THE 1920s IN ELDORET, KENYA

Betweeen 1908 and 1924 dozens of South African Boer Families

took the long voyage to Mombasa, where they equipped themselves

with ox waggons similary to the one above, and then travelled on

the eight hundred kilometer journey to what was then known

as Farm 64, later to become the Eldoret of today.

WE LIKE to think that the Family that arrived in 1920, to claim their landholding, could well have been the family in the photo above, just arriving in a totally undeveloped place to commence building a new life.    Very romantic and adventurous, but more honestly a hugely hard and demanding task in those days, a hundred or so years ago.     They, the man and his wife and whatever local untrained labour they could find to help them, immediately began to plan and build a house.  They  raised it up out of the very ground, digging up the ground and moulding it into earthen bricks, which were then baked in the SUN until dried; not something to be done quickly,   Once ready they laid these bricks one upon another using ox dung as morter..      They dug no foundation but dragged huge rough-hewn rocks to where the walls were to be, roughly levelling the top of each to form an even surface on which to lay the first course of bricks. Quite a large house it was, that they laboured to build in the dry heat of the sun.   Big enough for a family.     The Main social or sitting room encompassed a space of a hundred square feet, alone, and then NINE other rooms - seven daughters were born to them there,      And all around them was farm land as far as their eyes could see.  By the late 1950s they sold up and emmigrated yet again to Western Australia.     The farm was divided up and the house left with five acres of gardens.  

THEN in 1972 Testimony Faith Homes purchased it for John and Esther Green's extended Family calling it Testimony House.    It had then been empty, and neglected for some three years.   This photo was taken shortly after our arrival,  early 1973.    Hardly changed at all, so we have been told, since it was completed.     Apart from repainting the entire property inside and out, it remains unaltered up to the present, as may be seen in the photo taken recently.    All just as it was built.

 

It is quite a striking house, for its day.   And it has been to us, a family of some 36, over these many years, a warm and friendly home full of good memories, laughter and occassional tears.    Not the only house of its era still remaining in the area, but a lasting memorial to the past, and to the quality of building materials and methods of that past.  Esther and I enjoyed 28 years of our own lives living in it as Mum nd Dad to our own three kids, plus, over the period, more than 60 others.     Another Family live there right now.      We wonder....will it still be there in another fifty years?....or even another hundred?        ELDORET a hundred years ago saw this house being built in a wild savanna, uncultivated, and unprotected from the many wild and untamed animals roaming freely around it.    When we arrived in 1972 there were still Civit Cats, Callabus Monkeys, Gazell, Hyena, among others, AND a host of different, and very dangerous snakes!      THEY have all disappeared now, chased and frightened away as the land has been more and more developed and built upon, as the Town developed.        

In this Photo can be seen our present Town / City of Eldoret.

It was taken from the East Side, and the Nairobi / Uganda Rd.

dividing the Town south and north.

HERE we have an early photo of Eldoret, taken in 1945 - I could find nothing earlier - and I think it may be a view of what is today known as Kenyatta Street.    Very much a shanty-town even then, having begun way back in 1910 with the official opening of a Post Office.

When Esther and I arrived in 1972, sixty years later, the town was still small, with a population of some 40,000 souls.  A quiet country town.  Fifty years later still, it is bursting at the seams, and crammed with business, people, and traffic.     An overcrowded, noisy, still expanding metropolis, soon to be a CITY.    SO MUCH change since we came to live here in Testimony House; a house left over from those distant, early days, when Eldoret was still in its infancy.    One cannot resist, or prevent change; it is continuous and now, in these days,  seems to be speeding up on every hand, blotting out the past and its relavance.

World society is changing;   mankind itself is changing.   The tried and proved Values and Standards learned from history are now put aside for new and 'enlightened' underdstanding.     THUS of THESE times it is written in the 5th Chapter of the Book of Isaiah, verses 20-24    - 'Woe to them that call evil good, and good, evil; that put dearkness for light, and light for darkness.......'    It is good and worthy of consideration, if we contine on and read through to the 24th verse.

                                                     

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MY DEAR ESTER,  completed her EIGHT cycles of Chemotherapy on 20th October, as planned.She came through ALL of them with only very light side effects - a only slight weight loss, and hardly noticebable nausea, vomiting and so on.    Her Appetite was a problem.   She just did not fancy anything.     But she did eat, and she ate little but often, and this seemed to be enough, and not upsetting to here stomach.    She kept busy and buzzing around as usual, and we have truly Thanked the Lord for taking such great care of her.

Today she should commence her  Radiography - just FOUR minutes per day for 15 days.    All seems well, and everyone at the Hospital very happy with her condition, and very encouraging and kind.    The Treatments will take place  from Monday to Friday, weekly, as the Radiological Dept. does not work weekends.    Esther should be able to complete on December 12th,  and in time for Christmas.    She is very Happy, and ESPECIALLY so because she is getting her HAIR back again - it is growing well, as per the photos here included. BUT she DOES feel the COLD even, when the sun is shining;  but we usually find a warm place for some coffee and fellowship once or twice in the day.

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TESTIMONY Homes continue on, just as we are.    We have a current family population of some 125 childlren and young people aged between 3 and 18, living in four Family homes of some 32 (inclusive of parents) in each.    Everyone at peace, and usual contentment, happy at home and at School.  However we shall not be Admitting further children, for the next year, at least.     Everyone looking forward to Christmas again, although it will be a bt scaled down due the current contraints in the Economy.

Testimony School will be closing on the 24th of this month for a two month holiday, re-opening on the 23rd January 2023.     Within this period the National Primary and Secondary Examinations will be held.    Daryl is now feeling much better, and very busy everywhere.     He is such an encouragement and strength at this time.

SO, for the moment, I will close.    I am well, and occupied, but I do find myself feeling a little  weary, and often find myself dozing off, if I have opportunity.    He will renew or strength!

God Bless and keep you all

John, Esther, and Daryl Green and all here at Testimony Homes and School.

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