Tea Research Center

Together with class eight at Resam academy I went on an excursion to the Tea Research Center in Kericho. They are doing research and experiments on all kind of issues related to tea production. We visited the weather recording center where they explained why Kericho district has a very favourable climate for tea-production. The altitude, the rainfall, the temperature and the soil are very benecficial. W also got an introduction to different deseases they have to deal with and looked at ill tea-plants through a microscope. In the laboratory we saw how they experiment with different types of plants.

Off course we were invited for a delicious cup of Kenyan chai after the presentations.

"Lake" Victoria

Can you imagine this is Lake Victoria and not a green field? Very often some kind of floating lillies drift in to the Kisumu bay in Lake Victoria covering the sea with a moving carpet.

Safari!

Jon, Mari’s father, and Odd Kristian, his colleague, has been her for 10 days. We’ve had a great time with a lot of new experiences. Finally we got to see more of Kenya than Sigowet and Kisumu! We spent some days in Sigowet. Jon made a great success when he joined class 7’s physical education and played kanonball. They had brought a soft-ball from Norway which definitely made the game much more funny. Noone feared the ball anymore and the girls triumphed strikingly despite of Jon’s desperate attempt to make a strategic plan together with the boys. I’ve never seen my pupils running as fast and playing as enthusiastically as when Odd Kristian brought his camera and devotedly recorded the match.

After some days in Sigowet we headed for Nakuru and the famous African wildlife. We passed the enormous tea-fields in Kericho and zic-zacked between the potholes in the poorly maintained road. We spent a whole day in Nakuru national park shooting zebras, antilopes, gazelles, rhinos, buffaloes, flamingoes, warthdogs, baboons and giraffes with our cameras. We were apparently very lucky also to see a leopard resting on a branch about 50 meters from the car. Thanks to some instructions from bypassing car we also got to see a graceful lion resting on a rock, enjoying a great view over the plain beneath. She didn’t even bother to her head as we approached. It seemd that she knew she was the queen of the forest with no enemies.

Our car was completely covered in dust on the outside and the inside when we finally arrived at Menengai crater the following day. The fine sand that made up the steep road was probably also polluting our loungs, but no doubt the great panorama from the edge of the crater of the volcanic mountain was worth it!It was huge, green, endless, deep and stunning.

We traveled north towards the lakes Bogoria and Baringo. The landscape changed from green and fertile to dry and deserty. Jon jumped back to the Northern Hemisphere as we crossed equator, people were selling honey along the road and George booked a night at a hotel on an island that turned out to be a beautiful, quiet place where we slept in a bungalow-like tent and woke up to a stunning sunrise. I sat on the balcony watching the lightshow and the sky shifting from night to day in only half an hour. (Pablo, I will definitely take you there when you come in August!).
Some local people showed us around the lake in a boat. They knew how to attract the Fish-Eagle with whistels ans tilapia fish. They also knew exactly when we were supposed to press the trigger on the camera to get a good shot of the large bird. A crocodile relaxed on a rock and some hippoes exposed only their noses and ears on the water surface. According to the guides the crocodiles and the hippoes stayed on the other side of the island and we could safely swim where we stayed. I jumped in and had a short swim, but I couldn’t really relax and enjoy the warm water knowing that I theoretically could have some company I wouldn’t like. Mari and I also had a expedition along the shore on a piece of plastic looking more like a surfing-board than a kayak, but handled like a kayak. Around 500 people are living on the island living from the tourism, livestock and fishing. They use balsa floats from where they gather the fish in nets and instead of ores they use some plastic shields held in the hands.

A steam bath from the hotsprings on the other side of the island gave George a hale and hearty start of the day and left him with a smooth skin. He finished the healthful treatment with an egg boiled in one of the holes where the hot water came up.

The following day we passed the Kerio valley and crossed the escarpment of the Kenyan Rift Valley. The roads here were surprisingly well kept, probably due to the area being former president Moi’s home district.

Find your kipsigis name!

The tribe kipsigis that live in and around Sigowet, name their children according either to when the child was born or what the mother was doing when she delivered. It seems like giving birth is less painfull here than in Norway. Imagine the mother giving birth when she has visitors over for dinner, when she's on a trip or even washing clothes. I also have some difficulties imagening a baby being born after the mother has fallen asleep! Does it not hurt to give birth here? I call myself Inga Chepkorir because I was born early in the morning. I guess I could also be chepchirchir becuause my mother had an exam coming up just a few days after I was born. Girls' names start with 'Che' and the boys with 'Ki'. In addition to the kipsigis name they have a christian name like Joyce, Faith, Mercy, Charles, James or John.

Chebet -Kibet --Born at Midday
Cheruiyot --Born during sleep
Chepkorir -Kipkorir --Born early in the morning
Chepkirui -Kipkirui --Born after going to sleep
Chepkemoi -Kipkemoi --Born after sleeping
Chepkemei -Kipkemei --Born after a drought
Chelangat -Kiplangat --Born right after supper
Chepngeno -Kipngeno --Born waking up in the morning
Chesang -Kipsang --Born just outside of the house
Chepbor -Kipbor --Born along the road
Cherono -Kiprono --Born when the cows are coming back home
Cheruto -Kipruto --Born during a visit
Cheptoo -Kiptoo --Born when there were visitors
Cherop -Kiprop --Born during rain
Chepchirchir -Kipchirchir --Born when the mother was in a hurry
Chepngetich -Kipngetich --Born at sunrise
Chepkoech -Kipkoech --Born at sunrise
Chepchumba -Kipchumba --Born with white people around
Chebii -Kipbii --Born outside the house
Cheptanui -Kiptanui --Born when the mother has fainted
Chepkurgat -Kipkurgat --Born at the doorstep
Chebet -Kibet --Born during daytime

Kisumu

I have two lives in Kenya; one in the village Sigowet, another in Kisumu. I like them both, but they are very different. In kisumu we can wear singlet not only at home but out in the street, we can sun-bath, swim, enjoy a beer or two, be out after dark, dissapear in the crowd, dance with other people, eat in restaurants, access internet and have coffee in the cafes. In Sigowet we wear singlet only at home, dance only at home and have tea and soda in the cafes. We stay at home after sunset and get a lot of attention out in the street. A mix of the two lives is a good deal!

On the pictures we are out dancing with three sisters we met at the pub Mon Ami, we have lunch with my colleague Martina and her sister Winny and Mari talks to our Danish friend Janek.

Dreams...

I am teaching English composition in class four. The other day I asked them to write a text about what they hope and hope not they will be doing in 10 years. “I will drive a car and my wife will be a doctor”, says one. “I will catch people that are drunk”, wishes another one. A few weeks ago we wrote a script for a movie about a Norwegian girl coming to their class. For preparations I showed them some pictures of Mathilde fishing, being with friends, swimming and eating. “I want to be a father of someone like Mathilde”, hopes a boy. I have told the class that we drink tea in Norway, but that we normally don’t put as much sugar as they do here. A girl seemingly feels sorry for the Norwegians lacking sugar and the people in Ghana lacking food. “I will bring sugar to Norway in an my aeroplane, and sukuma wiki to Ghana. And I think I will live in Ghana to make sure they eat”. Another one wants to take his parents to America. “When my parents want to go to America, they will reach very fast because I will be a pilot. That’s why we say it is the quickest way of transport”. They care a lot about their parents. “I will help my family by giving them food, clothes and buy for them a cow”. Many wishes are also connected with the Nissan mini buses, better known as matatus. “I hope I will be driving a Nissan, and when the car has problems I will call a mechanic, because he will be my friend.” Some wants so live in Norway because “in Norway we can see snow, winter, summer and moose”. And lucky is the girl that marries this boy: “I will not beat people. I will be a good man every day, every time, every year”.

Our friends in Kisumu!

Brian and some other friends we hang out with when we go to Kisumu!

Kanonball!

Class seven at Resam are enthusiastic kanonball-players. Here they are in the middle of a match where the boys are about to beat the girls.

Tea - chai

Kericho district not only is the tea capital of Kenya, it is also the most important tea-growing area in Africa thanks to the famously reliable afternoon rain. The first tea was grown in Kenya in 1903 and today it is a major component of most tea sold in the UK and Ireland. Also the Kenyans are devoted tea-lovers. The chai; tea with hot milk, hot water and a lot of sugar, is served from huge thermoses on any visit.

This week we have visited a tea-factory in Chepmomul, between Sigowet and Kericho. Our guide Mutai too us around to see the whole process from the tea-leaves arrive the factory in lorreys or tractors, through the drying of the leaves, the separation of different qualities and grain. It was surprising how well controlled all the processes were in terms of time and temperature. Every one hour the lady in the test-laboratory will take samples of the tea to make sure the taste, colour, intensity, grain and texture is perfect. In any case of dissatisfaction, the progression will be adjusted. Tea-tasting is not very different from wine-tasting. The cups are lined up on the table, you shake them to see how the colour sticks to the porcelain, you make weird sounds when the liquid undergoes a journey through your mouth and you spit it out in a sink.

The tea factory is partly owned by the government and partly by the farmers providing the tea. They share the profit. It runs all day and night as long as there is tea-leaves coming in from the buying-centers where the tea-pickers bring their tea. The factory has more than 200 employees.