Being the 80’s kid that I am, I not only know and love the song “Africa” by Toto, but I also subconsciously bought in to the inferred message that Africa* is a dry and arid country where it only rains once a year and so it’s a huge deal to miss. Arriving in Nairobi, it was definitely warmer that Ireland but true to the words of the racers who had been in Nairobi just before the Awakening, it isn’t too hot because of the high elevation and actually gets chilly at night.
The trip to Busia took us through country covered by cloudy skies, but the time we dropped off team Pulse there wasn’t a cloud to be seen and the sweltering sun finally confirmed the Africa I was expecting. We traveled on another 3 hours only to find ourselves under cloudy skies yet again. It has rained at least a little everyday since we have been in Busia but I would not have believed you had you told me what would happen when we walked to the internet.
Teams Shekinah and Redemption share a 3 bedroom house a little off the main road, with 2 boys who do maintenance work on the property. The power is sketchy, especially when it rains and we draw all our water from the neighboring well, there is no internet in the house. Being short on support for my world race mission I am now required to blog daily, and Salley is a squad leader so he needs to check his emails on the regular, because of this we had opted to be the 2 to stay back from church on Sunday. On Saturday everyone else in the house was preparing what they would deliver during their Sunday church services. Salley and I wrote some blogs and decided to head out to find an internet café. As we walked across the yard I noticed the dark storm clouds and said “looks like its going to rain”, Jeremiah who had been sleeping on the grass commented about getting his bedding wet and went to have another nap on the lawn. Salley and I continued onto the main road. After about 20 minutes of walking we found an internet café, we were pretty sure it wasn’t the one people told us about or expected us to go to but it was closer so we went in asked prices and set to work. About 30 minutes in the power went out, as we deliberated waiting for it to return then rain started.
Salley had nothing on him but a jump drive and his team cell phone but I had kitty (my netbook), my camera, flip video and all my journals in my purse. We walked out into the rain thinking it was a light drizzle but with every step the drops were fatter and wetter so we took refuge under the overhang of a café. As we stood there the rain became more and more intense and the sound became more and more intimidating. Every time I thought ,”this is the worst storm I have ever heard” it got worse. The café owner, taking pity on us, invited us into the dark café. We sat and watched as the now sideways falling rain completely drenched the spot where we had stood just moments before. The lightning flashed, the thunder clapped and wind was blowing the rain side ways in white sheets of water over trees and cars, all traffic had ceased , and the road was lined with semi trucks who could not resist the gale force winds. We took advantage of the situation and I bought a coke, Salley got a black well water coffee which he couldn’t finish.
The sun was rapidly setting behind those dark storm clouds and it was getting dark so we had to make a decision, walk in the dark unlit Kenyan night or brave the typhoon. We choose the latter. The kind woman behind the counter gave us plastic bags to place over our heads which I wrapped kitty, the cameras, phone, journal and jump drive in and placed in my purse. I placed my purse under the dress I was wearing and we set off into the storm. In minutes we were drenched through all our clothes, we made our way to the street to avoid walking in puddles since there are ground parasites that will climb through your feet and the sky was stripped with lightning. My shoes being wet on the inside became very slippery and hard to walk in, as we walked we would hear loud out burst of laughter as the locals, taking refuge under the eves of building, caught sight of us braving the storm. We spoke praises all the way home, because while wet and miserable, it is nothing we had every thought we’d have the opportunity to do. As we walked the rain lessened and then stopped just as we turned down the road to our home. When we walked up the back porch Lucas spotted us cooed at us in pity, we walked in to find dinner on the table and everyone wearing their headlamps as the power was still out. Thanks for nothing Toto!
* Africa is not a country but a continent full of diverse nations of people and wide variations in climacteric norms.
