Supporting A Visionary Project In Kenya

After our two week stay in Nanyuki we took a couple of busses and a taxi to get to Kitale, a town near the border to Uganda. Getting there was in fact quite a hassle. First of all we got ripped off constantly, which started to really get to us. As a muzungu (white man) it was impossible to get anything for the 'normal' price when travelling. Considering the fact that we were seen as gold mines it was quite understandable but it didn't make the experience any nicer.

"Man I can't stand this anymore, they should raise the roof." I said laughing after my head hit the rooftop of the van for the fourth time. I seemed to be the only one in the van having this problem.

"Don't worry, I think we will be getting into Nakuru soon, from there we will get a bus to Kitale and the roads will be better." Felix responded supportingly while bobbing up and down and trying to hold his headphones in his ears. Not much later we do get into Nakuru and stock up on the essential oranges, mangoes and bananas after which the trip continues in another van. It was true, the roads were much better here but it was also slowly getting dark. It turned out that the van was not actually going to Kitale but instead to Eldoret, a town about 75km away from where we wanted to go. A new law deterred any vans and larger busses to travel at night due to the high number of accidents that had happened in the past. This meant we had to get into a taxi which supposedly the bus fare paid for, but it didn't. Someone must have pocketed a little money on the way and after having a long discussion about the price and listening to a loud discussion outside when the police arrested some bus drivers that stayed out too late we finally get to the final leg of the trip. We arrive at about 22:00 and after calling Philip (not the Maasai Phillip) we got picked up by his brother Patrick who brought us to our accommodation and supplied us with a little dinner. Finally we were able to relax our sore bodies after such a tiring day.

The next day Philip, the founder of the Organic Technology Extension and Promotion of Initiative Centre (OTEPIC), picked us up and took us to OTEPIC. This project was founded by him a couple of years ago as a Community Based Organisation and now it had become a great success with him having had the opportunities to talk about OTEPIC in the west to get a little funding for the great things which they will and have accomplished. Now they supply the surrounding community with free quality drinking water and general knowledge such as alternative farming practises. They set a great example of how permaculture can be used to increase yields in small spaces and have completely transformed a totally dead piece of dry land into an oasis of beauty among their neighbours. Recently they managed to buy a larger piece of land which is being built on and developed as you read this. Basically they are doing wonderful things and Felix and I came to help in any way we could.

"Ok guys here we are, get off now because the roads will be too muddy to drive on with three on the motorbike." Patrick said as we turned into a smaller road. Felix and I got off and started walking towards the field on which we could already see some familiar faces.

"Grab a sickle and start cutting the long grass, we need a lot, the roof will be big." One of the workers said as he pointed towards some tools lying on the ground. We grabbed two sickles and started cutting away all the tall grass around here.

"Oh god, my back and my legs are really starting to hurt now." I said and stretched my arms and legs to relieve the muscle ache.

"It's probably from playing football yesterday, that was quite an intense game - they don't joke around here when it comes to football." Felix said smiling at me as he continued cutting the grass and neatly placing the cut grass into little piles.

"Ok guys, that's enough for now. We should now get some of the rope and then bundle up all the grass - a big truck will come soon to pick everything up so we should be done before then." Patrick said as he pulled out a knife to start cutting the rope we had brought into little pieces. So everyone started tying the ropes around the bundles of long grass and placed them in big piles. At this point, it was about midday, the sun starting getting very intense and we had unfortunately not brought much water so we started drinking some that the workers had brought.

"Oh look I think that must be the truck coming to take the straw." Felix said as a big truck pulled onto the uneven land of the farmer whose grass we were collecting.

"Good, I think we just tied up the last of them." I answered and as the words left my mouth the clouds started grumbling and water started pouring from the skies. It got very cold very quickly and working in the rain to get all the grass on the truck didn't help that.

The next day Felix and I went shopping in town for some food and other things that we would need for cooking. We had just been offered to use the kitchen on the grounds where we were living so we wouldn't have to go to the cafeteria anymore.

"I don't feel so good Noah, I think I'm going to skip dinner tonight." Felix said when we got back to the ICM (International Christian Ministry) compound in which we were staying. So I had dinner by myself and went to bed after doing the daily routine of checking my mails and then writing my diary. The following morning I woke up and looked to my left to Felix's bed and didn't see anyone. So while still worrying a little I hear a gagging sound from the bathroom and walk in on Felix puking in the toilet. He really didn't feel so good.

This day continued with him only eating about one digestive biscuit and the following day we went to the doctor to check up what had happened. The doctor gave him some pills as they do and it turned out that it might have been the water that the workers had been drinking on the fields. Our bodies were simply not accustomed to some of the water around here, I had been lucky because I didn't drink too much of it.

After a total of two weeks of working with OTEPIC we bought our onward bus tickets. This time we were not going to do any work in our next destination. This was going to be fun. We were heading to Mombasa.