Kisumu With Francis Aiugi

Just recently I took a trip to Kisumu which is West of Nairobi near Lake Victoria. I went with the head of Calken tours who we share an office with. It was a good opportunity to get out of the run-of-the-mill activities, so I went. When I arrived in the city at 6am, I was surprised to see street children in nothing more than remnants of rags hanging off of their bodies. Some of them were sleeping in nylon mesh sacks used for collecting garbage. I later realized that I could have given out a couple warm garments. Too late though... next time I guess.

We spent most of our time in the county side. It was sprawling for many square miles and we were far off the highway. This picture shows well the common landscape. It was mostly farmland with people living a peasant life-style.

This woman lived nearby and was probably a relative of Francis, as there was a large spread of family owned land.

I rather liked this shot of a 'servants' house. The larger house is just a stone's throw away. Common construction consists of crude sticks covered with clay and manure. People in Kenya very often use sheet metal for roofing material.

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Here are some photos of the Aiugi's property.

This is a building that Francis built as he came of age. Traditionally in the "upcountry", the young men will build a small house near their parents' house when it's time for them to move out. Then the young man will often simply expand his house as his family grows. Many of the people in the city have these houses 'back home' that they often visit and sometimes return to when they retire.

Here are the servants quarters in traditional style. You can see the animal keep to the left.

Francis visits the main house early one beautiful sunny morning. The main house is considered very high dollar and fancy for the area. Compared to U.S. standards it was by no means modern or fancy, but very basic; similar to 70 yrs ago probably, though it did have a solar panel for minimal electricity.

Because they are 'well-off' they have their own well to get water from.

This was a farm setup and quite comfortable overall.

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It had just rained the night before, which was exactly what we didn't want to happen. The roads were hardly passable, especially for our small rear wheel drive car. The 4X4's did much better than we did. We had to get pushed out of the muddy ravines many times by locals that we anxious to help out for some change. In fact some even point you in the wrong direction so that you will get stuck and they can 'help you out' for some money.

The main reason of going was to participate in a dowry ceremony for which Francis was a relative. Basically a young man and woman want to get married, but first the young man has to get approval to do so. Part of this process includes a formal dowry ceremony where some men from the man's family come and pay some money to the woman's family. They have different things that they bring money for. Some for the mother for giving birth and child raising, some for the father for providing for the daughter and extra if she was given schooling, etc.

This was a road-side shot from a moving bus that turned out remarkably well. Shown is a major product of Kenya. Tea. Here is a beautiful field full of the locals' cherished hot drink.