Everything is different in Africa. Even vacations.

We had the opportunity to go to Mombasa last week. It is on the coast of Kenya, bordering the Indian Ocean. A family was gracious enough to let us ride the 9 hours with them. There are several different elements to travel in Africa:

• The roads. The road to Mombasa has some really bad roads. So bad that there times when you must veer into the other lane to avoid potholes that threaten to swallow your car. What makes it really interesting is when someone in the other lane does the same thing. There were times when we would criss cross lanes 5 or 6 times in a ten-minute period. — The bathrooms. You might find 15 people working at a gas station. None of them seemingly have the job of cleaning the bathroom. Another highlight is that most bathrooms do not carry toilet paper; you carry your own, or you wing it.

• The food. You can drive 3 hours without seeing a gas station, and you don’t find fast food places in Africa. You might find someone selling roasted maize on the side of the road (which is really quite good) but you usually plan to bring your own food or do without.

• When you drive. You just don’t want to drive at night in Kenya; a friend tells me the story that when he was held up at night driving, the police yelled at him for being so stupid as to be driving at night. Bandits will put large rocks on the road, and attack when you stop. So you plan your trips to never travel at night. So we left at 4am.

• The road blocks. In the states, when there is an accident, you might see a flare, or illuminated signs indicating a problem. In Kenya, they put branches on the road.

We drove through the worst slums I have ever seen, and got to our hotel. It was right on the ocean, with a nice clean room. And then we got to the beach.

Nan and I have gone to Hawaii, Barbados and Acapulco, but I have never to a more beautiful beach, with white sand, warm clear water and no crowds at all. Tourism is way down in Africa, so our hotel was about 20% occupied. The boys are waterbugs, so they had a wonderful time. We had monkeys on our balcony, 3-foot lizards on the stairs, and it is a malaria area, so we all had to take medication for it. We went snorkeling several days, and one day we went on a Dhow Sailboat to a wildlife conservatory. Matthew and I were snorkeling near a coral garden, and a fish that was bigger than he was swam under us. As he pointed it out to me with a thrilled look on his face, I looked at my 8 year old son and thought `This is not your father’s childhood.’ The biggest thrill I had when I was 8 was riding my bike to get a slurpee at 7-11.

It was a wonderful time, and a wonderful rest. This week we are going to be delivering maize and gifts throughout the valley, which is the most wonderful way I can think of to celebrate the holiday. A friend told a story last night, which put a whole lot of things in perspective. There is a Kenyan guy who works here at RVA who has 8 kids. He was doing fine until his brother and his wife died of AIDS, and he now has 14 kids. My friend asked him how he celebrated the holiday. He said they didn’t do much, and my friend asked him what he would like. He said `We eat Ugali (a cheap rice dish) for dinner everyday It would be nice to eat something else for a day.’ My friend got him a goat. His meal will be different. I hope I look at all my meals differently.

YOP

S