Shinkou

June 28, 2011
Kisii, Kenya

"Karen....Karen.....flashlight...rat...rat...rat!" I woke up to Wendy's frantic whispers. I turned on my cell and the sounds of the rodent quieted. It sounded like a five pound rat was trying to claw its way out of a plastic bag. Where was this plastic bag? Without getting out of bed, Wendy and I racked our brains trying to figure out where this bag was. We had no bags. So was this sound coming from the room that Torie, Melissa and Abbey were in? Wow - must be a ten pound rat then.

I woke up again around 3am. I heard a door knob being rattled. I tried to remember if Katie and Brita (who were staying in another building) had a bathroom or if they needed to come down to the main house. I thought of taking my cell phone as a light and going to the front door to see. And then I remembered that the generator was off so the electric fence surrounding the property would be off. Opening the front door might not be the smartest thing to do. So sitting up in bed, I whispered loudly, "Hello?" I expected Katie or Brita to respond, "Can you let me in to use the bathroom?" But no one answered and I stayed in bed.

At 4:30am I woke up again. This time to the radio. It was in Swahili, but it sounded like a preacher with a choir. There was a lot of static and tinniness. And then I heard human voices singing along with the choir. I assumed these were the farm workers. The music played on until nearly 6am. Okay - we're all up. It was sunny so I decided to take a walk around the property.

This is a beautiful area! Any fears or doubts I had were washed away! Armed with a cup of chai and my camera, I explored the area. I ran into Dr.Meshack's mother who runs the compound. I saw why my chai tasted so good - fresh milk from the cow! And the avocados we had been eating - well the 75' tree was right there. There was a vegetable garden that had grown corn, tomatoes and peppers. What I thought was odd was the lack of pineapple plants. We had been eating a constant diet of delicious pineapple at every meal - where were they? Everyone said Kisii grew the best pineapple too!

After a breakfast of fresh fruit, hot chai and mandazi, we hiked down the hill to our bus. The people of that area had laid down leaves and gotten the bus out of the muddy rut! We began our trek down to the school to pick up some of the community leaders and then on to James Laiti's old house. James is 12 years old, orphaned for several years due to AIDS. His older sister was 12 when she was given to an older man in marriage. After three children, her marriage was going badly and she fled to come back home to live with James.

James is a quiet boy and a loving uncle to kids not that much younger than him. He takes pride in caring for his goat. We took a tour of his existing old home. There were countless holes in the thatched roof. James's bed - a wooden plank with a burlap bag filled with sand for a pillow. His sister and nephews and niece slept in another room in similar state. The kitchen was a bowl on the floor and a semi-rotten tomato. But the views out the door were breathtakingly beautiful - such a contrast. There is a tropical feel here despite the poverty.

As leader of the Bayside team, John performed the honorary duty of excavating the first shovelful of soil. And then the masses descended upon the area. Men used machetes to carve shovels out of bluegum. The men used these shovel sticks to loosen the soil for the postholes. People like me got to lay down on the soil and scoop out the loosen soil. I had my acrylic nails on and they sure came in handy. I was like a scooping machine - clawing out the soil like crazy! The men were impressed - thinking I had really strong natural nails!

With the posts in place, next we began to hammer slender bluegum branches between the posts as lateral supports for the walls. Then the fun began! Mixing soil, dung and liquids together, the men and women took their shoes off and began stomping and singing. The mixture began to become shiny, smooth and "soft". We took this mud and began shoving it in between the bluegum frames.

The atmosphere was electric and exciting - so much so that we all forgot we had our hands in dung and there was that special aroma. The walls went up quickly and the skilled "fundi" laborer - machete man - was getting the roof installed. The roof was barely up when the storm hit again. Thunder, lightning and rain. Again, everyone said Bayside brought the blessings of rain. Most people took shelter under the new roof but I went to take some photos of the tea fields nearby. I saw a beautiful plant with quite remarkable fruit and started to take photos. A man, worried I was going to take a bite, shoved me aside and said "BAD, BAD - you die." I found out that fruit is highly poisonous - a few bites will kill a cow! I asked why this plant hadn't been removed since there were kids around here. Their answer was simple: everyone knows it's poisonous so they don't eat it. Survival of the fittest and obedient?

During a break, our team wanted to wash our hands. John tells us to use the yellow bucket. The Kenyan ladies were amused watching all of us rinse our hands off in it. When we were all done, one lady picks up the bucket and adds it to the mud/dung pile. She shook her head at us and asked us why we wanted to wash our hands in cow urine. Then she promptly put the bucket back under the cow. All the girls looked at John who just smiled at us! Then we were told it was okay to use urine to cleanse - the ammonia in it was a natural disinfectant. Yeah, right.

Well the skies opened up again and we had to leave. We needed to get back to the compound before the already muddy road became undriveable. Bernard and his crew said they would continue to finish the roof and get the windows and door installed. He wanted us back there in the morning.

Back at the compound: we all were wet, muddy, dungy, tired and hungry. We hadn't eaten since breakfast. We got back, took our shoes off at the door and went into a dark house. No water to wash off, no electricity, no food. The women dug out baby wipes and attempted to clean off. Then we joined everyone in the living room in the dark. The day had been so rewarding that none of us felt bad about being so hungry and smelling. We played cards and chatted until 9pm when dinner was ready. Again another good meal and then off to bed.