Bungoma, Kenya.
30 minutes from the Uganda border.
3 hours above Lake Victoria.
Around 40,000 people.
Takes maybe 45 minutes to walk across town.
When you don’t have 45 minutes, you use other transportation.
Home for the month of June.
Bungoma is a bike town.
Everywhere you go there are bikes, motor bikes, bicycles and boda boda’s (bicycles with little cushioned seats on the back used like taxis). We don’t see many cars, although there are some. It’s vans called matatu’s (also used as taxis) and bikes, everywhere. I’m more worried about getting run over by a bicycle this month than I ever have been in my entire life.
So naturally, since we are living in Bungoma this month, we have to take the local transportation. And when walking doesn’t cut it, we hand over the equivalent of 25 cents and hop on the back of some guy’s bicycle. The first time we did this I was wearing a skirt so I had to sit side-saddle and honestly thought I was going to fall off. Here’s the other thing about boda boda’s… you’re riding them on African roads. It’s not always a smooth ride, with speed bumps and potholes and wondering if avoiding any of these in the road will get you hit by a truck that might be going by at that particular moment.
Another thing about Bungoma. I’m pretty sure there’s less than 10 white people in the whole town. Which means, when six of us go out together, everyone notices. And everyone yells, “mzungu!” (white person). It’s not a demeaning term at all and is actually extremely adorable to hear African children yell, “mzungu, mzungu, how are you?” Yes, they know “how are you?”
The other day we ventured out to a local area with large rocks that we could climb. We didn’t have a way to get a hold of the van that had brought us out to the rocks, so we asked for some rides on motorbikes. I climbed on one with Jerusa, who’s been cooking for us this month. Now the world race had brought many firsts for me. One of these, is riding a motorbike (sorry mom!) But I can honestly say that I’ve never ridden one with three people. until now. As we were driving through a small village on our way back to town, a young girl standing along the side of the road, noticed me riding on the back of the bike and yelled as loud as she could, “mzungu on bike!”
I’m glad I provided someone entertainment for the day.
Our ministry this month has taken us all over Bungoma. We live behind a medical clinic and visit people in their homes, visit children at school. visit sick people in the hospital and are pretty much prepared to preach all the time.
I’m loving Africa, especially the bike rides.
