Modern Africa no longer grinds out miles solely on foot, camelback or rickety buggy. Today even within a single country, one moves by plane or, as in the case of those traveling from the capital Nairobi to the port city of Mombasa, by fast train that takes no more than 5 hours. It is an Africa in some ways in step with the times, but certain situations still make you say "it can only happen here."
That's what happened yesterday on the "Madaraka Express," the train built by the Chinese, on the ashes of the British Empire's historic "Lunatic" that so much made lords and adventurers dream and so many Indians devoured by lions on the Nairobi-Mombasa line.
A young Kenyan woman, when the train was about to face the descent from the hills of Voi to the terminus in Mombasa, realized that the baby she was carrying wanted to be born on the journey and made the entire train, from passengers to train crew, part of it.
So as the convoy approached Mariakani station, the search began in the carriages for a doctor or at least someone familiar with "hospital stuff." No luck for the midwife, the first-class stewardess took care of it, while the passengers in her carriage, by now gathered around, between those holding a mini-ventilator retrieved from who-knows-where and those providing a blanket, were holding their breath but were eager to break out into wild cheering like at the stadium.
And at the end, there was endless applause and great emotion as the stewardess, standing beside the exhausted but surprised and happy mother, lifted the beautiful baby boy for collective viewing.
The news went around the world after the Kenya Railways company posted the photos on its twitter profile. The woman with the baby boy, who some say will be named "Madaraka" (which means "power," but is the name of the train he was born on, as was once the custom in this part of Africa, when those born on the road were called Safari) was taken to Mariakani Hospital for assessment, but Kenya Railways later announced that both mother and baby boy are well.
(photo: twitter)