June 23rd - Nairobi to Kisumu, to meet Charles and Pius

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Yawn!!!! Up at 4:30 am, a quick shower, check out, and off to the airport at 5:30 am. I was confident with my checked luggage now as I knew they each weighed exactly within the limits of 20 kg each. Things were going smooth and Sebastian got me directly to the domestic flight area. We just beat the Monday morning rush-hour traffic, which can be quite crushing. I made it through the first main security check and sidled up to the check-in line for Kenya Airlines. I went through the weigh-in and both bags came in at exactly 20 kg.

"Excellent!" I thought to myself.

"You're overweight, Sir." said a young shy Kenyan attendant.

An uncomfortable silence broke out between us. "What do you mean?" I replied, looking at my waistline and hiking up my pants a little self-consciously.

"Your luggage, they're overweight. You are allowed..."

"...20 kg each." I smartly finished his sentence.

"No sir. Only 20 kg in total. You are allowed only 20 kg on this flight. You will have to pay for the extra weight."

"How much will THAT cost?" I inquired.

About 4000 shillings , sir." The room temperature seem to rise slightly.

"4000 SHILLINGS! Why, that's a million dollars Canadian with the exchange! How can you charge that to the orphans for their supplies!?! This must be wrong! How can I be okay on one flight but not on another!?! I was desperately seeking any excuse that might stick.

The young man was now jammed between two immovable forces - the rules which he was paid to enforce, and me. He made the right choice. He DEFERRED!

"You'll have to speak to my manager, sir. She will help you."

I was shuffled off to the side office and the look of terror on his face gave way to deep relief as his manager stepped out to greet me.

"What is the problem?" the manager asked.

"I have two checked bags and they are each 20 kg. These were okay on my last flight, but now they wish to charge me for a whole overweight bag!"

She looked closely at my ticket. "Yes, sir. See here, it is a domestic flight and the ticket says only 20 kg maximum. We only allow the two full bags if you are directly transferring from an international flight." She was satisfied with her explanation.

"Transferring.......transferring.....yes, exactly." I was gathering my thoughts quickly. "Yes, I am transferring! I arrived late last night and this was the earliest flight out that I could get to transfer on to my next destination in Kisumu . Of course! I am transferring!" I was a bit satisfied with my own answer as well, and we stood there pondering each other.

"Oh,.......okay. Then no problem. Go through." She didn't wish to argue the point any further and it was obviously simpler to let this piece of sandpaper through than debate it further.

The temperature in the airport quickly returned to normal and I rushed through the check out and continued my journeys. 😊

The flight was smooth and it was good to touch ground in Kisumu. Charles and Pius were there to meet me and their first question was "how is Cristelle?" Cristelle obviously made the biggest impression on them last time we were here. I assured them that she would be coming next time instead of me.

The taxi took us to the hotel in Bumala where I checked in. As it turned out, World Vision had booked the entire hotel already for themselves. However, they improvised and gave me the "Attic Bar", which is a small lounge/bar room on the top floor. My room is a bar!! One problem was that it had no bathroom (and no shower) so they gave me the keys to the top floor public Men's bathroom, that they otherwise kept locked. The good thing was that they reduced the price in half to 2100 shillings per night ($38 Canadian) which also included breakfast.

I dropped off my luggage and we went over to the new school. As we approached, you could see the children on the hill of the school yard jumping up and down in anticipation and excitement. They were scrambling for their places with the music hitting a high pitch as I came into the yard. The cacophany of laughter and music filled the surrounding yard and I stepped out of the taxi to an incredible sight. The last time I had stepped on this ground it was little more than thick brush and maize field. Over the year it had been transformed into gardens, playgrounds, a school, latrines, cooking area, chicken and cattle pens, a water well, and much more. It had undergone and enormous transformation!!

I spent the rest of the day greeting the children and examining the new site. At the end of the day, Charles, Pius and I went back to the bar (my room) and lounged around sharing bottles of water that I had purchased at the restaurant below. The music from the street level pub, and the tooting horns of the streams of Mutatas (small van-sized buses), continued on past midnight. Nonetheless, I had a fairly good sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day!!

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