On The Road Again

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We Return to Nairobi After Nine Days of Intense Work in Bumala

We are up early and had breakfast at 6:00 am. We checked out and received a number of goodbyes from the friendly staff at the Western Ambience Hotel. It was like leaving family.

We were out front of our hotel by 20 minutes to 7:00am and waited for Nicolas. I realized that we had way too many bags for him to carry (6 in total, and some were very heavy), so I went and got a second porter and loaded up three bags for him. We waited, and waited…..and no Nicolas. Five minutes to 7:00…..then 7:00am….then five minutes after 7:00…..ten minutes after 7:00….. I began to realize that Nicolas had either forgotten or was distracted by some other job so early in the morning. My heart sunk a little. I had so much wanted to be able to give him a few extra shillings this morning to help him along for the week. A couple hundred shillings would almost feed them for the week and it would allow him to take some time off today if he was able to make his quota easily in the morning. Disappointed, we set out down the road for the 10 minute walk to the police station where the bus would meet us, with one porter carrying three of our bags, and each of the rest of us pulling one bag along behind us on their wheels.

In a flash, however, Nicolas appeared out of nowhere, winded and sweaty, but he grabbed the handle out of my hand plus another bag from one of the girls and dragged the two suitcases alongside the second porter. I figured that maybe he had lost his handcart this morning but he was trying to make up for it any way he could.

We got to the station with plenty of time to spare. The normal price for this short distance by the porters would have been about 50 shillings (a little less than $1). But we had kept the first porter waiting for about 20 minutes and I am sure he lost one or two other small jobs in that time, so I gave him a two hundred Shilling piece and sent him on his way back to town. For Nicolas, however, I took two 200 Shilling pieces and wrapped them up in a 100 Shilling note, and quickly slipped the small wad of cash (500 Shillings, or $8) into his hand so as not to reveal its contents to the other porter. Nicolas clenched his hands around the money and we all said goodbye as I patted him on the back and sent him down the road. The burden of the day was already upon him and he turned, dropped his head slightly, and started to walk in a plodding fashion down the road, clenching the small roll of cash.

I watched this little guy slowly pat his way down the road in bared feet. Twenty paces down the sunlit pavement I saw him lift his hand and unroll the tight little stick of cash. His pace slowed slightly and I could see him thumbing through the leaves of money, carefully counting its worth. His pace slowed more now, down to one step, then another, and then he stopped. He seemed slightly puzzled and he turned fully and looked up at me. I gave him a “thumbs up” signal and smiled. He looked down again at the cash and his look of confusion transformed into an enormous smile. He looked up again and all three of us were smiling now. He turned completely now and began to walk quickly toward us, realizing the bounty that he had just received. As he neared me he raised his hand with a tear in one eye and grasped my open hand and shook it. He shook the hands of Heather and Jennifer, and then turned to continue on his way again. His pace was lighter now. A clear shift had occurred in his body and his step was quick and easy. Heather and Jennifer both held back tears and the impact of the moment slowly sunk into minds and hearts…

Morris, the chef from the Western Ambience Hotel came up to us. “Hello, I cam to say goodbye and wait with you until the bus comes”, he said. Can you please tell Anouk (a recent volunteer) I said hello?” “Yes, certainly”, I replied.

We stood for 20 minutes, chatting in front of the police station. It started to sprinkle rain slightly so he took us into the station and found seat for us and shelter for our bags while we waited. After a few minutes the rain stopped, and we dragged our bags out again to the main road. The police chief popped out of nowhere and came up to see us. I recognized him from the event yesterday and he came straight for me to shake my hand. He wrote down his phone number and name for me and demanded that I call him if we need any security for the school or volunteer centre. He would supply all security that I needed for the project. It was clear that being an Elder in the community had now brought with it clear advantages.

The came roaring up the highway and we said our final goodbyes. We loaded our six bags into the stowage and off we headed for Nairobi. The bus ride was much better this time, and it only turned out to be about 8 hours. We sat in the first row and had a good view of things from there, including the millions of flamingos on Lake Nakuru.

We arrived in Nairobi and got a cab back to the Boulevard hotel. It was hard to imagine we were here and everything felt so “western” now after having been in Bumala the last 9 days. Another hearty supper, more re-packing of bags, and off to bed. Tomorrow we get a well-earned break and go on Safari for two days.

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Comments

[Sheila]

Wow!
That's such a beautiful story! But all of them are. I wish the kids I teach could see some of this, could understand just how much the world needs their help, and just how lucky they really are. Enjoy your safari. Sheila