Founder John Renouard took the team to our drill site in Kalifi, Kenya. Expedition team member Mariah Smith shares her experience.
Today we went to visit the drill site that they were working on this week. The village was in Kalifi, about a two and a half hour drive from where we are staying in Mnyenzeni. On our way there we stopped at a little market where we all were able to try samosas (scones filled with vegatables or meat) that John bought for us which were really good. All of us bought our own little candies, chicken, and other little goodies, too. After the long drive through the crazy roads, we finally reached the site of the drill. When we arrived John told us the basics about the drill. When we had first arrived we were about 12 rods deep in the ground. After we saw how it was done we were able to join in spinning the wheel in pairs of two of us, and two of the workers that had been working on the drill. Once we had been working on the drill for 30 minutes or so they showed us how the rocks told us if we were close to water or not. In this particular area they said that they had been drilling through coral! This site was pretty close to the coast so they said it was pretty common in this area. By the end of the day we were able to add about 3 or 4 rods which is about 18 feet in a few hours!
When we first arrived the kids were rolling around in tires and jumping over them. We watched for a few moments then walked over to the drill site and they followed us. Because we were in a village where not very many white people went, they didn't interact with us like the kids in Mnyenzeni did and were a little more shy. Also, because they haven't been around Americans as much their English wasn't as good either. When we started to interact with them more they started to become more comfortable with us being around. Reagan and I tried jumping over the tires with them and they laughed at us. Kaylee showed them her phone and they were entertained with it for a long time. She took a video of them looking at themselves for the first time. Candice was able to hold the cutest little baby that had cute little chubby cheeks. There were some boys playing with a small soccer ball that they had made out of garbage bags and what looked to be like t-shirts wrapped around it. I joined in with them juggling the small ball. They were surprised that I was actually doing well so they asked me to go over and shoot on the man-made goal with them. We had a little ccompetition but it was really fun. I think that they won. Later, a little boy had this little cart that he had hand made out of sticks and rope and he was able to steer it by rotating a stick in a circle. It was genious! After that the kids showed us where the coconut trees and the mangos were. A boy climbed to the top of a mango tree and threw some down to us to eat. We all also climbed to the top of a coconut tree! At the end of the day right before we left the kids all sang me happy birthday! It was really fun and they all seemed really excited to sing.
Tonight we are just relaxing around the resort (compound) talking. There is a loud celebration going on outside and Leah told us that it was to celebrate a death. She said that their only big celebrations are for death.
Were off to bed now though because its coming up on 12:30. Night!
Mariah
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