back up to bodo

I’ve put off writing about Bodo for a while now mostly because I just really don’t know how to write about it. I strongly dislike writing but I also know my memory is not strong enough to hold onto all that I’m experiencing here so I’m forcing myself to sit down and write. I’m going backwards in time quite a bit with this post, hopefully I will catch up soon…

February 20th, 2009:

Part of my program is to do a 10-day rural homestay to compare with our 6-week urban homestay so we sloooowly made our way down to Mombasa from Nairobi by an overnight train that was straight out of 1920. I loved the train! This was nothing like the commuter rail I take so frequently in Boston. We were first class, had a sleeping cabin and were served meals on board in the dining car – even the silverware was ancient!

Yeah, it was hot. Yeah, the train took 14 hours to get to Mombasa at 25 MPH. And yeah, the bathrooms were disgusting BUT at sunrise we all woke up to the most gorgeous view outside! True African bush for as far as we could see filled with acacia trees, mud huts and the random giraffe or zebra munching away on whatever green they could find. We then chugged our way into Mombasa as children living out in the middle of the bush ran up to the tracks to wave and shout greetings at us – it was a great welcome.

February 21st, 2009:

Sweaty, sticky and in desperate need of a shower we were denied all forms of hygiene and shuttled right into the middle of Mombasa to purchase kongas, our new uniform for our rural homestays. A konga is two large pieces of brightly colored cloth with a message across the bottom in Swahili. Usually the messages have a double meaning, one literal and one sexual. I kind of think about it like adding “in bed” to the end of your fortune cookie after a meal in a Chinese restaurant!

Continuously sweating from Mombasa’s intense humidity, we were dropped off in groups along Biashara Street (business street) to bargain down the best prices we could find for used kongas. We wanted used ones because the new ones come starched or waxed and are very uncomfortable until they have been worn and washed a couple times. I also felt confident that if it was used, the double meaning of the saying wouldn’t be too bad since another woman was willing to wear it before me.

I purchased two full kongas, one pink/black and another green/black, and two headscarves, one green/purple and one red/black/white, all washed and soft.

After a frustrating lunch trying to find anything vegetarian AND filling or nutritious (you can only pick one here, never both), we were back on the bus and on our way to Bodo, our rural village. I can assure you, we smelled like roses.

Two hours later we arrived in Bodo, a village of about 300 people eagerly awaiting our arrival. About 75 wide-eyed and excited children greeted us as they anxiously waited to meet their new siblings for the next 10 days.

Bodo was a sight to take in, it was straight out of a National Geographic with mud huts, thatch roofs, sand and palm trees everywhere. All of this was a lot to take in at first but nothing compared to how hard the heat hit me. I finally feel like I understand the meaning of “oppressive heat”, my body did not take well to the climate but its all part of the experience, right?!

Side note: I am currently reading The Poisonwood Bible and feel like many of my first impressions of Bodo were similar to the girls’ first impressions of Kilanga in the book. Though Congo in 1959 is not similar to Kenya in 2009, the village of Bodo and the village of Kilanga have many striking similarities and as I read Poisonwood now, after my experience in Bodo, I keep finding myself making connections and parallels to village life and social norms within the two villages. If you haven’t read Poisonwood – go get yourself a copy and read it! At page 197 I’m already obsessed.

I’m going to post this now, then write more later. I need to eat lunch and write a paper for class.

Love!

Elisette

ps: picutres to come in the next post - I'm on a hunt for internet that is fast enough to upload.