through Kenya. We miss everyone at home and trust all is well.

Footnote – I just had to add this piece before sending it off with Mary to Meru. Our total travel time from Meru to Mikinduri was close to four hours. Mary has titled her story for The Guardian as the Mudfest. By the time we arrived (safe and sound) we were covered in mud from head to toe. Needless to say we got stuck many times and had to get out and push, pull, and tow. There were many locals along the roadside to offer assistance and while many were very helpful, many also saw this as an opportunity to cash in.

We arrived to Mikinduri and we were paraded down the street. I thought we won the Stanley Cup. With clothes and feet muddy we were ushered to the front platform and participated in an hour-long ceremony of area dignitaries.

Well it is November 21, time to finish this and get it to Mary. We are off to breakfast and then commence a full schedule in Mikinduri. Oh yea, we are supposed to receive the rest of our luggage tonight. At this point others and I have done our laundry so luggage is a mute point at this time. Happy Birthday to Christine!!!   

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 19th, 2006 at 10:38 pm and is filed under Dispatches. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.