Muddy

So, I created this blog with the intention of sharing my adventurous activities in my last year in Kenya. This definitely qualifies. This entire story takes place between 2:30 pm and 5:30 pm yesterday (September 4th). Before I begin, keep two things in mind: 1. I'm actually a 12 year old kid at heart and 2. This is Africa: continent of vicious downpours and intense mud.

So, yesterday was the middle school youth group kick-off (I helped out last year and hopefully, will this year). It was held at the Forestry Service's Headquarters in Karura Forest. This can only be reached by a steep dirt road that is narrow and lined by two fairly deep ditches. I arrived around 2:30 with another of the leaders, and two of the kids. When we got there, we noticed that the Canadian embassy were having some sort of picnic/celebration, so we'd have to work around two large canvas tents and a hoard of Canadians. We waited around for the rest of the team, and then set up camp and prayed before the kids came. Around 3:00, kids started to show up. Around 3:05, it began to rain. Being optimistic and a little bit naive, we presumed it would stop and we could get on with youth group... It was not meant to be..

By 3:30, it was down pouring, Kenya style. Then, the forest rangers decided to inform us that the roads were impassable when it rained to much, and basically, everyone had to leave NOW. So, I ran out in the rain to the end of the field where the boys were still playing football and call them all in. Meanwhile, we had to get kids back in their cars and send them home. Unfortunately, some parents had left and there was very little we could do. So, we started phoning parents, asking them to come get their kids. By this time, I was soaked through from running through the rain. Three of the boys were mud sliding in a huge mud puddle, and I really really wanted to join in.

At this moment, two of my favorite middle school girls ever showed up. They had walked all the way from the gate, in the pouring rain and mud just to get to youth group. It was heart-breaking to tell them that youth group was actually cancelled, so I followed it with an immediate, "Want to go mud-sliding with me?". And off we went. No, I didn't really bother to think about the consequences of my actions. I was having a good time! So, we slid through mud (my knee got a hardcore scrape) for a few minutes, kicked muddy water at each other, and overall got soaked/muddy all the way through.

Eventually, we had to pack up and try and make our way out of the forest. I piled into a station wagon with the three guys who had been mud sliding so we could concentrate the mud into one car. We got about 500 meters out of the centre, on the main road, and we had to stop. There was a HUGE line-up of cars that were backed up behind the car in front that had gotten stuck. So, Michelle, one of the leaders, jumped out of her car and decided to walk two kids to the front gate where their parents were waiting. This was around 4:00. We sat there for the next thirty or so minutes, waiting for Michelle to come back. In the meantime, the three boys (that turned into four boys) and I had a good (?) time. The middle school boys in the back were more than happy to entertain us with Michael Jackson jokes, 'yo mama' jokes and all sorts of other tomfoolery.

Finally, the forest rangers decided to inform us that "actually, there's another exit you can use that actually doesn't require driving on ANY treacherous roads". Thanks, guys. So, we then have to turn around three cars, one of which doesn't have a driver at the moment. Eventually, though, we figured it out and turned around all three cars with very little mishap. We got out the other gate safely, without Michelle. Her phone wasn't working so I couldn't contact. Finally, she used someone else's phone to call us. Turns out, she'd been walking up and down the line of THIRTY CARS that were stuck on this kilometre-stretch of dirt road, trying to organize everyone and turn everyone around so they could all get out. Michelle eventually showed up with mud all over her flip flops, tired, but not too much worse for the wear. By 5:30, I was home. I ran straight to my bathroom, took a shower, and rinsed my clothes out about five times before throwing them into the washer.

Then, I proceeded to tell the entire story to my parents, who couldn't believe that their seventeen year old daughter was stupid enough to go mud sliding and get soaked through a few days after she'd suffered from a cold. Yes, I am that seventeen year old daughter and I'm proud of every moment of yesterday. Even the moments where I scraped huge amounts of skin off of my elbows and knees while sliding through a ginormous mud puddle. I made a decision to live life to the full and to the deep this year. I believe I honored that decision yesterday.