After breakfast, Sarah, Lisa, David and Kayla walked into town with a few of the children. They visited a few shops and the Post Office. When they returned, we all got in the van to take a ride to Lake Victoria. The road to the lake is about 6 km (under 4 miles), but it is one of the worst roads we have been on in Kenya. It is quite wide (most places) but all dirt and extremely bumpy. Officially it is tarmac (paved), but to me it is all dirt and rock. A few years ago, the government decided to pave this road. They spent billions of shillings on it. According to the official records, the project was completed and the road is now paved. Someone pocketed the money.
One of the reasons the road is not frequently repaired, is that you cannot easily justify using a road grader on a paved road. So the bumps just keep getting worse. At one point, we were passed by a very large truck. It was driving faster than it should have been doing. Just after passing us, it came upon a construction crew. They were filling in a washed out portion with dirt. They maintained a single lane of traffic. This helped pack down the dirt that was being dumped. All of the work was being done by hand. Well, the truck was being flagged down by a worker, but it bullied its way onto the single lane area. Unfortunately, a small car had already started in on the other end. It swerved to avoid the truck, but the truck ran over its back fender. Douglas went over and persuaded the two drivers to move their vehicles so others could pass. After about 15 minutes, they agreed and we were able to continue on our way.
We reached the lake at a small fishing village situated on a small inlet of water. There were cows, goats, birds, and lots of dead fish. Scattered here and there were women sitting on the ground cleaning a batch of fish. There were large Mudfish (some about 2 feet long), Tilapia (up to about 16 inches), and others. About 20 boats lined the edge of the very narrow inlet; some fishermen were busy with sails and nets, others were busy watching us. We took some pictures, talked to a few people, and then headed back to the orphanage.
On the return, we saw that bully truck coming toward us, down a hill. We gave it plenty of room to pass. I am sure the driver was pretty angry about the delay. We reached the orphanage in mid afternoon. Beatrice had lunch ready for us and we were hungry.
After lunch, I was sitting outside. Beatrice was hurrying by, and then she stopped and came over to me. She was looking for someone to speak to the kids at a meeting that was just organizing. The meeting was in a small room, and attended by the kids from the orphanage and some neighbors. I estimated about 40 children. They sang some songs and gave testimonies, and then I talked to them about names. I shared from Paul's first letter to Timothy, one of my favorites because it is addressed to me. Some of the children have names from the Bible; I had met two of them earlier in the day, Michael and Ezekiel.
The rest of the day was spent doing whatever we wanted. Sarah and Lisa passed out frisbees and jump ropes that we had brought along. The children all had fun playing. Later in the evening, those of us from Kakamega practiced a few songs to sing at the church service the next day. We will see how that goes. One last trip to the bathroom before bed. I hope I don't drop the flashlight.
Ugh! There were 4 roaches on the walls of the toilet, each about 2 inches long. The children squash them with their hands, but I was not so brave. I kept the flashlight off and hoped they would not notice me. Squatting in a confined space with giant insects will stimulate your prayer life.
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