July 23 Update Part1

Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Today we drove to Machakos to attend Africa Based Orientation (ABO). The drive was about 1 ½ hours long and we traveled about 35 miles. If this seems slow, it was. We are however very thankful that it was slow. It will take some getting used to driving on African roads. The one we were on today was very bumpy. It reminded me of very large cobblestones in a cobblestone street. The road was two lanes one going one way and one the other. The interesting thing is that they can’t see anyone coming at them, they make it a two lane road going one direction. This works great until someone starts coming down their lane right at you. We actually saw a car go between us and another vehicle at one point. So you can see why we were glad were going slow. If we ran into someone hopefully it was not be too serious of a wreck.
ABO is held at Scott Theological College (STC). I didn’t really know what to expect except that I thought it may be a little like a small college campus in the USA. It is much like this but without many of the conveniences. We are in two rooms with two bunk beds each. The kids are in one room and we are in the other. They are really quite comfortable and they smell like a college dorm. This is a good thing because I think it smells good and it makes me feel like I am in college again which would make it quite a bit younger!


Here are a few photos relating to traveling in Africa.



Here is the view from the inside of the car. As you can see the approaching truck is in the middle of the road. It seems that any vehicle that is traveling on the highways is carrying as many people and cargo as it can. Notice the top of the van.

Traveling by bicycle is also an option. These are called bota bota's. As you can see no one wears a helmet. There is a padded seat on the back of a bicycle. Ladies sit side saddle. You can catch a ride into town from the college for about 33 cents (it is about 1.5 miles). This is Philip's preferred method of travel.
There is also a vehicle that is referred to as a tuk tuk. It is a three wheeled motor cycle with a seat in the back for three. Just because it is built for three does limit the number of people they will pack into them. I saw some with up to 5 people in the back. There are police check points to verify the number of people being transported. It has a covering to help keep the wind and sand out. It also costs around 33 cents to travel to town. They are a little faster than the bota bota's.



Another way to travel is in a bus or matatu. They can range in size from a 6 passenger one to a full sized bus. We rode in one back to the college one day. it was built to hold 6 passengers. We had 9 people in it. As you can tell from the picture it was a little crowded.

As you can see travel here is very exciting. it is a common practice to have a group prayer prior to traveling because of the dangers.