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.

Kenyan Runners

A little fall of rain
Can hardly hurt me now
You’re here, that’s all I need to know
And you will keep me safe
And you will keep me close
And rain will make the roads muddy and slippery and get the car stuck, oh yeah, and make the flowers grow.

As the rainy season slowly descends upon us it is, so far, not what I expected. Every evening for the last week it has rained on Lewa but in swatches. A cloud forms, sweeps through and moistens a strip one or two kilometers wide missing the rest of the conservancy. The night before last we were blessed by our little fall of rain.
It was 5 o’clock and we were heading to the Lewa offices to pick up Kira — a visitor from the Sydney Zoo — for dinner at our place. It began to rain. I looked at Anne, “No problem, we’re in a four wheel drive vehicle and it hasn’t rained enough to cause the roads to soften up.” Off we went.
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Once or twice a week we drive into Meru Town to buy groceries. The journey is 30 rough, bouncy minutes on a dirt road followed by another 30 hair raising minutes on narrow blacktop roads passing underpowered cars and trucks that hug the center line, pedestrians, cattle and shoats, all poised to jump into traffic, ox and donkey carts, weaving bicyclists, motorcyclists and mutatus pulling in and out of traffic.

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I had an amazing drive home today. I know there are too many pictures but here goes.

After visiting the Kilimani Primary school today I came back to Lewa via the Kisima gate for the first time. After a couple of wrong turns and stopping to ask for directions (I’m in touch with my feminine side :)) in my pigeon Kiswahili (Jambo sana. Kisima Gate? point ahead, point back, look lost and questioning, shrug holding hands up), I entered Lewa.

After a kilometer or so I passed the herd of horses that Wilderness Trails Camp uses for their trail rides. Up for a ride if you come visit Marion? I had never seen horses grazing with Giraffes before.

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Yesterday, I visited the Laparua and N’Talaban primary schools. I am trying to find out about the lives of the teachers and students in the schools; how effective the schools are; how they are financed; what it would be like to work or learn in that environment; special challenges in teaching in pastoralist regions and how the Lewa Conservancy Education programs impact the schools. The N’Talaban school was the most remote I have visited to date.

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Looking off the deck we see the nearby bright green foliage of the stream bed in front of the brown hillside. But we weren’t prepared for the beauty of the stream bed up close. Robert, a security guard who lives in the staff quarters out back, offered to take us for a walk along the stream. Because of the possibility of leopards, baboons, elephants, and buffalo we aren’t allowed to explore the stream bed by ourselves.

Anne, Robert, and Kithati are ready to take the hike down. After 50 yards or so of walking through tall grass and bushes filled with stickers that grab onto your socks, we hit a steep spot that led us to the top of the falls that Robert had promised us was there. Since this is the dry season, there was only a drip going over the edge where Kithati is standing.

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My job here in Kenya is to work with the Northern Rangelands Trust’s (NRT) education program. The NRT currently works with 26 Community Conservancies. These Conservancies are self-governed entities that were admitted into the NRT after agreeing to implement specific governance, security and conservation activities (like elected local boards, cattle rustling prohibitions and anti-poaching measures). In return, the Conservancies receive money, training and services designed to improve their standard of living. That is where I come in. I am part of a project to develop a strategic plan for improving the access to education in the Northern Regions. I will blog more about that on another day.

The Lewa Conservancy established an education program, LEP (Lewa Education Program), in the late 90’s. My first task is to determine what the LEP is doing that is effective and can be replicated in the NRT. To do that I am visiting all 18 of the Lewa partnered schools and talking with the Principal (mostly), teachers, and students. I hear interesting stories. Here is one.
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While visiting schools I ran into this group of girls playing in the yard at Kanyunga Primary School near Lewa. It is one of the Lewa supported schools. They are playing Gechethi.

Using a stick the girls draw a large grid on the ground with 10 squares in two rows of five. Two players start at one end in adjacent squares. Each places a rock in their first square. They step into the first square on one foot and then hop and kick the stone to the next square with that one foot. Hop and kick the stone to the next square and so on. Passing their opponent at the top of the grid, they continue back down the other side. If a player’s stone does not land in the next square (either falling short or going passed) then her turn is over. It is OK if a second foot touches the ground.

If you look closely at the playing grid, they have worn indentations into the ground. The girls have been playing for a while. Kids, in whatever conditions and with whatever resources available, find ways to play and have fun.

This is a test of adding videos to the web site. Let me know if it works or not.

In any case we drove up next to several white rhinos and filmed one. This rhino was as close as it looks. No zoom was used on the camera.

Click on the link depending on your connection speed.

Rhino High Def

Rhino low definition

Yesterday Anne and Jane, our gardener, drove to Meru Town to buy seeds for our vegetable garden. While they were away, I set up the umbrella on our deck. That was an involved process. First, deal with the bats. There were four with yellow bellies, about the size of rats and sound asleep. They fell off the underside of the umbrella as I opened it, almost on my head. They curled into bat fetal position and then groggily crawled away. Next, I removed the umbrella from the table and set it on the ground upside down to set the splines in place. I had to sit on the splines to press the center ring down far enough so that I could put a pin in to hold it up. Then I got a hose and Clorox and cleaned the bat droppings off of the table, yuck. Once I put the umbrella in place, I was ready to sit back and enjoy the view.

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