From dusk in London to dawn in Kenya, and my feet touch African soil for the first time. I will go barefooted when I reach the sands of Lamu, but in the meantime, the soles of my shoes are liking the solid ground.
I have always been intensely curious about the way many Africans have an effortless feel for rhythm – with drumming and dancing that seem to bypass the speed of rational thought. My feet have a sneaking suspicion that this ability runs in the earth of the Dark Mother, like rhythmic laylines, and they are feeling for the echo of the beat with each step I take.
Some interesting and curious items have been given to me to guide me on this healing adventure: a couple of scribbled pages with names and a village pecking order to help me navigate the local politics in Shela village, and a list of useful vocabulary including both food I eat and do not eat – so I can steer clear of it, as my neighbour Nickie pointed out. She just happened to have lived in this region for 10 years and knows a fair amount of Swahili!
The rest of my baggage has been put rather eclectically together, with items ranging from a white doctor’s coat to an Argentinian football shirt (from my time there volunteering at a plastic surgery & burns unit). I hear the locals in Lamu are into two things: football and fishing… So I was contemplating strategies for fitting in with that, hence the Argentinian football shirt and three other shirts from Sweden, Norway and Croatia accompanying me to another continent!
Earth feels huge but more and more interconnected on my travels, as I join these waypoint dots on the world map. It is wonderful to hear about your own connections with the places I visit too.
Tonight I will be staying in the amazing holiday house that belongs to Wendy Mandy, the project coordinator who has raised all the money for the village clinic from her acupuncture and healing clients in London. Fantastic karma for a project! And then tomorrow I will move into my home for the next 3 months at the Dispensary in Shela village.
I feel profound gratitude as this all unfolds. I am not quite sure what I have done to deserve it, but I accept it graciously and will serve as best I can.
