“Kenya has an idyllic coastline, a magnet for all who visit the country with its 480 km of tropical beaches, white sands fringed with palm trees, with aquamarine and turquoise waters sheltered by coral reefs close to shore, or golden sands flanked by sand dunes. . . Mombasa became pivotal in the development of Kenya as a British colony, being the starting point for the building of the Uganda railway. Today it still plays a vital role as the hub of commodity transportation inland and is a strategic port on the East African coastline.” (Kenya Bradt Travel Guide) Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya with about 1.5 million people.
As we were planning our weekend trips, we added an extra day for Mombasa because we wanted to be able to see and experience the Indian Ocean beach. We are sure glad that we did. It was a crazy weekend packed many people to see and places to visit. Yes, we did manage to get in a few hours at the beach.
While traveling to Kitale we saw only domesticated animals: cattle, goats, donkeys, and sheep. However, on the way to Mombasa we spotted many different types of wildlife. We saw camels, zebra, giraffe, taupe (large antelope or elk type animal) and baboons. I’m sure passing near a couple wildlife areas made the difference.
We had been warned by many that the climate in Mombasa is hot and humid. As this is summer in the southern hemisphere it is the hottest time of the year. We were glad that we would feel Mombasa at it’s worst. Luckily for us it had cooled off to the low 90’s, but the humidity was still high.
The end of our bus trip ended rather excitingly. Coralis was to meet us when we arrived. Her instructions were to call when we passed by the roundabout that said Welcome to Mombasa. We never saw it (and later found out the welcome signed and been painted over)! The bus made several stops to let people off. We weren’t for sure where we were supposed to get off the bus and assumed it must be the last spot. As we were pulling away from one of those stops we sighted Coralis! The bus driver was alerted and stopped several blocks away to let us off as soon as he could. It was a problem for him because we had a bag stored underneath the bus that they had to get out for us. There we were in a strange town during heavy rush hour traffic wondering how we would ever find Coralis again. Mobile phones are a wonderful thing. Once she realized where we were she had us walk about a block away and cross the street (not an easy thing to do) to another roundabout and stand at the side of the road until she could get there to pick us up. Were we ever glad to see her drive up.
After a quick wash up in her apartment, we spent our first evening in Mombasa eating dinner beside the Indian Ocean feeling those wonderful sea breezes. There are three Maryknoll Lay Missionaries in the Mombasa area. Coralis has been there for nine years. She is involved in many different ministries, but her primary one is an AIDS Orphan Project. Pat and Ilona have been in Kenya for a year. They are working on the founding of a self sustaining Children’s Village that will serve AIDS orphans.
Friday was a full day. We meet with various people in the Mombasa Archdiocese. It is a huge diocese with 46 parishes. Because of that, they have many opportunities for ministry. The Bishop had been called away for an emergency meeting of all the Kenyan bishops, so we weren’t able to personally meet him, but he called during our appointment time to welcome us. We met with the head of the Education Office, the personnel director (a MK brother), Father Nikki at Bangladesh (slum), the AIDS orphan project, toured a secondary school, and SOLGIDI (a project to work with girls in distress).
Saturday morning Pat and Ilona took us to see an archdiocese pastoral center built with Maryknoll funds. Probably the highlight of our visits was at a rescue center for children that had been sexually abused by their parents or trafficked for prostitution. Ilona volunteers there weekly. Not only did we get a tour of the center, but the children all introduced themselves, sang some songs for us and shared warm chapti that they were preparing for lunch. Even though those children have experienced such horrors in their short lives, the feelings of love and acceptance there were overwhelming. It is a wonderful place doing wonderful things.
That afternoon we packed our bags for an overnight trip. The first stop was the beach. Mombasa itself is located on an island. We drove over the causeway to get to Mombasa, but now we drove south to the resort area. To get there we first had to take the ferry across the bay. You go to a resort to use their beach. It is the off season for tourists, so it was not crowded and was nice and quiet. It cost us $7 to use the beach and get a towel. The facilities and service was great. When we arrived the ocean was at low tide. We ventured over coral and sand to reach the water. It was great fun and John loved the chance to take pictures. There were many pockets in the coral with small fish, sea spiders, tiny fish and various other plant life.
After we left the beach we drove about an hour further south to Mivumoni to spend the night with Father Joe in his parish. The area was definitely rural. We were about 12 miles off of any paved roads. Father Joe has a beautiful view from his front porch since his house is located at the top of a hill. We spend most of the evening sitting outside watching the stars and trying to identify constellations. Father Joe serves eight churches. He used to say Mass at all of them each Sunday, but he is not able to do that any longer. The largest church is only a few feet away from his house. The building is nice, but very simple. After Mass Mary talked to a women’s group, I spoke to the high school youth group and we later toured a secondary school. We enjoyed leaving the city behind and spending time in the country.
Now the hard part is discerning, to decide which area, Kitale or Mombasa, will be our home for the next three years. Mombasa has many opportunities, but Kitale has that rural feel that reminds us of Kansas. So we will pray and ponder. Please pray for guidance for us as we come to a decision in the next few weeks.
If you'd like to see photos of the Mombasa area click here.
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