October 5

Oct 5
We have arrived in the short rains. "Short" usually means that rain starts in the afternoon and lasts three to four hours. However, the past couple of days and nights have been wet and overcast, and very cool. Not much different from Victoria!
While we were away a pipe burst in the roof of our apartment and flooded the bedroom and hallway. Our friends dried everything out, but we have now joined most Africans with variegated brownish stains from water damage on the ceiling. Not esthetically pleasing, but at least there is no lingering odour. Our landlord had to borrow money to fix the pipe, so we won’t hold our breath for new paint or ceiling boards. Pumping water up into our holding tanks is still an issue, but manageable as long as the city water is running. It was off for one day. We have had numerous power outages because of the weather. We are always glad to be cooking with gas.
The road from Kisumu is even worse than when we left, making the usual hour and fifteen minutes stretch to nearly two hours. Of course accident rates increase as drivers swerve to avoid the worst of the potholes. Rod had to drive into Kisumu yesterday to have some work done on the vehicle. About halfway there, he saw three geese on the roadside, one of which was swimming in a small pond made by a deep pothole in the road surface. Unfortunately he didn’t have a camera. For those who know Kakamega, you will understand where I mean when I mention the road in front of most of the stores, including Fomat. That road was very bad six months ago, but is now virtually impassible. A small lake now spreads from one side of the road to the other.
We haven’t done much since our arrival on Thursday except unpack. Virginia, the Queen of Clean, was able to come to us on Friday and Saturday and has removed most of the accumulated dust and muddy stains from the flood. Sunday we were in church and saw many old friends. This coming week we will meet the Bishop, check up on the programmes we left running, and begin to sort the computers that came in the container.
We reactivated our internet service when we arrived on Thursday, but so far (Sunday) we are still not connected. We are hoping a technician will appear on Monday. You will know if he comes, if you receive email from us or check the blog!