The Maralal Experience
Maralal has been an
experience & a half!
We left our Nairobi home @ 6.30am & arrived in Samburu -
Maralal @ 3.30pm
all packed for the journey
Our transportation which took all day!
To the 2KM walk we had to make after alighting from the bus
to the hosts house... who said we are
going just behind the hill so casually...
Hata you can’t see a
hill on the endless path. Haha.
Then the rain caught up while we were walking so we had to
seek shelter at a relative's place
As rain starts
5 minutes later
We were sheltering @ the goats crib & they came to their
home because of the rain too
A photo from inside
the goat's house... which is where we were sheltering
Because we couldn’t share the house with the goats, the door
was closed so we stayed in darkness sipping the coolest tea ever! Made by Mama
wa boma.
Aya, eventually the rain stopped & we continued with the
walk ‘just behind the hill’ to our safe haven...
As I said, safe haven, coz it sure felt like it. Haha
I was hosted so well
Had a hot shower, Slept well, then had to wake up early to
travel another 40mins away (driving this time) to where the conference I was
attending & speaking was...
There were 240 youth attendees... yap!
Some of the attendees
Food was pretty much like any other; Rice & goat meat
& cabbage for lunch, Then ugali for dinner; Ugali with liver &
intestines.
With tea breaks in between. I was always full & had
carried my special snack for the tea:
My
Oreos!
*insert dreamy voice*
That afternoon my host left me in the hands of the conference
coordinators who took awesome extra care of mwaa…
Samburu Hotel & Restaurant where I spent
The event that took me to Samburu-Maralal was an annual Christian
youth conference for the region: There were communities from Maralal, Baragoi,
Suguta-Marmar, Isiolo (& other places i cant remember)...
I was part of the team that was sharing to the youth at the
conference. Their theme was from John 8:36 'If the Son sets you free, you shall be free indeed.' My session was on Public relations and media.
Two days went by so fast being with such great people and
learning bits of the Samburu words…
My last day in Maralal I did not have a session, so my host picked
me up from the conference and took me around Maralal town to tour.
The final day went so well…
1st the usual tour around the town, then the suburb,
then some history here & there alafu i googled 'what to see while in
Maralal' & found 'House of Kenyatta’.
So my host took me to Kenyatta House which is part of the National
Museum
The place where Mzee Kenyatta lived from around 1961 for
over a year with family & that is where he wrote 'Facing Mount Kenya' and from that spot right outside the house you can see Mount Kenya. So
much awesome history...
There is more. Lots more I can’t say all in detail, from
- how much enough Wazungu's own like most of the land there, the actual communities are still oppressed,
- they (The Samburu) have a GRAND tourist attraction site which holds an Annual event every August: The ‘International Camel Derby'
- also how many people in the community are polygamous.
Lastly, I visited a Manyatta. Woohoo!!! Notice their tiny
windows?
Manyatta's tiny windows
I was shown their special traditional milk preservative:
smoked gourd. Milk can stay even a month fresh in that stuff…
Milk Preservative
Then was shown a goats boma.
This is their wealth…
Oh lastly, I learned their dance & some words:
KiSamburu:
·
Supa – Hello
· Ashe – Thank You
·
Meisis Yesu – Praise God
·
Tenkarana e Yesu – in Jesus name
My day of departure we woke up @ 3.00am!
Adventure Part II comes in the next post... 'the story
of my morning adventure'
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