An unexpected meeting

Interrupted mid sentence, Simiyo asks Dana, Emily and I on Saturday morning, “Want to do something fun?” We immediately said “yes”, not knowing if fun meant going off roading or dodging the traffic in his taxi. However, we had an even bigger surprise when he said “I am going to take you to meet my wife, Diana.”

Simiyo is one of the frequent taxi drivers we take around the city. He is a phenomenal person and one of our favorites because he has wonderful sayings, such as:

• “I have been touching childrens’ hearts since 1999”- in reference to the annual Heart Run in Nairobi.
  



• “Every journey begins with a small step.”
  



• “Love is built, not given.”
  



• “God loves everyone, even Osama Bin Laden.”- to which my response was “Well, I am sure that is the case but I don’t think God is particularly proud of Osama Bin Laden.”
  

Our journey to meet Diana, Simiyo’s wife, began on Friday afternoon when Simiyo helped me pick up my new laptop and desk. On the way home I had an idea- why not give Simiyo and his family my old 2002 Dell laptop? So I asked him if it would be something he would be interested in and I said I would give it to him free of charge. He was thrilled and as a result I got a free fare that day, something that was not expected but very kind.

Saturday morning, at 6:30 am, Simiyo arrived to pick Dana, Emily and I up to take us to the Heart Run. We were going to walk the 10 km in raising awareness of heart disease among children in Kenya. It was at the finish that Simiyo came up with the idea to meet his wife, Diana.

Simiyo drove us to the Nairobi Women’s Hospital where his wife works as the head of cleaning services. We met her and immediately were drawn to her beauty and charisma. She took us all in for a tea at the cafeteria. It was at this point that Simiyo said, “You know I have always dreamed of having a computer for my family, and today that dream came true.” I was so proud to have given the family the chance to own their first computer. Then Simiyo continued by saying, “ You know I am so proud of my family, they are great people.” Cue- Dana begins to cry- out of complete happiness.

I think Diana sensed that we were all getting quite emotional because we really felt connected to Simiyo and his family, so she suggested that we take a tour of the Nairobi Women’s Hospital. It is at this hospital that rape victims are counseled for and given treatment. We did not go into that section of the ward and instead she took us to the maternity area and pediatrics. We were in heaven- lots of babies every where and the facilities were incredible! Dana’s mother is a nurse so she was busy taking photos for her mother. You could sense the extreme pride Diana had for her work as she showed us ward after ward.

At the end of our tour and trip to visit Diana, I ran in to get the old 2002 laptop while Emily ran into grab something I could not see. When I came back out to the car, Emily was showing a picture of Mom and Dad to Simiyo, she said “Now that we have met your family, here is our family.”

The whole day’s events was inspiring- Dana, Emily and I left Simiyo feeling completely fulfilled- we loved the fact that he introduced us to his family and it was clear that we were his friends, not his clients. In the next week or two we are all going to meet his children, Francis, Charlotte, Alvin, and Wadell. He wants Emily to meet the kids before she leaves for Vancouver.