Canada to Kenya: Naivasha Trip

We travelled by matatu on Saturday morning to Naivasha via Nakuru, leaving at 6:30am for a 6 hour journey. We took the Blueline as recommended by a friend. The Blueline is an express line whereby everyone gets their own seat (a rare luxury here)... turns out, though, that the Blueline doesn't stop in Naivasha. This we found out quite by accident after we had passed the town by about 20km. I had seen a sign awhile back saying Naivasha 17km, but when the bus continued to drive for another 45 minutes with no other signs to Naivasha, we asked the driver. "Naivasha? No, we are almost in Nairobi!" So, after much yelling in Swahili on the phone, the driver pulled over and pointed to the other side of the road and instructed us to catch the next matatu. Grrr. Anyway, after a little bickering, we managed to find one that took us where we needed to be and after a short, squishy, bumpy ride, we arrived.

We were surprised when we met our contact, Richard, from the Naivasha club -- we had both been expecting a Kenyan. Well, after 16 years living in Naivasha, Richard is now a Kenyan, but he has the skin of a mzungu and the accent of a Brit. Richard whisked us off to the Sports Club (seems every town has a sports club -- 9 hole golf course with "browns" rather than "greens", racket club, restaurant) for a quiet lunch.

The Campbell River Daybreak Club is working on a global grant with Naivasha Rotary Club (about a dozen members) on an Adopt a Village Project. The Adopt a Village Project has a water, medical, and educational component. Terry is helping write the grant application... after dotting i's and crossing t's for our Protected Springs Grant, he's a bit of an expert in wording answers in just the way the powers that be want to hear them -- all while telling the truth, of course! CR Daybreak will be taking on the "water" part. I'll let Terry fill you in on the details as I am sure our club will want to be a part of it. It will serve many many people in desparate need of water. Right now they have no access at all to water and have to buy it from one of these guys (who are not very nice to their donkeys by the way).

Wouldn't want to be a donkey in Naivasha.

We met some of the CR Daybreak Rotarians and their spouses on Sunday -- they were easy to pick out, just look for the ones with the hats. Ah, we always get a kick out of mzungus in safari gear! Kenyans are dressed in satin and sequins and we are dressed in khakis and tilley hat! Rats, they took off their hats after I teased them.

Richard (on left) with CR Daybreak Rotarians in front of water tank they sponsored.

The RC of Naivasha's pride and joy is their Children's Safe House that they fully support. This is a home for children who have been rescued from emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. The children stay here on a temporary basis until rehabilitation with their families is possible. One little guy was brought in after being neglected by his single mother who had turned to prostitution. The boy was three and weighed the same as Richard's 15 month old baby. He reminded us that this is the outcome of desparation, not of bad people. The children were a little reluctant at first (so were the Rotarians), but after some time, there were smiles all around, only a few tears.