Yesterday we escorted him around to the Ear-Nose-Throat and Radiotherapy Units in order to clarify the prospects of his future and how much this proposed treatment would run. Which proved to be not such an easy task. Nowhere was there any Fee Tariff to be seen and costs were communicated in very vague oral comments or scratched on the back of a piece of tatty paper. We also learnt that foreigners are charged double to that of Kenyan citizens.
Birgitta got to know Gabriel last year in Loki where he was working with Christian radio programmes for Sudan. But starting this year, he was laid off by MERF, his organisation, due to lack of funds for this particular ministry. Then the tumour started growing. Looking at Gabriel's situation and weighing his awesome challenge ahead, then some mechanical problems with a vehicle left behind in a workshop up north in Kitale seem quite insignificant – and yet it can be very frustrating at times!
Happy travelers, climbing temperature and more... We were so excited, Saturday two weeks ago, when we finally set off for Loki in our vehicle. The engine purring, the pick-nick basket well filled, the awesome Kenyan nature with its high plateaus and pine
Past Nakuru in the Rift Valley, the road started climbing. And so did also the engine water temperature. Initially not alarmingly, but finally too high. By then we had already been on the wrong road for 100 km, although nicely paved, – the broken, tatty signpost for Eldoret, pointing towards a bumpy dirt road, who could have guessed that this was the main road north! - , stopped and let the engine cool down several times before finally making it to a petrol station. Hungry mechanics just swamped the engine compartment and announced in no time that
A temporary welded fix got us on the road again and even up to the flower farm on the slopes of Mt Elgon the following day. There at the gate I noticed that some fluid was leaking from underneath the engine. It proved to be diesel fuel. We managed to drive the last few hundred meters to the guest house after which the engine wouldn't even start again.!
Mt Elgon Flowers is run by Bob and Bea Andersén. Bob is 3rd generation immigrant farmer in Kenya and of Swedish descent, son to ”Apple-Robert” whom we mentioned in our previous news page. Two hundred thousand rose ste,s leave the farm every night at 2 am, 365 days a year, on a big semi-trailer, to be shipped out by air from Nairobi. More than 800 employees keep on top of the work. The flowers are irrigated and fertilized by a
His wife Beatrice is a medical doctor and has started an orphanage, built a pre-school, a primary school, a secondary school as well as a hospital all adjacent to the farm. She showed us around in their beautiful guest house, surrounded by a lush garden and with a breathtaking view of the slopes of Mt Elgon. There was a sense of colonial history flying by as she ushered us through the house with its spacious rooms, fire place and posh furniture all drenched in the wonderful reddish light of the afternoon sun.
- Tomorrow we will take the car to our workshop and our top mechanic will tend to it, Bea said. This was a reassuring message
Westfield Motors will solve all your problems! Two days later the
leaking diesel injector pump was back in place on the engine, but the
engine just didn't perform as it had. Mostly black smoke but no
power! The poor mechanics had to be pulled off to necessary repair of
both pumps and generators on the farm.
We decided to try to
return to Nairobi for expert help. But we didn't make it further than
to the Toyota garage in Kitale, some 20 km away. The car just didn't
want to go any further. A phone call to friends in Nairobi and we
were told by the Toyota agent there that our best option was indeed
Westfield Motors in Kitale, the official Toyota garage! - We
Encouraged by this it wasn't hard to start relaxing as we checked in at the Karibuni Lodge in Kitale, a very nice and likewise affordable guest house, which also offered luxurious three course meals for less than 8 dollars! The first couple of days were spent visiting a tree-planting project and Majitech, a water drilling Christian organisation, which proved to be a very valuable contact for our future school project in the Turkana village i Loki. Swahili studies, useful walking exercises and visits to the internet cafe also helped the days go quickly.
Ongoing mystery. Saturday – Yea, our
I call Fride Nilsson, a Swedish missionary to Kenya since 40 years and still involved with schools, orphanages and a slum area ministry. He immediately calls on Boaz, his chief mechanic, who jumps on a matatu (minibus) to come from Makutanu some 30 km to the north.
- What he doesn't know about Toyota Landcruisers isn't worth
- We will keep you posted! The no longer so very confident mechanics and foremen at Westfield Motors reassure us that they appreciate any additional input they can get in order to solve the injector pump mystery. - We will also keep you informed of our progress! - We will even call you this afternoon to see that you have arrived safely in Nairobi!
We will get there.. one day! My phone is silent for two full days. Then I finally get word from Fride's mechanic that the injector pump is needing a complete
Greetings from us / KeA
Picture comments from above and downwards:
Gabriel Riak, Hungry mechanics at Mau Summit, All these wonderful children!, Bob Andersén and his roses, Bea's hospital, The Guest House and Mt Elgon behind, Sorting and packing, Kitale street life, Fashion and meet on display, "Whatever You Have, Thank God for it!"