Many of you have visited us in Kenya through the years and you know what a beautiful drive this is. I have devoted a whole blog article to this so readers can experience this area of Kenya.
On our first trip to Meru we have the luxury of a driver and a van provided by the Methodist Church.
As usual, there are matatus whizzing by us with boys hanging off the back to let riders off and solicit others. There are people crammed inside bending over one another to get the max number of people inside. People joke that everyone walks in an “L” shape after such a ride. There are no speed limits at this time. Policemen stop you regularly trying to find a reason to get a bribe. There are many trucks coming out of Meru full of the drug Marah which they grow there. They are traveling at a high speed to deliver two loads a day. Combine this with people on bicycles with at least 3 passengers and some produce or chickens. Then many people walking along side of road makes this road trip a bit treacherous.
About halfway on this trip you will see the lush vibrant green tea plantations where shrubs are arranged in narrow rows of gradual heights to make them easier to harvest.At harvest time there will be large trucks and pickers with heavy aprons. I have been told that picking is painful due to sharpness of the shrub plant.
This area is an altitude of about 6,000 feet. Along the way you will see beautiful areas of coffee trees.
The people themselves are the most interesting and impressive. Very young children will be carrying a younger child on their back or a large container of water. Many older women will be walking up steep inclines with large loads of fodder for their animals on their back. The fields are full of women bent at the waist working in the heat of the day. Then we will pass through several markets in little towns where women are smiling as they have a small stack of produce they hope to sell and gain enough for their evening meal.
The people’s way of life and their perseverance truly made an impression on me and still does today!
When we arrived in July 1984, people were pouring into Meru to find food and jobs. Even Meru, which usually has more rain than lower elevations outside of it had not had rain and everyone was suffering and hungry. Little did we know that soon we would be handing out food throughout each day with a little dry food for each person coming to our home. Immediately, we had an opportunity to communicate love to people and start relationships.