Return to Luka's via a fancy house and Maasai medicine

Monday July 6th We were up just after six, and after a big farewell, we had breakfast with Moses before walking for over an hour to his deceased eldest brother's manyatta. We went with John and a young teacher (another Moses).
We were most surprised to see a large city-style stone house with solar panels on the roof (to run a light), a generator (for a small TV), and an outdoor kitchen sporting a chimney! It was strange to see iron-grilled windows, plastered internal walls, and even ceilings out in the bush! Most African homes don’t have ceilings so you have to be very quiet at night! We were impressed to see a larger rainwater tank by the kitchen.
It was nice to bathe in a concrete-floored bathroom, easier to keep the feet clean than on a dirt floor, although you still wear. We were asked at Paulo’s why we don’t splash water everywhere like they do – an advantage of using flannels!
We spoke afterwards with four women: Rebekah, the widowed 2nd wife - Moses' brother died 14 years ago (9 children), Esther (5 children), Helen (3 children) and Grace (2 children). Helen & Grace are Rebekah’s eldest daughters. She has had to do the work of a man on the shamba, even going to the markets to buy and sell stock. The first wife has now died & the third wife lives with her eldest son.
They are struggling to get enough food, they only have 30 cows left and a few sheep/goats. The relief food helped for a while. They can’t send the children to school, so they just stay around at home or go out with the stock. They'd like to start a small business selling sugar & oil to locals. Another idea is to rent a field in an area with better rainfall to grow maize; they’d just take the flour home. Their nine acres of beans all died.
One of the little boys had to have a heart operation in Nairobi, a serious problem was discovered after he collapsed during a soccer match. The hospital has their title deeds because they haven't been able to pay the bill! One little girl has a deformed, contracted hand from severe burns, she’s learning to write left-handed.
After having some refreshments, we were given some gifts, then walked around the compound talking to teacher Moses, waiting for John to finish talking to the womem. Some signs of property damage: one small building had lost its iron roof in a gale; the old outside toilet is now unusable, it started collapsing into the pit in an earthquake! They just use the bush again! We were surprised to see that even 6-month hoggets had been left behind in the pens instead of being taken out to graze. There were even a couple of cats there – an unusual sight.
Moses has been teaching at Enkiloriti school for 6 years, one of 5 teaching 6 classes of what should be an 8-standard school. Only two are paid by the government, two by CCS Australia, & Moses by the parents. Kenyan schools only go up to Form Four (O-levels), for F5-6 you have to go to Uganda, or else go to College in Kenya. Government teachers earn 32,000 Ksh/month (~$800), NGO’s pay about 6,000 Ksh, Moses has no guaranteed salary.
Poor Bruce found it a bit hot walking back to Luka’s. On the way, we met an old man in the bush who tried greeting us in English, laughing to hear himself speak! He laughed even more when we replied, congratulating him on his excellent English!
Another old man arrived just after we got back, thanking us for the relief food. It was hard to persuade him not to slaughter a goat for us!
We wanted to wash our clothes, but were told to wait for clean water from the church water tank! I had a bit of an audience at first, the mamas kept advising me to add more water – but I was soaping up the collars/cuffs well before washing properly. I was glad when they left!
My turn to milk tonight, Bruce had already milked various animals, including a reluctant goat and a sheep. The grey cow in the picture is very quiet, I filled my cup from just one quarter – most are only giving half that! The young suckle one side while you milk the other, the yield is so low that you milk 1 cow, 2 goats or 3 sheep for a cupful. We never knew what kind of milk was in the chai!
Afterwards, I spent some time chatting with the mamas, who thought we must have been very tired after walking. I was then called to our hut, Bruce had been taken ill, I'd wondered why Bruce suddenly disappeared after milking a goat. He vomited for over 2 hours until he took some Maasai medicine (powdered bark mixed with water). It tasted vile apparently but worked really well until the early hours. We had to postpone our dinner engagement with Susannah.
In the morning, I gave him Gastrolyte + charcoal tablets, but I actually had an excellent sleep, wasn't disturbed by his early promenade at all!