An African adventure

[flash]

we then took a trip to Chepturu village

About a 45 minute drive through the bush.

we came accross a few people on the road

this is an old Pokot woman






we made a sharp left turn and reached Chepturu where the tribeswomen had assembled to greet us.




these ladies loved to sing and dance


the old lady on the right had walked 35 k/m to meet us and jumped around dancing and singing for an hour when we were there


the sound was amazing and very powerful, i'll post some videos at the end of the thread and you can judge for yourself

[flash]

it was hot, the smart people stayed in the shade




this blind man had walked a good distance to meet us too


It was our turn then to entertain.............





I think Irish dancing might be the next bit thing in Chepturu


thats a blurred me in the background dancing(without being totally shit faced)


this kid never dreamed such moves were possible


this one just liked the camera


and the dancing continued











we then all sat down to have a chat, we thanked eachother for the entertainment then the old lady above(the one who walked 35k/m) told us about the problems they faced each day. It was at this point that i became a bit overwhelmed by everything. these people were placing a lot of hope in us and I starting feeling a bit concerned about letting them down. their biggest problem was clean water, david told us about 80% of illness in the area was due to drinking dirty water, since our trip we have got fresh clean water piped to their village, one thing of a very big list. its nice to see positive things happening.

I think we shook hands with every single person there before leaving, of course they had a song to keep us safe on our way.



with just time to show the kids their pictures


this is one of my favourite photo's of my trip.


felt a little sad leaving Chepturu

[flash]

Thats all for today. hope i'm not boring you.

next we will visit the camel compound, the camels were walked 1600 kilometers from the Somalian border................................

[William]

^certainly not boring to me mate.

Cheers for all the hard work

[sabang]

Fascinating thread, and surely rewarding to see your kindness is tangibly helping these people.

[Udonite]

Great pictures, a green on the way.

[Happyman]

Bloody hell!
That took me back a few years !
You have captured the atmosphere, aura and presence of the people.

I spent about 20 years ( on and off) drilling water wells etc on contract to the UN and WHO in places like that , in Tanzania , Burundi, Rawanda, CAR and Sudan interspersed with spells in refugee camps in Etheopia.

Its sad to see that there is still places with bad water though!

I hope your vids are in the latest "smellyvision" format That would be the icing on the cake

Thanks!

[bkkmadness]

Originally Posted by flash

Great pics, and thread. Must be quite an emotional trip, seeing these people in absolute poverty. Still smiling though.

[hillbilly]

I had a great time reading this travel report. Amazing!

[natalie8]

I thikn this is the best tarvel thread I've read anywhere. Very moving stuff and your pics really capture the emotion. The Irish priest is quite an extraordinary man.

[flash]

thanks again for the comments.

on to the camels.......


These camels were funded by a company in Limerick, they were walked 1600 k/m from the Somalian border. Camels unlike cattle and goats can still produce milk in times of drought so are an excellent sustainable food source, females produce about 4 liters of milk a day which is enough to feed a family, when the camels breed the camelettes(technical term) can be sold for money which offsets medical and education costs.

This is the camel herders place








kids just seem to appear from nowhere

[flash]

Originally Posted by Happyman

I hope your vids are in the latest "smellyvision" format That would be the icing on the cake

There is a certain aroma and it wasn't old spice

Originally Posted by natalie8

The Irish priest is quite an extraordinary man.

Father David is honestly as close to a saint as i will ever meet, he was only meant to stay there for 2 years but he refused to go home as he thought he could do much more there, he is known as "the White Pokot" he has pretty much given his life up for the Pokot. when he spoke about things it was always "we" not they, he gets a visit home every year but he says he just can't settle even for a couple of weeks. He is a man who carries the weight of the world around on his shoulders. I really enjoyed his company and i think it was a little bit of a release when we were there, we sat up late most nights playing music and singing, the local beer "tusker" got a bit of a touch too.

I can see why he would miss it, the view he has every morning is breath taking, i tried to upload it but the file is too big(4 pictures stitched together)

[flash]

Welcome To Barpello High school!

Barpello High School is the brainchild of Father David, There were no High Schools within a 50 mile radius and none in Pokot territory so there wasn't very many options for the kids past a primary school level of education, So david decided to build one, I think you will be amazed at this cause i was.




Let me give you an idea of what it took to build this School,

As the area is so remote, building materials were difficult to transport, that added with the cost limited options.

The land was cleared by hand, the foundations were dug by hand(a full one metre) the bricks were hand cut to size, the aggregate for the concrete was hand picked from the bush, the guttering hand made wich collected water in an underground tank(hand dug)


there is a main school building, 2 dorms, a kitchen and a canteen.

There was an initial intake of 43 students which doubled in February.
This is the science block


very modern by local standards(no electric though), education is very important to these kids, let me take you through their day....

They get up at 7 and study for an hour, they then have 1/2 an hour personal hygene, have breakfast and start school at 9, they have their normal school day which finishes at 3:30, they have an hours playtime, have dinner and then study untill in gets dark. 6 days a week. they see education as a privilege and are very keen to learn. very well mannered kids too.

Of course they had lined up some more entertainment for us, off to the canteen...........










The kids loved seeing their pictures










This is the man who is responsible for all this

David.



I will be sending him a link to this thread, Give him a "top of the morning" if you have a chance.

[MeMock]

Top of the morning David. Fantastic work, well done.

Flash, perhaps there is some type of fundraiser that can be organised in Thailand to help this wonderfull work?

[Marmite the Dog]

They did a great job with the school and it's great to see the kids genuinely appreciating it. And again, some really good photos.

[flash]

Originally Posted by MeMock

Flash, perhaps there is some type of fundraiser that can be organised in Thailand to help this wonderfull work?

By all means, if anyone feels they want to help PM me.

[mali miner]

sorry to piss on your chips mate but them thar kids aint sick neither is anyone in their family.
faces are painted white for the knife (male female genital mutilation) guess the priest figured to leave that bit of info out.
and its not speculation its fact worked in the kenya tanzania border area for three years, now if you were to take photos of everyday people see how many smiling faces you come up with.

[Bung]

Great to read about that kneck of the woods again. I spent a year backpacking through Africa in 1988 with 4 months in Kenya. I just couldn't leave! The most life changing experience I've ever had and hardly a day passes without thinking about it. The people are just amazing and they taught a young fellow who had everything in life a thing or two.

Thanks for taking the time and effort to help these people, It has made a huge difference to there lives getting an education. I am sure they will never forget the Mazungu Flash.

Now if only 50% of the people in the 1st world took a couple of months out of their lives ,a few dollars, some effort and went and did something like this......

[dirtydog]

Originally Posted by mali miner

sorry to piss on your chips mate but them thar kids aint sick neither is anyone in their family.

What percentage of Kenyan women end up with infections etc after genital multilation? 90%? odds are they were sick then.

[flash]

I must finish this thread off, I'm away for a few days now so i'll do it when I get back