KITENGWANI & BENGON – REPORT 4
September 25, 2024
Day- We’ve Lost Count 
.. or maybe 9!?
We apologize for the disruption of our regularly scheduled program - The travel team took a much needed break to blow off some steam and visit a very large “zoo”
known as Kenya! We were all so grateful to take in the sights of the local wildlife and witness the most beautiful orange, pink and yellow sunsets we have ever seen. One could never tire of seeing the sun dip beneath the horizon in under 5 minutes and soak in the cooler night temps. Every trip out on the jeep provided new animals for our jaws to drop for- almost all of the Big Five! The leopards and rhinos were a little too shy to come put on a show for us but the lions, elephants, hippos, cheetahs, impala, zebra and giraffes were all too happy to come up for a quick hello. We even had the pleasure to meet members of the Masai Mara tribe and learn more about their culture and walk through the open-air market the women run to raise money for the families. Zach also impressed the tribe with his jumping abilities. As with other villages before this, we left as part of their family, and they a part of ours.
Due to a lot of travelling between the last two days, I’ll combine the events that past on the 8th and 9th day of our journey. After one last safari yesterday morning, we traveled back to Mombasa (which is very important to the Grant Victor Family)- the carvers where the wooden figurines are fabricated! We were able to bring home a couple suitcases of this year’s animal to get a jump start in preparation for sending out our customer gifts. In a very humble warehouse of sorts, each stall had their own carver expertly shaving away the wood to free the tree of it’s hidden animals inside. Lions, leopards, Masai warriors, stools, even 7 foot giraffes are hand crafted with high skill and sold on the market to raise money for their families. Someone should show them Etsy, they could make a killing!
After draining our bank accounts in their stores, we got to go back home to Mama Kamoti’s for another scrumptious meal and a walkabout in the village. With it being our last night with the family, we wanted to take a walk with the local children and have a farewell party to thank them all for their hospitality. We laughed, we danced, we got trampled when the glow sticks came out- great fun was had by all! DJ B to the U to the R to the T was slaying with his custom playlist and we all danced in the dark for hours until mama Kamoti insisted it was her bedtime We had one more adventure to go on the next day and we were all glad to finally sleep in until 7 am to greet the Bengoni village one last time.
I believe we all slept the hardest this night but the rejuvenation sleep was much needed. The ladies dressed in our finest kangas for the final time and we were honored to have past friends of the Grant Victor team arrive to join us on our farewell trip to the village. Teacher Amos and his wife Ava, teacher Emily and her son Little Burt! We all drove out and were welcomed once again at the gates of the community by all the children of the village as they were eager to take our hands and bring us back home with them. Today we were to have them teach us their culture- to show us their homes, their animals and their cooking methods! Our group definitely has some practicing to do in the goat milking department, but we vowed to return and know how to fill a whole cup in 5 minutes and not 5 days as was our current trajectory. Bengoni is very remote and very desolate land and we learned that their main source of income is charcoal and they were happy to show us how charcoal is made. They gathered the small branches of wood, covered them in grass, lit the pile on fire, then covered in dirt. They let the wood slowly burn for 3-4 days. It took several weeks to make enough charcoal to fill a bag that they would then sell for 600 Shillings (roughly $5). Julia Matthews was gifted a chicken and we all enjoyed the ride back to the Kamoti’s with the chicken in hand! It’s a shame we could not bring her home with us, however she will join the Kamoti flock and fit right in with her new chicken friends.
