In the heat of the night

In the Kerio Valley, as in all of Kenya, it had not rained since January. Accordingly, we missed the luminescent green of the trees and plants, known from earlier years. The heat with 36 degrees already in the early morning paralyzes the creative power and will. When checking the installation in the kindergarden on Monday morning the group was greeted by the little ones with a warm “Welcome – glad to see you” song.. Birgit handed over the gummy bears she had brought along to the teacher to distribute. Insistent hints were given about the sustainability of the newly installed computers combined with the expectation that they will be used more often than in the past.

After lunch, “siesta” was the order of the day – every movement drove the sweat from the pores. And, of course, plenty of water had to be drunk. From Sunday evening with Monday morning there was a continuous power outage, and the monotonous sound of the generators filled the air. And there was another sad incident. Two hostile tribes live in the Kerio Valley – the Marakwet to the west, the Poqots to the east of the river. They fight each and try to steal cattle and fruits from each other. If someone is caught stealing, he is shot, then avenged, and so on. This has been going on for years. When we stayed in Chesongoch, two young men of the Marakwet were killed. Now the polpulation is waiting for the revenge. Police and military are powerless to put an end to these fights. And the hospital in Chesongoch, apart from sparse first aid, is not equipped to help the seriously injured. The transport over the bumpy roads to the district hospital in Kapsowar takes about 45 min, with an initial 30 min shuffle back and forth because of the poor road conditions. Impossible to reach the district hospital with such bad road conditions.

After dinner, movies were shown again until the capacity of the solar panel battery was exhausted. Black out! After an early breakfast and lunch, we headed back to the airport in Eldoret, with a stopover in Kimumu. The further away from the Kerio Valley, the cooler it got. From Wilson Airport in Nairobi, driver Dan took us to the convention and the team lapsed into a well-deserved sleep after dinner.