25 years ago the African Inland Mission came to Cheptebo, so today is the celebration of that event. The site is now a training and conference centre specialising in rural development. There is a farm here with crops, livestock and fruit trees. There are 15,000 mango trees, bought from here as saplings, now established in the Kerio valley. Discussions are taking place to export this mango fruit from Eldoret direct to Europe. The site is now run by the African Inland Church.
Word was put out about these celebrations and 3,000 people were expected to attend. Joseph and Sally,the managers, slaughtered two cows and two goats to feed all those that came. Nearly 5,000 people came and not only did the meat get eaten but also 12 sacks of rice (300kg). The storeroom was emptied.
John, Mary and I were classed as dignitaries so were sat in the VIP tent along with other visitors. The service started at ten and finished at three. Lots of singing along with long speeches.
After the service there was lunch and by 5pm the place was empty again as lots of people had walked miles to get here and wanted to be home by nightfall. Mind you the vehicles that did come were jammed full. One 12 seater minibus had more than 25 people in it.
A very different day for us visitors.
Tomorrow I hope to get to the cyber place in Cabernet and catch up with loading photos to the blog. I hope that will add some visual interest.
No comments:
Post a Comment