The morning I left Lewa to join John in San Diego, Rehema greeted me with the question “did you hear gun shots last night?” “No,” I answered, “were there gun shots?” No one in our valley had heard anything, but the rangers who live behind us had been notified of an incident “over by the Wilderness Lodge,” about ten miles from us, close to the Lewa boundary. Lewa security suspected poachers but had not yet located a carcass.
Majestic and Endangered
First of all, thanks for your condolences for my fathers passing. They are appreciated by Anne and me.
Dad’s memorial resulted in the biggest Knapp gathering in my lifetime. Mom was joined by all six of her children, all but 1 grandchild (8) and all but 3 great-grandchildren (9). It was a four generation celebration of Dad’s life and legacy.
The extended Knapp family.
We will be posting blogs again soon.
Anne and I will not be posting this week. I am in San Diego, California and Anne will be joining me on Tuesday. We are here for my father’s funeral. Dad passed away last Tuesday, 11/12/2013, at 11:15 pm. He was 88 and had lived a good life.
Leland Mattice Knapp Was born in Washington State and raised in Portland, Oregon. After joining the Navy he was stationed in Corpus Christy, Texas, where he met his wife of 66 years, Gloria Janice Morgan. He is survived by Gloria, six children, nine grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren.
Dad in uniform
Dad was a strong, gentle man with an inquiring mind and an interest in nearly everything. He will be missed.
Dad received his last haircut from his oldest daughter Janice the week before he passed away.
This post is mostly about the part of my job that involves working with women to help them increase their family incomes through bead craft. It ends with a shameless pitch for you to buy beaded coasters, key rings and Christmas decorations. Just letting you know in advance. Read on.
Working under an acacia tree
Elaborate beaded body decorations have been part of the pastoralist culture in Kenya for hundreds of years. For a young girl, the process of becoming “beaded” starts when she is claimed for marriage; often as an early teen around the time she is “circumcised.” Her future husband presents her with loose beads and she, in turn, creates and wears a beaded neckpiece, bracelets and earrings. Over the course of the girl’s adulthood, her beaded adornments increase until, for some, they extend from neck to diaphragm and include headpieces, ear decorations, armbands, bracelets, and anklets.
A lifetime of finery
Zebras and gathering rain clouds
The River Knapp
A day’s growth on an Acacia tree.
I walked into the office on Friday and ran into Chris Mahoney. He is a project manager for Just a Drop, a charity that builds and maintains water projects for the tribal areas of Africa. Chris is here to fix a water system that Just a Drop had installed in Westgate, one of the NRT conservancies. In Westgate the manyatta (village) is six kilometers from the river. It is the children’s job to go fetch the water each day. Chris was especially interested in this project because the river is a dangerous place. As he explained, “The village loses 3-4 children each year to wildlife. In the year before we installed the water pump at least one child was killed by an elephant and just the month before we put it in a six year old girl was taken by a crocodile.” Installing a pump and piping system had eliminated the long trek and kept the children safe from the elephants and crocodiles, but now the pump needed repair.
Chris stopped me as I walked by. “You’re the head of NRT’s education project,” he said. “I have a case study for you.” The day before, Chris and Dan (NRT’s Chief Science Officer) had been at Westgate when they were approached by the school’s Head Teacher. There was a problem. The Head Teacher wanted to talk about two girls in eighth grade. They were two of his sharpest students and he expected them to do very well on the KCPE (the Kenyan National Exam that determines placement for secondary school). They are both 13 years old.
Eighth Grade Class at Kilimani Primary School (Not the one in this post). Do the girls look ready to be wives and mothers?
Jeff and Joanne Parker recently emailed us a link to a Radio Labs show which talked about the great distance runners that have come out of Kenya. Embedded in the talk is a lot of information about some Kenyan Pastoralist cultural practices. Many of the communities have similar practices, though my understanding is that generally the women are not expected to be stoic and the men’s ceremonies are not as rigorous (No beatings or nettles and an actual knife is used). I think it is well worth a listen.
Thanks Jeff and Joanne.
Here is the link.
P.S. Guys, be ready to wince.