Africa ~ A Journey Home – Kericho

PRE-NOTE:
“We stopped in at Ringa School. This is a school that we have been renovating since we met with them in January. We stopped by to see how things were and to talk to the principal. Once the "big" group arrives - they will be having a grand opening next Sunday. However, they are so excited about A Better World helping them that they even had 200 people meet us this week. I can't even imagine how many people are going to come and see Eric on Sunday.

Today we split into three groups and went to three different Hostels. My group went to Kimchimchim. We had so much fun. This hostel houses 64 disabled children and approximately 40 able children that are there learning a trade (i.e. sewing, knitting machines, carpentry etc.) We actually did an assessment on the 64 disabled children.” Email sent by Cindy Write October 30, 2006

October 30th

It would be another long drive on the roads of Kenya to get to our next destination at Kericho. Most of these roads are not paved and we began to get excited every time we hit a long stretch of paved highway as it meant not being jarred from the bumps in the road or hanging onto the side grips of the van for dear life as our drivers dodged pot holes the size of a small pond and bravely passed slow moving vehicles. Ok well maybe the pot holes were not that big but I remember seeing a hole in one of the roads that I was sure you could have damaged your vehicle had you not been aware of it.

The weather was getting cooler as we headed up into the hills, cooler and wet. The scenery was turning a deep, beautiful green and the landscape was lined with rows and rows of tea plants. Short bushy plants that were a vibrant green. Unfortunately we were in a hurry to get to our destination and were still a little shy to ask our driver to stop at every possible photo-op. I don’t think I got one picture of the tea plantations.

We were to make one stop before we settled into the Tea Hotel and that was the school at Ringa. The project was an original “A Better World” project. It was a true effort of the community to take a rundown school and build a beautiful facility, simple but remarkable because it was to be a community effort. Cindy’s description above certainly sums it up. For me it was the first experience with the sweet children of Kenya. Going to Kenya I knew I had few skills to offer so I prayed for guidance as to the purpose of being a part of this group. At first glance I knew that my affection and love would be my offering to the project. Once the children lost their shyness, we played tag games and laughed and giggled our way through the afternoon. I had so much fun. It was an amazing experience and one that would be repeated for me often as our trip proceeded. The following week the larger group would benefit from the grand celebration in the opening of the new school. The community would respond to the generosity of those who supported their project by gathering four bags of dried corn to pass on to a community in need so that they could grind up the mase to use as flour for cereal and bread, completing the circle of giving.

Some of the children at Ringa school.

In the background are still some of the old buildings they use for school rooms for the children.

The new school.

As we got closer to Kericho, the weather took a turn for the worse and it began to get colder and at one point it actually hailed. This was not what any of us expected and most did not come prepared with warm clothes, after all this was Africa!

Now one of the things I felt most of the time while in Africa, was a feeling of going back in time. Like I had stepped into a time machine... and the Tea Hotel was not exempt from this feeling. The description of the hotel says, “Inviting Mansion set amid tea plantations of Kericho, 1 mile from town.” In the time of the English dominance I am sure the Tea Hotel was a stunning place to visit, but age, wear and tear kept this old hotel in a time warp for sure. And it was here that we began to tout the phrase, “But it is all part of the African experience”. The hotel had seen better days and we all recognized this. Our room was tiny and the shower, well it really didn’t work and a couple days into our visit we had to move rooms because the electricity had blown a fuse in the section we were in. Bianca (my roomie) and I were transferred into the luxury suite. This meant a television that did not work, a phone we could not use and a make shift shower that actually had warm water when you waited long enough for it to heat up. Bianca would lose the toss and end up in the bed where the mattress sank in the middle. But above and beyond all that, it was a very cool place. The sitting room was huge and had two very large fireplaces and the staff lit them every evening. One thing we were beginning to become cognizant of was that we were usually the only white people in the establishment. It felt a little different being the minority. I did not feel unsafe by any means just out of place at times. Like we were intruding on their world.

My roomie Bianca was a marvellous young woman. At the age of 22 she had it all together and left her sweetheart behind to embark on this incredible trip. She carried with her a tender heart and a great sense of humour and we would find ourselves giggling ourselves to sleep some nights over the experiences we would share. She was a blessing to me at times and I am so grateful that Cindy matched us up. We would work together on some projects and other times be working in different venues but that was good as we could compare notes and talk at the end of the day about how the experience altered our perspective of life in general.

Bianca

That kind of support would be needed, especially on our next project, which was at the orphanage and school at Kimchimchim.