The road into Eldoret
I had wanted to write soon after our first walk into town. For
whatever reason, it has been 9 days since and we have made that roughly 3 mile
walk at least once (one day I walked it three times to fetch something we’d
forgotten) each day. The house we stay in is located in an area off a road that
I would say is best compared to “a country highway”. The area is called Kenmosa and is behind a
gate (gates are common place here, the hospitals are behind gates, and Little
Lamb’s School, Deb’s office is though a gate, the streetkid’s drop-in center is
behind a gate). There are security
guards at the gate who now greet us as we walk out and peer into our taxi at
night when we sometimes return by car.
The houses in Kenmosa are large with large gardens, the road out to the
gate is more like a nice tar sidewalk with little traffic. As one walks into town from Kenmosa there is
more and more buildings. Right outside
the gait, if one looks to the right there are a few hills not too far away (for
my runs I turn right, going away from town toward these hills, run on a cow
trail for a short bit, then run on the shoulder of the highway as mtatus, work
bikes,trucks, and sometimes tractors roll by). Mostly we turn left and follow
the hard packed red dirt trails that parallel the road into town. The road itself is narrow, potholed, dusty,
fumy, with intervals of speed bumps. Mtatus(“mah-Tah-toos”)-, which are mostly
snubnosed minivan type vehicles, rickety and packed with riders (maybe 9 or so),
drive madly down this road. The mtatus
paths, speed changes, and stops seem unpredictable. They adhere to the major rule of Kenyan
driving, also followed by all the other types of vehicles, which is go anywhere
on the road you want, whenever at whatever speed, just don’t hit anything. Yes,
road traffic is generally a bit crazy- by organized western standards and the
mtatus are even up there a notch. Even when one is walking along the road the
vehicles (oh, there’s “taxi” motorbikes too!) seem to dominate with fumes,
throwing dust, honking (elaborate system of communication, though often meaning
I’m Here!, I’m Here!) and at night flashing lights/brights. So we follow the road on dirt paths. The paths are like rough hiking trails and
there are often two or three parallel and intersecting paths. There are many people walking along the paths
and road to and from town. In the morning before Deb’s workday when we walk
there is almost a foot traffic rush hour.
At times we greet and are greeted by others. One of the first things we
pass is a Technical school. In the
morning there are many young people heading into it’s gates. The young people of Eldoret are more likely
to have a “style” whatever style it may be, some have earphones, and some greet
us in English as we pass. Just pass the
Tech school is where the train tracks cross and there are many more paths that
converge here. This area seems more wide
open and more of the trees are cleared here allowing for a place to take in the
scene. Here many are waiting at informal
stops for mtatus. Motor bike taxis are
gathered together parked waiting to find a customer. At the tracks here, people seem to be gathering for a bit at hand built “kiosks” or “park benches”.
At these gathering points 3-8 people may be talking, heating teas/cooking
something over small cook fires. Again,
this is just my observation and I know I’m at the point where I may be missing
many things or everything. I enjoy this section of the walk and it is a place
where we may be approached to ask if we need a ride or someone may try out an
English greeting or just call out to us, “Mzungu”. To which we turn and smile and return, “Habari
ya usubuhi?” (How’s your morning?) and they would say “Nzuri” (Good). I will continue with the road to town soon as
well as put down some thoughts on mzungu as well. Now it’s time to walk the
road into Eldoret for a Swahili lesson. Thanks for reading- send us a note…
