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April 30, 2005
April 30, 2005
Sad to leave Ngurunit tomorrow. It has been a wonderful school break for us. One of the most fun activities I did with the kids was build a tree house. That venture started simply because I was trying to get the kids to stop bothering me about wanting to watch a movie on the computer. I told them to go outside and build a tree house or something. The tree house idea took hold immediately and I wished I could retract my words. That is because they insisted on me helping them and the whole purpose of the idea was to get them to leave me alone in peace. Oh well. After my first reluctant involvement in the whole idea, I really got enthused and we had a wonderful time building that house. The search for the perfect tree ended up in having to design a sort of platform built around a smaller bushy tree as the big trees with spreading branches were too high for the little girls to be safe and besides, they all had the traditional Samburu beehives in them. Then we had to scrounge materials for the house, which took us searching all over Ngurunit for poles and pieces of used board. All the kids got involved. Even Naiboku worked hard at pounding in the nails with a little hammer. It took us three days to finish it and when it was done, we had never seen a more beautiful structure. The kids slept in it at night for three days in a row before the rains started. During the day, it was their refuge from the heat and their imaginations soared as I heard snatches of their role playing in their very own world. My childhood came close whenever by chance I found the house abandoned for a period of time. I would climb into the house of peace, feeling it rock in the breeze, watching the sun shadows or moon beams play through the branches.
Tonight Maria and I will watch the last bit of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King. At the beginning of our stay in Ngurunit, Maria and I decided to watch all three of the extended versions of Lord of the Rings movies. As my house is on solar, I can only use the computer for a few hours a day. So starting with The Fellowship of the Ring, we have watched an hour or two every night we can get some free time and aren’t too exhausted from the day’s activities. Our movie theater was just outside the house under the heavens. The best I have ever been in. When we started, the moon, just a few days past full, would be rising over the hills as we watched the story unfold on the screen. The beauty of our surroundings along with our involvement with the movie would take our breath away. Now in the last episodes, the stars blaze overhead and the storm clouds roll up mixing with the climatic moments of the film. It feels like we are in another world and it leaves us both drained and exhilarated when we turn the computer off for the night just waiting for the next time we can continue. It has been an experience of art and nature combining together in a magical way that effects us deeply and tonight will be the last for this trip into enchantment. We have been living in Middle earth itself. Back into the real world tomorrow. It is moments like I have had these last two weeks that keep me going when the world closes in and I feel the ordinary routines of life pulling me down. School is starting for the children, I will be dropping Maria in Baragoi for her continuation of her research, work calls me. But I know just around the corner, just inside me, mysteries and adventure can be found.
April 21, 2005
April 21, 2005
It is so good to be back in Ngurunit. Can’t believe it is almost a week already. Time goes so fast. Mostly I have been recovering from the Nairobi trip. The best is walking and talking with Maria. Several mornings we have gone out very early with the dogs and walk as the sun rises. One day we walked through a gap in the mountain behind my house further than I had ever gone in that direction before. Behind the mountain, we were amazed to find a valley with a sea of trees in it and weird rock formations coming out of them like islands. We found a big flat rock to sit on and watch the rising sun. After being awed by the beauty for awhile, we decided it was time to get home. Instead of going around the way we came, we decided to try going on what looked like a short cut over a little dip in the hill. It proved to be a very challenging but exhilarating short cut. We scrambled our way up through the wait-a-bit thorns on ever disappearing goat paths with the dogs crashing through the bush around us. Now and then one of us would cry for help in disengaging a piece of clothing or a body part. One tree got a good hold on my ear and I have an itchy scab to prove the fight. In the end we won to the top. The climb and struggle was worth it. The whole Ngurunit valley where my house is located stretched out before us in amazing beauty. After resting on the top, we made our way down the less bushy but steeper other side. After turning back from several impassable cliffs, we found a rocky trail that took us to the path on which we had left the house several hours earlier. Our short morning walk had turned into a hard hike but it was wonderful.
Maria is here to do her Master’s research so during the day, she is off with my field assistant Samwel doing interviews. But several times the kids and I have been able to entice her off to the swimming pools and rock slides up the mountain. My goal of teaching the kids to swim has been accomplished with the boys. They are doing really well and are even getting confident enough to slide down the rock slide and paddle their way through the deep water to the shallow end. Though they still want Maria or I to stand in the middle just in case they forget how to keep their heads above water. Naiboku is still not sure about this swimming stuff but she at least isn’t scared of the water any more and has a great time splashing and playing in the shallows. She has her little rock that she likes to jump from into the water. She is still young but by next year, I am sure she will also be swimming like a fish. The most fun in swimming for all of the kids is Maria. She is so good with them. She plays dolphin giving them rides. She throws them and pulls them. She splashes and dives. It gives me a chance to sit on a rock in the shade and just soak in the beauty of the place and watch the enjoyment of the children in cool water on a hot day. Peace.
April 11, 2005
April 11, 2005
What a trip from the mountains of Ngurunit with their beautiful streams and peaceful days to Nairobi with all the noise and confusion of the big city. We arrived in Maralal Saturday evening after an uneventful trip from Ngurunit. No broken cars, no horribly muddy roads. Then Tuesday the 5th we drove down to Nairobi. Upon arrival and getting checked into our apartment, the first thing we had to do was take the kids, upon their insistence, to the ‘car driving place’. This place is the kids’ recreation corner at one of the big shopping malls in Nairobi. It is called the Village Market and is no different really than any mall I ever went to growing up in Wisconsin. The biggest attraction for the kids is the electric car race track and jungle gym playground for children up to 10 years old. They love that. At the last minute before leaving Ngurunit, I decided to take the kids’ Ngurunit friend Ntilaiyon along as we plan to go back to Ngurunit again before school starts. She is 9 and was very happy with the chance to go. She has been to Maralal with us before, but never to Nairobi. Loiweti, 7, and Polisan, 8, had driven the cars before so they were old pros. Reuben and I were completely surprised by the natural ability of Ntilaiyon in being able to negotiate those cars around the corners. Growing up in the bush in a local Samburu home, she had never had a chance of even a bicycle but she got behind the wheel of a car and drove like she had been doing it all her short life. Naiboku, being still not quite 5, was content to just ride along with Loiweti. We have made several trips back to the Market for the kids’ enjoyment.
In fact the whole trip has been mostly centered around their enjoyment. We have gone horseback riding, feeding giraffes, playing miniature golf and swimming. They have purchased toys, had their faces painted and watched endless cartoons on TV. They play video games and eat ice cream or cotton candy whenever we allow them. The day Reuben and I had to be at the Rotary meeting, Tine watched them and took them to see the baby elephants, for more horseback riding and to a restaurant with a jumping castle. We even went to the National Museum and Snake Park this morning. Now I think we are ready to go home tomorrow, exhausted but very happy with all the fun experiences.
As to Reuben and I, we also enjoyed Nairobi and accomplished most of what we needed to. Maria, the Swedish Master’s student arrived on the 6th. It was so good seeing her again after almost a year since she had gone back to her home. She hung around Nairobi a few days and then went on ahead of us to Maralal. We will meet her there tomorrow and then she will go to Ngurunit with us the end of the week. Reuben has been busy at ILRI with his work and getting the car fixed up. We had decided to come down in his work car and discovered that the license was expired. So that has caused a bit of trouble meaning we have been without a vehicle while they get everything updated. Taxis are expensive! We will get it back tomorrow though and then go home. Even with the slight trouble of the car, it was good we used it as I had so many bags of baskets from the Ngurunit women, they wouldn’t have fit in my car with the whole family too. My time in Ngurunit wasn’t all relaxation. I found time to have a few women’s meetings and collect baskets. Had to have them to sell to all the visitors. Now all the ones that were left, 12 bags of them, are in Janice’s garage here in Nairobi. That is another way she helps us. Storage.
The Rotary meeting on Sunday was good, though I found it a bit boring. Being used to my development world of participatory workshops where everyone runs around doing various interactive exercises, I was rather shocked to find myself in an all day sit and listen to a speaker situation. Which was okay for the one or two really good speakers. But I found myself getting a little restless when some of the people insisted one reading word for word out of our manuals. The best part was meeting all the other incoming presidents, secretaries and treasures of the other clubs in Kenya. As the Maralal club is very remote compared to the rest of the clubs, we hadn’t had a chance to meet many other Rotarians in Kenya other than those in our sponsor club of Nakuru. We have also been able to make a plan for our club to finally hold the Charter Dinner on May 7th. The District Governor Mohamed will come up to Maralal to present us with our charter certificate. That will make us feel like ‘real’ club. Even though we are already active in doing projects, we don’t feel completely legitimate yet without the certificate. Soon. Soon.
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