We arose - don't ask me on what day - early to head to Gatab. Gatab is atop Mount Kor. I've always heard of the splendor of Gatab. Running out of food, I'm thinking----okay like man----we're finally going to have some access to a small duka (shop) to get a head of cabbage or some other small vegetable on which to nourish my soul and my body. As we travel enroute to Gatab, we stop at a small town at the foot of the mountain where the uncle of Josie's birth father lives. A really important reason we made this trip was for Josie to meet her relatives. This village, where we stop, is truly just a small settlement of houses in the dust. But we are ushered in from the vehicle with big smiles into a small room with 2 sofas and 2 or 3 chairs. Our entourage takes up all the seating spaces. And soon, as is customary in Kenya, we are served tea. We hold our hands tightly over the top of the sweet nectar in our cups to keep out the multitude of flies who wish to claim the drink. While imbibing, we listen to stories about her uncle's service in the government, which relatives live here, which relatives live in other areas in Kenya's northern frontiers. Everyone of course wants photos, as do we! After photos, we gather up Josie's half-brother and off we head to Gatab to meet Josie's half sister and other friends of Sherri's from when she lived in Gatab for 4 years nearly 25 years ago!
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| Josie in peach - her uncle in blue with the cowboy hat - her half-brother in the white/red Emerites T-shirt |
It always seems that when you think the worst is over, you might be surprised at the next turn of events which shakes you to the ground. Ngurunit was a brief respite, but then we left and headed into the mountains climbing up rugged terraine which caused everyone in the vehicle to tremble except me. I'm just simply too "que sera" "que sera" to get excited. But my pictures of climbing the mountain into the dense, treed mountaintop were all blurry because we were just bouncing around so much--and at places we were right next to escarpments where looking straight down into a ravine made the humblest of men want to cry for mommy.
But as you can see, we were out of the desert! It still hadn't rained on this mountain, but every morning, when we woke up, it was frigidly cold, foggy, and covered in clouds. We were on top of God's earth. But talk about gorgeous views.
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| A view from the top of the mountain looking at Lake Turkana in the distance |
We were originally all going to meet more of Josie's relatives. But, we awoke to find that our night watchman at the Chameleon Camp had a pus-laden, swollen leg and Tom and I decided it was important to take him to the clinic to get it taken care of. We went to the clinic only to find that nobody was there as they had to transport a guy with a severe laceration from a panga to Marsabit. They told us to come back in the afternoon. So our new-found guide offered us a walking tour of the village of Gatab. We walked through areas which used to be inhabited by UNESCO and missionaries which now were crumbling ruins. No guest house -- no missionary house -- just a flat cement slab and a few steps. We eventually did get to take our friend to the clinic for antibiotics and a washing of his wound, but it amazed me that he cheerfully guided us and never once uttered a complaint about his wound--which I know is very, very painful.
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| Our Guide - we could not pronounce his name posing with Tom |
As beautiful as it was atop Mt. Kor, it was horrendously windy. I mean the wind roared and blew. It was cold--I did not put on the culturally acceptable skirt but donned my jeans, accepting the fact that folks would accept us just because we were foreigners who didn't know any better. We sat on what was called the "network escarpment" a small ledge on the side of the mountain to get telephone service. But to get down onto the ledge gave me more than a little chill, and it wasn't from the cool of the wind but the force of the wind, which I feared might blow us off the edge of the mountain. I do have a small fear of heights, and I confess while I enjoyed sitting in the cleft of the mountain sheltered from the wind basking in the warmth of the sun, I was looking forward to getting off this mountain. The wind made the trees grow crooked!
With both my jacket and Tom's jacket, I was still so cold. I had as much wind-burn as I did sun-burn from this trip.
We toured more schools here at Gatab, but frankly folks, once you've seen one rural school, you've seen them all. No disrespect intended. But the rugged acommodations, lack of water for washing my face, and the cold and windy weather which blew straight threw the outhouse sticks freezing my bum when I squatted to pee all were wearing me down. We had spiders the size of my palm in our manyatta, lizzards double the size, and the wind howled at night through the creeks and holes in the manyatta. Needless to say, it was as always, the people who made the trip for us. On the 2nd night of our stay in Gatab, the pastor of the village invited us for supper. IT WAS SUPERB!!!! Vegetables, chapatis, meat, chai. We were so privileged to be invited by these fine people who prepared their best for our supper. I repeat, it was the people of this village who made our trip. It sure wasn't Chameleon Camp. :)
Here's a picture of Josie and her little sister, who we met in Gatab. Her name is Joy, and she was such a lovely little cutie. I was immensely grateful Josie was at last finally meeting her family. This made the trip all worthwhile, but I was still yearning for Marsabit--where we would at last access stores, and water, and stuff I was really missing like mandazie (Kenya sweet bread). I'm a city kid folks! I also really started to count my blessings and began praying for these people who have such a hard life, a cheerful attitude, and a deep desire to better their lives.
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| Joy & Josie |
