We wake up with fingers crossed this morning…will the water come? Since we arrived, the city has neglected to deliver water to our apartment complex. In fact, it has not delivered for a total of three weeks now. Normally, the water lines are opened for two hours on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, to fill the water tank. Fortunately, there is a cistern that stores water for times such as these and we have had limited water. We are learning the fine art of water conservation! This morning, we listen as the neighbor’s gutters bubble with water that flows onto the street. They have a bore hole (a type of well), which gives them too much water and is dumped into the street when their cistern is full. We longingly listen and hope. By 9am, we know that water won’t happen today. I take a quick sponge bath and dip my hair in a bucket. Jerry opts to go without!
The boys are set up with homeschooling so Jerry and I headed out with Carol to do some “quick” errands. Quick is just not in the vocabulary in Africa. We started with the Water Department. Carol needed to pay her water bill. You may ask, why pay your bill when you don’t get any water? I guess that could be considered a rhetorical question here. In any case, we park downtown and search for the parking ticket man who may or may not be found, depending on the time of day. If you park downtown without a ticket, you risk having a lock put on your wheel or being towed! However, it is not unusual to find the parking man missing. We are in luck, he is decked out in a yellow jacket and is just a block away. We buy our ticket and head for the water department. Water bills and other utility bills must be paid in cash. After standing in line with the rest of Mombasa to pay a water bill for water that has not come in three weeks, we advance to the office to speak with the supervisor about the situation. His office is a block away on a pot-holed road in a building that would have been worthy of condemning in the U.S. Carol asks around for him, he is not in his office, but in a meeting. We are promised that water will come on Wednesday. We’ll see…
After the errands, we rush back home and are picked up by our friends, Venu and Raji who take us in two cars to visit Venu’s factory and the rural school that his company sponsors. The factory is incredible, with state-of-the-art equipment and technology. It is run almost completely by Kenyans. We are fed lunch at the factory, which includes half a dozen delicious Indian entrees and chapatti. We arrive home for a short time, then off for gelatos and an evening visit with Carol’s friends. They welcome us like dear friends and serve us ice cold juice. Like all the friends we have met here in Mombasa, they really want to feed us! We decline as we have just filled ourselves with gelatos (much to their disappointment!) We visit for an hour or so; Jerry is amazing in his ability to generate conversation with anyone! We arrive home after 10pm.
Back at home, I sat down in the comfortable big blue chair in the bedroom and type in my thoughts about today. I put my feet up and lean my head back. Ah, a moment of relaxation. Jerry comes in to get ready for bed, takes one look at me and says those dreaded African words, “Don’t move!” He instructs me to slowly move my head to the left and to get off the chair. I cautiously obey, and discover an 8 inch millipede who had settled in about an inch from where my head was so recently resting! Here is a photo of the fellow.
Life in Africa has its share of challenges, but the people are so warm and friendly. We have already made wonderful friends and again will be faced with goodbyes too soon.
Love to you all,
Cathi
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