TRIP TO KIJABE

TRIP TO KIJABE
Driving through Nairobi, Matatu’s are everywhere. Matatu’s are 13-passenger vans that drive extra-crazy because the drivers are on commission. I saw one get impatient in standing traffic and drive onto the sidewalk! Then he blew his horn at people who were walking towards him!
Did I mention that driving in Kenya is a time of prayer and thanksgiving?! If you’re not dodging holes, you’re dodging slow drivers or you’re dodging a huge plume of black exhaust to save your lungs!
We were driving along and I spotted a truck full of men – “Trish, no! Don’t take pictures of those soldiers!”
“But it’d be a cool shot with those AK47’s.” Actually I’d already gotten a shot before I knew it was a bad thing to do. My Kenyan friend Roselyn explained, “Sometimes they can be mean.” I haven’t really seen hardly any military personnel or police which is amazing considering how people drive.
Uh – you’re not going to believe this. I’m actually journaling in the car and right ahead of me I see a police officer waving us over. We pull over and another officer is literally walking past my window with his AK47 machine gun! Bob opens the window and the first officer says, “Please open your boot.” (That is, trunk.)
Bob gets out and I hear him asking for his license. Bob it turns out had left it at home.
I didn’t get to hear all of it but this is what Bob related to us after he’d gotten back into the car, Ann was driving and I asked whether he could have been arrested or not. “Yes,” he replied, “But I gave him some shillings.”
“What?”
It turns out that the officer said to Bob, “This is a serious offense.”
“Yes bwana,” Bob said, “I don’t know why I forgot it at home.”
“Well it will cost you 6,000 KSch at my precinct or you can give me something and I will forgive you.”
Bob said that he pulled out 3,000 KSch but the officer said, “Could you make that 4,000?”
So now we’re out past Nairobi and another check-point where we were allowed to continue on to Kijabe. We’re out in the country and I see many “shambas,” tiny little 1/8 or ¼ acre farms with tiny houses and teenie gardens. We’ve passed mile after mile of rusted shacks that people live in and are driving through lovely green hills.

We entered into Kijabe and drove down a dirt road to Dan Dooley’s little house, visited a little while and have checked into a motel close by. Directly across from the motel is Kijabe hospital. Tomorrow morning at 7:45a.m. Dan will come walk us over where we’ve been asked to lead the Wednesday morning chapel service for the hospital staff of doctors ad nurses. Pray for us! Afterwards we’ll be visiting patients at bedside and singing in some relative and patient waiting rooms. At 4:00 p.m. Dan will walk us over to Bethany Home for Children next-door for us to sing there. Pray for us!