Visiting Ben's Friends and Family
This is my second visit to the Turkana area, Lodwar and Kakuma in particular. This time it was just as hot and still no good rain. The place is dry. We also found that there was another problem in the town of Kakuma, which is Ben’s home and our final destination. We flew this time, not taking the 26 hour bus trip over bad roads filled with marauders and thieves. There are also the rains around Kitale and Eldoret which trap buses behind rising river beds, sometimes for days. We flew to Lodwar on a 12 passenger, single prop plane and then took the two and a half hour matatu ride from Lodwar to Kakuma, the home of 90,000 refugees at a UN camp. We were dropped at a guest house we had stayed in before but this time, the place looked closed up. We found someone to rent us a room (about $9.00 a night for a double) but also learned that there was an ongoing cholera outbreak which closed all the eating establishments, butcheries, etc. in Kakuma There was no food other than fruits and prepackaged items. We got by on bread, peanut butter (which I was surprised to find) and bananas. We drank bottled water or soda. The outbreak is for real. Many are dying. Some living in huts on the outskirts had whole families dead and bodies literally left to the hyenas. They live too far from health facilities, which are inadequate for any medical care. Friends and relatives of Ben had also died. The government gave out chlorine tablets and prevention education, but the toll is still high.
!2 Seat Plane
We visited with Ben’s family and friends, took care of the business we wanted to do there and headed back to Lodwar to catch the plane home on Monday. It was a great trip. I feel fortunate to know Ben’s sister, brother, mother and others living in the area. Their lifestyle is the most traditional and primitive I have found in Africa. It is a difficult life, made tougher by the drought and poverty. Finding clean water, food, firewood, work, etc. is so difficult. It is no wonder that many young people turn to drugs, gun-running, piracy and other illegal activities. Ben’s family is hanging in there – doing the right things trying to get by.
Ben's Sister and Friend
Today we are cleaning and finishing laundry from the trip. Tomorrow Fred, tall Ben and I travel to Kiserian, buying beads, running errands and visiting in Nairobi. There continues to be pockets of violence in NRB, connected with the mungiki, a lawless group of thugs. One of their leaders was gunned down in the streets of Nairobi the other afternoon, so the group vows to do some major “activity” to revenge his death. The mungiki believe the police/government killed the leader. Their threats are always followed through.
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