Mister George

Bahari Hotel has a permanent resident who introduced himself to me as Mister George. Now, I met Mister George the first night, after we had dinner, around 9:30 in the front entry way and I continued to see him every night, at that time before we left.

He and his friend occupied the cushioned bench every night while he talked to new comers and downed a few bottles of gin and maybe more than a few bottles of whiskey. The night that I met him, I had one of those I’m standing and you’re sitting conversations that could have ended at any moment until he invited me to sit down.

Mister George proceeded to tell me all about him, his circumstances, and his outlook on life. He’s from some part of England, building a house in Lamu, and staying at Bahari for 10 more weeks until it is finished. He is a ceramist that told me that there are two types of people that come into his “shop.” Those that see something they love and say “how much is it?” and those that see something they love and say “I love this piece. Can I buy it?” I hate to say that I fall into the former and not the latter category. He also said that his job is amazing because he is “enriching the world and leaving it better than he found it.” I guess that is a big hurrah for artists-go Mom.

Along with Mister George, we finally experienced the world travelers. On our 7 am bus ride, we met Nol and Gwen from France. We had breakfast with them at our hotel and went on our Dhow adventure with them. On that same bus, were a couple of girls who had been all over Africa and weren’t stopping any time soon. One from Canada, one from Atlanta. There was also a fella from South Africa who claimed to have dated some girl from Sweden that is in Nairobi studying microfinance. And that’s why he’s here.

Our Dhow crew included Bonnie and Allan from Canada. They were ending their African adventure in Lamu, after working at a hospital, doing HIV work near Lake Victoria. I ventured to ask them if coconut oil could cure HIV. Apparently not, I guess we’ll have to ditch that marketing tactic. They were super fun to hang out with though. Both had a couple of degrees, now MDs to add to that list and refused to fish.

My favorite travelers were the ones I met the last morning. I had woken up and snuck onto the roof for an early morning read and I met a father and son from Holland. These two guys were here trying to teach the Muslims basic Christian beliefs. This is a big no no. You don’t teach Muslims. The LDS missionaries have to get permission from the Mission President because anyone that converts is either disowned or killed. These two guys had been attempted to teach the Omar tribe. I asked what church they were from and they didn’t really know. Just one that believed in Christian principles and was action oriented.

The last travelers we met were a wealthy, old couple from California that had sold their house in ’98 and gone all over the northern hemisphere and now they were hanging out in the southern. Yes, they were very interesting but it seemed like traveling wasn’t necessarily a novelty anymore. We noticed that with most of the people we met. As much as I used to think I wanted to be like them, I think a little Kenya here and a little something else there will suit me just fine.