nyorotisi is a town about an hour and a half outside of kitale. TI was made aware of a grandmother who was trying to support her four grandchildren when they became orphans awhile back, and after evaluating the situation, TI now brings them food and support.
today we brought the grandmother and her kids their food supply.
now, i say this with all the love in my heart... but nyorotisi is seriously located in the buttcrack of nowhere.
this is how our traveling to nyorotisi went:
- anne, michele and i got on a matatu van with our food and supplies, and after 30 minutes our matatu was stopped by the police. from what i could figure out, our driver had pulled off into a part of the road that he wasn't supposed to stop on
- after the police officer took out his handcuffs, we knew we wouldnt be going anywhere on that matatu, so we got on another one with 20 other people (insert big ::sigh:: here)
- another 20 minutes of driving, and we were at the junction to get in the truck bed that would take us down another dirt road further from... uh... well, "civilization"
- we got to the junction, but the toyota truck's camper shell wasnt filled yet, so we waited for a half hour for the driver and another guy to find more passengers
- after finally leaving the junction with 14 passengers in the truck's camper shell, we drove to the place where we would catch bodas... and there was only one boda. yeah. only one
- the lone boda driver cruised along behind anne and i and michele, and we trudged down a dirt road for two miles in 90 degree heat... and no shade, mind you
after being greeted by the grandmother and her grandchildren, we started the walk back.
my favorite part of the day was traveling back... the kids in the area had all gotten out of school, and it must've been a school for younger children. mind you, most little kids have seen a mzungu (white person) like once or twice in their life... and NEVER a big tall mzungu.
THEY WERE TERRIFIED OF ME.
it was tragic. i was talking to them in swahili and holding my hand of sweets out to them, and they wouldnt let me get within 20 feet of them without BOOKING IT another 200 feet down the road before stopping and staring again. i really wanted to play with them, but they wouldnt even get near me. some older ones finally took a piece of candy, but i wanted to play with the little wee ones. aww. it was so sad.
finally i gave up and put my candy away, and a short while later michele said "i wonder what they'd do if you ran at them" and i was intrigued. i had to try it.
when i got as close as theyd let me, i screamed like a banshee and took maybe three huge lunges towards them, and they froze for a millisecond with mortified looks on their faces, and then FLEW down the road and into the nearest bushes they could find.
for the rest of the 2 mile walk, i walked by giggling bushes that got really quiet as i passed.
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