The following daily diary is from Cassidy
Johnson, a Scottsdale student who is one of six Valley high students visiting
Kenya this month to distribute mobility devices as part of Crutches 4 Africa, a
service project sponsored by Arizona District 5495 Rotary’s Interact Club. Miss
Johnson is a senior at Desert Mountain High School and an assistant governor
for the District 5495 Interact Club.
Miss Johnson has agreed to share her
journey with the Independent readers via her personally written dispatches.
I woke up this morning to loud chanting and prayer
music at 5:30 a.m. after falling asleep at midnight. It was our first night and
morning at Emily’s house. Emily is so kind and accommodating – she told Lauren
(chaperone Lauren Lucas) and I about her move to Kenya, her experiences with
Naivasha, and the amazing work that she does here.
Emily’s business, which employs more than 100
full-time workers in Naivasha, works to counteract the major poop contamination
problem worldwide.
After an amazing breakfast of avocado toast and eggs,
Lauren, Emily and I walked to Muthohi and Chris’s house to drive to meet the
rest of the team and head off to GilGil.
When we arrived in GilGil, we picked up a local Maasai
man named Joseph. Joseph guided the bus down a dirt road lined with small
vendors that eventually led to a grassy valley area. We parked the bus on a
grassy patch of land and loaded our backpacks with dresses and shirts for the
Maasai village we were to visit.
After a short walk, we arrived at a compound of four
small, concrete houses, two fenced enclosures for animals and a sitting area
for the village elder.
A woman dressed in colorful cloaks approached our
group and shook everyone’s hands. We later learned she was one of the elder’s
three wives. Based on the cultural experiences of previous years, we knew that
the men were to meet the country elder before any of the women.
After the men approached the elder, we women were
allowed to approach and shake his hand. Our team was given permission to hand
out the clothing we brought, and the women happily accepted our gifts for their
daughters.
A sample of some of the mobility devices to be distributed by Crutches4Africa in Kenya. (Bret McKeand/Independent Newsmedia)
Next, we took off on our Maasai water walk. The Maasai
water walk is a several-mile long walk that Maasai women embark upon daily to
get water for the village. The women follow about a dozen burrows that carry
large, empty jugs.
We walked about a mile with the Maasai tribe before
getting back on the bus and driving toward Elementaita Lake to watch the
flamingo migration. On our way, the Maasai elder jumped into our bus for a ride
into GilGil!
At Lake Elementaita, we saw thousands of light-pink
flamingos that had arrived there two weeks ago after their migration. I
purchased a feather hair bow for $5. We left Lake Elementaita and went off to
eat a very late lunch in GilGil.
We pulled up to a restaurant with huge cuts of meat
hanging in the window and several women carrying chickens by the feet – both
inside and outside the restaurant. I was asked if I wanted to buy a chicken and
I simply told the woman “abana,” which means no. How in the world could I get a
live chicken through U.S. Customs?
Inside the restaurant, they cooked goat, chicken and
beef in an open fire-pit-like stove. We took bags of bone-in chicken and goat
accompanied by cooked greens and vgali. I was once again quite proud of myself
for trying this meal. My first real “Anthony Bourdain” experience!
After lunch, we drove to the sports center and played
darts and pool with Ian, Susan and Duncan. Lauren and I then went back to
Emily’s house before dinner. We took a walk by Naivasha Lake and saw our first giraffes!
There were tons of zebra and one “mama” giraffe with three babies!
We also saw lots of partial hippo bodies in the lake
and had to be sure to leave the area before sunset, when the hippos come out of
the lake.
After our walk, we arrived to dinner an hour
“fashionably” late and I tried goat for the first time. I like it, but will
probably stick with chicken. We headed to the club at around 9 p.m. and danced
with Rotaractors until around 11 p.m.
I was super tired upon my arrival at Emily’s house, but
can’t wait for our distribution tomorrow!
