Easter in Kericho

Happy Easter! We are on an adventure this weekend! While our friends in the States are hiding and finding colored eggs in green yards, we are plucking tea leaves from the greenest fields you have ever seen!

Logan and I left this morning from Tenwek with Nancy and Alfred in a hired car. We hired a driver, Lawrence, who happens to be one of our neighbors, living right next to Nancy and Alfred. We were not 50 feet from our front door and Lawrence stopped the car and asked Logan, "Do you want to drive?" Are you kidding?! Logan jumped out of the backseat and took the driver's seat on the right side of the car. He did a great job, but had to pay close attention because this was the first time he had driven on the left side of the road. Also he had to shift with his left hand. The funny thing was that he kept turning the windshield wipers on when he was meaning to signal for a turn. Alfred, Nancy, and especially our driver Lawrence were so impressed with how skilled Logan was. I know it felt good for Logan to drive again, too.

Two hours later, we arrived at Alfred's home outside of Kericho town. He is the 6th of 9 children. Their family lives on a small tea farm. They gave us a tour of their tea field and showed us how to pluck the tea leaves. You only pluck the top three leaves, two are big and one is small. It was raining as we slushed through the muddy field but Liam was shielded in our nifty backpack. After taking chai with the family, we checked into the Tea Hotel in Kericho.

The Tea Hotel was built in the 1950's and is considered the nicest place to stay in Kericho. It has a certain charm to it, and we can tell it was very nice when it was built.

We spent the afternoon at the James Finlay company. Raymond, Alfred's brother, works in purchasing. Most employees live right on the compound, which is gorgeous surrounded by lush tea fields. We enjoyed a meal of rice, potatoes, spaghetti, beef and carrots. Nancy cooked our food in small coal stoves which are just off the ground. I had to watch Liam like a hawk. I can see why there are so many burns affecting Kenyan children. There are open fires, or at least hot coals, in most homes. But, Liam just went outside and made friends with the neighbors.

We were able to take a tour of the flower department of the Finlay company. They grow, package, and export millions of flowers. We were given white "visitor" lab coats and took a tour seeing the roses from picking, to cutting, storing, and eventually packaging. In one refrigerated holding room, we estimated there were over 400,000 flowers, and they are constantly moving more in and out. This was one thing I know my mother would have loved! It was so interesting! Even Alfred and Lawrence were like little kids on a field trip pushing their way to the front of the line. I don't think they would be given the opportunity to tour, had they not been accompanying the "mzungus".

We are exhausted and ready for bed! Tomorrow will be a full day as well. Nancy is so excited for us to go to her home and meet her family. She said there is a hill where she lives. For days the children in her village have just been watching the hill for the whites to come walking down to where they live. I know they are excited for tomorrow, and so are we! More to come...