Boda-Boda and the Treasure Hunt

We have finished our first week of orientation and have learned so much about personal safety, hygiene, drinking water and cultural sensitivity. As a reward for our studies, we held a treasure hunt on Tuesday. Our group of 75 was split into 9 groups and unleashed on the town of Machakos. We needed to have lunch, learn the English meaning of ten different words, purchase a fruit at the market we did not know and learn of its origins.

The exercise was to help us with understanding that we CAN survive in Africa.

First up..... a Matatos ride for ten into town. Our driver drove well but did not understand our request. A ten minute ride turned into a 30 minute adventure as he drove and drove until we finally convinced him to turn around and take us to the center of town.

Everyone was quite friendly and helpful. We purchased arrow root which when washed and peeled proved to be sweet. Most Africans serve it as a breakfast food with rice. Our group consisted of two families with 5 small children between them. Janine and I were selected to go with them to help with their children. Unfortunately after lunch, the children tired quickly and both families opted to return to our dorm.

This left Janine and I a couple of hours to explore Machakos on our own :D We had to eat something we would not normally order so we stopped for coffe with liver and gizzards well-done.

We did well until we got lost trying to find our way out of town. We asked many people for directions and all seemed to agree on the way for us to go. However, we did not recognize the way we were going so we stopped and asked a policeman. He informed us that it was too far to walk and he would help by getting a boda-boda for us to ride home. First he looked at Janine and asked her if she would be able to climb on! After she assured him that she could, he looked at us both and decided we would need two in order to get home.

A boda-boda is a motorcycle taxi just in case you were wondering. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of us on the boda-bodas while we were holding on and praying for our lives!

Saturday is our next day off. We are all going on a half-day safari that the ABO team has arranged. We are looking forward to more time outside the campus and hope to be able to send many pictures your way. Love to all!