Hometown Glory

(Note: I’m posting this late and so this was actually from last weekend.)

Throughout all my stories, I realize I haven’t said much about Eldoret itself. Perhaps this is because I hadn’t done much venturing out here. That is until this weekend. We opted to hang around Eldoret to relax and save a little cash. We had a few ideas of what we wanted to accomplish, but didn’t realize it would actually be just as great as our fancy weekends abroad.

Before I get too much into this weekend, I also wanted to talk about the inauguration and the excitement that occurred here. I recognize just how lucky I was to be in Kenya during the inauguration with Obama’s ties here. The celebrating was incredible. There was so much buildup in the days leading to the big day. Everyone was eager to talk to the Americans about the man himself. What is more unique is that Obama’s grandmother lived in a town nearby and her house is now basically a shrine. A group of people went from IU house to celebrate in the town wide festival. During the actual inauguration (which was at 8 o’clock at night) everyone across town was glued to their TVs and parties ran wild until the late morning hours. On Wednesday, no one was interested in work and several people took the day off in honor of the big event. In fact, Nigeria declared a five day holiday for its people and they have no direct ties to Obama. I always knew America’s politics influenced the world, but to see the direct effect it can have was quite an eye opener. It really drove home the point of how careful we must be in the decisions we make as a country.

Back to this weekend. Friday night was started at Klique, a restaurant we had tried to dine at before for their well-known vegetable pizza. Though they told us it was too late for them to make a pizza (at 8:00 at night), after some convincing they agreed to make us some. It would have been delicious had I not been so sick and the sight of food made me want to vomit. I had to go straight home that night as I was pretty certain I was going to die. A big thank you to the little old man living in my stomach.

Saturday morning Ashley and I had pedicures lined up with Chilemo, a lady from the office. She took us to her favorite salon and we got the most amazing, hour-long, pedicures/massage for FOUR dollars!! I’ve only had one pedicure before with my mom and sisters, but this was amazing. My feet and lower calves felt great. We then met up with the boys downtown at Sizzlers for lunch. Imron, a clinical pharmacist we work with at Moi, has aunts and uncles as well as his parents who own the restaurant. We had a delicious lunch with Imron and took off out of town in a taxi to a waterfall on the outskirts of Eldoret.

Umbrella falls was absolutely gorgeous. The fall itself was probably one of the tallest I’ve seen (aside from those in Glacier National Park). There was so much water surging over the edge of the cliff it was unreal to believe it is now the dry season. The best part was indeed the fact that there is a cave-like structure carved out behind the fall and you can walk underneath/behind the fall. It was pretty incredible. We sat mesmerized by the water for a while until we packed our belongings and headed back into town.

Saturday night IU house does not provide meals so we were on our own for dinner. I had wanted to learn how to make chapatti for a while so we figured that night was the best night to learn. Leyah, our chef (Peninah)’s 18 year old daughter whom we’ve become friends with, became our teacher and we proceeded to make the most wonderful meal I think I’ve had here. It was a true Kenyan meal without any American influence. I took control of making and cooking the chapatti while Leyah and the others peeled potatoes and chopped garlic, tomatoes, and onions. Kelvin, a Kenyan who hangs around the IU house a lot, cooked an amazing beef stew, and we topped the meal off with boiled-and-then-friend potatoes. The whole process took about two hours, and then we sat down to enjoy our product. We were all so stuffed, but completely satisfied.

Sunday morning Leyah took us to church which was very enjoyable. There was singing and dancing, and lots of loud, “Amen!”s. We actually arrived a half an hour late, but still were able to enjoy another 1.5 hours of service. After, we proceeded into town with Leyah and found some nice fabric and souvenirs. We had to endure plenty of stares in the market as well as cat calling and shop owners begging us to come into their store. I was able to leave with lots of beautiful fabric and only 200 shillings down (~$3.00 – not too shabby).

After our rendezvous in the market place, we caught a matatu to one of the IU guard’s house. He had been asking us to come visit his house and meet his wife and daughter, so this weekend was the perfect opportunity for that. Sammy, who is a professional body builder, has the most contagious smile and such an inviting personality. His wife is an equally beautiful person and their daughter, Kelsey, is a little ham. We enjoyed chai and biscuits at Sammy’s house and talked with them for around 4 hours. The time was quite enjoyable. The most hilarious part of the evening was when Sammy wanted to show us a movie of one of his body building competitions. So, there we were with Sammy sitting next to the TV, watching him prance around onstage in a thong and flexing his huge muscles. It was slightly awkward, but he was so proud of his hard work, that it took the edge off the uncomfortableness.

As I said before, this weekend was an amazing time, but it was also quite a thought provoking weekend. I couldn’t help in the back of my mind to have our country’s history. Since my arrival in Kenya, the local people have been the most inviting and gracious host I could have imagined. They are so excited to see us everywhere we go and love to give us warm smiles, two-handed waves, thumbs up, and shake our hands. How can it be that they are so excited to see the rare white person, when not to long ago in our country, we were treating them as animals? I wonder how much they know and understand about our country’s history, and how forgiving they are of us. I have never felt unwanted or unwelcome at any moment in my time here. The Kenyans are so warm-hearted and such a beautiful people that I couldn’t help but to set back during our Saturday night dinner with them and revel in their generosity. I’m going to miss their culture and more importantly, them, when I leave as the American personality just doesn’t compare.