This day was the shoot for the music video with YPO, we had a LONG drive ahead of us with two brief stops along the way: The Equator and an instrument shop. There was a lot of traffic and a little bit of a traffic jam due to a tractor trailer accident. (From what we could see, no one was hurt.)
When we arrived at the tourist spot for the equator there was a tour bus with a whole cluster of munzungus seated in the shade of the bus on patio chairs. I couldn't resist the opportunity to give them the same attention we had received driving in the country, so I opened my window wide and waved at the crowd while hollering, "MUNZUNGUS!!!" Sadly, they did not respond as enthusiastically as I had hoped... They might not have been aware of their celebrity.
We made our way over to the Equator monument and took turns inside it straddling the Equator. How do we know FOR SURE that we had a foot on each side, you may ask? Let me 'splain... There was a guide at the site who took us to a basin 5 or 6 paces north of the equator. The basin had a hole in the bottom. The guide took a flower blossom from a nearby shrub, and a jug of water. While plugging the hole in the basin with his finger he filled it halfway. Then taking a thin piece of metal that curved to fit the bottom of the basin, he placed it in the middle and stilled the water. After removing the divider, he unplugged the hole and the water swirled, forming a vortex that spun counter-clockwise. He placed the blossom he had in the middle of the vortex to emphasise this. Then we moved to the south of the equator, about 10 paces away. There was another demonstration, but this time, instead of the blossom spinning counter-clockwise, it spun clockwise!!! Amazing, totally amazing! As if this were not enough, he took us to a basin placed directly on the Equator and went through the same motions as with the first two. This time, however, the water flowed directly through the hole, no vortex, and the blossom he placed in the middle floated and turned slightly to the left and then the right, as the forces of the north and south pulled on it. I barely remembered learning about this phenomenon in school, but it was incredible to witness!
Back in the van we went and on to our next stop, an instrument shop. This shop was recommended by Rotarian Peace. Everyone of us purchased a drum. I was looking at tube fiddles for my daughter Ruth, and before I could get out the shillings for it, my Chief Adviser, Ismael purchased it as a gift for her. I was blessed by his generosity. As we finished our business, the drum makers asked if they could play for us to show us gratitude for our business. How could we say no??? What a performance! When they finished it started to rain and we had to dash to the van. Once again, we were on our way.
We finally arrived at YPO and everyone was there and ready for our shoot. Excitement was in the air and Mary went to work thinking up scenes for each persons verse. Our cameraman was Rotarian Hannington who had been discharged from the hospital the day before from a bout with malaria, and yet here he was, ready to go. At one point he climbed a tree to get a shot, talk about commitment! The we whole thing was shot using a little digital camera, somehow it did the trick. In the end, it took almost a month for Curt to edit it all to produce our little video. He did a FABULOUS job getting it all in synch with the soundtrack.
The video shoot took about two hours which was all we had time for. It was hard to believe that this was it, now we had to say goodbye. We took a lot of group pictures, and there were many hugs and well wishes as we made our departure. Saying goodbye weighed heavy on my heart that evening and the next couple days before we left and was compounded with being homesick.
That evening we attended an anniversary celebration for a new Rotary Club in District 9211. I was drained. We listened to a speech given by the District Governor, and a few other announcements, and then our group performed a couple of songs. Then we were dismissed by tables for the buffet. After all the tables had gone up for the buffet, there was going to be dancing. I just did not have it in me, I was exhausted and not in the right frame of mind for dancing. I excused myself to go to the ladies room and when I came out I stood in the background observing the festivities and reflecting on my experience thus far. I wasn’t alone for very long, one of our first Rotarian hosts, Hassan, came over and chatted with me briefly before leaving. Shortly afterward, Paul, Enid’s oldest son, was nearby and I chatted with him until it was time to leave. I barely remember the ride back to Enid’s….
