A few African experiences

Today I want to tell you about a few of the things that remind me I'm in Africa on a daily basis. The first of these is driving, which is an entirely different experience than any transportation in the US. One thing that's vital to understand here is the network of matatus that covers all of Kenya - a matatu is a 14-passenger van with a yellow stripe down the side, but any semblance of standardization ends there. Matatus come painted in all different color schemes, with huge decals of political figures, celebrities, or religious slogans on the sides and windows and crazy sound/video systems inside playing obnoxiously loud music videos. If you want to get most places in the country, you can walk out to the road, wait for the correct matatu (evidenced by a wooden plaque in the windshield with a number) and hold out your hand. The van will slam to a stop, and the matatu handler will jump out and push you into the van...they are legally allowed to hold 14 people, but its not uncommon to find 20 or 25 inside. At some point you will tell them where you want to get off, and he'll ask for the fare - generally about a dollar for an hour ride.

If you're blessed with the luxury of your own transportation, actually driving on Kenyan roads is a whole different story. I have been learning to drive out around Limuru, so the first challenge comes with the open, winding "country" roads. Think about a typical neighborhood road in the States, then take off all the curbs, lines, signs, and lights. Add in dirt ditches on each side of the asphalt, giant potholes, lots of pedestrians walking on the road, bicyclists, donkey carts, matatus that stop without warning, and slow-moving trucks. Finally, put the car in the highest gear possible and floor it - don't even think about driving less than 50 or 60 miles an hour (there ARE no speed limits in Kenya). If you get on a longer straightaway and can get up to 100mph, great!

An entirely different challenge is driving in the towns and cities. Here, the pace drops significantly, but any idea of traffic lanes or crosswalks vanishes completely. Matatus cut across traffic constantly, and passing on the shoulder or the wrong side of the road is vital if you are going to make it through in a reasonable amount of time. Standard advice from Duncan includes, "If you hit a person, just keep going," "pass both of those trucks before the matatu gets over the speed bump," "watch out for that chicken/cow/goat," and (yelled out the window) "hey boy! you want to die?" All in all, it takes a lot of concentration, a little bit of skill, a ton of assertiveness, and a good deal of insanity...love it!

Another interesting African experience is getting a hair cut. Yesterday I went to the barber shop in Limuru, where I'm fairly certain they have never cut a non-African's hair. For one thing, scissors aren't used at all - all of the cutting is done with electric clippers - so really the only question is how long you want your buzz cut to be. After doing a really good job of cutting with clippers, Moses shampooed my hair while I was still sitting in the chair, and then washed it out with with warm, wet towels...interesting. He asked me how it all looked, and then charged me about 75 cents - it would have been 10 cents extra for a shave! I was definitely the entertainment for the whole shop, and we had a pretty good crowd of curious onlookers.