Two long, long hills (I cycled the second one) out of Naivasha on the way to Kimende, where is the Lari Peace Program. The last 20 ks was mostly downhill ... and we made really good time. The national security came out to film us ... they wanted to make sure we were doing what we said we are doing. So they jumped into our lead van, and filmed us for half and hour. We stopped at 2 places to speak about Peace and AIDS ... and then cycled into Kimende where school children and the Security Forces were waiting for us. Very warm reception. We then moved to the local Elementary school about a km away. There we planted 7 or 8 young, sibling trees one being planted by us, Canadians. Then, back to another function where we were part of a 2.5 hour program with entertainment, speeches, and handing of certificates to the riders.
For lunch today, we stopped, as usual, by the side of the road, eating bread, fruit, and drinking water or juice. Michael, (our photographer) caught all the cyclists on film shouting "thank you" in Engllsh, in Swahili. We hope to send each donor who helped make this happen, a short cd about the trip, why it happened, and how it happened.
Every stop leads to conversations, themes. Yesterday, Pablo, an artist but also a rider said ... we need peace. When there is no peace, I cannot sell my art. We have heard that in different ways during this brief stop in Kenya.
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