Nelsons odhi Rusinga (and Tokyo): How ahh you?

Jambo! (Hello)

The response I've heard about these entries lately is: "When are you going to put up more pictures?" I suppose former Sun photo editor Steve Zugschwerdt's advice to me was right: photos drive content.

So here it is, a post with some of the cutest photos from the trip and a schmaltzy little entry. I'm almost embarrassed to write it, but, really, the children there were beautiful. It was heaven when those little guys would run up. So here's my cutesy story:

I almost can't say enough about how friendly and welcoming people on Rusinga Island were. I'm sure they have disagreements with each other and not everyone is pleasant all the time, but we didn't meet anyone who didn't say hello, shake our hand, or even just wave as we walked by or even zipped past on piki piki.

But more than anyone, the little kids just loved seeing the mzungus.

The first morning as we walked to Kamasengre, the nursery school was letting out just as we arrived. This group swarmed us, grabbing our hands and staring, and saying "mzungu!" and laughing. There must have been 12 or so we had to leave to go drop the soccer equipment. When we'd be walking along Rusinga's trail network, which is more or less their sidewalk/road system that snakes through people's backyards and neighborhoods, four-year-olds would run out of their houses to wave and come say "How are you?" (It comes out as kind of this sing-song "How ahh yooooou" in their Kenyan/British English accent. Then you must answer "fine" or "very fine." In nursery school, we later learned, that's the only phrase little Kenyan toddlers are taught. So they loooove practicing that bit of English. One group of little kids, however, learned a second phrase. On Mfangano Island we were walking along a trail and a group of five or six beautiful little guys saw us coming and lined up, for what we expected was another round of "how are you?" We got close enough to smile and shake hands, and these kids go "How ah you... please help me with the money" and turn the handshake into a palm facing upward, but with the same "How are you?" smile. They were the happiest little beggars I'd ever seen.)

One day we were walking along on Rusinga and a kid was outside the door of his family's small hut, behind a fence along the trail. We were in conversation with Rusinga Dan so we weren't really paying attention as the kid called to us from 40 yards or so. He kept squeaking "how ahh yoou?" until it turned into "howareyouhowareyouhowareyouhowareyou..." Persistent little guy. We stopped and waved back. He was tickled. The feeling, as you'll pick up when you go through the photos below of more of the children we met, was likewise.

Here you go...

This little girl and her friends let us walk them home from primary school. They chose the two guys who clearly didn't know where home was, but oh well. We made it, at least I think it was the right house.

Me with the Kamasengre crew.

Primary school girls ask us how we are doing. Very fine, thank you.

This little girl loved us. This is when we met her, and she rushed out every time afterward that we walked by her house. That's Theodora's childhood home in the background, incidentally, so the little one is probably a relative.