Grew's News 3: A Long and Winding Road: Part One!!!

Yesterday I was too tired to blog so tonight I will try to catch up. On Friday, January 29th, we got up early for a planned 4 hour drive into the Rift Valley to a remote Masai community where CanAssist has built a school for the local children. When the driver said it would take four hours, in my head I planned on 6 based on my previous experience with rural roads in Kenya. I was not far off.
We boarded the bus around 8:15 and left Karen for a short drive to Ngong, where we picked up, Eunice, our guide for the day. Leaving Ngong we saw the preverbal hills in front of us. Turning right we left the tarmac and that was the last we saw of a paved road for 11 hours. Very quickly the dirt road began to descend into the Rift Valley, a massive geological fault line stretching almost 6500 km across the African continent. The further we got into the Rift, the the rougher the roads became. Within a few hours we had our first mishap, a flat tire. We took this opportunity to use the bathroom, Kenyan style, each of us choosing our own bush! Not far down the road we approached our second problem, a large wet hole riddled with ruts of unknown depth. Again, we unloaded the bus and used the conveniently located bathroom (men in the front and women in the back). While we waited we met a Masai woman driving her donkeys along the road. The donkeys were transporting food for the animals in her village. She said that she walked 30km each way. We were again all humbled and impressed. In the photo you can see her traditional vibrantly coloured clothing, such beauty in the heart of the savanah!!! The drivers did some work to fill in the ruts, then made a mad rush through the hole. Luckily, they made it and we were on the road again. Several hours later we turned off the dirt road and began to navigate on a barely visible dirt path into the village. We were all relieved to find ourselves at the school some 6.5 hours later. The school is named after Judith and Alex Adam and Judith is with us on this trip. What a thrill it must be for her to return again to see the progress being made!
As we arrived, we were greeted by the entire community. All of the school children, some 175 of them, were lined up in an orderly row on the left hand side and all of the faculty and parents were lined up on the right. We were asked to enter the complex through the middle while the children sang and the adults began to follow us singing and dancing. It was very overwhelming and I certainly felt unworthy of such a greeting. As a teacher, I know how much work was put into these preparations. Very quickly we lined up, and passed two women. One wet our hands with water from a bucket, the other rubbed our hands with soap on a stick then the first rinsed them. We went inside into one of the classrooms which had been converted into an eating area for us. The women had prepared an excellent lunch of two types of meat, beans, chapati bread, spinach, and coleslaw. We were each invited to have a soda or what we would call a pop!
After lunch we went back outside and several speeches were made, gifts were exchanged and the older students danced a traditional Masai dance for us. I had a chance to chat with a smaller group of students and I taught them a song which we sang together. It was a wonderful few hours. Unfortunately, we had to cut our visit short due to the long drive home. Part Two to follow!!!