Friday, June 13, 2008
Translator
When I jumped on the van our friend who had been mugged was sitting on the back seat. He face was swollen. He has stitches on his forehead. His moustache was half-shaved and he had more stitches on his top lip. He was black and blue. We talked for a while. He told us the story. They missed several buses, had three flat tires, got to town late, couldn’t find a bus, got a bus, but would not go all the way. He got out close to his residence, but right infront of the store. He decided to stop quickly and then head home.
He does not remember anything about the attack. He just remembers waking up in the emergency room. A person had brought him from off of the road, paid a deposit and guaranteed to pay the bill if necessary (just like in the Bible).
Last day of class
This was the last day of lectures. Dr. Katola tried to finish with evil and its manifestations in society. Heard lots of stories of how these beliefs influence so many daily behaviors.
At the end of class he met one-on-one with us and reviewed our papers. He had only a few suggestions for me, so I was glad to get to go quickly. I have three more interview events to complete through the weekend, revise my paper, a take home test, a class assignment, and book reading and then I turn everything in next Wednesday.
Dickson (Click on this and read about Dickson's recent success)
Maurice and I had rescheduled to meet Dickson this afternoon, so we grabbed lunch quickly and then headed across town. This is way easier to say than do. We grabbed a Mattatu that got us back into town. Then we got one that was to go across town, but at the Kibera slum it turned into the slum. Kibera is the largest slum in Africa with over 1,000,000 people living in it. Not the place for us.
We jumped out and started walking. The roads were in gridlock, so we put on our walking shoes and went fast. We made it the Dickson’s with just a few minutes to spare (totlat travel time 1:53).
Dickson is from the Luhah tribe so I got to interview him for my paper and add an additional tribal perspective. We had a great visit and interview. He invited me back next week and I will go with him on Thursday and go see the work in Nairobi. I will also meet the Buckner interns who arrive on Wed.
Back at Flora
I started both of the books that I have for the weekend. The first is about Prestor Johns (Mythical King of the Christian Kingdom behind the Muslims that drove much of the explorations of the 1300-1400’s). It is not a very good book so I struggled through three chapters before falling asleep.
I got up and showered as several of us from the class had decided to go to the Carnivore restaurant for dinner.
I got dressed and went to the road to wait. After a 20 minute wait I called the driver and they had decided not to go after all and thought I had been contacted. Kinda felt like getting dressed for the prom, but not getting picked-up.
I barely got to eat at Flora and then returned to my room.
Country of My Skull
I began reading a book about S. Africa, the end of Apartied, and the Truth and Reconciliation Committee. Another in a series of seriously depressing books about the brokenness of humanity. I kept asking myself how. How can we look at other human beings and see nothing but animals? How even if animals, could we act in such inhuman ways? At 10:30 PM I put the book aside and watched a movie on the laptop.
No comments:
Post a Comment