Chalk It Up!

As of yesterday I can officially say I have been to two countries on the African continent, even if it is only in a technical sense. So, this Saturday I made plans to visit Busia, Kenya which is a town about 40 miles (2 hours travel) from Bungoma, on the eastern border of Uganda. I had been wanting to go for awhile, then the opportunity arose when I met Tony. Tony is local man here, although educated at a university in Nairobi, who is back in the village for awhile, heard about our youth group and wanted to help out. We are actually having him come in once a week to talk to the youths on micro finance and micro enterprise and possibly the women. His first meeting with the youth was this past Thursday, which I think went really well. Anyway, I was telling him I wanted to travel to the border sometime and he told me he had family in the town and would be more than happy to take me out there this weekend. So we hopped in a matatu Saturday morning, with one transfer, we were at Busia in about 2 hours. Travel in matatus mainly takes so long because they stop and pick up people the whole way.

Busia, like many border towns, is busy with lots of traffic. There was about a 1/2 mile line of gas trucks, coming from the Kenyan coast into Uganda, which luckily we skirted by with some questionable yet effective driving. First stop was to see Tonys sister. When we got to her flat however someone told us she was out at the market. The flat supervisor knew tony though and gave us a key. The place was nice (concrete walls instead of mud) with alot of pictures and even a color tv! We had some bananas then decided to head for the border.

The border was a pretty crazy scene. Besides all of the gas trucks, there were hundreds of people coming back and forth, walking between Kenya and Uganda. Lots of people selling things, many women with produce on their heads and an incredible amount of boda bodas (bicycle taxi's). We walked up to the Kenyan building, filled out a card with passport information (which I luckily brought despite being told I didnt need it) then got stamped out of kenya. Now it was on to no-mans-land (which is actually marked by a sign of the same name, the area in between the Kenya gate and Uganda gate, I coulndt get a picture though because one of the gaurds said something about at restricted area - but just imagine two gates on either side, one painted with the Kenyan colors and a Kenyan flag and the other with the Ugandan colors and flag, pretty crazy place to be). Then we passed through the gate onto Ugandan soil! - Hence I was "technically in Uganda. Then it was time to stamp in at Uganda. I handed the official my passport and told her my business (just visiting the border for a day). She looked at me suspiciously for a uncomfortable period of time and then told me to pay $50 USD (which is an incredible amount of money here for something like that , I didnt even have that much on me). Pretty bummed out, I walked back through to Kenya (while discussing corruption in Uganda with Tony, he was pretty sure if I just slipped them something it would have been fine). The real exciting thing about the journey though is the road I was walking on is the great north road, which stretches from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa! (roadtrip anybody?)

Back in Kenya we met up with Tonys brother for some lunch, I had a delicious rice and chicken dish. Then we got stuck in a rainstorm for awhile so we ducked into a mattress storage building where I suppose the "guard" (a sleeping 80 year old man) was keeping watch. We almost went blind though from the dust swirling around from the wind so we found a spot under a ledge outside and waited it out for a bit. Then we went back to Tonys sisters, who was now home with her kids. She served us up some porridge which was so incredibly thick that I couldnt even finish half a coffee cup full. I think its mostly made with millet, a small grain, milk and honey. It was fairly tasteless though. All in all the trip was alot of fun, Tony was good company and now I can get back to the border if I ever decide to take a longer trip into Uganda.

In other news, I've been keep extremely busy as usual. I've been working alot with Maurice to get this fish farming seminar off, it starts tomororrw. I'm actually off right now to buy some breakfast stuff for the speakers. There also might be a new project in the works - an HIV/AIDS program at WEPOGA. I'll write more about this soon if it progresses. And the youth group is coming along well, they have adopted a set of rules for the group and I am trying to arrange for a setup so we can watch some documentaries and educational videos. Keep letting me know what your up to as well, I love to hear from everybody.

Tony and I on the Great North Road near the Kenya-Uganda border

Me and Tony's sisters children, Wayne and Wendy