Ndhiwa and Migori
Trip Start
Oct 03, 2008
1
5
18
Trip End
Nov 02, 2008
8 Oct - Up and out early we packed and fuelled the RAV4 before heading south through rural Nyanza territory. The rains have been plenitful in this area as evidenced by the lush green foliage. Sadly, the last six months were dry and the spring harvest failed completely. Great hope is resting on the fall rains continuing until harvest time in December. But as we drive further, many areas are dry having had little rain to start the season. North of here no rain has fallen and the locals are said to be surviving on seeds and berries where obtainable. Equatorial regions such as this do not have the same seasonal rains and harvests of Bible lands, so the biblical festivals are not in time with the local harvest seasons. Our members currently continue to rely on famine relief provided by Good Works projects to get by. The Feast of Tabernacles will be a welcome change of pace and diet for them. Passing through the town of Ougis we picked up deacon John Otieno Owak and headed for today's meeting with a group who has requested to be part of UCG. This unassociated group of some 300 adults plus children was making plans to keep a Feast of Tabernacles locally. At their request I left some funds for them o purchase a cow to slaughter for some special meals during the Feast. Today I gave a message concering the role the saints will fill during the events portrayed by each of the fall Holy days. A question and answer period followed. As Atonement evening drew closer we said our "oritis" and headed southwest to the town of Migori. Prior to sunset Merrie and I opened and cleaned our little home away from home located in the hills outside of town. Nightfall happens rapdily along the Equator and after listening to some Sabbath music we soon we were asleep under mosquito nets that afford us some protection from malaria. I had our hut built here specifically to give Merrie and me a central base to work from. The hut permits us to manage our own food and sanitary condtions while visiting outlying congregations in this disease prone region. Malaria, typhoid fever, yellow fever and AIDS are epidimic here. The name of the town means, "mosquito makes me slap myself" so you can see the challenge. Window screens and sanitary water are non-existant in this region. We share a well with the Otienos next door and our hut has running water from a hand-filled water tank. It is accompanied by a wood heated water heater that affords a morning shower. But all our efforts for rest and health are often undermined by things outside our control. Such as sleep distrubing noise. As the sun set we realized we were in for a rough night. A local custom of the Luo is that when a person dies, loud music and wailing continues all night. With AIDS so rampant a lot of people die here and that means a lot of noisy nights. Sometimes it is just screaming, shreiking and the banging of drums. However the playing of loud music through large outdoor speakers has begun tonight and will continue from sunset to sunrise for the next four nights. It turns out that a commercial outdoor "cultural" event for young people is being held by promoters this week. We did our best to catch some sleep while the bass guitar boomed so loud that I deloped an increasing headache.
