Toyota is HUGE in Kenya. Everywhere I went, there were Toyotas. They all had different names than in the US but they were very similar. There was a Corona that looked just like a Corolla. There were cars similar to the Camry and the Avalon. Our safari vehicle was a Toyota. The SUVs that have the spare wheel on the outside all have covers that say “The car in front is always a Toyota.”
We had private drivers a few times that had Toyotas. I loved sitting in the front seat with them and asking them about their cars. They all loved their vehicles. Some of them had upwards of 300,000 miles on them. They had been purchased used from Asia and ended up at the coast in Mombasa. The people i spoke to were thrilled to buy a car with 100,000 miles already on it and run it for several more years. They maintained the vehicles and were generally pleased with this brand.
I asked on numerous occasions about Honda but I didn’t get any feedback on this brand. The next best thing is Nissan. So, if you ask me, I will continue to purchase my Toyotas. If they can hold up in THAT environment and last like they do over there, I will keep driving my Sienna minivan with the 220,000 miles on it. It looks like i might be able to get another couple years out of it.
This brings me to another point - maintenance. In Njabini, there is not excess anything. People take care of what they have. Every morning at the center the floors were swept and washed. I think a lot of this had to do with seventeen kids living there but i know that even in the homes of the locals keeping things tidy is important. Everyone is respectful of their “stuff” whether it be a thatched roof hut or a cinder block house or a shed in the middle of the forest. The gardens are always tended to. The walkways are clean. The rubbish is picked off the ground. Everyone does the best they can with what they have. As i have reentered my old routines, I find there is great joy for me in doing daily tasks such as washing the dishes, cleaning the windows or doing the laundry. They remind me of a place not so far away that had these tasks as the biggest thing i had to do in that day.
This weekend I needed to clean the stench out of the 2001 Toyota mini van. I emptied the contents of the vehicle and started from the top down. The windows got windexed. The doors were polished. the carpet pads were removed and washed out with soap and water and a great brush. The interior carpet was scrubbed and vacuumed. It was a purging. I realized I was grateful that i had a car.
And then i thought about my shoes. The matrons always washed their shoes. I tend to let my get filthy and think there is nothing i can do about it and just buy new. Embarassing. I yanked out my sneakers that were covered in Njabini dirt and sprayed them with Shout. The brush and i got to work. I cleaned each sneaker for a good ten minutes, rinsing every so often with the water hose. I thought about how Lucy Obama had taught me how to scrub my shoes. She must have thought i was a doltz. This may not seem like a big deal and maybe other people do this regularly, but to me it was like getting a brand new pair of sneakers. I was on a roll so i pulled out the LL Bean hiking sandals and did the same thing.
I had just saved $25 on a car wash, $100 on a new pair of sneakers and $50 on a new pair of sandals. I had used my parents soap and brush and water hose. I realize I am becoming frugal. I can live on a lot less. I am very happy knowing this.
