So I now have been in country for almost 3 months with 2 weeks of teaching under my belt. and I am embarking on my 3rd week. I have to admit, the beginning was a little rough but I am starting to feel comfortable in my surroundings and enjoying this experience. Today, some of the teachers and I took a mental health day and escaped from the compound. Living on the school grounds, although convenient, can start to feel like living on an island. So we decided to get away from Litein and go on a picnic. One of the teachers cooked some food for us and we headed to one of the few well kept parks in Kericho.
When people think of Africa, they think of savannahs with hot temperatures and wild animals everywhere. Believe it or not, my site looks more like Ireland. Granted it’s hotter and less rocky than Ireland, but it shares the same rolling green hills, the endless skies and the flowing rivers. Kericho is the tea capitol in Kenya so tea farms are everywhere as far as the eye can see. Sometimes, you can see the little white and black dots of the tea pickers, working hard under the warm sun. The park we decided to go is nestled within a tea field, with a pond covered in white lotus flowers at the base of the hill. As we sat in the cool shade eating our lunch, some monkeys decided to join us, swinging from the tree tops. The sign says they were velvet monkeys although I know there is another name for them. They have beautiful flowing white tails and black bodies. Their coloring reminds me of skunks with longer hair. You could hear them howling from across the pond. I think they smelled Nandai’s amazing chicken and chapti.
Nandai is about 33 yrs old and teaches the lower primary at St Kizitos. She is what an typical African women looks like, big, black, tall and beautiful. She is an amazing cook and a talker just like me. I think that may be why we get on so well. She has a great sense of humor and is an open book. Mary is similar to Nandai except shes a lot shorter. Shes also got a great sense of humor and I feel comfortable talking to her about everything. The last of the 4 musketeers and my counterpart is Sister Nazarine. She is by far the coolest nun I have ever met. She is funny, caring and enjoys my American bluntness. She answers all of my questions honestly and I can go to her whenever I need help.
So the 4 of us and Nandai and mary’s boys spent the day running around the park, rolling down hills and taking many pictures. We had so much fun, by the time the taxi came to pick us up, we were sad to leave. After dropping of Nandai, we hopped on a matatu to head home. The price for the matatu was 50 shillings per person which is fair. Up till now, I have had really good luck with matatu conductors, giving me the right change and fair prices and all that. I was actually starting to feel like a local. This conductor however, thought I needed to be reminded that I was a muzungu and still a tourist. I had decided to be nice and pay for Nazarine and mary so I gave the conductor 200 shillings with the thought that he would give me change. He decided then and there that the price would go up to 70 shillings and that I owed him 10 shillings more. Nazarine immediately refused and reminded him he agreed to 50 per person. I thought, she being a nun would get it sorted out. I was wrong. I found it funny that the Matatu was covered in Jesus stickers, and yet the conductor decided to be a cheat and steal money from us. I guess it was a stupid assumption that most people practice what they preached here. Although we argued with him the entire trip home, we never got our 50 shillings back but he never got his 10 shillings either. It’s so frustrating to cheated out of something just because of the color of your skin. The only reason he upped the price was because I was paying. If I had kept my mouth shut and my wallet, We would have gotten the normal amount. I know I have only been in country for 3 months but sometimes I just want to yell at them that I am not a tourist, I am staying. But, I know I can’t so I’m taking it as a lessoned learned and hope for a more honest conductor the next time.
* Matatu- a small 14 seater van. The most common form of public transportation. However, they don’t have set prices so you have to constantly argue over price with them.
*conductor- the man on the matatu who collects the money and directs people on and off the bus.
If you have any questions, fell free to ask them. my email is dmharvey86@hotmail.com
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