Embracing the Dust

Embrace the dust. It has become part my skin, engrained itself in my clothes, coated my contacts, permanently stained my socks, and gets stuck between my teeth. Sometimes I hold my eyes shut for a minute at a time to clear them out and when I open my eyes again I have to re-convince myself that I’m not dreaming. I continually say to myself “yes, I really am looking at a giraffe walk 10 feet in front of my car, and yes those are Maasai warriors are not just a picture in a book, and no that giant bull elephant is not in the movie Planet Earth, it is right in front of me!
I was slightly startled the other day when I looked up from analyzing elephant footprints and saw about 5 Maasai warriors looking at me curiously. It was only 8am and they had already been walking for several hours to get to the market to sell livestock and collect water. I later learned that every Tuesday people from all over walk miles and miles for market day in local town of Kimana. It continually amazes me that so many people can navigate the endless hills of the African savannah so easily when I can rarely figure out which way is north. Later that day we got back in our indestructible land rovers and drove into town to experience a typical rural Kenyan market. The market takes place inside a fenced in area has a myriad stalls (set up in the dirt) that sell a countless number of things. It was literally over flowing with people, but I felt like I stood out like a sore thumb as I aimlessly worked my way through the bustle. The vegetables for sale consisted of kale, onions, and tomatoes (these are the ingredients for the staple – sukuma wiki). There were also a variety of beans, an incredible amount of extremely colorful cloth, shoes made of tires, beat up kitchen items, disgusting looking meat and all kinds of livestock. Everywhere I went about 20 Maasai women followed me yelling at me in Swahilli and showing off jewelry they wanted to sell. Behind them were a swarm of kids yelling “muzungu!” (white person). After about an hour of walking around I felt as though the energy of the market had conquered my initial enthusiasm and all I wanted to do was curl up in a ball and go to sleep. Why does Mt. Kilimanjaro hide behind clouds when I need it?
I have been in Kenya for just over one week now. In that short time I have become accustomed to having no expectations, no regrets, and to quickly learn from dangerous mistakes. Every minute of every day is another adventure and as I continue to embrace the dust, Africa is becoming more and more a part of me.