You gotta love the ending of that last blog post. You can just SEE us losing our connection due to some terrible tropical disaster!! Actually the computer ran out of juice and the internet connection was not working well. These are common issues but fortunately not disasters.

As I was hoping to say, the people in Bundi are incredible. When we left our house that first morning and walked up to the road I really could not believe my eyes. First of all the road is not what we think of as road: dirt, muddy, very uneven. And it is generally FULL of people. There are many small children varying in ages from one on up walking in groups from here to there. There are many woman carrying babies on their back using a piece of cloth they call a kitangi. The woman may be carrying one baby on the back and holding one in front (since twins are pretty common in Bundi) and they will usually be carrying something on their heads as well. These women are amazing!! Talk about multitasking. They use their heads to easily carry anything from a single mango or avacodo to large plastic containers of fuel or water, big bundles of sticks, or even huge bags of cocoa beans strapped to their forehead and hanging down their bag. Their will also be men walking up and down the road, peddling bicycles at breakneck speeds, or riding mopeds with three or four people aboard. There are no rules for the roads except watch out for anything that is bigger or faster than you are. They will run you right over if you do not watch out, and I came close to getting hit a few times!!

When we walked down the road we instantly became the object of intense interest. Mezungu (foreigners) are like the reality TV of Bundi!! Children, especially, couldn’t get enough of us and would follow us around in large groups, occasionally running up to touch our skin or peer at us more closely. If we smiled or said hello they would light up with joy. It is a very odd feeling. You find yourself feeling like Princess Diana, and hating yourself for it. After all, why should they care if we notice them, we’re just people like they are. But they do care, immensely.

The people of Bundi love to laugh at mistakes. They love to correct our Lubwisi. They love to be noticed and spoken to. One girl arrived at our house one morning speaking in very broken six grade english (they learn english in the schools there, but the primary schools are of extremely poor quality.) ” I am here. I will be your friend. You will pray with me.” For some Babwisi (as they are called), their need for love and friendship surpasses the cultural tendency towards avoiding standing out.

The people were very welcoming, very friendly . One woman invited me for lunch in her home. Their homes are very small and often not enclosed. They are made using bamboo stuck in the ground vertically and then interwoven horizontally, then with mud pressed in everywhere to form a dry, cracked surface. In the nicer homes they will have one window and perhaps wood around the doorway. The kitchen is always to the side of the house. The lunch I was served was a true feast by local standards (and in my mind as well!): metoke (mashed banana, not sweet), rice, a green spinach like mash, and ocoka with soupe (chicken with juice/gravy). Thankfully, I really enjoyed the local food! This woman proudly brought out several plates of various types, and a few spoons. She had also carried benches into her home to use as a table to meet my needs. In general the people eat on mats on their dirt floors, sharing one communal dish and eating with their fingers in a specific way. I was worried about not being able to finish the enormous amount of food Mejilee had put on my plate, but no worries, all leftovers would be eaten. (this bothered me at first, thinking of them eating my leftovers, but I soon realized that with their communal eating it would not be in any way disturbing to them.) One funny thing was meeting this woman who hosted me (Mejilee) my first day there. She told me she had just bought the chicken for my meal and showed me it running around in her yard!

More thoughts and stories later, along with pictures!