Movin' On

The major work at Kimelok was done; today we just needed to wrap up some details before moving on.  Yesterday we had discovered that the  tank shut-off switch wasn’t working properly and I set about to figuring out why this morning.  I had just torn into the panel when Brandon showed up.  Brandon is a technician that works on these installations and Dave had called him up.  He took a different tack, wanting to reconfigure the shut-off switch wiring instead.  He graciously allowed me to explain what I thought was amiss, and then showed me how they usually configure these things.  We had a nice little engineering discussion right there under the solar array.  What we came away with was this:  there is a weird sensitivity to the way I had it wired, but when rewired like he wanted, the problem is covered up.

An easy solution.  I like it.

More miscellaneous details, such as fixing a leak, installing a brace for the water line coming down from the tank to keep it from flopping around, installing an entry gate in the fence around the area, and, of course, chai tea.  The tea was served with mandazi, sort of a pastry resembling an elephant ear that you can get at the county fair, only without all the cinnamon and sugar on it. 

These details brought us up to lunch, which was a traditional Maasai meal of goat meat, cabbage and ugali.  Joy, knowing how the Maasai eat and how we mzungu (white guys) eat, gave us a smaller portion of ugali and chunks of meat without the bones.  The Maasai prefer to eat the meat off the bone and they attacked this meal with relish as this is a special meal for them, and in particular because this meal had a generous portion of meat. 

Ugali is cornmeal mixed with water, heated, and stirred until it will stand on its own.  It is usually eaten with the fingers.  So I guess I wasn’t all that Maasai.  I used utensils.  The goat meat was delicious but it did require some chewing.  Because it is on the chewier side it does stick in the teeth, so you can enjoy it all afternoon.

We packed up everything we had been bringing here in the truck to be moved to the next site and then we all gathered for a group picture at the water tower.

Quite a handsome crew, don’t you think?

Irene then called everyone into a circle, and expressed thanks and wished us blessings for the water that was brought to their community.  Even Old Man spoke up, expressing thanks.  It was touching to see the appreciation and gratitude.  We take water so for granted, living near one of the largest freshwater lakes in the world and having water on tap in our homes.  To live in a land where water is scarce and almost never fresh, and then to be able to turn a tap outside and have fresh water come out--what a gift.  It was a privilege to be a part of this.

Irene then opened the bag she had with her and presented each one of us mzungu a gift.  I received a Maasai shuka, the wrap that the Maasai wear.  One of the guys helped me put it on.  With this on, I really look like a Maasai, right.   Ha!  More like a white Dutch guy with a shuka draped around him.

These people have nothing, yet they gave us these gifts.  It speaks of their generosity and hospitality towards us visitors.

I took a couple last aerial photos of the site just before we left.  Because fresh water is available here, it will attract people from a wide area.  Just like nearly everywhere else, communities will build around sources of water.

We pulled out, heading back towards Narok.  Duncan rode along with us as he had left his motorbike at the hotel.  When we dropped him off, we continued down the road towards Olosheki, the next site.

Although it was only about 12 miles to Olosheki, it took us an hour and ten minutes to get there.  To call what we were on “roads” is an extremely generous use of the word.    We passed by many Maasai homes, mud houses made by packing mud into a lattice of sticks which form the structure.

The Olosheki site is a plot of land about 10 acres in size way out in the middle of Maasai land.  The solar array is standing already, quite a different structure from the mud homes we had been seeing for the last hour.  Around here there is nothing else.  Once the water system is in place, Kenya Hope plans to build a school here, another thing that builds and strengthens a community.  It will be cool to see how this area is transformed.

Hopefully you will see a water tower standing nearby in the next several days.

We dropped off a lot of our supplies here and took the shortcut back home.  It was indeed shorter, only 7.4 miles to the hotel.  But the road was considerably worse, and for most of it, we averaged about 8 miles per hour.  Along the way, we passed others traveling this road on foot or on motorbike.  A few were heading towards town and gestured at us as we were driving by.  We stopped and they hopped in the back, managing to hang on as the truck jostled its way over the rough terrain.

Many of these young men who have been helping us out have been blessed by Kenya Hope in some way and are eager to help. Duncan was one of the sponsored children, now he goes to many remote villages, showing the Jesus film.  Joshua, another sponsored child, was introduced to us as one of the most popular and well-known Maasai guys.  His reason?  As he states it, “because I have the love of Jesus”.  He also broke with Maasai tradition when he married his wife.  In a culture where women are just another piece of property, relegating many of them to a slave-like life, Joshua loves and cherishes his wife, and they got married without the consent of their parents.  Her family demanded a lot of cows for her, so they got married without the family’s involvement.

Lots of stories out here, many of them very hard stories, but it is inspiring to hear of the gospel message going out and bearing fruit.