25 January 2017 Ngurunit return
2017 I have been a ghost so far as concerns the blog. Wisps of thought float through my mind now
and then about sitting down and writing, but then they blow away in the
slightest breeze of distraction. The end
of December 2016 I spent the holidays in Ngurunit with family and friends. We greeted in the New Year in fine style
talking and laughing around a campfire under the stars. Amazing and beautiful. We headed back into ‘civilization’ on 2nd
January to jump back into the life race of school, work and the connected
world. Those were the days these last
few weeks I thought of greeting the world with a post for 2017. Day by day the thought remained that, a
thought. Weeks went by and I have returned
to Ngurunit, far from any internet connection, and now I get the urge to
write. So I am writing. At least I can save it and will be motivated
to post once I am back to the world of the web!! Might even make it regular while I am here to
record what is happening around me.
Right now I am sitting outside my house watching the goats and sheep in
my yard being fed. It is beautiful here,
but oh so dry. The goats and sheep in an
ideal world would be out grazing the bush, not eating store bought feed pellets
in my compound. Unfortunately it isn’t
an ideal world and drought is setting in hard and fast. I arrived just a couple hours ago and already
I have had conversations with several people about the hardship being
experienced already. Water is getting
scarce and the source for the piped water to town has basically dried up. A water truck headed past my house going to
Arsim, 43 Km away, to fill up and bring back a tanker full for the town people. There is still water in the open wells in the
river but this is preserved for the livestock and households get last chance
for this, if any left, at the end of the day when it is muddy and thick. Up the mountain, there is still some
livestock food left in the form of a vine tuber root that needs to be dug out
and cut open for the cows to eat. Hard,
back breaking work. At least there is
something. But how long that source will
last is anybody’s guess.
Despite how dry it is, it is always beautiful. A peace pervades this area that I crave when
I am in the crazy world outside this valley.
This trip to arrive was a challenge.
The plan was to come on Tuesday.
So Monday was preparation day.
Lots to organize and purchase.
Office work to finish and school bursaries to pay for students before I
left. Monday, the president of Kenya,
Honorable Uhuru, made an appearance in Maralal.
Campaign season has started. The
result for me was that all shops were closed and most of the roads in town
blocked. To add to this chaos, my Land Cruiser needed to go into the garage
to address some bad dinging sound from the undercarriage and the power kept
going off all over town. With great
effort, using back roads and evening shopping I managed to get mostly ready. One major issue forced me to give up on the
school payments that day so planned to do them after my return from
Ngurunit. The vehicle also delayed but I
slept Monday night with a plan to have it by early Tuesday, get it packed and
take off for Ngurunit by 10 am. Tuesday
dawned bright and I got off to a good start.
By 10:30, I had the car back and was all packed up; work materials, food
and dogs. Ready to go but for one thing,
my planned passenger had backed out so not wanting me to go alone, Reuben
(husband) was looking for someone to accompany me, at least to Baragoi. We finally found someone to go with me after
1 ½ hours of searching. Off I went at
almost 12:30. Late but still
doable. 30 Km out I stopped to check
some banging noise. Discovered one hub
with only 2 nuts left and the exhaust hanging, despite the fact the garage was
supposed to have sorted out both of those issues. A few phone calls later, and I, the dogs and
my hard found passenger were heading back to Maralal after deciding it wasn’t
worth the risk of the next 170 km with a unreliable vehicle. Benefits of the return included finally being
able to get the important needed school bursary payments done Tuesday evening
and getting to switch into the fancy comfortable car for today’s journey. I woke early this morning, shifted all the
luggage from one car to the other. This
time I easily found a friend who also wanted to reach Ngurunit today. Loaded up the dogs and off we went. Arrived without a hitch today. A day later
than planned, but at least I finally made it.
Oh do I welcome the peace and beauty of Ngurunit this evening. Lovely.
But please Lord, send us some rain!
