We took a Matatu to Bondo after waiting an hour for the thing to go. They wait until it is full, which is a drag when you need to meet someone at the other end. Our Matatu broke down along the way, of course, why wouldn't it. It had to be jump-started a few times. Finally the transmission completely conked out, so the driver couldn't take it out of gear without it stopping. So he motors at like Mach 2 to Bondo, scaring the bejeezus out of everyone else on the road. He gets to the spot where Matatus normally park in Bondo, a small dirt driveway up a small incline perpendicular to the highway. Well, he takes the turn into the driveway at pretty much the same speed he was running down the road, up the incline, and straight into the parking spot, stopping dead a few feet from a guy sleeping on a bench. The guy wasn't sleeping anymore. Once we pryed ourselves off the inside of the Matatu we were fine to disembark. Thank you for flying Air Matatu, come again.
Bondo is a tiny village where no one goes to visit, only to pas thru. So Scott and I were a bit of a sight in this little village. After 1/2 an hour or so we met our friend from the Kakamega (btw - our matato ride broke down several times and finally died as we pulled into Bondo)water project whom we had met the week prior. We first went to an ATM to get the cash we wanted to donate but questioned our judgement when we had to sit alone for 1/2 hr in this town that did not feel too warm:)He took us to Lake Victoria where we saw how people fish for a living - quite manual, trapping fish with a bamboo fence and then grabbing them by hand. Everywhere we went the children followed, it was quite cute.
A man came with us who works with orphans on the street, who gave us a pretty hard sell to help the organization. There's just so much need, wherever we go people are looking for help, Bless them for trying. We visited the place where the orphan girls go to learn crafts such as sewing and using a loom to make material, sheets, and so on.
On the way back to Kisumu, the van we were in broke down, the fan belt snapped. So in Kisumu a man was waiting to fix it. We pull into this dark alley, dark since it was now nightfall, and 2 guys pull out the front seats to access the fan, and replace the fan belt while we waited. Fun stuff. Then we were stopped by tire bursting belts on the road by the army as they were looking for illegal firearms.We finally made it home into the evening. Priscilla had dinner waiting for us, she's such a sweetheart.
