It's Not Nice to Fool Mother Nature

21 Feb 2010

Dear readers, I hope I am not so old that you don’t remember this advertising slogan. But perhaps you are, it doesn’t really matter.  Today’s entry is just so delicious that you will get the humor one way or another.

It dawned cold and dreary in Nairobi. Because I was situated in downtown I could forage for some lunch materials. I had wanted to order the delicious box lunches that the Hilton offered, but oh, the phone in my room didn’t work, and then they needed 8 hours notice…so I went to the chicken palace and got some Kenyan fried chicken.  Then I waded through dozens of men trying to get me to use their cabs or safaris. The nice thing is that I speak enough Swahili that they pretty much get it right off the bat. On to Tusky’s for chips, water, and some sweets and I was good to go.

Francis indeed has a new car and it even has air-conditioning! He picked me up and we loaded up my gynormous suitcases and other accoutrements and off we went. It is beyond any words to describe the drive across the Rift.  I posted a photo, but that doesn’t really do it. The day was glorious, cool most of the time, the scenery intriguing and varied enough for it never to be dull. We passed the city limits, the Rift, then zebras grazing alongside the road and one lone baboon sitting watching the traffic go by.

Francis and I are such good friends and I rely on him so much, I was dying to ask him a question about a strange phone call I had had that morning. Maloba of the Malanga School had called me a couple of times. Here in Kenya people call each other for a purpose, not to pass the time of day. So when the second one came I asked him if he had something on his mind, no he was just confirming when we were coming to Nambale. I asked Francis what he thought. Francis offered that it might be like the President visiting a province. people get all dressed up and put on a good show and then got back to business as usual. Ah what a gem Francis is.

We arrived in Kisumu just before the rainstorms over Lake Victoria. After I had checked into the hotel, I called Monica. Once we had dispensed with the important greetings I asked her what she thought about the phone call from Maloba. She laughed and said that she didn’t want them to know when we were coming to the school. She wanted to see how the schools were really run when they didn’t know we were coming. Oh isn’t that just delicious! I agreed wholeheartedly and then felt bad that I had blown the cover by intimating that we were coming on Wednesday. But two can play at this game. So I called Maloba back and told him I didn’t know when we were coming, that Monica was still working on the schedule and that we would let him know…we would be there sometime this week.

It is good to be home. It is good to have a sister who thinks the way I do. It never pays to try and fool Mother Nature.