Saturday, June 30, 2007
From inside JFK airport in New York, there is not much to report other than the fact that all ten from St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux who were expected to appear have done just that. What began as a fairly modest mission one year ago has grown incredibly, so that there is not just one flight for those travelling to Kenya. People have been flying throughout the week and by about Tuesday, the 103 members will have arrived in Nairobi and Bengoma.
While there are 17 different mission teams hard at it for the next two weeks, there are two centres of activity, Nairobi and Bungoma, separated by about 250 miles. All except one of the St. Paul’s L’Amoreax people are centred at Bungoma.
The mission team work will begin on Tuesday and carry on each day until Saturday, July 15, with the exception of Sunday when we enjoy a day of rest.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
The day began over the Atlantic, arriving in Cairo around 1pm Cairo time. Arrangements had been made for a short layover at a local and lovely hotel, with a chance to clean up, get a short rest, and have dinner. Impressions are slight so far. It’s all been airports, buses and passports. Joe and Jennifer said they saw the pyramids as we came in. Cairo was hot, but it didn’t seem overwhelming. However, Canon Beard had already been there a day and said the temperatures were in the mid-40's (celsius).
That evening back at the airport, most of the team finally met up, though I believe there were still a few who are still to come, or had gone ahead. It was quite a sight. The waiting lounge was taken up almost completely by the M2K team. We were in the air a little before midnight.
Monday, July 2, 2007
A long and gruelling day.
The flight to Nairobi was uneventful. Retrieving our luggage and supplies was not.
Nearly 22 of us (and at least half of us from SPL) have had both our personal luggage and the supplies we brought along misdirected or lost. We’re hopeful that, given the large number, and the fact that we all travelled on the same flight out of Toronto, the luggage is together somewhere and will all arrive in the next day or two. But for the moment, it’s only hope. No word yet.
As frustrating as the loss of luggage was the three hour wait in line reporting it. Each of us had to produce a host of documents, and wait through the completion of two or three handwritten forms. As we stood in line, someone was showing off an advertisement written on the envelope containing their airline ticket: "Get world travelling experience." Well, we got it. Kim Beard watched on but was unforgivably nonplussed.
In Nairobi the mission members have been divided into their respective teams and to their two respective centres: Nairobi and Bungoma, separated by about 250 miles. All but one of the St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux group have been sent to Bungoma, working on the eyecare team, a dental team, a painting team and a Christian education team. Originally, after flying in from Cairo, we had hoped to leave sometime between 5 & 6 am. As it turned out, the last passenger without luggage didn’t leave the airport until after 10 am, and stopping for tea and a washroom break at the Methodist guest house in Nairobi, we didn’t get into the buses and vans for Bungoma until 11 am.
The trip to Bungoma was 10 and a half hours. And the only way I know to describe the road is to remember the worst pothole you have ever hit in your life, and then repeat that continuously for 250 miles. We arrived around 9.30 pm - all shook up, but all in one piece from what I could see.
Along the way we whistled along narrow, rough roads through crowds of bikes, uniformed school children, men and women on foot, plenty of goats and sheep, and one little clutch of baboons. The most exotic animals we could see in the fields were zebra and a lake with a large, pale pink patch in the middle of it, what we were told were pink flamingos. In our van explaining all this, and serving as a tremendous tour guide and translator and professional geologist is Michael Legg of St. Clements, Toronto, who only joined the team recently after reading about it in the Anglican in April, and offering his first-rate abilities in Swahili. Michael was born and raised in Kenya and has offered a wealth of historical, geographical and practical advice.
The two great sights along the way were the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, what Michael described as the beginning of the formation of a new continent. I missed the press release, and asked when this was likely to be completed. "A couple million years from now," he said, "but the process has begun."
From the lookout, we gazed across a great valley up from which a series of volcanoes could be seen, most of which are dormant.
The second great sight was the equator. We crossed it, at about 9000 feet above sea level, what Michael informed us would likely be the highest point on land that we would ever experience.
There were two stops, one about 4 pm where arrangements had originally been made for breakfast, but which turned into a late afternoon lunch. Then, after an excruciating three hours through the potholes (the main road is being repaired), we took another short break around 7, mostly to check that all body parts were still attached.
Since the morning we had been greeted and accompanied by Bishop Eliud Wabakala. It was a wonderful thing to see him. I had known him in passing when we were both in residence at Wycliffe College. However, I was attending Trinity, and we were both immersed in studies and so I didn’t know if he would remember. But he did and he was pleased to hear about many friends who remembered him from Toronto and sent their greetings. He is a tall, striking, paper thin man with a beautiful smile, and a gentle and friendly a manner as I’ve ever encountered. Just as the van turned off the main road for the way of the potholes, he looked back at us and with a big smile explained, ‘we are going to have a bumpy ride’. I don’t know why, but the smile kept coming back as we rode along. So much as to say, I guess, there are bumps on this road, we have to go over them or go nowhere, and it won’t do any harm to smile.
It also seems that this bishop represents his people. We have been greeted with great kindness and hospitality at every stop. And though bone tired, some of us not having properly rested for over 60 hours, there was a reception for us in Bungoma when we pulled in around 9.30 pm. The other side of it was that these were clergy and students of the diocese who had come from several locations in the diocese, some on foot, others on bikes, and had been waiting patiently since 3 pm, our originally scheduled arrival. We were greeted with a song, introductions by the bishop, and then a meal of chicken, beef, mafatha (a corn based staple whose texture is such that clumps can be pulled off and then dipped in stew or gravy), vegetables, and soda.
Sometime around 10.30, there was one last push as we were taken to our accomodations in the Happy Moments hotel. One last time, luggage was pulled off the vans and a freight truck filled with supplies and personal belongings, and then escorted to our rooms.
The rooms are simple, but each has its own washroom, shower and TV. The rooms face a centre passage-way that is only partially covered. And so, with the windows open, we hear each other, those passing, and the activity of the hotel kitchen and a lounge. Each room has a mosquito net and even though we’ve not seen much of the little enemies, we’ve still been advised to pull the net down over us. After 60 hours travelling over land, sea and the equator, I slept well.
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
The sights and sounds today have been overwhelming.
From what I could see, there are several hard decisions that have to be made for a mission like this to be successful. And one of them was today - namely, breakfast was ready by 7.30 and we were expected to be ready to go by 9. We were, and I don’t think it’s too much to say that we enjoyed Kenya time. The buses scheduled for 9 arrived at 11. We were taken to the Wycliffe Training Centre, where there was a second and more formal welcome and commissioning of the mission. Again, the clergy and students were there to greet as with song, with the work of the mission and a welcome to those of us from Toronto being interjected. The song began outside and we followed in procession into the Centre. The bishop formally welcomed us and introduced the clergy, lay leaders, students and lay assistants present. Kim Beard was then introduced and he introduced the members of the Mission team - teachers, doctors, nurses, painters, dentists, accountants. A prayer of commissioning followed and then we were on our way.
Well, from the Centre we were taken to pick up boxed lunches back to the Sharif Centre where all our main meals have been prepared. The eyecare and Christian Education teams were then taken back to Happy Moments to eat our lunch and pick up supplies. Then, we were taken to Webuye, where the mission proper began. And though it could only be introductory, the three of us teachers each had an opportunity to introduce our topics, which we’ll be able to discuss in greater detail for the next three days at Webuye, and the optician and her team of about 20 attended to the hundreds of people who had heard the word and had gathered at the Cathedral of St. Matthew since the morning. 130 were examined today, and nearly 300 tickets were given out to those who’ll be seen tomorrow.
The teachers were taken nearby to the parish of St. John's. There a group of about 25 clergy, evangelists, lay leaders and lay people had gathered and we introduced our topics of preaching (The Rev’d Dr. Barbara Sykes), accounting (Dr. Janne Chung of the Schulich School of Business, York University) and liturgy (me). We finished the afternoon around 5.15 pm. The reason is simple. At the equator, sundown is a little after 6pm and there’s no lingering sunset. Many of the people had come from considerable distances and time needed to be alloted for them to get home. But the thing has begun, and tomorrow both teams are planning to be there and underway by 9 am.
Then another lesson in Kenyan hospitality. Our host, The Rev’d John Kiboye, had tried to escort us from the church to our van and back to pick up extras from the eyecare clinic so that we could get back to Bungoma for supper at six. "You won’t get away as easily as that," one member got up and said with a smile. Meaning, they had dinner prepared for us. So, off we went to the nearby vicarage where a meal of (roti), beef and chicken was waiting. It was delicious, and as our host explained, not optional. It is the cause of great offense not to accept the hospitality of one’s host. We then travelled over to the Cathedral to join up with the eyecare team, only to be invited into for a similar meal that had been prepared for them.
And then to Bungoma for supper number 3!
I like the joke they tell. ‘Westerners have the watches, but Africans have the time.’
Oh, and the luggage was found and has made it to the Methodist Guest House in Nairobi. We may see our belongings by tomorrow night.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Another full day, and a bit of rhythm beginning to develop as the different teams become acquainted with each other, their surroundings and their responsibilities.
The painting team spent the day painting the exterior of the Wycliffe Training Centre. The Centre had been painted two years ago, but the paint had been scrubbed off almost entirely due to the heavy rains, as I understand.
The eyecare and Christian education teams returned to Webuye. There was quite a scene on the street outside the Shariff Centre where we picked up our lunches. A man had been caught stealing corn. By whatever circumstances he was caught, we saw him surrounded by a crowd of about 50 bike taxi drivers who were escorting him with shouts and malice, to the police station. At one point it appeared that they stopped to beat him. The manager of the centre was nearby and said he was lucky to have made it as far as he did. I learned later that another thief had only made it to the front of the centre where he was impaled and killed on the metal stake fence surrounding the centre.
The crime was striking - theft of corn - as was the mob justice. Guilty until proven innocent, it seemed.
Meanwhile, our intentions were a little closer to reality today. A 9 am start was delayed only by two. As the Christian education team arrived at 11, we were prepared for an anxious class, ready to begin. We met anxious cooks, ready to serve us breakfast. We ate our second breakfast.
When we began, the class began smaller, though it would be back up to about 25 by the afternoon. The reason was simple. Most were also taking advantage of the eye clinic about a mile away. They didn’t want to miss that chance, before walking the mile or so for classes.
There were a couple of harsh realities discovered by the eyecare team. They encountered a surprisingly high number of children who complained of itchy and red eyes, but whose sight was otherwise fine. The theory was twofold. The itchiness likely was the result of pollution from a nearby paper mill. When the wind blows the wrong way, the smell of chlorine used to bleach the paper is horrible. Who knows what’s in the air. The children all live in a small housing complex for plant workers.
The second harsh reality is that the problem is also largely preventable with good hygiene. What appears to be happening is that children are having dirty eyes cleaned with dirty water, rubbed by dirty hands in the meantime. But somewhere along the line, someone’s going need to start kicking the backside of the mill owner, and get them to install better scrubbers at the top of the stacks.
The day ended a little closer to 6 pm tonight, with a touching farewell ceremony for the eyecare team who will move along to a new destination tomorrow. It included speeches from the Proctor of the Cathedral (what we would call the Cathedral Dean), the local doctor who joined the clinic (what I’m sure would have been a very valuable partnership as he is someone who could followup with patients and on trends that were being discovered), from the Proctor’s wife, and from one of the van drivers, followed by a response from the team leader, and then gifts to all the team members. The team leader reported that between 450 and 500 people were examined, with some dramatic results for some who were fitted with proper glasses.
We were back for supper by about 7 pm and then to the hotel where the missing luggage - with one exception - had been delivered. People were tired today. One medical team reported in to say that they were already out of supplies, the numbers were so great. An order for more has been placed.
But by 10 pm, most were either in bed sleeping, or out on the hotel veranda enjoying soft drinks.
Day two of the mission is over, day five of the trip.