A Cultural Afternoon in Downtown Machakos, July 16th, 2009

It is the evening of our 17th day of Africa Based Orientation here at Scott Theological College in Machakos, Kenya. Today was great because we had a “Scavenger Hunt” in town. We were split up into six groups and each was given a paper with several “challenges” for us in town. First, we had to get into town using public transportation. We also were to eat lunch, ask different locals specific questions, and find several things. We all met back at Scott at 4pm to share our experiences, and the group with the best relational story won a prize.

Our group flagged down a small matatu (a small mini-van type vehicle, usually packed!) which brought us into town for 150/- (or about $2.00). Our driver gave us the meaning of several of the words we were to identify, both in kiswahili & kikamba (the local dialect.) We started off with lunch at T-TOT, a small restaurant that is part of the T-TOT Hotel. We had samosas (fried triangle shape filled with ground beef, onions, and cilantro), a chapati (a large, thick tortilla), and Micah had a hot dog (or sausage) wrapped in chapati. Alex, the plainclothes “guard” (I’m not sure what he was guarding, perhaps the TV he was watching!) was more than helpful in answering many of our questions about the history of Machakos, when and how Islam and Christianity arrived in Kenya, etc. His answers were not all correct, but he was most helpful!

Our adventure continued as we strolled along, observing many people walking up and down the street and tons of shops, men or women sewing clothes on sewing machines from the 40’s, butcheries with cuts of “meat” hanging in the window, an outside shop with tables piled high with used clothing and shoes for sale. One of our challenges was to go into a butchery and see how many cuts of “meat” there were and what was the least appetizing. From a U.S. perspective, butcheries are just wrong! They STINK and it just doesn’t seem right that slabs of raw meat are just hanging free. I have to believe that if people were all getting sick from buying their meat this way then there wouldn’t be so many butcheries~

The locals are fascinated by mzungus (white people) but especially love little white kids for some reason. As we walked along an alley lined with small shops, many people reached out to touch Micah and say, “Hello!” and “What is your name?” Also, their personal space bubbles are much smaller than ours so they get really close. Micah was tired and was not really enjoying all the attention. At one point, several men were talking to Micah and started laughing hysterically. One man came up to me and told me that the reason they are so interested in Micah and laughing is because they think he looks like a little monkey! I could have been offended but I believe they thought this because Micah was holding my hand and jumping off rocks and curbs!

We made our way to the market. We loved it! I had been to markets in Kenya when I was here last time. This market was so orderly, clean, and calm, and the people selling were not hounding you to buy from them. There were umbrellas lining the aisles and rows of bright oranges and red tomatoes stacked in precarious little formations, little apples, many different kinds of passion fruit, avocados the size of eggplants (for 20/-, or about 25 cents), and every kind of bean you can imagine. Many of the women were sitting beside their fruits and vegetables weaving straw bags in bright colors. It was amazing how quickly they worked and without watching what they were doing!

We also had to find the clock tower and then seek out a local to tell us how time is counted in Kenya (and most of Africa.) They start their day with sunrise (approximately) with the 7, so 7am is their 1, 8am is 2. (At 7am they say it is 1 o’clock)

It was great to get out and not have to sit in class all day. We had been in town several times before so we were familiar with the transportation and the grocery store. Micah’s favorite form of transportation is the tuk-tuk. These are 3-wheeled enclosed carts, or a cross between a motorcycle and an enclosed cart. They vary in condition. The one I took back from town yesterday with some friends did not look as though it would make it, but it did and it was fun!