COUNTRY: Kenya
PROGRAM: GapBreak
PROJECT: Community & Conservation
WRITTEN BY: Ella scott
Their weekends have included wine and cheese nights, without the cheese, and massages on the white sandy beach of Diani, however during the week, our lovely Kenya Gappers have been working their socks off as well as experiencing lots of cultural experiences and this past week they have been busy planting trees in Kaya. Ella brings this weeks update …
In the past three weeks we’ve made huge progress on our project work spending two more weeks working on the Emergency Ward at Muhaka and the past week in Kaya doing environmental conservation work.
Week 5 was bitter sweet as we welcomed three new members to the group and said goodbye to two of our ‘family members’.
In week two and three our group was divided as half set off for two weeks of project work and safari in Tsavo and the rest of us stayed in Muhaka and continued work on the Emergency Ward. Considering there was only five of us we were really proud of the work we did, making 9 windows by sawing metal and wood, plaining wood and hammering all the planks together to create a stable window frame.
In week three we began fitting the window frames to the building and plastering the windows in, a harder job than we expected as the edges had to be perfectly smooth and it became slightly laborious by the end.
It was really rewarding to welcome the rest of the group back on Thursday and have them ,tell us how amazing the building looked and how much progress had been made.
We have spent the past week at camp Kaya, 10 minutes’ walk from Camp Muhaka. Here we met our project leaders Mzee (old man) Sururu and Moses, elders fromt he Kaya Muhaka Elders Conservation Group, who introduced us to the camp and its purpose. On Monday we spent the morning getting acquainted with the new camp and settling into our tents. That afternoon Mzee Sururu took us on a walk through the sacred Kaya forest which was an amazing experience, made even more fun by the torrential rain that began half way through and the two meter snake sighting along the way!!
Over the next three days we got to work, clearing large fields of grasses and digging 100 holes followed by planting 100 trees. It was tiring being out in the open under the sun doing work that was physically very toughas we had been used to the shade of the emergency ward but extremely rewarding knowing that we were increasing the amount of trees for the forest.
On our last day in Kaya we went on a village tour which Mzee Sururu lead. We were taught the customs and traditions of the community and how they utilize the land in order to live. We got to try all of the fruits and vegetable that are grown and shown how and why they were used. We then visited a household where we were taught by two mamas how to make Ugali, the traditional staple food of many Kenyan households maid from matured maize.
We returned to Camp Kaya for lunch then packed our things and headed back home the Camp Muhaka. In the afternoon we were given the opportunity to visit a local Witch doctor, a strange but worthwhile and amazing experience.
Before we entered the premises, we were dressed in traditional clothing and were asked to take of our shoes and remain quiet and respectful within his presence.
We were welcomed with a traditional welcoming song which was followed by an example of how the Witch doctor would perform essentially what we would call an ‘exorcism’. Having finished the example and explaining how the process worked we were sung a farewell song which we all danced to, along with some of the local children and women which was an incredible experience.
While some of us found the simulation somewhat scary and unusual, we all agreed that it was an amazing thing to see and we were so glad to have been a part of it.
Once again the past three weeks have been absolutely amazing and the time has passed so quickly. We are all looking forward to the next few weeks which will be filled with more new and exciting experiences.
No comments:
Post a Comment