Shopping and shoe repairs !

Day 16    31st October

I'll write the blog a bit later, but thought Wendy's family would like to see these !

Wendy has had an upset tummy for about three days, and last night I decided she really ought to hit it hard, so thanks to the medical kit HATW provides, she's taking Ciprofloxin for a day or two.   She's already feeling better.   (This is info for her family, so that they know she's OK !)  

So as Wendy was staying and resting this morning, I walked into town by myself (and yes, I felt perfectly safe !) .... its about a mile and its possible to stay in shade most of the way.   My safari boots were loosing their soles, so I went to get them repaired, and pick up a bit of shopping.   

I called in at the university book shop .... so of course I bought a few books .... more to add to my collection at home about the Luo people.   I'm glad there are more books appearing about local peoples and their history and language .... its so important for the future that todays' young Kenyans will be able to read about their ancestors past.  

Anyway, I found one of the street shoe cleaners who could do repairs, and he did an excellent job of re-gluing my soles, and then also invisibly stitched them.   He even offered to clean them ... all for just over a pound charge !

The local daily paper always has a political comment cartoon, at times quite seditious !  

Father Alois and Patrick the maintenance man inspecting the water tank which holds 60,000 litres

Day 15 30th October

Today started off very frustratingly; Morris, the tuk-tuk driver came TEN MINUTES EARLY !! So we got to the workshop much quicker than usual, and then found there was nothing we could do as the men were just finishing a bit of brick laying perched over a terrifying void on wobbley scaffolding.   We hung around for nearly two hours, and then Paul got a tuk-tuk and we took Kennedy (one of the students) to his home for a 'home visit'.   

He lives about five miles from the workshop along narrow foot-paths (which the tuk-tuk just about managed to get through) and he walks this distance twice a day in order to train at the workshop.   He obviously comes from a very poor home .... this is where he sleeps, which is also the kitchen ... 

... and the home is in an area which is prone to flooding (hence the little step up and into the house).

I suspect the other four students live in similar circumstances, and are all without at least one parent, or both.   We are trying to get sponsorship for them at £10 per month, which will give them a small lunch every day, pay for their exam entry fees, and provide the materials they use to learn on.   That's approximately 30p. per day .........

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Lunch time we went to Nyalenda like last week, for Fr Hans 'Bible Sharing' .... he has an amazing insight into what at first appear to be straight forward Bible stories, and can bring out the humour in many of them !

Paul has been calling Wendy 'Windy' ... and after the lunch at Nyalenda of chappati's and green-gram (a type of lentil) stew, I can agree with him !!!!!!

    ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  

Getting back after lunch about 3, we sat and lazed around, watching the sugar ants taking away biscuit crumbs.   I managed to photograph some of them.   Each ant is about 4mm in length.

Day 13 and 14 28th & 29th October

Monday was busy; I was interviewing Pauls carpentry students to get some home background from them.   It stretched my Dholuo to the extreme, so thank goodness Paul was there !   HATW wants to try and get sponsors for the boys, but people who want to sponsor children in Africa want more than just a name, otherwise they can't get interested.   These teenage boys suffer the temptation of maybe earning a few shillings a day (if they are lucky) riding a boda-boda or piki-piki and picking up passengers, or taking part in training and earn nothing at the moment.   The carpentry workshop training is free !! We try to get sponsors for each student, which covers their materials, exam fees and basic lunch each day.   But once they are qualified with a government certificate and their own tool kit we provide, they have a very good chance of employment.    They are learning by making furniture with Paul, which is sold to provide him with a salary, and pay the workshop bills .... electricity and water. 

Oh no, not MORE bricks to move !

Evans 20' up on top of a wall, one brick wide, no safety considerations .. 

After lunch on Monday, we went to Pandipieri, the catholic centre where there are workshops, health clinics, a rehabilitation centre for street children and a school for them, baby clinic, etc. etc.   We took along 9 carrier bags jambed full of baby and toddler clothes we had been given in England, plus all the bra's !  The Irish sister in charge got one of her colleagues to show us round.   Its very impressive .... visit   https://www.facebook.com/Pandipieri  to find out more about this amazing centre started by the Mill Hill missionaries, who include Father Hans I wrote about earlier, in the slum area of Kisumu, where people weren't being reached by the government and couldn't afford schools or health care.  

~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~  ~

Today, Tuesday, we went to the workshop as usual, but as there wasn't anything Wendy and I could do (the men were building rickety scaffolding) we went along to Nyamasaria market to visit Lilian again, taking her some baby clothes and a lovely Per Una top I had quite fancied !  I had also collected a bagful of cotton reels, poppers, hooks, needles etc., for her sewing business.   Poor Davis, her baby, wasn't well .... he had malaria, but she had taken him to the clinic for treatment.  

Poor Davis, with malaria ... and one of the baby hats we took !

Wall plate level reached

Then back to the workshop, more brick moving, cement lifting and general sweaty work until lunch-time.   The workshop is now up to wall plate level, and we hope to start the roof tomorrow or Thursday !!

After lunch, we went with Fr. Gerry to visit Nanga, along the lake shore where there is an amazing new church, St Peters, that he wanted to show us.  It had been built for 7,000,000 K.shillings, in about five years, every shilling donated by members of the parish.   I am very impressed by what these catholics can achieve.   The Anglican cathedral in the middle of town is still in the slow process of being built after about 15 years .... no money !

Then we went to visit something completely different ... a Hindu/Sikh shrine by the lake, built by a Punjabi family who have been here since the building of the railway at the start of the 20th century.   We were shown around by them, and given tea.   They can watch hippos from their garden, and we saw two, not near enough to get good photo's but we saw them nevertheless.  

Finally we went to Hippo Point to watch the sun go down !!    No more hippos there, but a lovely sunset over the lake .....

Impala Park

Day 12         27th October

We decided not to go to church but instead to walk straight after breakfast to the Impala Park .... a small game reserve/zoo about a mile away, and spend the morning there.

The more dangerous animals are in large wired enclosures .... cheetah, leopard, African buffalo, wart-hogs, ostriches, and the lions we hear roaring each evening.

There is also one of the rare white rhino there, but we didn't see it.    Hiding in the bushes I suspect.   We also walked down to the edge of Nam Lolwe, the local name for the Winam or Kavirondo Gulf of Lake Victoria.   It looks vast; you cant see the other side, yet it is only a 'small' inlet of the lake proper.  

(Last photo courtesy of Wendy)

Man United v Stoke City

Day 11 .........   26th October

Jonathan decided to have a day off and went to the Impala Park next to the lake.   Its where there are the lions we can hear at night, kept in a large enclosure, and other animals.  

Wendy and I went to the workshop and did a few jobs to assist the builders who yesterday had apparently worked until dark to complete the larger part of the ring beam.   We sprinkled water on the new concrete to keep it moist while it dries, and when Paul arrived I asked to see the records I had phoned him about soon after 6 this morning (days start early here !)    He's been given a laptop, and insists on keeping records on it, whereas I said to him last year, its much easier to keep paper and pen records on the students, and just send us copies .... but having got a laptop, its 'modern' to use it .... so we get skimpy records !   But that's Africa !

I'll need to interview the present students Monday to get more family details out of them, as if we present 'stories' to HATW supporters, they are more willing to sponsor individuals they can picture, whereas just a name results in nothing.   That'll be a challenge to me, as my Dholuo is only slowly coming back to me  !!!!

Boy washing the dishes outside a home opposite the workshop; the metal bowl in the red plastic bowl shows what the family eats - a mix of maize and millet flour, which is what the poorer families eat.   You don't eat millet if you can afford maize.

So we got a tuk-tuk back to the MegaCity Mall to use the internet caff.   The computer I was given to use appeared to only work in French, but infinitely better  to understand than the Arabic ones I've had here in the past !   (I don't know why the Mission house internet doesn't work sometimes whereas Skype does .... a mystery).    I sent some emails back to HATW with information requested, and will send back records as soon as I have them updated.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A very hot and sticky afternoon; I lay down under the net for a ten minute rest and somehow fell asleep for an hour and a half !   When I woke, I spent some time playing with my camera, taking 'arty' shots. And guess what, the internet AND Skype are both working now, so I'm able to catch up on the blog.  

The men in the house (the catholic fathers and Jonathan) watched the Man U  v Stoke match in the common room this evening, with much advice and comments being given to the players.   Retired priests/missionaries lead quite a pleasant life here !  

A nostalgic stroll

Day 10          25^th October.

Jonathan went to the workshop to help with the ring beam, but as there was very little us poor, weak women could do, we walked into town from Milimani, and booked the Guardian bus for Nairobi for when we leave here on the 6^th. Ksh 1,300 each, which is about £10 for a seven hour bus journey, or about 250 miles. Not bad !

Its strange walking into town and seeing how much it has changed since I lived here. We pass the old Imperial Hotel (renamed Kisumu Hotel in about 1970 soon after we came here … to get rid of the colonial name), and I remember the enormous lunches we used to eat there …. seven courses for under £1 in those days …. and the men usually attempted all seven courses !   When I returned here about 18 years ago with Suzie and Tim, there were curio sellers all along the road opposite the hotel; they are now gone and there is a multi-storied building going up.

The Nakumatt shopping mall in the centre of town

On the corner as you turn into the main road (Oginga Odinga Road, named after the famous post colonial Luo politician) there is a bank in a building which was once Eddie Pereira's restaurant. The morning of the day I gave birth to #1 daughter, we went there for breakfast as the sisters at the Victoria hospital where I had checked in, told me I had several hours to go …. so I ate a hearty meal to prepare for the ordeal ahead ! Eldest daughter Liz was born that evening, thus earning the Luo name 'Atieno' …. meaning 'born in the evening'.

Further down the main road, we passed what was once the cinema; it is now a tabernacle. We saw one of the Star Wars movies there !! What a flea pit it was then, and it doesn't appear to have improved over the years.

Then we went to the bank for Wendy to draw out some money. It was quite quick for Wendy to get her money; only 40 minutes to withdraw Kenya shillings to the value of £70 …. the maximum allowed.   It came as a huge stack of notes, which the bank teller put into a brown envelope for Wendy, but she couldn't get it into her bag, so as I had trousers, I managed to get it into my pocket, but could hardly bend with it there !!

The bank brought back memories too of long gone friends we sometimes bumped into in the bank … Judy Blencoe, a nursing sister at what we called the Russian hospital, who was a keen bird watcher and who sold us her four volume copies of Birds of the Belgian Congo; and Tim Valentine, who was a great organist and was sadly killed in a car crash near Kericho; later we took on his dog, Mengo.        Ghosts of my past still walk the streets of Kisumu …....

**   Writing now in 2018, I need to correct the above:  I heard today from David W. in Thailand (20th March, 2018) that Tim Valentine actually died in an awful car accident at Mtito Andei in 1969/70, on his way to meet David and Pat W. in Malindi.   They were going to visit Lamu together.     Apparently (David writes) "there had been an earlier car accident near Kericho (Renault 4 also turned over on this occasion, so I seem to remember hearing), Tim had walked away uninjured."    

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Walking back to Mill Hill, we passed this piece of advertising on a building .... not sure if I'd recommend such paint if it looked like that !

In the evening, there was a spectacular sunset over the gulf of Lake Victoria, which we can just see from the house at the bottom of the road opposite.

Our first full and busy day !!

Day 9       24^th October

Wendy and I spent a pleasant hour with a hose and sprayer, wetting down all yesterdays brickwork and mortar so that it didn't dry out too quickly. In England, builders sometimes have to wait for days for mortar to dry; here its the opposite !     Sprinkling with water in this heat is a very pleasant task, and occasionally the hose slips, and we spray each other ! Small childish pleasures ! 

Jonathan worked down below with Stephen the master builder, cutting rods for the ring beam and we worked inside the workshop in the shade cutting thin wire into 18” lengths …. nearly 1,000 needed to tie the metal loops onto the rods. I'm sure these things are just bought off the peg in the UK !

The other workmen were busy completing the shuttering so that the uprights could have concrete poured into them to make the pillars between the brickwork. They started the concrete mixing before lunch-time. This is all mixed with shovels, up on what will be the first floor floor, but it of course involves carrying the sand up the stairs, the cement (50kg bags) up the stairs and the coarse gravel up the stairs. At least there is a hose for getting water up there. The gravel had arrived that morning in a lorry which tipped it out into the compound, covering all the women's washing with fine dust !

Top:  The children have a day off school and watch what we are doing !

Bottom:   Brighton, Milly and Ida 

Morris the tuk-tuk man came to get us at 12.30 and we all returned to Mill Hill House for lunch, but Wendy and I decided to return after to do more of the wire cutting. Back by 2 p.m., much to the surprise of the builders who I suspect think we are weak and fairly useless women ! But it proved to be far too hot to stay inside the workshop and cut wire, so after about half an hour we went on top to see what was happening, and there was a breeze there, so we stayed to help.

We proved quite useful, mostly loading up pans with sloppy concrete and lifting them up to Stephen who was perched precariously on the wall next to a pillar (this is a wall one floor up, only one brick thick, and with cement not fully hardened) … and he poured the concrete mix down into the pillars which were enclosed in rough shuttering. Safety is something completely ignored here. The worse bit for pouring the concrete was the wall over the stair well …. we had to have a sort of chain gang, passing the pans of concrete from one man to one woman to another man and so on, until it reached the top of some rickety scaffolding and Stephen could pour it.

Stephen perched 20' up on the wall, pouring liquid concrete into the reinforced uprights

(I forgot to take my camera for the afternoon shift, which means no pictures of the pouring process, alas).

Knocking off time is 5 p.m.; this is for workmen who start at 8 a.m., and work through with no lunch break.

After supper I had an interesting talk with Father Hans about one of the Pandipieri programmes, to get African families to adopt AIDS orphans, by paying Kenya health insurance for the adopting family. (All medical treatment has to be paid for). He said it both encourages families to adopt orphans, and of course it provides the whole family with insurance, which is very cheap, but not affordable by the families …. maybe about £20 per year. However, one problem that has emerged is that the insurance only covers an 'adopted' child if he or she is legally adopted, which means another cost to the family they cannot afford. So the programme is trying to find people abroad to pay the adoption fees for the adopting family. I had thought it might be very expensive, but not at all by our UK standards …. only about £20 - £25 for the paperwork ! Something I must try to raise money for, I think …....

Day 8           23^rd October, 2013          

(Internet off again so ignore automatic dating ... trying to catch up again !

To the workshop to see if making the ring beam was under way, but it wasn't ! Still more brick-work to be done, so we fetched and carried, putting bricks up onto the scaffolding, loading up the builders pieces of plastic where they dump their mortar, fetching water when required. Stephen, the master builder, started putting up very rudimentary shuttering so that concrete could be poured into the uprights. Last nights thunderstorm helped to prevent the brickwork drying out too quickly, which was good.

The scaffolding, and health and safety here really is a joke ! The scaffolding is just blue-gum poles wedged at an angle into the corners, with rope tying them together and rough planks (complete with protruding nails !) placed loosely on top. Sometimes where scaffolding is needed over a void (like over the stair well) the builders will make 'putlog holes' to support the poles, as did the old castle builders in England in the Middle Ages, which can still be seen in castle walls. Many of the builders paddle in the mortar in bare feet, or at the most, in flip-flops …. what does cement do to bare skin ?!

Scaffolding .... poles and rope, supporting bricks, mortar and men !

(Picture courtesy of Wendy)

At 12.30, we went in a tuk-tuk to Nyalenda, one of the slum areas, where the catholic church has created a wood-work training centre, and an art school, and ministers to the local people of the slum. Father Hans has been working here for over 40 years, and is well known and much loved. Every Wednesday lunch-time he leads what he calls 'Bible Sharing' and I've always joined in when I'm here. There are many young European volunteers in Nyalenda and Pandipieri …. several from Holland, a girl from Macedonia, a young man from Spain, and a married couple from Canterbury who wanted to do some volunteering somewhere, searched the internet and finding Pandipieri and Nyalenda, came out for six months ! The volunteers are working as social workers, teachers, medics of various types, a marital abuse counsellor, fund-raisers, and so on, and all live in the slum area with the local people. After we had our discussion session, we all had a simple lunch together of rice and vegetable stew. All sharing; Africans and Europeans, Christians and non-believers together. Its good !

Father Hans Burgman is a remarkable man in his mid 80's; tall, grey haired and with a commanding air, yet kindly, gentle and caring. He's Dutch, as are most of the Mill Hill R.C. missionaries here, and has lived in Kisumu for the majority of his priesthood. Recently, he had celebrations both here and in Holland to mark the 60^th anniversary of his priesthood, the majority of it which has been here, working in the Kisumu shanty areas. When he first arrived in the 1960's, he learned Dholuo by dint of living in the slums with the local people, sleeping on the floor in their houses amongst the cockroaches and rats, because he felt he couldn't help the people unless he understood and shared their lives completely. Some months ago the local Luo people had a massive celebration when they made him into a Luo elder, a great honour rarely bestowed, with all day long festivities.

Until recently, Father Hans was a great walker; with a large group of parishioners he walked from Mombasa to Kampala in 51 days, to commemorate the arrival of the first Mill Hill missionaries here a century ago. He has also walked from his home area in Holland to Santiago de Compostella and back again, at least twice, pilgrimages which took many months. He wrote a book about the last long walk to Compostella which he did in his 70's, with a new artificial hip joint. Another book of his is about the coming of the Roman Catholic church into this area of Africa.

I love his droll sense of humour ! When he arrived here from Holland a few days ago, I asked him if he had a good flight. “Its always a good flight if the plane lands” he said. At supper, someone was telling a funny story … “Never spoil a good story with the truth”. When asked if he slept well, (a morning greeting here among the Luo) … “Yes, several times”.

Yellow crosses

All along the route of the new dual carriageway, we see buildings of all types, from shacks to quite smart houses, with a yellow cross painted on them.   A bit like houses were marked in the black death, or houses of Jews in late 1930's Germany.   

It suddenly dawned on us that these are to be demolished to make way for the road.  We hear that compensation will be paid to properly registered/legitimate houses, but the shacks of the poor, which are in the majority and which have no legal standing, will just be bulldozed.  

A section of the new road being tarred.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ 

Today we did another morning labouring at the workshop.   Being (old) and female (!) Wendy and I aren't allowed to actually do any brick laying; instead we are labourers .... carrying bricks, putting mortar up onto the scaffolding for the brickees, mixing mortar, finding half sized (i.e. broken) bricks for filling gaps, and so on.    Jonathan, being male, is allowed to measure the flat rods they put between layers of bricks, and cut (bend and snap !) them, and he advises about mortar thickness, etc.   No notice is taken of his advice, of course !  

Wendy plans to take a piece of broken brick back for her husband to show him the quality ... soft, coarse and crumbly.   

Some of the bricks are bent !!!!!

I spent some time observing the 'apprentices' and Paul working with them.  He's obviously a good teacher, and Evans particularly seems to have matured into a confident and careful worker.

The chair Evans is making

After returning to the Mission house, we had much needed showers, lunch and a quick siesta.   Wendy and I called for a tuk-tuk and went to the Mega-City Mall.... where the Christmas decorations and lights are on.   Even illuminated snow-men .... in this heat ?   We also walked around the other side of the massive supermarket for me to show her the town rubbish dump, where children scavenge for food .... unbeknown to them, just feet away from the expensive plasma screen TV's for sale through the supermarket wall.  

I talked to Paul about if there was anything the workshop needed .... I'd noticed boys trying to plane and cut wood with nothing to hold it steady .... they need a bench vice.    The church at home has given me some money to buy anything we see is needed, so I think it would be money well spent to purchase a vice.   I quite like the idea of the church paying for a vice !! 

Wuok tich ..... meaning work day, or Monday !!

Day Six …..... Monday 21^st October.

Our first day of proper work !   AND Morris arrived on time, in a borrowed tuk-tuk as his needed repairs …... not surprised with the roads being so awful.

Today being the deferred Mashujaa Day, the children were all around the site, and I saw Milly …. read back through the blog to find out about Milly !   Little Geralds brother Brighton was there. Some of the other children from previous years are not …. they seem to have moved away.

Paul got two men to help with the brick moving …. the 2,500 bricks down in the compound all have to go above to the first floor, which involves throwing them up through a window gap, and a man at the top catching them ! 

Our job was to stack the bricks as they came up, so the builders when they come on site tomorrow can start work straight way. Or that's the theory.

Hot, dusty work. We were soon covered in red brick dust from the crumbly bricks, which stuck onto our sweaty faces, hair and clothes. But the three of us plus the two men throwing bricks got about 1200 – 1400 moved in three hours, which Paul said was plenty for now.

So Wendy and I walked through the nearby market to find Lilian, past piles of drying fish, vegetables and cooked 'street' food but couldn't find her little sewing stall. So we asked and described her and her family …. and of course, someone knew her and took us there. Shrieks and hugs when she saw us ! She was surprised I knew she had a new baby … which is a boy called Davis Maxwell Otieno ! Where do these names come from ? The 'Otieno' means he was born in the night …. two of my daughters also have the female version of this name …. Atieno.

Lilian dumped Davis on my lap, and he gurgled away quite happily, which lots of African babies don't when they see a white face. Lilian ran to the nearby duka to fetch us cold drinks, and Wendy also 'had a go' cuddling Davis. We have brought out lots of baby and childrens clothes to Kenya with us, and I'll take some to Lilian another day.

While we were having our soda's, she got a phone call from Paul saying the tuk-tuk had arrived to take us back to Mill Hill House …. this must be a record; twice in one day and ON TIME !! So we had to hurry through the market and along the paths to get back to the workshop.

Back for welcome showers which ran red with the brick dust, and I left my clothes in to soak while we ate lunch.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I'll write later about Father Hans Burgman who has returned to Kisumu today from Holland.

Mashujaa Day

Day 5       Sunday, 20^th October, 2013     (Ignore automatic date .... I'm catching up !)

We decided to go to St Josephs, the Roman Catholic church for the 9 a.m. English mass, which follows on from the 7 a.m. Dholuo mass, and is itself followed by the Kiswahili mass at 11. Father Gerry gave us a lift; the church courtyard was heaving with hundreds of people, but being the only two white faces there, we were spotted by Geraldine and Rachel (who work as cooks/cleaners here at Mill Hill) and who had attended the Luo mass. So lovely to be greeted, and to know that people here are so genuinely welcoming. Our hands are shaken a hundred times a day, as well as hugs and cheek kisses from those women who know us well.

The mass is great fun; dancing girls, oo-loolating choir, lots of hand waving and clapping. Goodness me, just think if I started dancing and jumping up and down in our village church …. There are no hymns or service books; the choir sings several Dholuo and Kiswahili hymns, and the congregation sings the gloria and the creed (African fashion) and various responses during the service. Its very easy to join in. The only problem is the dead backside after sitting on a hard wooden bench for two hours, squashed in between women with babies, young men, children, and the elderly. All humanity is there, and about 500 – 750 of them to each of three Sunday services. And there is a similar Anglican church up the road, and literally hundreds of others churches of all sorts of denominations throughout the town. And mosques …. and Hindu temples …. and a Coptic church … and a Sikh temple …. Religion is a major part of life in Africa.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Its strange every day to walk or drive past the hospital where my eldest daughter was born ….

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Sunday evening we were invited to Paul and Lucy's house for supper. They sent a tuk-tuk to pick us up and we were driven over the AWFUL road to where they live in a suburb called Mollem …. named for the road building company that was based there many years ago ! Non local Luo place names here all have origins …. the Nakumatt supermarkets common throughout Kenya are named after the Nakuru Mattress company !!   'Ten Houses' is the area where ten identical houses were built about 40 years ago …. and so on.

Lucy cooked us a wonderful supper. She produced my favourite Luo tea …. water, milk, ginger, tea leaves and sugar all boiled together, and then poured through a tea strainer. She also gave us another favourite drink …. mango and passion fruit juice ! Mmmmm …. delicious !

Home in another tuk-tuk, which is scary in the dark, and particularly as the road resembles a lumpy ploughed field but Paul always makes sure we travel with people he knows and trusts.

Work tomorrow, Monday, at the workshop, despite it being Mashujaa Day …. Heroes Day, and thus a public holiday (deferred from Sunday).   I can't find out who the 'heroes' are ... but I'd nominate Wangari Maathai, the founder of the Green Belt movement and herself a planter of thousands of trees.    Look her up on Google !

Wendy

Day 4         Saturday 19th October

Sad news .... Wendy heard last night that her sister had died; it had been expected, but however much these things are anticipated, its still a shock and very upsetting.    She knew it might happen while she was here, and isn't planning to go back for the funeral, which will be in about ten days or a fortnight.


(At that point, after starting blogging, the internet went off for over 48 hours ......)


To continue .........      

We went to the mass in the chapel this morning; I told Fr. Chuggy ?? about Wendy's sisters death, and we prayed with and for her. I think it helped. (Despite him referring to Wendy as Jennie all the time !)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After breakfast we had planned to walk to Hippo Point to sit and watch the hippo's …. but just as we were about to set off, we had a phone call …. Paul was sending a man at 10 to collect the three of us to go to Kit Mikayi. This was, naturally, an African 10 o'clock, but by 10.30 one George Omolo turned up in a Mitsubishi to collect us. He was one of Pauls past pupils and was also a carpenter.

So we headed out of town westwards, where the road is now being turned into a dual carriageway …. and I was saddened to see all the beautiful red-flowered flamboyant trees in the avenue which I have known and loved for nearly 50 years have gone in the name of progress. I could weep. Why couldn't they at least have kept one side of the avenue and widened the road on the other side of the road ? Plenty of waste land …. it is very critical of me to say this but modernisation in Africa often seems to sweep away what is there and what is good, and what is working well.

All gone .......

I've noticed this same thing in that African parents don't tell their children the old stories, the oral history which is their heritage. These stories and legends imply something primitive; they are not 'modern' and have no place in the 21^st century. Once gone …. oral history is gone for ever.

So here is the story of Ngeso and the first wife, and Kit Mikayi, and like most African stories it rambles on a bit with other thoughts and observations.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Luo people migrated down into this area of East Africa, near Lake Victoria, in the sixteenth century – archaeologists and historians have found proof of this. The origins of the Luo have been found in the southern Sudan, along the Nile; they are a Nilo-Hamitic people, with language links to other tribal groups, such as the Luor in north western Uganda. Travelling along the Nile, probably as a nomadic group taking a few generations of travel, they entered what is now Kenya in the area to the west of Bondo, near Usenge and Ramogi Hill. Ramogi was the first Luo to settle there, and linked to him was a man called Ngeso.

Ngeso travelled on, and settled at what is now the area around Kit Mikayi. He built a house just near the rocks because his first or number one wife wanted to settle, and felt spiritually drawn to the rocks. The huge rock has split over time into sections, named after her, and the sons. 'Kit' means 'rock', and 'Mikayi' means 'first wife. So Ngeso and his first wife Mikayi, and subsequently the second wife, Nyachira, and four other wives, and their children, grew into the population and people of that area.

(Some of this was told to us by an elderly Luo man at the site. He claimed to be a great, great, many greats grandson of the first Ngeso, for that was his name also !) He went on to tell us about the rituals around the rocks, and the people who come there. When there is no rain, they climb up through the cracks inside the rocks and pray there for rain. They sacrifice a black sheep, a cockerel and a hen, the entrails of which are flung into cracks in the rocks along with their prayers. 

I queried why a black sheep (quite a rarity here)… remembering that a black sheep in English often refers to a family member or a local person who is in some way an outcast; the term 'black sheep' implying something evil or bad, Ngeso said the same thing is true here, and to the Luo a black sheep is somehow evil. But they found that when these sacrifices were made, and prayers prayed, it rained the next day !!

When a man took a wife from outside the clan, or (rarely) from another tribal area, the woman was taken inside the rock to a place where there is a rudimentary altar, and made her promises there to her husbands family. It is also a place where women go to ask for healing, and where local 'healers' make charms and medicines for people. People still go inside the rocks to sleep when they are ill, and they are cured. There is a place where water often drips from the rock, and this water is collected and used for its magical and healing properties. There were groups of brightly clothed women there, wearing robes, and I think they belonged to the Legio Maria, a sort of semi-Christian sect …they congregate there with their children to sing and pray.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

But as for us, it was quite a climb and scramble up through the cracks in the rock to the top. We were helped by Jonathan and Ngeso and Omolo, but to say it was scary is an under-statement. I think I'm getting too old for such exploits ! I've never liked climbing over rocks, usually sliding along on my seat, and as for heights ...no, no, NO !     Wendy said her husband and daughter will never believe she did it, but she's made of strong stuff and I think it did her good to take her mind off her sisters death. Listening to Ngeso (with his words translated for us by Omolo) I was pleased to be able to understand about a third of what he was saying, and felt if he had spoken much more slowly, I would have understood more of the Dholuo.

Wendy on her way up hoping the boulder above her stays where it is !

People gathering for their rituals

Wendy trying to decide whether or not to jump down and praying Jonathan will catch her  .... 

Ngeso, the Luo story teller