Day 20 October 6, 2011 Bungoma

Greetings

Today we were on the road fairly early.  We stopped at Hezron’s home and exchanged the car for his truck so we could pick up all the chemicals in Bungoma this afternoon.  After a brief visit at his home we headed over to Mumias to the widow’s site to show them how to plant the vines.  We showed them about four holes then had them do another four holes before we left.  Since the holes had been open for well over a week we did not need to put any fungi killer into the hole.  The procedure to mix the soil is as follows.  Step one is to take about a hand full of DAP and put it into a cup.  We used a table spoon and about 4 and a half of them to keep the measurement even throughout the 246 holes.  Second step is to put a bowl full of cow poop into the hole with about half the cup of DAP with some dirt until the hole is about half full.  Step three is to mix the contents of the hole really well.  Step four is to repeat step two putting the rest of the DAP with some cow poop and dirt almost filling the hole.  Step five is to repeat step three.  Step six is to stick a nine foot stick into the hole for support of the vine.  Step seven is to dig a small hole about 2 inches from the stick to put in the seedling plug.  Step eight is to take the seedling plug and start to break up the dirt inside the bag.  Step nine is to fill the seedling plug with water and remove the bag.  Step ten is to break up the plug a little and put it into the hole from step seven.  Step eleven is to pat down the dirt around the seedling and give it plenty of water.  Step twelve is to attach the vine to the support stick with some twine.  We have now planted a passion fruit seedling.  We are now on our way to plant another 5999 or so.

After we left the widow’s site we headed off to Bungoma to meet up with Robert at the chemical store to finish this task.  On our way we had to be stopped by a few police people since we are in a truck.  Usually when you are in a car the police just pass you on.  All the Matatu’s and commercial vehicles are stopped at every town and sometimes in between towns.  We were in Hezron’s truck and as far as the police are concerned the truck is a commercial vehicle.  Luckily there are no issues with his truck right now thanks to one of our readers.  Thanks again.  It is really just too funny.  The police just stand on the side of the road and pull people over.  There are usually at least two of them sometimes more.  Hezron tells me they are all hungry so they just look for problems and either arrest you and take you to the station or you can pay on the spot.  I guess it depends on how hungry they are and how many of them there are to determine the duty.  Many of them know the Bishop since he frequents all these towns in the Western Province frequently.  They usually greet him and they pass him on.  He tells me that they think he is paid well from the churches so it is his duty to give the police some money since they are hungry.  If you are driving a commercial vehicle for any long distances here you might want to consider carrying a wad of money to pass out along the way.

We finally met up with Robert at the chemical store.  We went over the list of chemicals and ordered what we felt we needed in fertilizer, fungicide, insecticides, and foliar.  The total came out to be about 88,000 Ksh and all I had was about 80,000 Ksh in cash.  We then headed to the bank to withdraw the rest of the needed money to pay for all the needed supplies, training, and transport costs before I leave.  In Kenya the largest bill is a 1,000 Ksh note which is about ten bucks.  In order to finish off all the purchases before I leave I took about 290,000 Ksh and added it to the 80,000 Ksh I already had.  I am wearing shorts today and it was difficult to keep four huge wads of money in my pockets from being seen.  Robert was worried as we left the bank and kept saying this is Kenya (TIK).  I quickly told him the same thing can happen to me in the states as I walk out of a bank but here I have you to protect me.  We walked out of the bank and as usual I blended right in with the crowd as we walked up the street.  No one notices me here.

We got back to the chemical store and paid the bill and we were off to drop Robert off in his home town of Bulimbo.  I’m sorry I have been calling it Bulinda for a couple of weeks now and I now stand corrected.  Not sure where I got Bulinda from.  I must have read a sign as we passed by too quickly and I saw Bulinda not Bulimbo.  After dropping Robert off we headed back to Kakamega with a few pit stops to chat with the police along the way.  We did pass one officer along the way and did not stop.  As we passed the officer he gave us the pointy finger as if to warn Hezron for not stopping.  Hezron told me that he does not pull over unless they flag him down.  He thinks this guy just expected him to pull over to pay him a visit.  Luckily he wasn’t one of the police people with machine guns. 

Tomorrow in the morning I will continue to work on all the calculations and spreadsheets for each of the plots.  Today the exchange rate changed from 104 back down to 98 so I need to put in the new numbers.  Hezron is going to leave at about four thirty in the morning to leave for Kitale to pick up the wire.  There are many towns along the way and he does not want to stop and chat with all the police before and after each town.  He feels much better if he only has to do it on the way back.  Not sure what we are doing once Hezron gets back tomorrow afternoon.

It's snowing here in Kenya

The snowflakes are almost as big as marbles

Take care and be blessed.               

Dave