GComm, Part 2

A few more photos from the conference...

If I didn't explain it clearly before, this is a "music in missions" conference but it's not just music. Many artists contributed paintings and sculptures to display in this outdoor "gallery."

 Door to the registration center...

And it wouldn't be a Judy blog if I didn't have at least one kitty picture. I think she probably has a pretty good life here.

Here’s a few shots along the road as we traveled yesterday from Kangundo back to Nairobi. Lots of  of people making anything from gates to beds to clothing, or selling fresh produce, charcoal, building materials, garden plants or any of a hundred other items.

Notice the motorcycle above; it's a major mode of transportation here. Men on motorbikes are hanging out at intersections throughout villages towns and cities. If you need a ride from one place to another, you can hire one of them to take you there. It's also a "moving van." We've seen huge loads of just about anything you can imagine strapped on the back of them. I think the most amazing one we've seen so far is a sofa on the back. And we're not talking a cute little two-seat sofa – it was hefty-sized!

And speaking of transportation, check out the "herd" of vans.

These are matatus. They've been doing "Uber shared rides" Kenyan-style for years and years. You stand by the side of a road where you hope a matatu comes along that's going close to your destination. As a matatu drives by, the "conductor" shouts out their destination and you let them know if you want to hop aboard. Fourteen riders per van – "cozy" to say the least. In a smaller town, there are only a few "bus stops" for matatus and the driver doesn't want to take off until his van is full or nearly so, so you could be in for a long wait before your ride begins. I'm not quite sure why so many matatus are gathered in one space but my guess is that they are waiting for rush hour.

 And one more photo of note - take a look at the woman on the left with her yellow bag.

Kenya instituted a ban on plastic bags recently so if you are out on the street with a plastic bag, you could be fined; now cheap fabric/cloth bags are the norm. It has cut down on the amount of plastic bag trash we've seen in past years. I'm curious if more and more people will start using sturdy reusable bags or if we'll start seeing a plethora of these new bags as road trash. 

And here's a short video of one of the music groups from last night - hopefully it works!