Day 6: Chieng Podho

The Sunset

            Hi there, it’s Sriram, or as they call me here Sri-mom. As part of my daily mom checkup, I’m sad to say that Ajay and Julia are not feeling well again today. The heat really exhausted both of them the last few days, so today we gave them another chance to stay home and rest up again. As for our bodyguard Jared, the day started bright and early as he headed out to the Secondary School with our mentors Tom and Heather to layout and perform the 2D Resistivity test near the dry well site. 

             At around 11 AM, Tristen and I headed over to the Secondary School to meet Jared and begin contract negotiations with Elvis, our contractor, for the new repairs needed to the two systems. This was the first time any of us, Tristen, Jared, or I, had dealt with a professional contractor, but I definitely think we rocked it.  We discussed with Elvis regarding new repairs and old issues from the previous implementation trip, and did a great job standing our ground, making sure we weren’t bullied into unreasonable prices and demands. With full support from our NGO Peter Oduor, the school principal Gregory, and the WatSan secretary Simeon, we came out of the principal’s office celebrating our victory to see a very intriguing site….Heather herding school children away from the test site. With her suave talk, she successfully convinced the students to machete the grass elsewhere.    

    

                After lunch, much of the afternoon passed through with water samples being collected by Jared as Tristen and I drafted the contract and letter to our old contractor. Soon after, the 2D Resistivity test ended successfully and all of us on the field wrapped up the equipment, traversing the field for various gadgets by hanging off of the side of a car.

After the equipment left, Tristen, Jared, and I slipped down the cliff behind the Secondary School to catch chieng podho, the sunset. We followed a foliaged trail down the cliff, slashing thorny bushes, and fighting spiders and other crawling creatures. Within 10 minutes of heavy trekking through this terrain, we discovered a clear rocky trail, down to an open field with the beautiful view of chieng podho with the backdrop of Kisumu and Lake Victoria. Once down on the open field, we were spotted by local children who scurried down the trails (20 times faster than us, and that too either barefoot or in flip-flops). Fascinated with our weird English and awkward Luo accent, we conversed with the children using our Luo guide, exhausting every phrase we could find.  Regardless of our sporadic success with language communication, we enjoyed the company of the children and laughed a lot as we took multiple photos and videos, capturing the beauty of the sunset in Kenya and the little children in the field. Soon after dusk, we returned home feeling energized after chieng podho only to dump buckets of water on Heather (a traditional Kenyan celebration) for her birthday, creating the perfect end to another fantastic day in Kenya.