My Weekend in Ndhiwa

This past weekend I travelled to a more remote region of western Kenya to visit a VSO colleague, Frank, at his placement in the village of Ndhiwa. Its located only about 100 km from Kisumu, but the most direct road is in terrible condition so a longer but faster route is taken, instead. The trip took about 4 hours.

Frank requested that I bring a number of grocery items that he can’t get in his village. Therefore, I was loaded up with such goodies as beer, brandy, chocolate bars, pringles chips, and brown bread. Frank also had me bring gouda cheese and when he saw that it was actually imported from Holland it was the closest I’ve been to seeing an emotional Dutch male. At the end of the weekend I didn’t ask Frank to pay for these treats as he had proven to be a wonderful host plus I had pretty much consumed half of what I had brought.

Frank has a very challenging posting in Ndhiwa. He is an administrator for an organization that operates a small hospital and a half-dozen schools in the region. Although he didn’t know this when he accepted the placement, he is basically the man in charge, reporting to a board of directors back in England. The region that he lives in has one of the worst HIV/AIDs infection rates in the country (40% of adults, I’m told) which obviously has direct implications on his work. Frank also has to deal the challenges of being in a remote village, with few amenities and being the only westerner in town.

Of course, there are some upsides to Frank’s situation. Being the only mzungu in the village he has attained true celebrity status. Our walks were often delayed by people he knew, or didn’t know, who wanted to speak to us. Recently, a baby born in his hospital was named after him; apparently the region’s first ever Frank. Even Frank’s home is very nice, although it does lack electricity and running water. His greatest luxury is having a lady who cooks and cleans for him.

We didn’t do too much during my stay there. We walked through the village and stopped for a leisurely Coke at one of the shops. We hiked out to visit his hospital and sat on its rear deck which has been partially adopted as Frank’s office. We spent a lot of time on his home’s back porch admiring the garden until nightfall and then watching the distant lightening storms. We were able to talk about our placement situations, potential travelling opportunities, and standard guy stuff, like sports and university days. As we sat there with our drinks it felt a bit like being at the trailer by the lake in Oyama, BC.

All in all, it was a very pleasant and relaxing visit. It was interesting to compare and contrast Frank’s situation to mine and there’s no doubt that he is living more of the third world development experience that I had envisioned. However, I recognize that he is under a lot of stress, lives in isolation and has little support. When my matatu returned to Kisumu on Sunday afternoon and dropped my off do some shopping at the Nakumat I was content to be home.