Maandamano Monday

So what does one do on Maandamano Monday? Maandamano is the Swahili word for protest.

Good question.  The answer?  Not a whole lot.  

It’s a pretty small world where we are right now.  Everything around here is fenced and gated and the Biblical Conference Center is no exception.  The fences and gates are there to keep the bad guys out and today it seems like the fences and gates are to keep the good guys in.  Our only foray for most of today was a quick hike to the gas station across the street to buy some bottled water.  It’s rather hard to go for a walk when the total area for walking consists of about a dozen parking spaces.

So how do you fill your time?  Dave and Joy were in their room most of the day to catch up on some office work.  I have no office work to do so I have been sitting at a table on the terrace just outside my room enjoying the amazing weather.  Sunny, 81 degrees, a few scattered clouds, and a gentle breeze ruffling the trees.  Kind of idyllic. You wouldn’t know that, not to far from here, demonstrations are taking place with rock-throwing, tear gas, arrests, and some property destruction.  Not really what I expected.  Sometimes you just gotta roll with the changes.

Not wanting to spend the day in my room, I have been at this table for most of the day, watching some updates on a news feed, writing, praying. Perhaps this delay due to the protests is God telling me to slow down and spend some additional time in prayer.

A couple of guys sat at the next table for quite a while and one of them had a news channel going on his phone.  The volume was too low to make out any words, but the sounds of crowds in uproar could be heard occasionally over the voice of the news correspondent.  It is very quiet here on a normally very busy Monday, according to the staff, and I can hear the sounds of news broadcasts coming from a couple different directions through the open windows.

At one point earlier today, one of the staff came out with a couple of mangoes, just picked from the tree about 15 feet from this table.  He had sliced it in a few spots, allowing us to just break the sections off and eat the fruit out of the rind.  What a treat!

The ripe mangoes are bringing out something else that we never see in the midwest tundra:  Monkeys.  I’ve spotted a few of the creatures when they cross the terrace between the buildings, usually crossing by running down the electrical wires suspended between the buildings.  I’ve been told they show up when the mangoes are ripe.  They have good taste.  And an incredible sense of balance.

About 4:30 pm we ventured out to get a bite to eat. The ten-minute walk felt good after doing very little movement for most of the day.  On the way back we detoured to the gas station across the street and had ice cream bars for dessert.  Magnum bars.  This was a staple for us when we were in China 15 years ago.

On the way back into the compound, we talked to the guard at the gate and asked him about the demonstration situation.  He told us the center of the city was unreachable and he had to walk two hours to come to his job here because of road blockages.  He thought things would be pretty much back to normal tomorrow, echoing the sentiment of another staff member we talked to earlier today.

I was watching a live blog on and off today about this situation and an entry at about 6pm stated “Calm returns to Nairobi CBD after long day of anti-government protests called by Azimio coalition leader Raila Odinga.”

However, it appears that Odinga has promised demonstrations every Monday until the government shows progress on the inflation problem.  So this may happen again.  But the next one shouldn’t affect us as much.  We return to Nairobi and fly out on a Sunday.

It’s quiet now. Real quiet.  Except for the mosquitoes.  One of the last tasks before going to bed is to kill any mosquitoes that are flying around, and then to deploy the mosquito net over the bed without trapping any mosquitoes inside.  Last night I managed to trap a mosquito inside.  Kind-of hard to get to sleep with that buzzing.  The night air is very still so there’s no air movement to cool the room.  Add the mosquito net cocoon and it makes for a warm environment.  When you’re used to having windows open during a Michigan winter, this warmth is quite an adjustment.