Kenya Fluorspar School Class 8 Motivation Dinner

On Sunday night, two weeks ago, we were invited to a dinner at school. It was a motivation dinner for the Class 8 students who write their National Exam in November. If they pass these successfully, they leave the Primary school here in the Valley and move onto very good (private Secondary schools in Eldoret, Nairobi and Nakuru).

The evening started with outdoor games. Two teams stood on opposite sides of a volley ball net. Using about three dozen balls of socks, the teams had to lob the "balls" across the net and catch/pick up the balls that were lobbed to their side. In between the boys lobbed two large plastic balls. When Sue blew the whistle, the team with the least balls in their court, was the winner. Great fun!

Then it was the adults' turn. The same rules applied but when the whistle blew, the teachers and expats got into an argument about why their side shouldn't have had so many balls. (the one team had the school children helping them lob the balls back into the adulo other team's side!

There were a couple more games involving the adults; one being the children held balloons on respective chairs, the adults had to sit on and burst them, and run back to the next contestant, who in turn, raced to the chair and balloon.  Great fun and hysterical laughter all round.

Fun and games (and arguments - see middle two photos, LOL!) and bursting the balloon (see last two photos) on the school field last week

Then we repaired into the school hall for a couple of indoor games. After a delicious dinner produced by our Guest House chef, Wheatcliffe,  the PTA chairman, and BOG (board of governors) chairman and company managing director, addressed the Class 8 and adults.

A fun evening with adults helping the students build puzzles and card-houses in a set time. Beautifully set tables, delicious food and great company made it a lovely evening

A wonderful gesture on the part of the company to motivate this senior class in the upcoming exams.

Hope you're all having a wonderful weekend.

Leonotis leonurus

Leonotis leonurus . These shrubs are flowering profusely in my garden and the sunbirds love them. The corolla should be covered with orange petals but the amount of sunbirds who sip their nectar are numerous. The plants constantly regenerate petals which the sunbirds utilise constantly! The common name for Leonotis leonurus is Wild dagga* 

Leonotis = from the Greek leon meaning lion and otis meaning ear, alluding to the resemblance of the corolla to a lion's ear. leonurus = lion-coloured.
The wild dagga is a robust shrub which grows up to 2-3m tall and 1.5m wide. It is common and widespread throughout South Africa and grows amongst rocks in grassland.


Stems are velvety and woody at the base. The leaves are long, narrow, rough above, velvety below, with serrated edges. The wild dagga flowers profusely in autumn with its characteristic bright orange flowers carried in compact clusters in whorls along the flower stalk. Apricot and creamy white flowered forms are also found.

This is an excellent plant for attracting wildlife to your garden as the flowers profuse copious nectar which attracts birds, bees and butterflies.

Source: http://www.plantzafrica.com/plantklm/leonotisleon.htm

Note * Dagga is a drug also known as cannabis, bungi, marijuana or weed. Wild dagga plant only resembles the illegal drug plant and is completely harmless. Wild dagga is indigenous to South Africa and I've since discovered in the bush here in the valley in East Africa. Of course, Stanley and I collected a few plants from the wilds and brought them into my garden. Sue, Sharda and the Guest House staff have all planted Leonotis leonurus in their gardens.

For more beautiful skies, click here

Trip to Eldoret Vet

As my regular readers know, whenever we go up the mountain to Eldoret, it's quite an adventure.  Tuesday, when Zephania, our driver, Ambrose and I went to town, was no exeption.

Near the top of the mountain, a motorbike came down in the opposite direction. As usual, he was free-wheeling. And would stay in this mode right down the mountain a whole 24 kms of twisting and steep winding road, he has no motor running. Just free wheels. Phew!

Motor cyclist free-wheeling down the twisty, bendy mountain road! We stopped and I got out to take the photo, but he whooshed past so fast that I missed the shot until I focussed and got this one of him!

In town, while Ambrose was at the vet, Zephania and I popped into town to the supermarket. Outside was a Sony promotion, the loudspeakers were modern and very, very loud with dancers (first there were two young girls) gyrating to the music.

These two young men danced like this for ten minutes!

Zephania helps the vendor to load potatoes into a plastic carrier bag

On the way home, Zephania stopped at a "shopping complex"  next to the road. I wanted potatoes and knew that these ladies would sell me lovely ones at a good price. The plastic tubs contain 20kg of potatoes for which I paid KES300/US$3.91! These women plant the vegetables in their shambas (farms), tend their crops, harvest them (digging up these potatoes virtually by hand or with worn garden tools) and loading them into sacks. They then carry these heavy sacks on their backs (a sight you see regularly is women bent under huge loads of wood, multiple canisters of water or sacks of vegetables) walking along the road. If she has a man or young boy walking with her, he does just that; walks with her!   

So it seems sacrilege to sell this hard-won produce for such a ridiculously low price, but that's what the locals can afford and that's what she charged me.  

As we turned our vehicle around, I spotted this hotel in the village

 Small town, down town hotel!

And soon we left the tar and meandered down the mountain road. With every bump, poor little Ambrose had come to and was staggering around in his cage on the back seat. All I could do, was check that he didn't wedge himself in between the plastic water trough and the side of the cage.

Not long and Zephania pointed excitedly at a clump of large trees lining the road. There were Blue Monkeys and there were Black and White Colobus Monkeys. Zephania stopped the car; I got out and managed to get quite a few very nice photos of both kinds of monkeys. Three cows were grazing at the edge of the road and one was actually breathing down my neck as I focussed on the monkeys. I swung round and said: Boo! while getting a lovely shot of the cow! The other two walked back towards the car and sniffed at the bodywork.

The top two photos are Blue Monkeys, the middle four are Black-and-white Colobus Monkeys and the bottom two photos are of the common ole cow!

To all my friends and my sister, Rose,  in the Northern Hemisphere, who're facing winter, wrap up warmly and hug yourself from me!

Blessings

Jo