The journey back

I wake up on 2nd January knowing too well there is no way I'm coming back to this city. The mood is somber. Everyone is just existing. There is nothing much to do. Just watch your back.

We have breakfast at 10am. As I ponder my next move, I look up to the sky and see a plane. What, a plane? It cannot be. I quickly get my fone, all the airport just to confirm that the airspace is open. 'Yes we are flying.' 'Please reconfirm my flight.' 'Names, dates, tkt nos, done.' 'Be at the airport an hour before the flight.' Excitement is an understatement. My heart was in another place.

I rush back inside, start packing, forgetting that I have to let the relevant authorities know that I'm flying back. Well, that can wait, I'll need a ride anyway to the airport. This morning I haven't heard any new developments. Kisumu is still under curfew, the airport is a few miles off so still accessible, I guess. We'll try our best. I still have 6 hours to check in time. Have lunch, relax, then remember to report. Its about 20mins tops to the airport but with the roadblocks, could take longer. We depart at 5pm, half an hour earlier. On the Bondo road, there are few roadblocks if any. Most of the boulders are lying by the sides of the road. I had never seen the lake from this far before. It looked lovely, there were no people blocking my view for the first time. There were no people. Everyone had stayed home, at this time of day. This is when they all come out to sell their wares but have kept off.

Reach the Kisian junction, the banana sellers are nowhere to be seen. Would have bought but too bad. Drive on the Busia-Kisumu road, its ghostly. No people there either. The destruction is evident. Raided coca cola retail outlets, broken soda bottles, drinking straws all over the place, burnt down kiosks, looted and then burnt down markets, it is bad. A few miles down the road we come across a police car with its full lights. We have to slow down for it to pass. Behind it are tanks and tanks of petrol heading for the border. They had been blocked when all this started and could not be released lest they went up in flames or were syphoned by hooligans. It was now or never. I stopped counting as they were just too many. I remember watching news that Uganda and other east african countries that rely on Kenya were all suffering because of all the chaos. I felt for them. Our own people could not get fuel because of all this, so imagine the neighbours. At least they were going to smile now. I prayed for the safe passage of the tankers.

We reached Kisumu airport and for a moment I thought the whole of Kisumu had moved to the airport. The mess at the Machakos bus station is nothing compared to what I saw, and I thought I was early. I later learnt that people had been camping there for days, flights had been cancelled, the restaurant had run out of food, there was no water, and the planes were not even coming, people were just waiting. It was the only means to come to Nairobi. The queue was winding forever. But I had to. Through security we went (my son was still in the car). To the check in counter, there's nobody. At the entrance to their office is where everyone was. Apparently they were so messed up passengers had started fighting them and they had to lock themselves in. Its survival for the fittest. I also struggle to get my tickets to them. A hand takes them and disappears. Its a cat and mouse chase now. Money talks at such a time, but I refused to pay. I had already and my ticket was there. They had overbooked the flight, not me, so too bad. At the last minute, another plane had to be chartered for everyone to go. I wished I owned a plane. I'd have made loads of cash.

The waiting began. Some passengers who had been put on the charter flight that was to come to Kisumu at 1600hrs were still waiting and no one at the office had and answer as to what was happening and what time it would land. The manifest is out now, calling names one by one. I happen to get the second flight (which I was originally booked on) for 1845hrs. It is now 1930hrs and none of the planes has landed. KQ/Jetlink keep landing and picking their passengers and none of the planes we are booked on has come. We just wait. Did I mention that there was no food? The canteens have run out of food. The indians were lucky, they chartered their own plane that came and picked them from Kisumu. My son is getting restless. He is hungry, how was I to know that by 8 I'd still be waiting for a 7pm flight. We have no choice. Tempers are rising. People start quarrelling over nothing. I know better than to get involved. I'm in the service industry. The first flight lands at 2015hrs. Unfortunately, I have to wait for mine. There was no checking in of bags and what saved me was the fact that I'd left my suitcase back home to be brought when Mr was coming back, whenever that would be. I dont like luggage.

The first lot is boarded (free sitting). It takes off at 2030hrs. 15 minutes later we see a plane approaching and overflies the airport. What the f***!!!!!!!! It cannot land as the runway lights are off. The runway lights have been switched off............. The control's time is up and he has to go home. So why not just switch off everything as he is not being paid overtime. I shed a tear or two. Everyone is up on their feet now. There is the last plane still on the tarmac that cannot take off. The runway lights are out!!!!

10 minutes later someone goes up there, sweet talks him and he switches the lights back on. The plane takes off and ours lands at 2100hrs. Boarding (I'm lucky as kids are boarded first with their parents). We take off at 2105 and are in Nairobi by 2140hrs.. I'm so glad to be back. My ride is waiting, I get home, my sister is nowhere to be seen, I book another cab for her place of work (she's working overtime) and pick my housekeys. At least there's food in the house!