We took a Matatu (small minivan with benches as seats, where they can cram in about 14 people) to Shinyalu Market, about a 45 minute drive away. We were off to meet Joe, who runs Tafitiku Gardens, a place where volunteers stay while working in the community. We had emailed Joe over the past few months and so we thought we would pop in and chat over tea. He was not there, but his partner was there from Australia so we chatted with him and had a tour of their facilities. Unfortunately they are in the process of shutting down altogether and moving back to Australia. He and his wife have been there 5 years, and they have adopted 4 kids whom they are taking back to Aussie with them. Everyone you meet in Africa has a different perspective, it was quite an interesting chat. Tafitiku Gardens was like an oasis in the middle of Shinyalu Market which is a dusty, bustling village. We grabbed a Matatu back to Kakamega. It was completely packed, I stood on the back footstep hanging onto the roofrack with 2 other Kenyans, had a nice, albeit loud, chat with them. But the piece de resistance (my French is as good as my Swahili) was when I peered into the back of the Matatu to find that one of the young children had crawled up onto Scott's lap, holding his hand. It was the epitome of cute. Scott gave the children in the Matatu some of the toy balls we had brought with us from Canada. He wanted to give them some candy, but when everyone's eyes lit up inside the Matatu, it was hard not to dish it out to everyone.
When we returned to Kakamega, we went back to the water project Bridgewater's office and met the gang there, as they were going to take us to a successful well site in town. We took them to lunch first. A bit about the food - um - fairly basic, and their staple is ugali, this cooked floury paste-like substance that you're supposed to play with in your hands like putty, and if you're good you can make a bowl and scoop up some sauce with it. OK, so when in Rome... The place we went to today had a bit more variety then the place where we're staying. Some chicken, etc. So we had a good lunch. Then we set off to the well location.
This was very interesting. We walked through chaotic street vendors, traffic, cows, to get to the location. The well was built in a nearby slum. The water project linked up with a community organization trying to help the slum, so that's why this was the chosen location. We went in with 2 members of the water project, so I suppose it was fairly safe. When we got there we could see this shiny well standing out amongst the mud huts. They showed us where they used to get the water to drink. The slum is built on a hillside, and all the water, or more like waste I think, flows down the hill from the huts and the earth above, picking up whatever the grazing cows leave behind, into a small stream at the bottom. We saw 2 pigs fighting in the mud, just about 10 metres from 3 little kids playing in the stream of water flowing downhill. Bit of a different world. So that was their old watering hole before the well was built up on high ground. The interesting thing, something Bridgewater never thought of, was that some entrepreneurial slumdwellers are actually selling the fresh water to passersby. So now not only does the slum have clean water, but they have a modest income as it is the only clean water source in the area to drink, shower, wash clothes. So this has made an impact to the slum in different ways. We met some of the people there, very nice people, and we took a lot of video footage with their permission and did some interviews for my promo video for the water project organization.
Wow. We left and had a beer with the Bridgewater gang talking more about the project, before heading out to the Kakamega Forest. Each day is so different from the next.
