Rediscovering Africa

November 6, 2012

First time back to Africa in 14 years. As we stepped out onto the street in front of the airport, I immediately heard a chorus of crickets. I realize now why this is probably my favorite sound in the world. A constant buzz of crickets humming through the canyon walls... the crickets keep the night alive in Africa as well.

As we drove through Nairobi out to Langata road (where the Scripture Mission Center is), I felt overwhelmed with a combination of emotions. Not overwhelmed in a bad way, just in a way that my emotions were going wild - finally returning to Africa, such a precious place in my life, but also a place I come to feel a sense of fantasy towards. Fantasy in the way that as a three-year old tike, my memories weren't engraved, but rather there are traces leaving me aching to rediscover. 

I am under the spell of Africa already. Diverse. Raw. Alive. 

We drove through the streets on the way to Scripture Mission in a safari bus, amongst Landrovers and four-wheel drive cars. All very aggressive drivers to put it lightly. Constantly, vehicles weaved hastily throughout unmarked roads. Driving on the left side of the road felt a little off. We slugged along "Langata Road" (which I later found out is nicknamed "L.A."); the enormous amount of recent rain left pools of standing water on the road. Despite this, impatient drivers continued to try to pass and cut as we waited for a semi-truck to become un-stuck. Everyone on the bus complained about how awful the drivers were and how something like this would never happen in Norway, etc. I thought it was kind of fun, driving in its primal state. When a space between cars became about the distance that a human could pass, a van will come charging in the gap, passing as many cars as possible before another car comes zooming from the other direction and crashes into them. Glad I learned to drive on contrastingly harmonious dirt roads. 

                       
Scripture Mission Conference Center, Langata Road, Nairobi, Kenya