7/20/98: Up early, a busy final day in Kenya, before a terrifying flight to India…
7/20/23: Re-reading my diary entries from our time in Kenya was a surprise to me. I recalled pretty accurately almost all of the events and activities described, but I did not recall being depressed. By the last day in Nairobi, I was definitely looking forward to our next stop, India. Ruth told me that she remembers Kenya primarily in terms of the overcast skies that persisted for almost our entire stay. She recalls that the night before we left Nairobi, she was reading through our Lonely Planet – India guide book, and was “salivating at the thought of getting to India!” But we were not merely wanting to escape out of Africa because of a sort of blue period. We had a genuine curiosity about South Asia, it’s people, myriad languages and dialects, the food, the history, the worldview. And we both had a sense that we would be stretched in important ways.
With the thrill of anticipation pulsing through our hearts, the morning of that last day in Nairobi was hectic. It included some last-minute office work for Ruth, a trip to the embassy where I was finally able to pick up our visas and pick up more film and notebooks at the Yaya Center. Thankfully, Joe Kadenge, the Kenyan soccer legend, took us back to the airport just as he had picked us up: swiftly and safely! There was also had smooth sailing through check-in and passport control. We had asked for, and been assigned, seats near the bulk-head in the cabin so that Ruth could lay down and stretch out during the long flight, because her post-surgical back pain was still lingering. We were quite thankful for this accommodation. Unfortunately, about an hour into the flight, while Ruth was lying on the floor to stretch her back, we were struck with fear when several things happened all at once. There was a horrendous, grating screech, the engines wound down as if they had lost power, and the plane lurched so violently downward that Ruth bounced up off the floor and I expected the wings to break off, and the plane entered a steep nose dive that lasted for 45-60 seconds. The minute seemed an eternity, and we truly thought we were going to crash into the Indian Ocean in the middle of the night.
But just as unexpectedly, the plane’s engines wound back up, the angle leveled off and the ride smoothed out. There were no more problems for the rest of the flight! The passengers were all instructed politely to return to their seats and fasten their seat belts. Now we were really looking forward to getting to India in an entirely new way…