Word Pictures

As we left for the drive to Nairobi, the scenery was exquisite. The sun was in our eyes making photos difficult, so I decided to write a word picture.

A parade of people along each side of the road emerged from the shimmering dust tossed up by matatus. They cast long streaks of shadows as they grew distinct from the brown flecks. The sun skimmed across the cow-mowed grass and the tips of the sugarcane leaves. In the flicker of back-lighting the leaves of the eucalyptus trees turned gold and black. Even the bulky sugar cane tractor loads reflected a soft glow in the early sun.

Uniformed children ebbed and flowed on either side of the road like a herd of gazelles, waiting for a safe chance to cross. As the towns thinned, occasional drab humps of squatting people rose rock-like from the dirt shoulder.

Umbrella acacia trees reflected back the light and offered generous shade. They spread like dinner plates for giraffes. And the sun teased a soft reflection from thatch and mud houses and brought warmth to rusty tin roofs.

In the markets weathered women unfolded bags and bundles and bales sprouting with cabbages, sukumi wiki (greens) and a rainbow of matumbu (used clothing.) Donkeys hoisted yellow gerry cans for sale or water carrying. The bones of stick market stands jutted out, their dingy black and gray plastic roofing swaying in the breeze. Some of the stands were already fleshed out in vibrant red onions and tomatoes, golden maize, white rice, heaps of beans, and tangles of rope. Hardware merchants spread locks and bolts and bits of dazzling silver metal.

Toward Karicheo, orderly manicured tea fields glinted lemon-green until they disappeared over the horizon. Boxes of white painted houses with red roofs offered a nestled contrast to the un-ending new-green leaves. Sometimes trees shot up through the tea fields looking like errant bits of hair in a bad hair-cut.

It’s a beautiful world. One of the departing couples said, “In a few days this will all be a dream and a memory.” All too soon that will be true for us, too.