In the afternoon before the celebration, Monica and Zilpa, two of the young women from the household, took us on a walk around the Kochia area, up to the top of one of the high hills to see the views and get a feel for the landscape in a different way.
Along the walk, we met lots of people who wanted us to stop and talk, and to take their pictures. This phenomenon seemed universal on this trip. As a courtesy, we always ask before taking someone's picture, but here, we were often approached first by not only the children, but also by adults who pulled us into their compounds. Their faces are beautiful. I am planning to make copies of these photos and send them to Maureen to distribute, but they also seemed to get a kick out of looking at the LCD screen in the moment.
Monica took us to see her brother's house. This compound was typical of many in the area with a more modern house where part of the family live and the more traditional dung and wattle house where other members of the extended family live.
One of the women we met along the way was harvesting millet, one of the staple grains in the diet. She had it laid out on a mat in the sun to dry, and then pounding the grains off the stem with a mallet. The grain is then taken to the posho mill locally to be ground into a millet flour for the ugali.
This walk also let us see more of the impact of the drought in the area. Since this village is very close to the lake, those who can afford a pump can irrigate, but those who cannot have crops that are dying from the lack of water. Most of the region is very poor, and the access to pumps is limited. (Kenya does not seem to have addressed the long term impact of using the lake water for irrigation without any regulation. If you can get a pump, you can pump as much water as you want.)
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