Today was our last full day in Shirati, and it was certainly a busy one.
We got up bright and early to attend morning devotions at the diocese, and enjoyed some great insight on the book of Romans from Isaiah (a man we met last year at the school build site). Following this, we received a wonderful thank-you from a pastor on behalf of the diocese, who then informed us that there were 6 trees ready to be planted at the Technical Vocational school in our honour. We were very surprised and humbled, and looked forward to doing so later in the day.
After the meeting, we had an incredible breakfast of Mendasi (a treat from David, since it was our last day here) and hard boiled eggs, before heading to the hospital to meet with Challo. While Terry stayed at the hospital to get some drugs to relax his neck muscles (as he had been experiencing some neck pain and spasms over the past day), the rest of us went with Challo to Rorya FM, the radio station that Challo took me to last year. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the owner of Rorya FM, Peter, and sat down to chat with him. We learned about his history in radio at a National level, and heard of the changes that had occurred to the radio station since the last time I had been there. After a half hour of chatting, we were invited to see his transmitter (smaller than the one he had last year, which was 500W, which sent signal all the way to Mwanza 200km away) and his studio room. We were all very interested to see the set-up he had, with actual soundproofing implemented unlike last time, but soon had to leave due to a commitment with Samwel at the hospital.
Meeting back at the hospital with Terry and Samwel, we boarded a brand new Land Cruiser (after waiting for the ambulance for a ride, but eventually giving up) and headed down to Lake Victoria to see the pumping station. After an extremely bumpy ride, we arrived at the Lake, and Samwel gave us a tour of the water pumps which pump water many miles away and above to Oboke Hill and the hospital. We were once again given the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the Lake and shoreline, and were extremely tempted to wade into the water to cool off (which we of course couldn't do). Samwel then drove us back to the diocese about an hour before lunch, where we spent the time allocating our gifts to share with some of the people we've met and re-met.
Following a lunch of potatoes and chickpeas, we gathered our things and got on the diocese truck bound for the home of David, our cook. However, after making an unexpected stop for gas, returning to the diocese to pick-up a forgotten phone and ending up doing our accounting in the process, we ended up leaving 40 minutes later than planned (throwing a bit of a wrench into the mix of our carefully timed day....sort of). However, after about a half hour of driving over a very bumpy road (what else is new?) we arrived at David's, and met his family. We enjoyed a half glass of a special porridge he had prepared (almost like a sweetened Ugali, very creamy), and he introduced us to his wife, his daughters in law, one of his 3 sons and all of his grandchildren. They all live together in a clan approximately 10 km away, though the poor road quality made this journey much longer than it otherwise would have bee. David bikes to work most days except for when visitors like us come for long periods of time, at which point he sleeps in the back of the kitchen to save travel time. After about a half hour of visiting and seeing the beautiful property he has, we got back into the truck, bound for what we thought was the diocese. However, we had one more stop to make at Kennedy's (our driver) house, where we dropped off his wife and gave Terry and Jane a tour of their home. Soon after this, we were on our way once again back to the diocese.
After arriving there, we quickly dropped off our things before hopping back onto the truck again for a tree planting ceremony (or so we thought). We drove to the school with Simeon and Kennedy, assuming that there would be others from the diocese there to meet us. However, we learned upon our arrival that we were the only ones in attendance. Soon after, our tree planting ceremony became a corn maize as the holes that had been dug for each of our trees were hidden amidst the corn stalks, and Simeon was not informed where they were. So, as a result, we would search through the corn until we found a hole, and then take turns dropping our small tree into each one (in the end, we still couldn't find two of them, so a few of the holes have two trees now). It ended up being a very unique experience, and I think we are all happy with the way it turned out.
We then took the truck back to the diocese, which led us into an hour of free time before our trip to Oboke hill. Justin, Nathan, Dylan and I spent the hour playing a game of soccer with the medical students from Cincinatti (which mom went to Mamma Miaisha with last week) and the medical students from Switzerland staying at the diocese. It was a great finale to our two weeks of getting to know the neighbourhood kids and International visitors in the area.
At 6:00, Steven arrived on his Piki Piki with 5 friends, and we all got on board to go to ObokeHill one final time. As we approached the hill, Steven decided that the road we had taken the previous time was in bad shape, so he thought we'd take a "shortcut". This supposed "shortcut" ended up taking us through the yards of some locals, and eventually within a foot of one family's backdoor and maize pile (picture attached)! As it turned out, this shortcut ended before reaching the steepest part of the journey, resulting in us disembarking from the piki pikis and hiking the rest of the way up with our drivers to reach the peak.
The view of the sunset was incredible, and we enjoyed getting to know our drivers a bit better, as well as taking in God's beautiful creation. As the sun disappeared over the horizon, we got to sit for a moment and read our daily devotion, before spending a minute of silence listening to all the hustle and bustle of the villages below (no horn honking, and no street lights!).
Upon return to the diocese, we thanked our drivers profusely and said a final goodbye to Steven, our amazing guide and co-worker at the diocese, and thanked him for his excellent leadership and friendship. We entered the dining room to find Fred, Leisha, Wesley and Gretchen waiting to share our last supper...here in Shirati. David lifted the pan from above our main course, revealing an incredible meat pie-like pastry with a message of "Karibu Tena", which means "You are welcome again". We shared this delicious meal with the Otienos, as well as David and Simeon, and exchanged gifts.
Around this time, as Terry and Fred went over financials, Nathan and I returned to Rorya FM (worth mentioning that this is the only FM radio station in the area) once again, where I was given the opportunity to do a 30 minute DJ mix on-air for the people of Shirati. The style of music I played was certainly much different from what they traditionally play here, but it seems to have been well received (some people phoned into the station saying they liked it).
The day was incredibly full, but also very fulfilling in the way that we could celebrate the relationships we had built with people here, and say our farewells in meaningful ways.
Tomorrow morning, we leave at 6:00am sharp to drive 4 hours to Mwanza airport. We will attempt to post once more in Mwanza before take-off at noon, then once again at Kilimanjaro, and of course at the rest of our stops. Quick note to those picking us up at the airport Sunday night: A stop at Harvey's or Wendy's will be required en-route home. Seriously. We need to. Please. This is not a joke. Justin needs bacon. Dylan needs burgers. Nathan needs ice cream. Terry needs cold, Canadian coke, Jane needs a salad and I need some good old fashioned Canadian fast food.
We got up bright and early to attend morning devotions at the diocese, and enjoyed some great insight on the book of Romans from Isaiah (a man we met last year at the school build site). Following this, we received a wonderful thank-you from a pastor on behalf of the diocese, who then informed us that there were 6 trees ready to be planted at the Technical Vocational school in our honour. We were very surprised and humbled, and looked forward to doing so later in the day.
After the meeting, we had an incredible breakfast of Mendasi (a treat from David, since it was our last day here) and hard boiled eggs, before heading to the hospital to meet with Challo. While Terry stayed at the hospital to get some drugs to relax his neck muscles (as he had been experiencing some neck pain and spasms over the past day), the rest of us went with Challo to Rorya FM, the radio station that Challo took me to last year. Upon our arrival, we were greeted by the owner of Rorya FM, Peter, and sat down to chat with him. We learned about his history in radio at a National level, and heard of the changes that had occurred to the radio station since the last time I had been there. After a half hour of chatting, we were invited to see his transmitter (smaller than the one he had last year, which was 500W, which sent signal all the way to Mwanza 200km away) and his studio room. We were all very interested to see the set-up he had, with actual soundproofing implemented unlike last time, but soon had to leave due to a commitment with Samwel at the hospital.
Meeting back at the hospital with Terry and Samwel, we boarded a brand new Land Cruiser (after waiting for the ambulance for a ride, but eventually giving up) and headed down to Lake Victoria to see the pumping station. After an extremely bumpy ride, we arrived at the Lake, and Samwel gave us a tour of the water pumps which pump water many miles away and above to Oboke Hill and the hospital. We were once again given the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the Lake and shoreline, and were extremely tempted to wade into the water to cool off (which we of course couldn't do). Samwel then drove us back to the diocese about an hour before lunch, where we spent the time allocating our gifts to share with some of the people we've met and re-met.
Following a lunch of potatoes and chickpeas, we gathered our things and got on the diocese truck bound for the home of David, our cook. However, after making an unexpected stop for gas, returning to the diocese to pick-up a forgotten phone and ending up doing our accounting in the process, we ended up leaving 40 minutes later than planned (throwing a bit of a wrench into the mix of our carefully timed day....sort of). However, after about a half hour of driving over a very bumpy road (what else is new?) we arrived at David's, and met his family. We enjoyed a half glass of a special porridge he had prepared (almost like a sweetened Ugali, very creamy), and he introduced us to his wife, his daughters in law, one of his 3 sons and all of his grandchildren. They all live together in a clan approximately 10 km away, though the poor road quality made this journey much longer than it otherwise would have bee. David bikes to work most days except for when visitors like us come for long periods of time, at which point he sleeps in the back of the kitchen to save travel time. After about a half hour of visiting and seeing the beautiful property he has, we got back into the truck, bound for what we thought was the diocese. However, we had one more stop to make at Kennedy's (our driver) house, where we dropped off his wife and gave Terry and Jane a tour of their home. Soon after this, we were on our way once again back to the diocese.
After arriving there, we quickly dropped off our things before hopping back onto the truck again for a tree planting ceremony (or so we thought). We drove to the school with Simeon and Kennedy, assuming that there would be others from the diocese there to meet us. However, we learned upon our arrival that we were the only ones in attendance. Soon after, our tree planting ceremony became a corn maize as the holes that had been dug for each of our trees were hidden amidst the corn stalks, and Simeon was not informed where they were. So, as a result, we would search through the corn until we found a hole, and then take turns dropping our small tree into each one (in the end, we still couldn't find two of them, so a few of the holes have two trees now). It ended up being a very unique experience, and I think we are all happy with the way it turned out.
We then took the truck back to the diocese, which led us into an hour of free time before our trip to Oboke hill. Justin, Nathan, Dylan and I spent the hour playing a game of soccer with the medical students from Cincinatti (which mom went to Mamma Miaisha with last week) and the medical students from Switzerland staying at the diocese. It was a great finale to our two weeks of getting to know the neighbourhood kids and International visitors in the area.
At 6:00, Steven arrived on his Piki Piki with 5 friends, and we all got on board to go to ObokeHill one final time. As we approached the hill, Steven decided that the road we had taken the previous time was in bad shape, so he thought we'd take a "shortcut". This supposed "shortcut" ended up taking us through the yards of some locals, and eventually within a foot of one family's backdoor and maize pile (picture attached)! As it turned out, this shortcut ended before reaching the steepest part of the journey, resulting in us disembarking from the piki pikis and hiking the rest of the way up with our drivers to reach the peak.
The view of the sunset was incredible, and we enjoyed getting to know our drivers a bit better, as well as taking in God's beautiful creation. As the sun disappeared over the horizon, we got to sit for a moment and read our daily devotion, before spending a minute of silence listening to all the hustle and bustle of the villages below (no horn honking, and no street lights!).
Upon return to the diocese, we thanked our drivers profusely and said a final goodbye to Steven, our amazing guide and co-worker at the diocese, and thanked him for his excellent leadership and friendship. We entered the dining room to find Fred, Leisha, Wesley and Gretchen waiting to share our last supper...here in Shirati. David lifted the pan from above our main course, revealing an incredible meat pie-like pastry with a message of "Karibu Tena", which means "You are welcome again". We shared this delicious meal with the Otienos, as well as David and Simeon, and exchanged gifts.
Around this time, as Terry and Fred went over financials, Nathan and I returned to Rorya FM (worth mentioning that this is the only FM radio station in the area) once again, where I was given the opportunity to do a 30 minute DJ mix on-air for the people of Shirati. The style of music I played was certainly much different from what they traditionally play here, but it seems to have been well received (some people phoned into the station saying they liked it).
The day was incredibly full, but also very fulfilling in the way that we could celebrate the relationships we had built with people here, and say our farewells in meaningful ways.
Tomorrow morning, we leave at 6:00am sharp to drive 4 hours to Mwanza airport. We will attempt to post once more in Mwanza before take-off at noon, then once again at Kilimanjaro, and of course at the rest of our stops. Quick note to those picking us up at the airport Sunday night: A stop at Harvey's or Wendy's will be required en-route home. Seriously. We need to. Please. This is not a joke. Justin needs bacon. Dylan needs burgers. Nathan needs ice cream. Terry needs cold, Canadian coke, Jane needs a salad and I need some good old fashioned Canadian fast food.