Day 20

Monday, June 9, 2008.

Thankfully the morning comes and I get up at 5:00 AM. I’m ready at 5:20 AM with my bag packed so I watch the Geko on the wall try to track down a moth attracted to the light that is now working. He never succeeds.

To the Bus

After 10 minutes I go to the courtyard to wait. We leave right at 5:45 AM and head into the dark. We retrace our steps back to the bus area. Maurice’s’ wife gets on a bus headed the opposite direction and it gone almost instantly the bus swallowed by the night.

We go on further and then find one of the super buses waiting. We hop aboard and get a set on the two-side with a window that we can control. Because this is Monday, and not as many people are going this route the bus only cost 400 Ks ($6.60). I still can’t figure out how they can charge so little. We are going to drive for about 7 hours on this bus and go hundreds of miles. Even if there are 70 people I don’t understand the economics.

The Bus Ride to Nairobi

The return journey is similar to the outbound. It starts with a brilliant sunrise with rays of light piercing the clouds and spotlighting the area below. The hills are green and the roofs of huts stretch in every direction.

We are stopped frequently by spike strips and police searches.

Joseph

I’m left alone in my thoughts. I keep thinking of Maurice’s baby, Joseph. I’m the first white person he has ever seen. At first, he is terrified by me. He keeps an eye on me where ever I go. I try hard to engage him. If I get near he claws to get away from me. I ‘m quiet, I try to talk softly. I whistle. I sing a song to him.

Nothing. I try everything I know how to do, but he can’t get past the way I look.

I keep thinking about this until it dawns on me that he is just like me on the inside. I have no reason to fear any of the people I meet on the streets, but I can feel the twinge all the time that I am worried about what others might do. It is irrational to judge people by outward appearance, but we do it all the time.

Nairobi

We arrive back in Nairobi at 1:00 PM and I hustle off in a Mattatu to Flora and make it in time for lunch at 1:25 PM. Then I go to the room and take a shower and wash my clothes.

I type up the interview notes and work hard on my paper and finish it by 6:45 and dinner. I come back and work on it reviewing and editing until I can’t think of what else to fix. Then, I begin to type my journal entries. I head to bed about 10:45 PM.