January 12, 2013 Kakamega

Greetings

Did not get much done today since we were waiting for the car to be repaired.  I am never going to understand why something that should cost a lot of money doesn’t and things that should be cheap are not here in Kenya.  The clutch and the pressure plate on the car needed to be replaced.  Someone had to drive to Kisumu to get the parts and return them to Kakamega.  If I was going to have someone drive me to Kisumu it would cost somewhere between 3500 Ksh and 5000 Ksh to do so.  The clutch parts were purchased for 5000 Ksh including picking up the parts in Kisumu.  The two guys repairing the car essentially removed the engine to replace the clutch parts.  They spent a good 8 or more hours doing so over two days.  The total labor to repair the clutch was 3000 Ksh.  So the entire repair cost about a hundred dollars.   

On the other hand breakfast is no longer included in the cost of the room here since it has been outsourced.  For breakfast I had two small hard boiled eggs at 200 Ksh a piece, two pieces of toast, and a small glass of passion fruit juice.  With the tip the cost of breakfast came out to be about 10 bucks.  Who in their right mind would spend over 2 bucks for one small hard boiled egg?  To top it all off they wouldn’t even be classified medium eggs in the states.  I think that is my last breakfast here for a while.

Campaign season is in full swing here in Kenya.  This weekend Kakamega is crawling with politicians clamoring for votes.  The new constitution has created Governors and Senators for the counties on top of the MP’s that normally run.  After ten years the President of Kenya was term limited out so a new President will be elected on March fourth too.  I assume that there must be a higher level of excitement in the air since this is something new.  The promise of the new constitution with more power at the local level should help keep tensions low.  I pray that this country will not have the same kind of violence that came about from the last election. 

Tomorrow we are off to Mumias to worship and pay some visits.  We will also work our way up to Bulimbo to visit with Pastor Robert before coming back to Kakamega. 

Take care and God bless

Dave