The Burnin' and the Lootin'

ARSON

I picked up the family early morning in Kisumu, one of Kenya's more populated cities. It seemed quiet this morning, but I felt a great uneasiness as this was home to rampant protests in days prior. In and out, we were just short of witnessing riots that put 46 people in the morgue. With naivety, we headed 4 hours down the tarmac roads towards our camp in the savanna, which would become our 'running man' arena and the center stage of human injustice.

The first indication that this was not going to be the typical 'Pleasantville' experience in the savanna, were the riots manifesting on the tarmac roads leading there. We had to pull over about 10km before our dirt road turnoff because local hooligans had knocked over electrical poles, layered on tires and ignited fires in attempt to shut down the country's infrastructure. We sat on the side of the road for a while watching as men ran passionately in protest, yelling and creating fear in the bystanders, including our guests. We tried to wait it out, but our friends in the next town over called us warning that this behaviour was starting to spread like the Zika. We loaded the Toyota Cruiser and punched it off road, cutting through peoples' yards and breaking through their cactus fences. We came out unscathed and were soon pulling onto our dirt road. We drove for 45 minutes in tranquility through the Lion King landscape, past three of our partner villages and into our remote camp. This dirt road continued on past our camp deeper into the savanna, but note that this single road was the only way in and out of the region for any vehicle.

We spent that afternoon out at the local school helping mix cement and laying brick. Getting our guests' hands dirty helped them really connect with the project and the people they were helping. As we worked it was my job to drop the necessary knowledge on local culture, living conditions and poverty related issues. To add to a very impactful experience, there were always smiley children hanging around us muzungus (white people) ready to play, pull on arm hair or hold hands. They loved that good hand holding.

That night local villagers tried to burn our camp down. After we got the family acquainted with their cottage, they had a nice meal and were left to their devices. Meanwhile, not long after the sun had set, my amigo Dax and I noticed some flickers through the back window of our staff cabin. Dax was a long time brother from back home and the dude that had set me up with this gig. He had invited his family to come visit him for a couple of days in the bush but they were all on their last night and he was flying out the next day. Dax and I ran around to the back porch of the cabin to get a better look at the flames. A very peculiar place for a fire to be. Nothing major, but the way it stretched long and narrow signified that it was spread in a strategic manner. Our cabin backed onto a small marsh that evolved into tall grass and this grass covered acres of land outside of our electric fences. In this arid environment, it would have taken no more than a mild wind to burn this bitch down.

At camp we kept a soldier with a loaded AK 47 on duty at all times for security, this was nothing abnormal. However, during these weeks of political turmoil, we soldiered up to about 4 homeboys who were more than willing and ready to protect our necks. A soldier came running around the back of our cabin and greeted us. No English so we chopped up some Swahili and confirmed that this was an act of arson. He said he was going to be looking for anyone around the outskirts of camp while getting other employees to help put out the fire. We were in good hands. Later on we heard some yelling, we saw the fire go out and the night went black. In the morning soldierman confirmed that he couldn't find the perpetrators but knowing that someone tried to burn us down was a bit of a mindfuck.

Political side note: The President represented a nationally prominent tribe called the Kikuyus and the challenger represented a mix of smaller, less prominent tribes including the Kalenjins. The Kalenjins were the dominant people around us in the savanna and they were furious with the President for rigging the election so they wanted the blood of his people. We employed Kikuyus from Nairobi, so our local neighbours were after our employees both with this fire and with the coming attacks.