We took a three day course at Tangaza College titled Introduction to African Cultures and Religion. Father Mike established the Maryknoll Institute of African Studies over twenty years ago. Post graduate degrees are offered for those that wish to study African culture. It is located in Karen, about 20 miles from where we are staying.
Father Mike told us that one of his assistants would meet us at 7:00 Wednesday morning at Flora to help us get there the first day. Unfortunately, we got off to a bad start. We had told Moses, the askari, someone would be coming for us. We were ready and standing outside on time, even early. As luck would have it, Kennedy came while Moses was making rounds. Kennedy was waiting for us over by the office. We never even looked there because we were standing by the gate and could see anyone who entered. After about 20 minutes of waiting we began to get nervous. We knew that it took about one and a half hours by public transport. Finally, we connected with Kennedy. First hurdle crossed.
There is a bus stop less than a block away. It was already 7:30 so Kennedy decided that we needed to take Bus 24 since it goes directly to Karen and even stops at Tangaza College. We waited and waited. Every Bus 24 went right on by because they were full. Now it’s almost 8:00. Class begins at 8:30. Kennedy is the expert at public transportation, not us. Finally, we decide to take a matatu. There were no route 24 matatus stopping either, but 111 will take you to Karen. We get on and go across town to a bus stop. Since it’s already after 8:30 Father Mike told Kennedy to take a taxi from there. We don’t make a great first impression on our classmates because it is almost 9:00 by the time we get there.
Fast forward to that evening. It is raining, not just raining but pouring. More people take public transport on rainy days than clear days. That makes sense. Bus 24 comes and we get on. Bless Kennedy’s heart. He’s escorting us home. The plan is that he will get on the same bus, but alight (get off) earlier than we need to. It’s raining, raining, raining. There are huge jams (traffic jams). Kennedy decides not to get off to go to his home, but continues to stay with us. In the meantime, the bus changes its route to avoid some of the jam. Finally the bus isn't moving at all, we know where we are, it is only about four blocks from Flora, so we get off the bus and walk the rest of the way home. It took us almost two hours to get home. We were so glad that they had saved us some supper even though we were late.
After an challenging first day, we are ready to tackle riding public transport by ourselves. It actually goes pretty smoothly. We decide that we aren’t going to wait for the bus, but go ahead and ride two different matatus to get there. We were given strict orders to report to Kennedy the next morning when we arrived. We even made it to class early!
Now I need to describe a matatu to you. Keep in mind that they drive on the left side of the road. That means that the driver is on the right. But just like in the States, the sliding door is on the left. Imagine a van with four rows of seats. There are two more seats up front
with the driver. In the back similar to airplanes, there are two seats on the right side in the next two rows and only one seat on the side with the sliding door allowing passengers to move toward the back. The back seat has four seats. That makes seating for 14, right? Wrong! Technically it is against the law to carry more than 14, but on one trip we had 19. John swears the conductor’s backside was hanging out the open door. I don’t think we ever made a trip with only 14 passengers.The conductor is the person who opens the sliding door. There is a glass window in the sliding door that is always open. Why? He has his hand and head out of the window looking for possible passengers shouting the price. “Twenty bob, or mbao.” When you want a matatu to stop for you, you do a little wave of your hand. The driver pulls over, the conductor opens the door and you slide in wherever there is room, even on someone's lap if need be. In the conductor’s hand are bills that are folded wrong side out in half lengthwise. I’m guessing that is so the denomination is clearly visible to him as he makes change. He also has a few coins in the palm of his hand.
It was interesting to note that above the door of most matatus, the paint is rubbed off. Why? Because the conductor hangs on there while opening and closing the door. He also pounds on it at times to signal the driver.
Nonverbal communication is constantly going on between the driver and conductor. Remember how the driver is on the right side of the vehicle? He can’t see the conductor. The music is blaring so loudly that they can’t talk. When the matatu is stopped, a hit on the outside of the vehicle is the signal to go. Usually passengers tell the conductor where they are going when they board. If not, passengers will do a short shrill whistle to let the conductor know they need to stop at the next stop. The conductor then taps on the window glass with coins he is holding between his fingers to signal the driver to stop.
In the afternoons we went to interview people in a neighboring village. Each of us had a graduate student as our assigned field assistant. They made the appointments and escorted us where we needed to go. That meant that we had even more practice riding matatus. Some even have TV screens behind the driver’s seat showing music videos. One that we rode had a large screen TV right in front of our noses! The students told us that the most popular matatus are those that have the TVs and play the loudest music catering to youth. The one that had the large screen TV was more expensive than the others. I guess we were helping to pay for it!
John thought you might like to see this photo of me. We walked probably about a mile to reach the matatu stop with our graduate students. In had rained the night before and the small stream we had crossed the day before had grown. I’m happy to report that all six of us crossed safely. However, the next day an older student didn’t.I think we could now ride a matatu anywhere in the city. What practical lessons.
No comments:
Post a Comment