Kenya Sunday - Tuesday 7/4-6/10

Many of the Sisters told us that the one thing we had to do before leaving was to go to Mombasa and dip our feet in the great Indian Ocean. Mombasa is the major port town on the south coast of Kenya. It is infamous for the slave trade which the Portuguese started in 1598 and the Arabs continued beginning in 1698 after they defeated the Portuguese. So on Sunday, the Fourth of July (do you know that no one celebrates that holiday over here), we got up and climbed on a bus in downtown Nairobi and headed for Mombasa 7 hours away (actually we did not know if it was going to be 7 or 9 or 6 hours but it took 7). We traveled with Sister Pauline and Sister Anne Celestine neither of whom had ever been to Mombasa. Sister Celestine was taking the place of Sister Margaret who had been called away because of work.

We were met in Mombasa by Peter, Pauline’s nephew (our hosts in Pauline’s village, Raphael and Helen’s son). He made arrangements to be off work and borrowed a friend’s 4 door pickup so he could transport us and our luggage around town. Peter picked us up from the bus and took us directly to see the Indian Ocean. We had supper at a lovely restaurant overlooking the ocean. We then had quite an adventure as we had to ride a ferry over to the mainland (Mombasa town is an island) and our accommodations at the Consolata Retreat House. (This had been arranged by Father Steve, Margaret’s brother [everything over here is done by who you know]). The ferry was huge and carried about 40 cars and 1 billion people on foot, bicycles, and push carts. They swarmed onto the ferry and then swarmed off. Sister Celestine had never been on a boat, let alone a ferry, and all of this was almost too much for her. When we got to the Retreat House, we found they did not believe Sister Pauline when she told them that we had eaten dinner. So when we walked in, a full dinner was on the table and they expected us to eat it. We couldn’t say no to the hostess and so we sat down and pushed food around our plates, trying to make it look like we were eating. Pauline asked us if this was the way that we felt when we were urged to have 2nds and 3rds at our meals with the Sisters. When we said “Yes”, she apologized because she felt very full and was having to eat this 2nd dinner.

We were then lead to our rooms which overlook the ocean. We settled into our rooms and in the dark walked out to view the ocean. The Sisters had never seen an ocean and they know nothing of the common knowledge of an ocean like tides, waves, reefs. Sister Celestine was very nervous about being near the water and finally asked if the fence would hold back the hippos when they came out of the water. We were astonished, but finally realized that she had been sent to fetch water as a child from lakes and rivers and had been  warned about the hippos that live there. We assured her that hippos don’t live in the ocean and she tried to relax a little, although she stayed wary until the Monday morning, when Stanley took us down to walk in the ocean.

The beach is extremely shallow here and the fishermen walk out 100 yards with the water up to their chests. Further out than Lanikai on Oahu is a reef and there the waves are breaking. The waves at the beach are only 6-8 inches high. So, it is like walking into lake with very warm water. The Sisters had no swimming clothes to wear, so we have some pictures of them holding up their skirts and giggling and laughing and screaming in a happy, sort of scared, excitement at this new experience. We played around in about 12 inches of water while they got used to the movement of the water. Then Peter arrived and we were off for our tour of Mombasa.

Peter started with Fort Jesus, the Portuguese fort carved out of coral. The outside walls are 2 meters (about 6 1\2 feet) thick. This coral is a 25-30 ft bluff rising out of the ocean. It took them 3 years to carve the fort. We were told that the fort was in the shape of Jesus on the cross---thus its name. From the air, it resembles a head, 2 arms, a body, and 2 legs. After about 100 years, the Arabs besieged the Fort and the town of Mombasa for 2 years and eventually starved the Portuguese out of town. The Arabs took over the existing slave trade for another 200 years. Our guide showed us through the well-preserved ruins of this fort and pointed out gun placements, the Portuguese cistern and the Arab well, the latrines, and a museum containing artifacts found in the fort and also in the bay (anchors, cannons, dishes, ceramic pots, etc.) Then the guide took us on an tour of old town Mombasa, through narrow streets, old mosques, markets and ended up at the mouth of a tunnel from the fort through which the slaves were loaded onto waiting boats to be taken to the slave ships. This tunnel was a very narrow and steep set of steps down to the beach from the fort. This was a way to control the slaves as the slaves could not exit the tunnel more than one at a time. Many slaves opted to just through themselves into the ocean and drown rather than board the ships. We completed our tour of old town and arrived back at the fort to be joined by Peter so we could drive out to the Sisters farm in the “town” of Mivumoni about 70 Km and a dancing road outside of Mombasa. (1 ½ to 2 hours)

Sister Sarah is one of three Sisters who are living in a small!! wooden convent made from the trees they had cleared on 100 acres to create a large farm which the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph purchased three years ago. The purpose of this farm is to provide produce for the other convents, as well as sell produce for profit to support the Order’s other projects. The farm is 3 years old (on the Fourth of July) and currently is raising beans, peanuts, maize, passion fruit, oranges, and tangerines with coconuts, mangoes and cashews planted for future harvests. All of this is dry-land farming watered by the rain which comes in two 2-month seasons during the year. Of course, there is an issue with water. They want to develop an irrigation system by creating a catch basin at the bottom of the hill where there is swampy area. They say that the water table is at about 50 meters in that area. Sister Sarah is trying to solve her irrigation problem using only what she can see---dig a hole where water already gathers and carry the water to the plants. She needs to drill a bore hole, and pump the water to a catch basin or tank at the top of the hill and use gravity to move the water downhill to irrigate her farm. Money, technology, and water are a reoccurring theme here in Kenya. We have found it to be so everywhere that we have been.

Sister Sarah proudly walked us all over the farm to show us all of their hard work (and I mean HARD). She then invited us for lunch which concluded with all of which came from the farm, except for the rice. Dessert was delicious, sweet passion fruit juice and oranges which we stuffed ourselves with because she said if we didn’t they would rot. Then we went outside and we thought we were getting ready to leave, but we found we were invited to plant a tree in our honor in memory of our visit to the farm. There was much clapping and ululation while we planted and watered a new little ravelia(?) tree. The Sisters and Peter each also planted trees and then a tree was planted to honor Sister Margaret’s election as Superior General. It was a very touching ceremony.

After all the pictures were taken of Sister Sarah in her truck and much good humor over her being a truck driver in her religious dress, we drove back over the dancing road to Mombasa and got back to the Retreat Center in time for dinner. This time we were actually hungry. On the way back, Sister Pauline and Sister Celestine stopped to shop at one of the street markets for bathing costumes and sandals to wear in the ocean. They wouldn’t show us what they bought and sat in the back seat and giggled a lot on the way home.

Tuesday morning we were up early for breakfast and then into our bathing costumes and down to the beach for an experience in the ocean. Stanley started walking out into the water and the Sisters got very nervous. He then turned around and invited us to join him. Amid shrieks of laughter and a lot of trepidation, the Sisters ventured out into the ocean. Now you have to understand that they don’t know how to swim, as they have never had the opportunity to be in water that was safe enough to swim in. Sister Pauline grabbed Stanley’s arm and Sister Celestine clutched Yvonne’s hand and we headed off stepping carefully for fear that we would slip and fall. We wanted this to be a good experience for them so we were very careful. For those of you who know Yvonne in the water, you’ll be surprised to know that she was the one steadying someone else who was more frightened than she was. We spent a fun-filled hour splashing in the ocean which reached up to knees and then began our careful retreat towards the beach. During our return, it began to rain and we had to tell them not to hurry for shelter as they were already wet which once again reduced us all to a gale of laughter.

Peter arrived for the day’s further adventures; we changed clothes and headed out. He took us to Heller Park, animal preserve developed by a large local concrete company, from the land that they had quarried for rock and gravel. In 1974 they began planting trees and designing appropriate landscapes for native animal, so after 35 years it looks like it has always been there. As we drove in, (before we even paid at the entrance) what did we see, but 5 Rothschild giraffes grazing on the parking lot trees. A little further into the park we saw Galapagos tortoises and monkeys. Then it became a walking tour of the park, and the rain that had been threatening decided to pour about half way through the tour. Even so, we were able to see Nile crocodiles, their fish farm, ducks, a hippo submerged in a pond with only his eyes showing, Elan antelope, Cape buffalo, horse-backed antelope, a large selection of reptiles (in terrariums), a baby Monitor lizard and more monkeys (they are known as pests in Kenya.) Then the rain really poured on us. We were drenched, but happy as we headed for the truck and our next adventure.

Sister Pauline had one more trick up her sleeve. She had a friend who had a friend who could get us into the Kenyan Port Authority. Now anything that enters Kenya comes through the port of Mombasa. It is not the largest port in Africa, (17 cargo ship berths) but in 2009, they moved 19.1 million tons of cargo through this port. After several minutes of waiting for the friend of a friend of a friend to get us the visitor passes and entry into the correct gate, we met Jeffery Long’ats who graciously spent time away from his office to drive us around the port docks, showing us the workings of the port, explaining the huge equipment. We were lucky enough to be able to watch several containers from one of the cargo ships be unloaded onto waiting trucks. Jeffrey told us that the target for efficient unloading was 2 minutes per container from picking up the container inside the ship, over to the dock and the waiting truck and back for the next container. This process was amazing to watch. Jeffrey was unable to gain us entry into the Harbor Master’s Control Tower which overlooks the entire port, as they were just too busy to accept any visitors. Our 2 hour tour ended with handshakes and gratitude, and an invitation to Jeffery to visit us on his next trip to California.

We went into town to purchase our bus tickets for tomorrow for our 6-9 hour trip back to Nairobi.

Peter has done such a great job in taking us around Mombasa. He seemed to know what we should see and spent the time making sure that our stay here in Mombasa was outstanding. We could not have had a better host and we want to recognize his contribution to our growing understanding of Kenya.

It doesn’t seem possible that we will be heading home in three days, but we are beginning to feel the tug of our family and all of those little girls waiting for us.