Adventures in Kisii Town
As part of my work here in Kenya, I teach one week per month at our CLC seminary located near Kisii town in the village of Chotororo (say it with me now, remember to roll those ‘R’s). Being a white guy operating on a modest budget is a bit of an oddity around here…maybe oddity is the wrong word. It’s as common as a one legged man winning a butt kicking contest. (My dad liked to use that comparison, think about it, it’s funny 🙂 Anyway, this means that I always use public means of transportation. The two most common that I use are matatus and motorbikes. This lends itself to all sorts of “fun” situations. Just to name a few, if the conductor of the matatu assumes I don’t know the cost of the fare from location to location he will proceed to charge me whatever he wants. Most likely it will be double or triple what everyone else pays. I’ve made my peace with this, and am not offended. I’ve got a pretty good handle on what fares cost to the places I usually go, so I just remember to give the guy exact change, otherwise I’ll nickel and dime my travel budget down the tubes. So I pack in the matatu just like everyone else. Sometimes a kid will reach over and touch my arm, quickly pull their hand away and giggle. “I touched a Mzungu, he feels just like a real person!” Turns out I’m not a space alien after all. S We pack in together with all the smells and sounds one would expect and head off down the road for the five hour trip to Kisii. The few times I’ve made this trip we’ve only had one tire puncture and one mechanical failure. That’s also quite a sight if you were wondering. A guy like me gets a lot of attention standing on the side of the road waiting for the repairs to be done, while slowly crisping in the equatorial sun.
But a week in Kisii also means staying at a posh hotel, complete with running water, a hot shower, and a clean bed. Living large. I leave from Kisii at seven in the morning by matatu to the bus stage in Awendo and then take the cheapest motorbike driver I can find up into the hills of Chotororo. Throughout the week I teach New Testament Survey, Beginner’s Greek, Bible Interpretation, and Gospels classes. The classes are conducted in English, since some of the students come from the Kisii language area and others come from parts of Kenya speaking Kiswahili, English is the common language used in the classroom. Battery’s running low…to be continued.