Cycling to Kakamega Town

Tomorrow we reach Eldoret. Today, we travelled from Kisumu to Kakamega. A very full day. Quite amazing actually. I had thought this was not about cycling. And, as Kim says, it is. Plenty of the violence in Rwanda and here in Kenya and other places is incited by loud speakers and amps, and also by cell phones. Lari Peace Program and MCC Kenya along with us riders and others, are using loudspeakers and amplifiers and many stops that attract crowds, to talk boldly about peace making. I think we stopped 6 or 7 times today. Some were unplanned. Some were planned. Always a crowed would gather and in Swahili and English .. a bold message of peace instead of violent behavior was encouraged. Most people welcomed this. They encouraged. At the last meeting, an impromptu sesssion beside the road, a youngish man took the mic and spoke back to us from the crowd. He said, "you are doing a good thing. We need this. We support this. And the next time you do this, we want to partner with you."

The day started with Micheale and LIsa Bade joining us from Cambodia to do filming. Then to the Provincial Buildings for a ceremony conducted by another local peace group, and attended by some of the Mennonites from the Kisumu churches. Speeches and photos and we were away. Twenty minutes later, a stop in a very rough parking lot. Half an hour of speaking as people gathered. The three little boys below were photographed there. Twenty min later another stop in what Waihenya said is an area where there is most opposition to peace making and often violence. Still in the city. A good crowd gathered and listened. Off to the Burka Elementary School where we were welcomed byt over 300 children.... all dressed in green uniforms, and all very interested and curious. Next stop a brief lunch. By now it is getting very hilly and sometimes the truck had to pick up riders. I was one of them. Next stop another town and more speaking. And then the accident happened ... which frightened us all a bit. There was a speed bump and the driver of our lead van braked, not realizing there were several bikers right behind the van.

And then, about 3 pm, it began to rain and looked not to stop. We loaded all the bikes and headed for Kakamega. Ten min later the sky cleared a little, and we unloaded the bikes and off they went. But then there was a flat tire and that led to a longer stop and suddenly, we had another Peace Event. With the response mentioned at the top. The bigger truck battery died soon after that and we had to push it to restart it. It was a busy day. It is about relationships. It is about lowering and tearing down walls amongst us. And it is also about cycling. Boldly proclaiming peace making, peaceful living to their neighbors, in a country that where violence amongst some of the 42 Community Groups is and has often been the solution to resource scarcity, power, influence. Simon Sitonik, a young IVEPer from Kenya, living in Edmonton now as with IVEP, says that violence just does not lead to anything good. He has seen it many times. He is a young man.

Up early tomorrow. Thanks for reading the Cycle for Life Blog.