Archibald’s Kenyan Diary

A new member of the school joined us last year in Year 10. His name is Archibald,  known to his friends as Archie. He quickly
settled into life at RGS, and he was chosen to represent RGS on a summer trip to one of our partners, The Marinyin School in Kenya. He was a guest of the school where Mr Roger Hollingworth, who used to teach at RGS, is now teaching. This week we have a few extracts from Archie’s diary.

Archie with the Headmaster before his departure

Day 1

Well at last, here I am in Kenya. (SLIDE) It is a pity I had to arrive in a parcel, because I missed all the sights en route. I landed at Jomo Kenyatta airport just to the East of Nairobi.

I came out of my parcel at Marinyin Secondary School

The headmaster took me to see the school and to meet some of the students in their classrooms. It is very different to the RGS because there are only four classrooms, one for each of the four classes called: Form 1 to Form 4. Also, there are lots more students in each class, nearly 60 in Form 1, and there are boys and girls! I went to Mr Roger’s maths lesson (SLIDE) with Form 1 and he kept asking me how I thought they were getting on.

Day 2

My first outing was with Simeon Sang and on Friday lunchtime he took me to have a Marinyin school lunch. We went to the kitchen where the food was cooked in enormous pans over a wood fire and then served out to the students who bring along their tin bowls and spoons. There are no tables so most just sit on the ground (SLIDE) in the hot sunshine to enjoy their meal of maize and beans.

After school finished, and the students had swept and mopped all the buildings, we set off to Simeon’s home walking through the tea plantations. At one place we met one of his friends  who showed me how to pluck tea

Day 3

On Saturday we went to see Simeon’s rural home. This is where he was born and his parents were born and his grandparents were born.

Here they live in traditional huts built from sticks and mud with grass thatching for the roof. Mum cooks inside one hut over a wood fire and water has to be carried from the river. There is no electricity and at night paraffin lamps or candles light the houses. I watched Simeon digging in the shamba, which is where the crops are grown.  

It was really kind of Simeon’s family to invite me to eat with them.

Day 4

Then I went stay with Vincent Koir.  When we reached his home, I met his family. As well as his mum and dad he has two brothers and a sister.  As a celebration, I think because of my being there, we all drank sodas and Vincent brought in his pet tortoise for me to meet.

Tortoise didn’t have much to say, but they told me he had come from one of their friends. We went on a tour of the village that is typical of those on the tea estate with around 20 houses and a shop. Most of the houses had only two rooms and seemed small for the size of the families. Mum and Dad sleep in one room and the young children sleep in the other, which also ‘doubles’ as the sitting/dining room and kitchen. The older boys do not sleep at their parents’ home but are put up in a neighbour’s house.

Day 5

I was allowed to go with the boys on a camping trip.   We set off at exactly 4pm on the Friday afternoon in an old Land Rover. It was very crowded as there were 11 scouts inside together with the camping gear that couldn’t be put on the roof. The roof was a mountain of bamboo poles for making camping gadgets, mattresses, tents and rucksacks.

We arrived at our campsite at 5.30 and started to put up the tents.  I was given the job of askari (the watchman) and had to make sure that no strangers came onto our site without permission. By 6.30 our tents were up and our cooking area prepared, but it was already getting dark despite it being at the end of June. Darkness came very quickly so that by 7pm it was pitch black. All I could see was the dim glow of paraffin lamps from our neighbouring tents and houses.

Sunday was a chilly morning so when we got up we warmed ourselves by the remnants of the campfire. By lunchtime we knew we had come second in Kericho District and had qualified for the Provincial competition. (SLIDE) Everyone was pleased when we reported our success back at Marinyin on Monday morning assembly.

Day 7

An outing to Kisumu, on the shores of Lake Victoria, had been arranged for Form 3 and Jarad Maina invited me along. First we went to the airport (SLIDE) where, as well as the aircraft, we saw the control tower and the meteorological station. (SLIDE) This was the first time many of the students had seen a large jet aircraft and there was much excitement. (SLIDE)

Finally, we went to see Lake Victoria, (SLIDE)  I now know that Lake Victoria covers 70,000sq kilometres (about the size of Scotland), is the second largest lake in the world and, at an altitude of 4000ft, it is also the source of the white Nile which then flows some 3000km to the Mediterranean sea.

Days 8 -10

I was also allowed to climb Mount Kenya.  First  we met our guide and porters (SLIDE) who were going to help carry our tents and enough food for five days.

The first day’s climb was through the tropical rain forest, which surrounds the mountain for the first 1000ft.   Eventually we reached the open moorland (SLIDE) above the tree line and made camp. (SLIDE)

We cooked supper and the scouts made a great campfire to keep us warm before we all went to sleep in our sleeping bags.

Day 11

That was both the climax and finish of my ‘holiday’ in Kenya. Thank you, Kenya and Marinyin, for a great time.

enjoying a cup of tea on his return