So on Sunday we had arranged to go to church with one of the local teachers. We'd been told to be ready at the gate at 7.45 am, but I got a call at 7:40 am saying she was already at the gate! We all had to hurry to get down there as none of us was exactly ready to leave at that moment. We were expecting her to arrive a little late, as is custom here in Kenya. You set a time to meet up and the person you are meeting comes 30-90 mins late like it's no big deal. I guess it really isn't here..
Babies had their own room so
no crying in church!
Church was different, to say the least. The singing was actually catchy and nice to listen to! The sermon in itself wasn't to my liking because I'm not very religious. The message was good: Help the needy not by giving them money, but by giving them what they really need - food and especially water. He had a great point (not that I listened very closely) about how people in Europe and the US send money to a charity and how the money never really reaches the people that need it desperately, but is taken by the organisation and its' leaders.
Thankfully we got a snack after
church, we wouldn't have
survived without it!
After the service we were asked to come up and shake hands with the ministers and whatnot and were taken to a room at the back and told to sit down. We were told about the church (CITAM - Christ Is The Answer Ministries) and were offered a drink (I had Fanta) and biscuits, Ginger snaps, which tasted almost like gingerbread biscuits in my opinion. I've never been offered anything in a church in Finland. It felt very warm and welcoming. They even had two people appointed to welcome new potential members. We all felt extremely welcome.
Us in church wear
After church we went to the market, where it was so crowded that you could hardly see half a metre in front of you! We were told to keep all our possessions in front of us as close to our body as possible and not to take pictures as the cameras/phones would surely be snatched from our hands. I didn't take any pictures but one of the other girls did and she said we could all use them in our blogs etc.
Beans being sold at the market
The stench at the market is indescribable! It smelled like rotting food, compost, urine, feces, sweat...! I can't tell you how bad it smelt. But the food there was a LOT cheaper (even for us white folk) than in the shops. I still would never go there without a guide of some sort. I even got a slash on my bag where someone was hoping for something to fall out. That, thankfully, didn't happen! Nothing was stolen and the bag I had had no value monetarily or otherwise. Nothing else noteworthy happened, really. We took a matatu, as you can see on the video below. That was a new experience. They are a lot cheaper than tuktuks! Only about 10-20 shillings/trip (10-20 cents).
Can you tell who's not a
local?
After the market we went to the hotel to wait for the professor to come pick us up for lunch at his house, He was "only" an hour late. He did apologise, though! We had no idea where the professor lived and we were hoping to get some lunch in us soon. We hadn't eaten anything after breakfast and it was past 1 pm when he finally got there. We got in his car and like every other Kenyan he drove like a mad man! I've never been scared of anyone's style of driving as much as I am of everyone's here! I have to film traffic a little more so you could see how crazy it really is here!
From the countryside
So we drive for over an hour and finally, 80 km later, we arrive at a narrow poorly kept road that leads to the professor's house. He has lived there for more or less his whole life and his parents, brothers and sisters all live nearby. The house looks smart enough, but it wasn't what I was expecting. It was very minimalistic in decor and I was expecting something with a little more grandeur. We were all ready to go in, but we were seated outside to watch some performers perform traditional music (see video). His children had also prepared a few songs and poems, most of which I filmed. I personally found his son's performance most entertaining as it was an old traditional dance and song, presumably about us coming from a faraway land to Kisumu, Kenya.
Our delicious meal
The performances lasted maybe 30 minutes but it felt like forever because we were all very hungry! We could not wait to be showed in to the readily set table full of wonderful food. There was rice, the traditional ugali (cornflour), coleslaw without the mayo/cream, fried whole potatoes, chicken (presumably their own) and meat (a little like our Finnish Karelian stew) and delicious chapati bread. It was all very delicious and we even got fruit salad for dessert! The pineapples were so deliciously sweet and the watermelon so refreshing! A funny (read different) habit they have here is that they don't drink as they eat, but after everyone has eaten we are offered a beverage, I would have liked something to drink with the meal as that's what I'm used to, but when in Rome...
The washroom
After the meal we went to the bathroom expecting (read hoping) for a hole-in-the-ground-toilet, but found a normal toilet bowl that needs to be flushed like the one in our apartment, by adding water manually. After lunch/dinner he took us back to Kisumu, not a minute too soon because it started pouring as we hit the main road. The sun really doesn't shine all the time here in Kenya, believe it or not!
With such a packed day behind us we were all tired and went to bed early. And with that I'll leave you for now. Good night everyone!
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