Last week, our contacts, Laban and
Gladys Wekesa took us to visit their home village of Nambami. It’s in
western Kenya near the Uganda border, about a 5-hour drive from
Nakuru. We loaded up in a matatu, that’s a public transport van in
Africa, and headed west. On the drive we crossed the equator. It
wasn’t really exciting, just a rusted out sign on the side of the
road. Still, it’s neat to say we were on the equator.
The scenery was beautiful on the way
and at the village. We were surrounded by fields of maize and
sugarcane. Coming from a farming family, it’s so hard for me to
imagine that they do all their farming by hand without large
equipment and machinery like we have. They are definitely hard
workers. We saw many people out working in the fields or guarding
their herd of cattle and sheep in the pastures.
The Wekesa’s house in the village
doesn’t have electricity or running water and the bathroom is a
separate building out back with a hole in the floor. However, their
house was very nice compared to most in the village, which are made
with mud. We enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful scenery around us.
We even found a real American football and played catch in the yard.
While a
t the village, we met Laban
Wekesa’s mother, who recently lost her husband. We also visited
several Christians at their homes, offering prayers and
encouragement. We literally walked from house to house through the
corn fields on narrow dirt paths. It was a neat experience.
We also visited students at a nearby
school that was started only a few years ago. For many of the
students, we were the first white people they’ve ever seen. John
spoke to them one day offering encouragement. The next day, the
students had a surprise for us. They did a demonstration of
traditional African dance and singing. It was really good! They
actually will go to a competition later this month.
We taught the students a song, and
Charity taught them the basics of how to play baseball. We brought
some baseballs but didn’t have a bat. So, we used a broken off board.
Tash, Rachael and I served as the bases. It was really funny, but
they seemed to like it.
Another fun time at the village was
when a group came to play some traditional African instruments, sing
and dance for us. They tried to teach us how to dance like they do.
They move their shoulders up and down really fast. It was difficult
to do, but interesting to watch. Some of the kids were really good.
Everyone enjoyed laughing at the white people trying to dance like
they do.
All in all the
trip to the village was really nice. We enjoyed getting out of the
city ad seeing more of Kenya’s beautiful countryside, while learning
more about their culture.
