The slowness of the internet and lack of wifi access has cut down my blogging immensely. I’m constantly keeping notes in my head about what we are doing, where we are going, and what we are experiencing.

I could blog about many things and nothing less important than another. This time I will try to describe what we see from our vehicles or on foot as we travel along the Kenyan roads.

We’ve been on the roads for many hours already. In the city of Nairobi, the streets are extremely crowded. There are not many stop signs and few stop lights. I asked Dad about this and he feels they probably wouldn’t follow the lights or signs anyway so is not sure it would make much of a difference. Lanes aren’t really adhered to either. Drivers drive on the left side of the road (steering wheels are on right). People will pass you on the left or the right, even when there is an oncoming car. Luckily we have trusted our driver to make sure we are safe every time we step in the van.

Motorcycles are everywhere. They should have licenses, but many do not. Usually young men all chip in for a motor bike to share and then each use it for one day of the week. So far we have seen up to four people on a motor bike- all without helmets. We also saw a man driving a bike with a sofa on the back (horizontal) with a person sitting on the couch…Dad and Sue have seen several people on a bike with a goat tied to the back and up to seven people on one bike. We have not seen that yet…

Cows are allowed to graze on the roads. So, we see a lot of cows on the sides of roads as well as goats and chickens. They usually have a shepherd escorting to ensure no one steals them. The cows are quite skinny as their only food source is usually the grass along the roads. This morning on our way to church, we walked on the road outside the Hospital and saw a cow eating garbage. Cows are much more common here for milk and beef than chickens which is considered more of a delicacy.

We also see donkeys on the road hauling bags and produce. Donkeys are revered here as major necessities. We’ve seen a few random pigs which is as close to a pug that I will ever get to seeing here….

We drove past a river and the men were standing at the sides of the road holding fish to sell. When people pass them, they shake the fish to make them seem still alive so that people will think they are fresh. In fact, it could be a few hours or more since they’ve been caught.

Most often, we see rows of houses. Houses by Kenyan standards. Americans would consider it a small tool shed at the most. Many are quite old or weathered. Families, large families even, live in these homes. Often they will cook on an outdoor stove for dinners. There is house after house after house like this. Some don’t have windows, just a door. I’ve seen the pictures when Dad and Sue come home each time, but they are smaller than the pictures can even express.

Children are usually in school during the week. The children who aren’t in school are usually the babies or those who can’t afford school. At certain times, we see the students all in their uniforms on their way home for lunch or after school. Many walk home to lunch, eat, then return to school as they can’t afford to buy lunch or the school can’t afford to provide it. Everyone walks- so some children walk 25 minutes home, eat for ten minutes, then walk back the 25 minutes to school.

The children are wonderful. They love when we wave. They either stare wide-eyed or they smile amazing smiles and wave back at us. We hear children yell at each other, “Muzungas!!!” which means white person and as we are a rare sighting in the poor neighborhoods, it’s a big deal. Hard to get used to it. I tend to be more reserved but am trying to wave and smile. Tim is wonderful at waving and smiling. I admire his ability to reach out to any and everyone with such genuine compassion.

As everyone walks, people are constantly on the roads. The woman have large bundles of sticks, or barrels of water. The men don’t carry much and usually do not walk with the women.

The smells. You can smell cooking – wonderful smells of something or other. In the greener areas, it smells lush- almost like Portland in the fall. Once you get in the drier areas, it can smell almost like burning. I compared it to the smell of Bend in the summer. But Sue pointed out it could be actual burning…

People often burn their garbage as there is no infrastructure for garbage collection. So, the garbage will litter the roads or people burn it as they make it.

The roads themselves are bumpy to say the least. The paved roads have potholes or bumps, or just big holes that don’t even qualify as potholes. The government will pay for the road installation, but not upkeep. So they quickly become in disrepair.

I can’t quite describe anything fully that we’ve seen. This is just a snapshot from the van.