THE CHATLINE
Picture Supplement
JA 2011
The Warrington West Explorer Expedition—2010—to KENYA
Two years of planning, fund-raising and training finally culminated in 2010 when a team of our Explorer Scouts went out to Kenya with the
main purpose of bringing clean water to a very rural village. As the trip coincided with the World Rover |Moot in Kenya, a visit to the
Moot was included in the itinerary, as was a visit to B.P’s final resting place at Nyeri. Contacts were also made with the Nairobi Scouts
and St. Mary’s Secondary School and Child Rescue Centre in Nyeri to help with a community project .
THIS WAS THEIR ADVETURE!!!
St. Mary’s, yeri: We travelled straight from the airport in Nairobi to Nyeri. At St. Mary’s School, as well as being general visitors and
learning about their way of life and schooling, the team ran a
morning based around a careerr aspiration activity supported
in the Uk by General Electric called ‘My Future, My Choice’.
Roger and Nicholas from G.E.C came from Nairobi and
talked about their own schooling and careers. Hearing what
is possible, whatever your background, was inspirational to
our Scouts as well as the pupils.
We also visited Baden-Powell’s grave site in Nyeri and his last home in the grounds of the
Tree Tops Hotel, and renewed our Scout Promise alongside local Kenyan Scouts. We were
hosted by Brother Dominic, a 70-year old New Yorker, who has been in Africa for over 20
years working with communities. His great energy and passion for his work really came through and he was a fantastic host. He took us
out to lunch, showed us around the area and gave his time to us. Our Scouts made a big impression—and were really welcomed by the
boys. The School is for 14-18 year olds, but also houses Child Rescue boys who have a home there, and go out to primary schools in the
town. Tom Goulding wowed them with his circus skills, and Ed Birkett made a big impact on a basketball post—splitting his eyebrow for
our First Aid challenge. Good job everyone (yes, including Guy!!) had taken a First Aid course in preparation
for the trip.
At the School they have a very active Scout Group, who paraded and showed us their flag ceremony—very elaborate! When we left on the
Wednesday there were sad faces on both sides of the vans!
Touring and seeing the sites:
On leaving Nyeri, we had a two day tour, taking in views of Mount Kenya. Crossing the euator (several times—very windy road!),
touring Kenyan Wildlife Service Parks at Lake Nakuru, Lake Naivasha and Hell’s Gate.
On the Equator we had a demonstation of the Coriolis Effect—how water drains in
different directions in the northern and southern hemisphere.
Guy and Stephen were not convinced!
First views of the Rift Valley were of steep escarpments, a wide
valley and a long drive down. Lake Nakuru brought us up close
to the baboons—as we were being booked in we were all kept in
The vehicles by Stephen and Guy (part of the risk assessment
They said!). Still one baboon jumped into the front of one
Vehicle and stole some tissues—and in turn had them stolen by
A larger baboon.
Inside the Park on our way to our accommodation—we spotted a Lioness—just resting on a fallen
tree—magic! The accommodation was an old park
keeper’s bungalow—with good facilities and lunch
Ready. Over our evening meal that night we could
see buffalo grazing nearby.
That night we watched television with our hosts—
The National Referendum was coming in on the
Kenyan Constitution. A big YES vote means that
Kenya will have a Constitution drawn up themselves,
Rather than the one left by the British at Independence.
All the people we met were so enthusiastic for the Yes
vote.
On the second morning we toured around Lake Nakuru—stopping and getting out to see the thousands of flamingos, and the White
Rhinos (and to repair a puncture!).
Lake Naivasha was not on the original 20 page risk assessment!! So Stephen and Guy did
a rapid check—good condition boats, trained operators, no overcrowding, life jackets for
all—and don’t get to close to the hippos!
After the boat trip we had a walk across the open land—getting close to zebra, wildebeest
and giraffes-fantastic!
Hell’s Gate was an interesting place—big rock formations, hot springs and a walk down a
narrow gorge in a park where you are allowed to walk and cycle freely - and ended with a sighting of a leopard chasing an antelope!!
Exciting stuff (would have been even more exciting on a bike!)
Travelling out of the Rift Valley at night was an experience—passing very slow moving lorries on steep roads with little light!! And
then we had another puncture to repair as well.
In airobi:
The journey was worth it all when we arrived at the Hillcrest School, Nairobi, and they had a full meal ready for us—along with real
beds, sit down toilets and hot showers!! Not sure which was welcomed the most! The Hillcrest School is a private co-ed school with
great facilities—the Scouts enjoyed the tennis courts for a bit of exercise.
The residential accommodation, called Toad Hall, was run by Lubov Kuzi—a
Russian who had married a Kenyan many years ago and settled in Nairobi. The
referendum result means she will be able to reclaim her Russian nationality,
given up when she married. The staff, Catherine and Jerry, produced excellent
meals for us.
We atternded the 13th Worls Scout Moot in Nairobi—with over 2000 Scouts
aged 18-25 meeting in Nairobi and we spent a day hearing about their experiences and mixing with Scouts from across the world. The
best uniform was Mexican (cool red shirt!).
We did lots of badge swaps, enjoyed
some interesting food and drink and
stayed for a display of African music and
dancing from various groups—the biggest
was a marching band with two sets of
marchers—all Scouts from one school.
Much of the education in Kenya is
residential so Scouting is a popular
activity—and seen as a definite advantage
for future education and work.
We also visited two animal sanctuaries—one for Giraffes and one for
Elephants. We all had the opportunity to hand feed the giraffes (or
have them lick the feed from our lips!!)
The group contributed to the adoption of one of the elephants, Sities,
(pictured with the blanket) who had been orphaned and just
wandered into the sanctuary looking for company.
W hilst at the School we met a party of 70 Yorkshire Explorer Scouts and
their 20 Leaders. They were under the guidance of Peter Drake, an experienced
former Scout Commissioner who Stephen had visited to get information for our
trip. The Yorkshire Group had a full medical team and checked over Ed’s eye
(repairing well!!) and his mouth ulcers (very sore, and stopped him from
talking!) and helped with a medical prescription. They had just completed a
trek in the bush, using camels to carry their kit!
They were living off army pack rations (90 bags being boiled up at one time)
and we had envious scrutiny on our home cooked meals—the spare chips and
chocolate cake disappeared very quickly!
And so to bed, ready for an early start on the road to Mombasa.
AT LAST! The prime raison d'être of our Expedition—THE DAM!
It was a 160 mile, four and a half hour journey down the main road to Mombasa. At each village the road has speed bumps—which
give a shock to the system. Occasionally there was no road and you had to take a detour off to the side—more shocks!
As we travelled we were getting to a lower altitude and drier area—very barren at times. We often passed groups with bikes and plastic
barrels collecting and carrying water..
The Sand Dam project was sled by UK based charity, Excellent Development, with their local Kenyan Field Officers, Kyalo Matheka,
Andrew Musila and Cornelius Kato. We had really good help from Alexander Oatham back in the UK setting the whole thing up.
We met Kyalo and Musila at Mtito Andei, essentially a truck stop half way from Nairobi to Mombasa. They arrived in their matatu (a
minibus / van) and we followed them to The Compound! Our first sight of home for the next ten days was down a dirt treack past a
few basic shops and then pulling up to gates made of 10’ high corrugated iron, with a rough wooden fence—a little off-putting at first
sight!
Inside though the compound was neat, tidy and organised. A building
housed the office and 4 rooms (2 for Leaders and 2 for the girls). The
boys had three large tents to share—and mattresses were provided for all
so it was fairly comfortable. Then
we found the toilets (two long
drops) and the showers (two
rooms you took buckets of water
into!) not so comfortable but we
got used to them. Sunday was
spent stringing up mozzy nets and
a quick walk round the village.
Catering was by Mutindi and
Mwende—on charcoal stoves in a
small hut in the corner of the com-
pound—and they produced some really great meals. Mutindi’s father owns a number of businesses in the town, and she was back
home at the end of her second year on a Sociology course at University in Eldoret, Kenya. We had some good chats with Mutindi and
we are still in touch.
Security was by the night watchman, who came on duty around 5 pm to fill up the water containers from the single borehole supplied
tap in the middle of town, stocked up the water heater, and then stood guard all night with his bow and arrow. We made sure to wave
to him if we went out to the loos at night!
We were to work on building, from local sand, rocks and bought-in cement, a dam 2.7 m high and 15 m wide across a water course.
This will fill with sand in the rainy seasons, under which will be trapped a clean water supply.
We had been warned it would be hard and dirty work.
The engineering design was under the guidance of Jackline
Naomi (seen here taking a break with a typical lunch—
maize, ugali (a porridge made from corn starch) and koma
wiki (greens).
On our first full day we visited two already established Dams
showing the crop fields that are possible and the much
greener area by the river that gets established as the water
table rises.
Lastly we also visited the site of the Dam we were going to build and would spend most of
our time on—the locals had already started the digging down to reach bedrock.
On our second day we were put to work!
For our first ‘workday’ we were taken to a Dam already in pro-
gress—all work stopped as we had introductions and blessings for
our contribution. Then we started—very messy and hard qwork—bit
of a shock! But the community really made us welcome—lots of
chat and jokes and even some singing. At the end of the day they
gathered again and said thanks for our work—and presented us with
a bag for carrying loads.
Day three and we started on our main project. The boarding was
up ready for the base level. First activity on every day was, “Fetch
rocks!”, which meant a trek down the river bed of 150 m and carry
rocks back up to the site—sounds easy but an hour of that is a
great work-out!
The process is very organised—
given the 300 Dams they have now completed. For the base layer it was 2
wheelbarrow loads of sand (from the river bed), one 35 kg bag of cement.
These were mixed at one spot, transferred to a second to improve the mix-
ing, andthen finally gathered in one spot equivalent to around 30 mixes!!
Then we gathered water from a water hole in the river bed and added it to
the mix. To load the base layer of the Dam the concrete was slung from
the ashovel—not a pleasant task. The Dam was made up with a mixture of
concrete, rocks and some steel bars / barbed wire to aid the overall reinforcing.
We spent four days in construction—a very busy
time and very hands on! To
fill the wings of the Dam we
passed small dishes (kraals)
hand to hand for 2-3 hours to
pass up the concrete.
On the Friday, Levi, Raph-
ael, and Gladys from G.E.C
made the drive from Nairobi
to join in and help. Raphael
was from the area so knew
the local language and made
a good link between us and
the group
Sunday was a day off hard labour—so most of the group went with Mtindi to the local African Inland Church—2 and a half
hour service on hard benches They had a great choir—and separate spots for men and then women to sing, and also the
young children’s group to sing and dance. Mutindi arranged for us to sit near the front to see everything—and we had to
address the congregation and say a few words. The hymn book was in Swahili—but very phonetic so we could join in with
‘Abide with me’ and ‘Then sings my soul’. The sermon was delivered in English and Swahili for our benefit.
They had a collection, and where the congregation cannot bring money they bring goods—which are then auctioned.
Stephen won the bid on 6 eggs which were then presented to the Pastor at the end of the service to give to a family in need.
After church and lunch, we were indulged with a dip in the swimming pool at a local hotel—and a bottle of cold soda—
bliss!
On Monday we went back to the Dam for the celebration with
the community for a job well done—with speeches, a special meal
of goat stew and an exchange of gifts. This included handing over
a Warrington shield from our Mayor to the Community Leaders.
The Community presented each of our Group with a local design
bag—the ladies had the version designed for the straps to go round
your forehead to carry heavy loads—useful for the shops!
There were lots of laughs and cheers during this—a great fun time
as we all sat, mixed Scouts and Community and reflected on the
achievement and friendships we had made.
Pictured in the purple
jacket is Daniel
Mutiku, the 76 year
old community leader,
who lived about 1 km
from the Dam site. He
worked as hard as
anyone on the Dam—
when Stephen took his
shovel to give him a rest, he took one from someone else to carry on! He said that
keeping busy helped keep him young—sentiment that Brother Dominic had expressed in similar words at St. Mary’s.
Daniel made sure we were well looked after, organising refreshments, hot water to wash our hands and saying a short prayer
before each meal—again very similar to Brother Dominic.
The Community presented our leaders with walking sticks, making them honorary
village elders! Vicky and Peter spoke for the Scouts, then all four adults—Marylin
got a little emotional, but this showed to the Community how much the expedition
and their welcome meant to us.
Finally we all signed our name on a plaque on the Dam.
The risk assessment would not allow us to have a photo taken on top of the Dam—so we stood with the Community, the
Excellent Development Team and (for the first time) all 20 of the Warrington West Explorer Scouts Kenya 2010 group.
The expedition had 3 aims, all of which were exceeded:
Community service projects - International Scouting - Awareness of other communities through contact and cooperation
And this is the Dam we built together with the Wikwatyo Wa Kambani Self Help Group. In the photo we are standing on
the upstream side of the Dam, after a few rainy seasons all this will be filled with sand, with the water captured underneath,
so we know this will be a significant resource for the community. Even as we left after the celebration lunch, they were
marking out the fields on either side ready to terrace them to conserve more water and to begin crop planting.
The decision to undertake this expedition and the planning started in October 2008 and, after raising £44,000 the Scouts
travelled to Kenya in late summer 2010. Before Christmas the rains came and they received a photo showing how the dam
had filled and trapped the water.
The Wikwatyo Wa Kambani Self Help
Group in their rural community will have
the assurance of a clean water supply for
generations to come, within easier reach
of their homes. This will save on queuing
time, often for children, freeing them to
attend school, as well as the obvious
health benefits from clean water for drink-
ing, animals and crops
The Aftermath:
So did it all matter?
The Expedition will certainly benefit the Explorer Scouts in their outlooks as they grow and continue their Scouting
and journeys in education and life. We had a fantastic reception from everyone we met, and we were really well
treated by all those who looked after our transport, board and lodging. The experience should certainly encourage
more travel and cultural exchanges.
Since returning we have shipped more books to St. Mary’s for their library, and sent an additional donation to Fa-
ther Dominic to use for toys for the children. The School have plans to expand to two form (an extra 50 pupils!)
entry and also to take more Child Rescue children into their care. We plan to continue supporting them in the fu-
ture. The pupils love visitors and being to get involved with outside groups, they were all so friendly. As Harriet
put it, “they all have so little but give so much”.
None of this would have been possible without the support, help, donations, sponsorships, best wishes and encour-
agement from Warrington Scout District, companies, organisations, individuals, parents, and the good folk of War-
rington. It was amazing, the generous support and good wishes we received from everyone.
Thank you everyone who played a part in the success of our Expedition.
