#  >  > Non Asia Travel Forums >  >  > Travel the World Travellers Tales Forum >  >  An African adventure

## flash

One of my favourite things about TeakDoor is the travel tales, so I thought I would have a bash at it.

 Four years ago my brother took his family to Kenya on safari and whilst there went off the beaten track and came across small villages with extreme poverty, when he came home he decided he had to do something and we started to look how we could help. with a little research my brother found an Irish priest who lived with a small hill tribe called Pokot. we got in touch with him and learned about what he has done and his plans for the future, we will cover all that through the course of the thread. we have been raising money since then with events and fundraisers in our local area.

Anyway myself my brother and 2 others made a trip last halloween to see what we were raising money for, I have to say its the most amazing experience of my life so far.


We flew into Nairobi and were met by David(the irish priest) who took us to our hotel, he told us to get a good nights sleep as it was a tough 8 hour drive in the morning to our destination and after a couple of nightcaps thats what we did.

We got up around 6.30 had breakfast and loaded up the truck and set on our merry way. It was a misty rainy morning very similar to a shitty morning at home in Ireland, i thought i had taken the wrong clothes with me for the trip but david assured us we didn't, Nairobi is 5000ft above sea level so the mornings are quite damp, we were to climb another 3000ft on our mornings trip. Nairobi is a lot like any other big city but as soon as you get outside the city it is a lot less modern.

these first group of pictures were taken from a moving pick-up so excuse the quality

the road was very good at this point and had little groups of buildings close to the road





Its pretty green here and there were lots of cattle grazing and crops planted


as we got further the markets started to fill up.


The rain finally stopped, the clouds lifted and we began to see around us a bit better, quite the view, this is around 8000ft above sea level.


when the rain stopped the dust started and we started our decent

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## flash

the weather was clearing up now and we decided to stretch our legs at the Equator, which consisted of a few shacks selling trinkets and a sign that read"you are now on the Equator" I thought they would have at least had a starbucks!


a couple of locals up to take a look at the funny looking white men


we chatted to the local women for a bit had a look round and set off again armed to the teeth with wood carvings, treasure boxes and necklaces ready for anything


The road was still pretty good at this point, a few pot holes here and there but not too bad, the land around us turned red and the lush landscapes were replaced by clay and cactus plants. The photos are quite deceptive, the green you see is trees and thorny bushes


we arrived in Eldoret around midday and stopped for a bite to eat and to re-fuel.

Eldoret looked very much like a wild west town with shops made from leaning bits of tin together with dirt roads, lots of goats and people around, 

we had some lunch in the restaurant at the local hotel(i only call it a restaurant and hotel cause thats what it said on the sign) Don't know what I ate but I know it didn't taste like any meat I have eaten before.

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## kingwilly

great stuff mate! (i'd green but i've shelled out too many in the last 24 hours)

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## klongmaster

Good start...like you I always enjoy these travel reports...

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## flash

We stocked up in Eldoret and split into 2 trucks as this was the difficult part of the journey and the end of terra firma.

the dirt track cut its way through the bush and brought us to this dryed up river bed

David told us this was pretty dangerous and that flash floods happen regular and have torn down the bridge and swept trucks away
the bridge got washed away a couple of years ago and was never repaired, looks like it could have been a pretty prosporous area at some point, quite a lot of dwellings around the bridge

After we crossed the river the roads got really bad and we were basically driving over a mountain, our trusty steed


The road was pretty much like this for the next 3 hours, rough rocks and dirt

after being tossed about a pickup for a few hours we came over the crest of the mountain and were faced with a view i don't think i will ever forget, in the distance we could see our destination, barpello village on the edge of the Rift Valley, photo's and video really don't do it justice.



next part tomorrow when we have a look at Pokot life.............................

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## ChiangMai noon

absolutely beautiful.

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## flash

After a night of scary jungle noises we got up for our first look around Barpello, 
this is the view that greeted us


the hi tech piece of equipment on the left is a solar oven, a wooden box with 2 sheets of glass on top, stick you dinner in there in the morning and it slow cooks all day 


Our first visit for the day was to Barpello primary school, a Government run school with 303 students fro the age of 5 to 15(late starters).

This place is very run down and in need of some attention

This is the old kitchen that blew down in a storm


this is a makeshift kitchen to feed all the students when food is available


Primary school can be pretty exausting




there were 3 main buildings that made up the school housing 7 classrooms and a staff room, the wind was lifting the tin roof and making a lot of noise






There have been less than 30 white people to have ever visited this area because it is so isolated, we were quite the attraction(freakshow)

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## Wayne Kerr

Mate I'm off there next week, although off to the coast. Beat me to it.  :Smile: 

Great stuff. Always love a traveller's tale  :Smile:

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## flash

As this is the jungle some of the kids have to travel a long way to come to school, so a lot of the kids board.

25 boys sleep and cook for themselves in this small room


A tiny suitcase for the term


Teachers in the staff room



Our visit was big news for the Kids and they had lined up some entertainment that they had been practicing for a couple of weeks.

we all gathered round 

some of the parents




Some didn't like to come too close


the kids came out and showed us a traditional dance, it was similar to a haka. they wore bells on their ankles, stamped their feet and chanted, amazing thing to see.
the guy in the white led them



This lasted for about 45 minutes, then it was our turn to entertain them. we had a guitar, violin, tin whistle and a bodhran and played them some irish jigs and reels, they hadn't seen instruments like these before so they were wide eyed at the sight of them.


I noticed these 2 kids trying to sneak up for a look, I found out later that they were painted up like this because someone in their family was or had been sick


these kids were very well mannered and keen to learn, something you don't see where I am from that often. they don't have much, well anything really but thats the way they have always been so don't know any different. their smiles were very infectious


well I got my eyes opened that morning


we waved good bye and pushed on...........................

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## flash

I have some video that is quite interesting, can videos be enbedded in this part of the forum, ans how do you do it??

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## dirtydog

^You can now, they need to be under 10mb and wmv format, just click "Post Reply", "attachment manage" and upload, if you need a video convertor I can send you one.

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## flash

Thanks, I'll let you know about the convertor, i will have to chop the video up a bit first.

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## Marmite the Dog

Great pics Flash. It's always lovely to see pics of kids having fun, and the scenic ones were pretty good too.

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## dirtydog

Thank God for Africans, at least it gives the Thais someone to feel superior to  :Smile:

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## Lady Hawk

Thanks flash love these threads beautiful pics of the kids.

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## Reaper

Thanks!

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## William

WK - if you're off to Mombasa, keep your cock in your pants.  :Smile: 

Love the pics - thanks

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## flash

thanks for your comments
back to the story

After the primary School we went to visit the medical centre, I didn't really like taking photo's inside as there were sick babies and upset mothers.

David started the medical programme 9 years ago and has been very successful. when he started infant mortality was 2 in 10 babies survived, today 8 out of 10 are surviving, and amazing achivement i'm sure you will agree. With more babies surviving now it creates the problem of their population growing at a much higher rate with a lot more mouths to feed. 

this is where patients have to stay overnight


This is the kitchen


Pretty basic stuff

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## flash

our next stop was the nursery school

the tiny tots seemed a little scared of the white devils




they warmed to us after we gave them some tennis balls




we then got a few renditions of nursery rhymes 


they then showed us their writing skills


lovely little kids

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## Lady Hawk

you really have captured the feel of this place in your pics got me wanting to go now.

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## 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

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## 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

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## 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................................

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## William

^certainly not boring to me mate.

Cheers for all the hard work

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## sabang

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

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## Udonite

Great pictures, a green on the way.

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## 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  :rofl:  That would be the icing on the cake  :rofl:  :rofl: 

Thanks!

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## bkkmadness

> 


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

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## hillbilly

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

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## 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.

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## 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

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## flash

> 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



> 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)

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## 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.

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## 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?

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## 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.

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## flash

> 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.

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## 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.

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## 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......

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## dirtydog

> 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.

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## flash

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

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