Pokot

We had a leisurely day yesterday.  We only needed to get to our hotel in Eldoret, so we slept in and packed and drove north.  Along the way we say more of the beautiful countryside that Kenya is known for, including tea fields and amazing vistas.  We also so a bad accident where a pickup collided with a tractor pulling a cart.  Sharing the road with slow moving vehicles, (tractors, donkey carts, people carts,) is normal here, but Kenyan drivers don’t really slow down for them very often, they just zip around them.  Sometimes there’s another one waiting in the other lane.  We made it safely and had a few hours to look around Eldoret.  It was nice not being in a hurry.

This morning we started early, 6am.  Pokot is a long way from anywhere; Eldoret is just the closest place with a hotel.  We drove northeast to a city named Iten, a city known for it’s long distance runners.  We had breakfast at a nice tea house called the Baraka Tea Room, mandazi and chai, and then got back on the road.  After Iten, we began a 3,500ft descent to the Kerio Valley.  Along the way we saw some of the most breathtaking views you could imagine; the photos do not do them justice, but here is a panorama that is pretty cool.

Once we reached the valley floor, we turned onto a dirt/rock road that we stayed on for two and a half hours.  That is an endurance test, my friend.  There were numerous dry river crossings and hundreds of termite mounds, some soaring over 20ft tall.  We crossed a river just before reaching our destination that changed from wide and slow to narrow and fast right under the steel bridge.  It cut through the igneous rock that underlies the entire valley.  Amazing!  The terrain here is like the surface of Mars, red dirt and rocks, with trees added.

We reached Kinyach around 10am.  Kinyach is the home of a church started by Wilson Kiptoo, our WBS worker in this area.  We have a feeding station here with about 4o kids.  We call the site Pokot, but that is actually the name of the tribe that most of these people come from.  There are actually two feeding sites, this one and Kimnai, about 10 kilometers away.  At both sites they have a kitchen, widows dorm, dining hall and latrine.  At Kinyach they also have several money-making projects like goats, bees, and a newly constructed poultry project.

We were greeted with children’s singing and a brief tour of the site.  We met the widows from both stations and local church members.  Then we drove on to see Kimnai and the projects there, which are similar, with the addition of a camel and it’s calf.  They use camels for transportation of course, but also for milk.  We stopped briefly at Wilson’s house, where the tailoring project is located and then went back to Kinyach for a ceremony with the kids and church members and lunch.

After lunch, Pam did her blessing for the widows, which has become one of my favorite parts of these visits.  The widows really light up when they get their gifts and hugs from Pam and Susie.  We had a little time for playing with the kids and handing out candy, then it was time to depart.  The roads in this part of Kenya are so bad, you really don’t want to be on them after dark.  The drive back was grueling, so very long and hot.  The Forstons opted out of today’s journey just for that reason, but they will be back with us tomorrow, when we visit Kapsabet and Ngenymesut Orphanages.  Don't forget the pictures in the album below.

1 Oct