Trip to Ukambani
Friday Feb 16, 07 Left for Ukambani with Stephen (one of the cooks here at Mayfield) at 9:00. Matatu (bush taxi van) departed Nairobi at 11:00 (waits until it is full before leaving so better have a loose time table when relying on public transport). Arrived at Nunguni, a small town in the hills 100+ Kilometers south south east of Nairobi, just before 13:00. We ate a quick lunch at a restaurant/hotel and then started walking to his homestead (family farm) 6-8km from the Nunguni. We walked about half way and were able to ride in a truck the rest of the way.
Upon arrival, I met Stephen’s wife, sister, daughter in law and some grandkids at the homestead. Stephen’s son Christopher was in Nunguni with his bike and arrived in the evening with the boxes that Stephen had left at a shop for him to bring. We had chai (tea made with hot milk) around 16:30 and visited for a while. We let the 3 cows out of their “barn” to graze for a while in the evening while we visited and made sure they didn’t get in the corn. Stephen used to have 10 cows but sold the others because it is a lot of work to get grass for them.
I took a bucket bath (each evening) with a jug of hot water heated on the fire in the “kitchen” and a jug of cold water (you mix them to get what ever temperature you want). Finished the evening with supper around 20:00 and visiting till a little after 21:00.
They had set up a guest bed in the living room and partitioned off half the room for my bedroom which was quite adequate. They had 3 blankets for me since it gets “very cold” at night. It did get quite cool and I used one of the blankets.
Woke up a little before 6:00 as it was just starting to get light. Flies must still be sleeping since there were none active at the pit latrine. Early in the morning is definitely the best time to use the facilities (cool, no flies and very little odor).
Took a short walk up the hill a little ways and had my devotions as the sun was coming up. Had breakfast around 8:00 and got ready to go to the church. The church committee (elder board/consistory) was meeting for a planning meeting. Stephen is one of the primary committee members and they usually have meetings on Saturdays when he is home (he goes home almost every other weekend since it is not that far). 
His wife is also on the committee with a number of other women (there are a lot more women in the church than men). Another prominent committee member is an 89 year old man who still hikes up and down the mountains (with a cane) and knew a some English.
I helped 2 women prepare morning chai at 11:00 and lunch. Neither women knew much English and I realized how little Swahili I actually know (200 or so words doesn’t go very far). 
Food preparation went well and lunch was served around 15:30 (a little late is better than never). After lunch I helped with the dishes. It is amazing how much you can clean with so little water. You tend to use water very sparingly when you you have to carry it up steep poor paths 1,000 + ft vertical.
The meeting finished a little after 17:00 and we walked back home (he lives pretty close only about half a kilometer (about 1/3 mile).
Sunday Feb 18, 07 Went to church a little before 10:00. Service started 10:10 (supposed to start at 10:00, pretty good) There were around 40 -50 adults, mostly women, and around 20 kids. Some interesting observations about the service: They closed the doors during each prayer so no one can enter or leave. During offering time, one person brought a chicken for offering and couple others brought bags of beans and peas and a couple eggs. They then proceeded to auction off the goods and the money was added to the offering. I started preaching a little after 11:30. Stephen translated it into Kamba (the local language) since most of the congregation did not know English or knew very little. I think I like have a translator because it gives me a chance to think while preaching and choose my words. This also makes your sermon twice as long which is good if your not a big talker but probably not so good if you are a big talker. My sermon went till around 12:15, upon completion of the sermon, we had a Q&A time about America or whatever they wanted to ask me. Many of the kids and some of the adults have had very little contact with white people so this was really interesting for them.
This was the pastor’s last Sunday so he had a little speech and so did his wife, thanking the congregation for their friendship and hospitality of the years. Finished up around 13:30 and greeted everyone on the way out.
We ate lunch, took a short rest and then went on a tour of the rest of Stephen’s property. It goes from the road down to the stream in the valley (around 1000 ft vertical) the hill’s slope is between 45 and 60 degrees over his property making cultivation difficult. They probably cultivate between 25-30 percent. They have a number of fruit trees near the bottom and a nice clean spring that comes out of a rock. This is where they used to get all their water. 
Now Stephen has purchased two 6,500 Liter tanks and collects rain water off his roof. This water will last through the rainy season and at least part way through the dry season so they don’t have to get water as often.
On the way back up the hill, we untied the goats that were grazing in between some of the fields and herded them up close to the house for the night. Stephen actually keeps the goats in an old house that they use for storage now.
Left the homestead around 9:30 and walked all the way to Nunguni. The town is a little higher that Stephen’s place and the dirt road runs along the top of the ridge. We had to wait for a little while until a Matatu going to Nairobi cam along and then we were on our way. Luckily in the rural areas, they just pick people up along the way till they are full.
A couple other notes about matatus: both of these trips I got to sit in the front beside the driver. This is definitely the best seat in the van as far as I’m concerned. Most of my other rides have been in the middle or back, and Kenyans (at least most that I have seen in Matatus) are about 4-6 inches shorter than me. This means I have about negative 3 inches of head room, and can barely squeeze my legs in between the seats. My shoulders are also wider than most Kenyans so I take up almost one and a half seats if I don’t turn sideways. So between having your legs jammed into the seat in front of you, either turning partially sideways or just being squished, and bending your neck so your head fits, long matatu rides are very uncomfortable. You also can’t see where your going since the top of the windows are about chin or neck level.
