Luggage Repair

After a long trip with multiple legs, from the US to Kenya to the multiple towns and schools that we visited, our luggage took a pretty good beating.  Unfortunately, towards the end of our stay, one of the wheels on my larger suitcase broke off and the other one was very loose.  I had noticed that both wheels were starting to become loose a few days earlier, and was wondering if they would make it back home.  At the same time I was also thinking that I would have to get them repaired as soon as I got back and was already wondering how much that would cost (as the last time I had to have one wheel repaired on one of my other suitcases it cost me $50).  But now, on top of that I had to worry about how to haul this suitcase all the way back home.

Fortunately, I couldn't have been more lucky than to have a Kenyan on our IESC team.  I asked Kinnari if she knew of a place where we could go to have it repaired.  "Oh gosh, I think I know a shoe repairman near my uncle's place that may be able to do something, maybe sow it back on or something", said Kinnari.  My immediate first thought was: "I don't know if that would work, but you know what, I don't care, whatever it takes to get me back home (I'll figure it out later)".  Then, Stephanie, who had taken at least one basic engineering course in school, decided to take a look.  Upon further inspection, she had some good news and some bad news.  The bad news was that the frame was also bent.  The good news was that the screw mounts for the wheels were apparently still intact, and with a couple of washers and screws it shouldn't be too hard to repair.

And so the next morning we took my suitcase a few streets down Kinnari's uncle's place and found ourselves at a street corner, where a few handymen usually hang out waiting for opportunities to do business.  Kinnari spoke to an older gentleman, who was sitting on a cinder block, had his hands pretty dirty from various other repair jobs, but still maintained a somewhat formal appearance with a jacket and pants.  She was able to explain the repair that we needed and also negotiated a price and a time.  After an hour we came back and he had made the repair exactly as we had envisioned it, and the grand total was: 350 Kenyan Schillings (roughly equivalent to $3.50).

After all this, I realized two things:

1. I was so glad that the wheel broke before the trip back home, as I was able to get a good repair that should last me for a while and for a much cheaper price (not to mention that now I didn't have to run the risk of the wheels breaking off during the trip back)
2. After having visited a good portion of nice rural towns in the western part of Kenya, experienced the hospitality of the people, learned a little bit of Swahili, tried fried fish at the Lake Victoria fish market, seen most of the big five during our safari, tried Kinnari's favorite cane juice (with ginger) and her favorite fries at a local restaurant, there was no better way to complete the Kenya experience: have my suitcase repaired at a street corner in Nairobi :)