Day 9 - Mago

Due to the heavy rain during the night, we had to pack our tents while they were still wet. Even dry they would not smell like flowers, so this did not really raise hopes for the camping nights to come. While Emanuel and two others were slaughtering a goat, we were preparing our lunches, as there would not be any restaurants that could handle a group like ours on our way to Mago.

We ate our lunch sitting on our camping chairs next to the road near a river. I tried to remember when I drank from a small juice box last, but could not remember. Our presence did attract a few kids and one glue sniffer, although they seemed to not be entirely sure of what to think of what they saw and all kept their distance. There was another opportunity to relief yourself wherever you wanted and then we were on our way again.

One of the interesting things about driving in Kenya (or Tanzania for that matter) is that you learn how much can be transported on a single moped. It’s always a guy driving, but there is a wide variation in what can be stacked up behind him. During our trip we have seen a breastfeeding woman on the back, a whole family including mother and two or even three medium-sized kids, six or seven big bunches of bananas or an equally large stack of pots and pans, goats, and even one or two couches!!! Not kidding. I cannot even describe how it worked, but it did, and I have seen it.

Mid-afternoon we arrived at the Mago guesthouse (www.magoguesthouse.com). This guesthouse is part of a recently established project to provide access to professional training programs for people with low incomes in the area. Education here is not for free, but in addition to providing on-the-job training for the student that studied ‘Hospitality and Catering’ the guest house provides income for the school to keep student fees low. We were welcomed by nervous students with a refreshing drink and we got a tour around the school. Unfortunately it was Sunday, so again no students, but we did get to see the various class rooms and we saw the building site were students from the school are now building a small hospital, so that the community has access to medical care and students can be trained there.

Also, if you ever hear crazy stories from Africans about Europe, it is likely that these story originated from tourists like us. Not being helped by the language barrier, people from our group would try to explain various concepts of ‘Western life’ to the locals during our trip. In the shop for ‘Motor vehicle mechanics’ we saw an old jeep that was donated to the school, which (like many vehicles that I have seen in Africa) still relies on good old mechanics – not electronics. It was good fun to see how people from our group tried to explain this difference to the head of the school, a former student herself. She could only look at them in disbelieve, when one of them explained that computers can park our cars, while the other was making the beeping sound that the park assist makes when you get too close to the car behind you. And cars in our part of the world even stop by themselves when you don’t pay attention and get too close to the car in front of you.

That evening we had a very nice dinner, prepared and served by the students. We could tell that they were doing well, as they, like our cook, could prepare soup that did not taste like its name would suggest and instead would taste the same as all other soups. Potato soup, cabbage soup, cucumber soup, it did not matter, it all tasted the same. Luckily for us, it all tasted quite okay.