Sermons & Notes

Fr. Dean Mercer, St. Paul's L'Amoreaux Anglican Church, Toronto, Ontario, Canada - www.stpl.ca.

Monday, July 16, 2007

Mission to Kenya: Wednesday, July 11

*The teachers have been sent to Butonga. It is our longest trip from Bungoma, about 40 km, and 1/3 of it is on dirt roads. It is also, by far, our largest class with 55 attending and the prospect of more for tomorrow. That said, it is very pleasant out here and while the roads were rough, there was no rush and it was more of a wandering ride than a bumpy one as our driver simply navigated around the worst of the potholes.


We don’t see as many vehicles on the road here, mostly bicycles and pedestrians, and the occasional motorcycle.


*During one of the other sessions, I went for a stroll. The church is situated next to an Anglican primary and high school, and the complex includes several buildings, including a medical clinic (though I’m not sure if it is operational yet). It is a very busy and noisy centre of activity. Out walking I ended up as a bit of a novelty. We’re far enough from the city that people here rarely see foreigners.


*The three of us teachers were trying to guess what subjects were being taught in the public school on the other side of the fence. Our guess was ‘recess’, because all day long we heard the constant din of happy children playing outside. The other subject, I’m guessing, was ‘skipping class’ because also, throughout the day, the church in which our classes are being held was surrounded by little heads and bright eyes sneaking a peek at the goings on inside. Every once in a while, the class ‘usher’ would take a switch he had made of branches and charge into the centre of the crowd of children chasing them away from the building. The effect was negligible and short-lived.


*All around are small, circular mud huts with thatch roofs. There are also about an equal number of square and rectangular brick buildings with tin roofs, but the huts are more common here than they were near Bungoma.


*The teachers are starting to feel a bit weary. We’re not quite sure why. On the one hand, we are all averaging 8-9 hours of sleep a night, 2-3 hours a night more than we get back in Toronto. On the other hand, we wonder if there isn’t a form of stimulation overload. Or the medication we’re taking to prevent malaria. Also, traveling is tiring, partly because of the length of time, partly because of the condition of the roads, and partly because it is six lane traffic where the laws of physics only permits two. The six lanes are two lanes of pedestrians on the outside, two lanes of bicycles and ‘boda bodas’ (bicycle taxis), and two lanes in the middle of vehicles – cars, trucks, tractors, and large freightliners, some with trailers behind. The ‘wild card’, similar to crazy couriers on the streets in Toronto, are the donkeys, goats, sheep and cows. They have their own, unpredictable traffic protocol.