To begin, happy birthday Nelson Mandela and happy Mandela day to everyone in South Africa. On this day everyone is asked to do 67 minutes of volunteer work or service to others, in commemoration of each year of public service that Nelson Mandela has performed in his life.
Otherwise, things here continue to be great. This weekend Courtney and I went to Masai Mara for a break, which involved a lot of time in the car. We took an early morning bus ride on Saturday to Narok, and from there were picked up to drive the 150km to Masai Mara game park, one of the 7 wonders of the modern world. The drive that distance took just over 3 hours because the roads are TERRIBLE, marked with potholes and well..very little road at all, and just took a long time. The time we had in the Mara though made up for the journey, as we saw tons of game in two game drives. Packs of lions, elephants, giraffes, zebras, even some hyenas, antelopes, impalas, hippos, some mongoose, baboons, and others. Now is the time of year when everyone comes to Mara to see the wildebeest migration (yes, the one that killed Mufasa) and at the end of this week they expect 1-2 million wildebeest to storm through the park. We didnt see any actual stampedes, but we did see plenty of wildebeests which were incredible to see. We also made some friends as we joined a group of people who came down from Nairobi. In our van was a couple from Edmonton, as well as two girls who were at a conference in Nairobi for a few days, one from Lusaka, Zambia, and the other from Chennai, India. Really great people and we had a nice time getting to know them over dinner on Saturday night.
The journey back from the Mara was pretty intense. We got back to Narok after 3 hours, and then had something to eat. We made our way to the taxi stand, and we got tickets to go back to Matongo, but it involved a few different transfers. Got into a bit of a fight in the parking lot of the gas station, basically me yelling at people calling them liars because we sat waiting for 2 hours before we actually left, and getting frustrated over something that is to be expected. Also made some friends in the matatu (taxi which holds 14) as they were from some of the communities that we are working with,.
After a 3 hour drive, Kepha came to our rescue and picked us up, with the teacher of a nearby school driving. The drive back to Matongo from there took about an hour and a half, in rain, crazy muddy roads where we were sliding more than in a blizzard in Toronto, and over bumps which essentially felt like we were driving down the side of a hill. All the time there was gospel music playing and the trunk didn't close properly, so it was insanely noisy. With the noise, music and circumstances, Courtney and I just ended up laughing our heads off for a good half hour, until we got back to our lodgings.
Today we recovered with a bit of a sleep in, and in the morning were met with a bit of controversy. Just before we left, Kepha found the guy who had been tending to our chicken farm, trying to sell eggs that we had been producing. He had apparently been stealing half the eggs we were producing, and after (I swear this is true) a high speed motorbike chase and a bit of pursuit on foot, Kepha grabbed the guy, who was holding a bag filled with eggs, and brought him to the office.
When Kepha told us what happened, we headed to the office, but half way we found them standing with the man, surrounded with a group of people. He had his head down, his hands were tied together with a piece of rope, and he just looked scared. The man was not just a thief who broke into the farm and stole the eggs, it was the man who we have trusted to look after the farm and the chickens over the past 8 months. I was shocked to see him sitting there with his hands tied. Kepha had told me that he wanted to take him to the police station, but when I arrived everyone sort of looked at me and told me that they wanted to forgive him and let him go since we had recovered the eggs he had stolen. I said that this was not my decision, as I suddenly got really uncomfortable feeling like a judge of some sort, and said that they had to do what the people wanted. Despite the involvement with our project, it was NOT my place to decide this man's fate, and so I said to do what the people there wanted to do, and just make sure that he went nowhere near the project again.
As I have always said, it is difficult finding people to trust here, because with hand outs comes people who want in. We are trying to help a variety of people, and of course it requires the right motivation and commitment to assist in such a project. I have found some amazing people to make sure this project is a success on the ground here, and if that means that once in a while we get taken advantage of or screwed in some way, I think that the ultimate result is a lesson learned, and it makes us stronger in the future. Leaks in the organization or project, especially a young project, just show that we are of course vulnerable, but it is better to have something amateur than nothing at all. There is lots that we'd like to get done, and in the end, at least we got all the eggs back even though a few broke during the high speed pursuit. I was obviously upset with this man, and even more upset when I considered that this chicken farm was created specifically to assist people in the community suffering from HIV/AIDS. If anything, he required forgiveness from above, not only the forgiveness of his fellow community members, and I hope that he realizes this soon. We were upset that this would likely make him someone who becomes idle and turns to negative influences, but I guess if need be, then we have the opportunity to offer someone else who has nothing to do with his time, the ability to get involved and help with a project.
Anyway, interesting day and we kicked off later in the afternoon peace club #9 at Glory Academy here in Matongo. Had a great talk with the students there, and they were really enthusiastic about the idea of a peace club.
In town today Courtney and I found pasta and she's been working for the last hour on a killer tomato sauce, so am going to go try it and very excited for some decent tasting food!
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