I find myself drawn to visit my rural place in Matunda roughly ten days out of every eight weeks or so. I always enjoy my time there!
During a recent stay (last November), I marveled at the beauty of the brightly flowering bougainvillea. I also took much pleasure in watching the antics of the various birds that flutter to and fro amongst my maturing trees. There’s the African Pied Wagtails, different types of Kingfishers, the fairly diminutive Red-Cheeked Cordon Bleu, appropriately named Superb Starlings, small blue Canaries, various beautiful Sunbirds, and the ever-present Weavers. They all sing for joy when a new day dawns.
The secondary school students had extended periods of free time in between their final exams of the year. During the afternoons, they engaged in lively games of soccer with some of the youth in the neighborhood. On one such day, loud cheers rang out just as the bell sounded for dinner. As they all eagerly headed to the small mud “kitchen”, one of them announced, “We scored two goals!”
After eating my own dinner, I spent about an hour doing the Sudoku, Codeword, and easy crossword puzzles in the newspaper. My small kerosene lantern (handcrafted from a recycled tin can) gave me just enough light to see. I kept a mosquito coil burning nearby, in order to ward off the annoying buzzing in my ears.
When I grew tired and the compound grew equally quiet, I stepped outside my mud hut to brush my teeth. As I did so, I watched a lightening display of God’s creative glory in the dark sky. The sky was cloudy; not too many stars were visible. One or two bats darted around my head, hopefully consuming mosquitoes.
As I lay in bed, waiting for sleep to come, I heard some young circumcision revelers off in the distance – chanting and singing, whistling and hollering. Occasionally I could hear a low bass noise as one of the young men would blow through a piece of plastic pipe. I knew, from prior times when I’ve watched them, that they were carrying branches and marching along the dirt roads in tight clusters. I also knew that neighbor children were joining in as the boisterous group passed by. Such behavior, unfortunately a very noisy disturbance, is all too common. Most of the young Bukusu men “practice” in December, in preparation for the actual circumcision ceremonies that are performed during August (in even-numbered years). At long last, the crowd moved out of my hearing range.
The rhythmic song of crickets and an occasional bray of a donkey were the only other sounds keeping sleep at bay.
It rained through the night; I slept well.
At 5:00 am, I awoke to the cacophony of roosters. I could hear them – from all across the valley – announcing the new day. And… to my dismay, I detected the disturbing noise of another rat in my house!
Additionally, a neighbor woman’s cries ripped through the quiet morning. I couldn’t help but share in her pain, even though I had no idea what had caused it. Her loud screams continued for some time. Eventually, she quieted down and I heard a man’s voice offering up a loud prayer.
The students began to awaken; the compound grew increasingly noisier. I climbed out from under my mosquito net and opened the curtains. The first pink and orange light of the eastern sky began to gradually chase away the darkness of night.
While my omelet cooked by the light of my tin lamp, I put out rat poison. I bought it in Nigeria, ironically from a walking street vendor in the parking lot of a fast food restaurant.
As I made the short walk to fetch a bucket of water from the well, I greeted Mwalimu, the school’s principal. “Mwalimu” is the seemingly universal name for teachers or headmasters.
The tree branches all dripped with heavy raindrops; even my grass thatch roof dripped steadily with rain runoff.
The fundi’s I hired to work on my new outdoor toilet hadn’t yet arrived. They were thirty minutes late. Such behavior is typical in Kenya even though, in this case, they only have a 10-minute walk to my place.
Their lateness gave me some time to enjoy the unfolding morning. I stood in my doorway, sipping a cup of chai and watching the birds frolic.
Suddenly, I spotted an incredibly gorgeous full-arc rainbow in the western sky!
I walked over to where I could get a better look. Amazingly, the end of it was so close that I could see right through the radiant, colorful rays.
It was stunning! What a resplendent and magnificent sight to behold!
“What a wildly wonderful world, God!
You made it all, with Wisdom at your side,
made earth overflow with your wonderful creations.”
Psalm 104:24 (The Message)
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