Logologo - real live camels!!

While we were at Logologo, we enjoyed the hospitality of a woman's organization.  After that long drive over such challenging roads, we were very ready for a more comfortable place to rest than the bench seat of our little truck.  This is the guest room that we stayed in.  I will show you the outside, and what the beds looked like on the inside.

The women looked after us very well.  We had their chai tea, which was boiled tea leaves with packaged milk and sugar added - very tasty.  Our supper was rice and cabbage and spinach, along with both chicken and lamb - we were hungry, and it definitely filled us up.  The next morning we traveled a short distance to where one family had about 6 homes, and all their livestock - goats and camels.  I wasn't feeling very well (although it turned out to just be a bit of upset stomach which I recovered from quickly), so we were driven there.  The people here walk everywhere - and not just around the block.  They will easily walk 40 km if they have to - it is the only way they have to get where they need to go.  Remember, these are pastoralist people - nomads.  They move great distances to make sure that their animals have water and pasture.  In the dry season they can cover immense distances.

We arrived at this grouping of homes just as they were about to milk the camels.  Generally the camels are milked between 6 and 7 in the morning - we arrived about 6:45 and they were just about to begin - in African time that meant we only waited about 15 or 20 minutes!  In Rendille culture, women are never allowed to milk the camels, but it was ok for me to stand close by.  Before milking, the men wash their hands very carefully.  When camels are distressed, their milk dries up.  So it is always two men that milk, one on either side of the camel, and they milk as quickly as they can.  Here, they are catching the milk in traditional woven baskets which are completely leak-proof.  More often now they don't have any of those baskets left and milk into plastic containers.  I was glad to see the baskets.  So...at long last...pictures of real live camels being milked!

Sunset United Church raised enough money to buy 4 camels.  None of these camels here were purchased by Sauti Moja.  The community where they have provided camels was another very long drive away and with the condition of the roads, it would have been much too difficult to travel to.  So, just know that camels are very much needed and will be deeply appreciated wherever and whenever they may arrive.  Selkirk United Church spent time learning some facts about camels before I came.  They will be happy to know that I wasn't spit on even once!  Here is another fact:  in the first picture you can see that they tied one of the front legs up? That is so the camel can't kick.  They have a very powerful kick - and they can kick sideways.  So just like with horses, you need to be very careful in how you approach them - they can really hurt a person if they want to.  As I continue to learn more about camels, and about how they are necessary to survival for the Rendille people, I will share what I learn with all of you.  And then it was back to our guest house to have tea and wait for our ride back to Marsabit - I think it was about a 3 or 4 hour wait - it's good to learn a new pattern of managing time!  I must be on sabbatical or something!