we have 45 mins now, following breakfast, to relax. yesterday we left nairobi after breakfast and drove an hour to the blue posts hotel, at thika. thika is famous for its flame trees, but now is not the season. its a lovely setting, with at least 3 impressive waterfalls of about 15 metres height. the water is reddy-brown, like the dirt - similar to australian outback.
there were some semi-wild ostriches running about - very large birds. i bought a small coin pouch for 350 shillings - about £3. apparently we're supposed to haggle, but i just don't have the heart for it. i know i would pay a similar price in the uk, and these people deserve a fair price, so i feel i must give it to them. on the other hand, as one of our guides said, they wouldn't part with it for anything less than a fair price, and haggling is part of the relationship-building. but i'm not making a relationship, i'm simply making a transaction. i'll probably never see them again.
we moved on to our new base at embu, and checked into the izaak walton hotel. its a very nice hotel, but with a distinct colonial feel. following lunch, we visited the embu diocese cathedral, the stained glass windows of which were donated by our own chelmsford diocese cathedral. it was a very hot day, but inside, the cathedral was cool and comfortable. there were some large native birds resting on the rafters inside that brought to mind some words from psalm 84, '...even the birds find a place to rest in your house, o lord'.
leaving the cathedral, we went into the town to pick up some books from the church bookshop. as we parked outside, we were positioned by a group of streetkids, aged in their mid-teens to early 20's. they approached us. someone in our van had a bag of sweets they were distributing inside our van, which then went outside to the streetkids. one then approached me, and said something i couldn't understand, and i told him so. he tried again, and in very broken english said, 'buy me some milk and bread'. i told him that i can't do that. i had my dog-collar on. i felt terrible. having seen the way they dealt with the sweets, i could only imagine what would happen if i gave money - the van would be swamped with people wanting money. still, i felt terrible. justus, our kenyan driver, said something to them, but i don't know what it was. later today i will speak with him about it.
but the words of john the baptist were echoing, '...whoever has 2 coats, let him give to him who has none.' and other scriptures of that kind were in my head. 'lord, have mercy on them and on me...'
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