Building Dorms, Mulot Market and Weapons Training

Building Dorms, Mulot Market and Weapons Training

Our first activity of the day was to visit a local market in a nearby town named Mulot. We were advised not to photograph in the market as some of the people there may not have appreciated it.  We were split into 3 “families” each with a particular needs. My “family” needed to buy a notebook a pen or pencil and if possible also a school bag for a child starting school. We also needed to buy food for the family for the week. For this this task we were given 500 shillings ($5), or what a typical local family spends on food in a week.  When you’re on that kind of budget you have to make tradeoffs. We were able to get the notebook and a pen and pencil. But were unable to fond a school bag at a price that fit our budget. In addition to the school supplies, our food for the week included 2 kilograms of corn, 1 kg of potatoes, 2 bundles of green onions, half a kilo of dry red beans a bag of kale and 5 tomatoes. An exercise like this gives you a whole new perspective on shopping and eating. I’ve included photos of what the two other groups were able to get with their 500 shillings.

Our 500 Shilling haul.

Another "family" was able to purchase rope, potatoes, ground corn meal, beans , shallots and rice.

The third group bought a jerry can for transporting water, corn, beans, shallots, chard and a few tomatoes, carrots and avocados.  the very large avocados cost only about 10 U.S. cents each.

After lunch the group proceeded to the build site of Kisaruni Girls School where we helped to build a new dorm building for the school. This is hard physical labor. We had to mix cement, move it and pour it as part of the foundation for the new building.  After about an hour and half of this we were all pretty exhausted.

Wilber instructs us on building site safety.

This what we saw when arrived at the site.

Kyle, Emily and Amy put their backs into the work.

Thumbs up from Amy. 

Stephen supervises

Matt was a powerhouse on the job site. Here he takes a break.

 Finally today, we had a medicine walk and weapons training with Robert and Steven, our Maasai warriors. Some of the plants they showed us were the Yellow Bark Acacia which has many uses, the Sodom plant whose stewed roots are helpful to keep babies healthy and the Maasai toothbrush, whose wood has antibacterial properties and is used in dental hygiene.

Stephen shows up the Sodom plant.

Robert uses a "Maasai Toothbrush"

Some dental hygiene, Kenya-style, for me.

 After the medicine walk, Robert and Steven taught us how to use the Conga (Maasai war club) and bow and arrow. Everyone had a ton of fun. At the end we had a conga target competition. I was able to hit a lion (a blanket hung on a bush) and a giraffe (a tall Acacia tree).

Robert demonstrates how to throw a conga (Maasai war club)

Nice throw, Maasai Flincher!

Amy in action. 

Evelyn takes aim.

We saw these zebra on the walk back, only about a five minute walk from camp. 

 When we got back to camp the kitchen staff had a delicious dinner of freshly baked rolls, Kenyan bruschetta, curried chicken, rice, sautéed pumpkin and jello waiting for us. The food here has been exceptional all week. Kudos to the cooks and servers!

Dinner included curried chicken and rice–delicious.