I truly Miss Eldoret town

Eldoret is a town located in the north rift part of the Kenya. It is one town that is hardest hit by the post election violence that was sparked off by the announcement of the presidential results in the Kenya's December elections. Many non-kalenjin speakers were chased from the town in a move that was widely understood as an implementation of the majimbo (regional) system of government. Now, I wonder if I will ever be able to visit the town again. I had identified Eldoret as one of the potential towns that I would move to and eventually retire. In fact, I remember all my visits to the town with nostalgia.

The first time I visited the town was with a group of friends. We were on a visit to missionary who was active in student ministry. I will always remember booking one the best coaches to the region but ending up in a bus that made the whole trip a disaster. The ride was very uncomfortable more so since the stretch between Naivasha and Nakuru was under constructions making us use a dust road diversion. I actually never knew that that company had a bus in its fleet comprising of 9 seater vans. That made me loose marks (Kenyan slang for reputation) with a dear friend who was on the trip. I also have memories of having lunch at tamarind place where the food was so tasty and nutritious and cheap and most important voluminous just the way an African man like me would love it and also of my visit to the Moi University. Strangely the most memorable thing about the University is not its design or the laid-back walk we had at the campus or even the argument about if one of my friends was gay but of me staring at the collection of different rocks at the top level of the universities library! That first trip was truly unforgettable. So much so that I made every effort to ensure that I would get to visit the town again even though it meant diverting a group of 11 Australian students on tour to see the town with the only justification being that they will get to pass the equator! Sadly, on that particular trip, I did not get to visit the town with the group since I had to attend the funeral of my brother. That was very sad, but it was okay since I had made two other visits to the town- the first while escorting fellow employees of my then media employer to a funeral of a colleague at Lugari 40 km far-flung from the town and the second a logistical pre-visit for the group of Australian students. Despite my other visits to the town, missing the tour with the Australian students increased my thirst to visit the town with a group. Especially so when I remember the aliveness of the town, its beauty, its hotels like the Sirikwa hotel and white castle and restaurants like tamarind palace and poa palace. Also of the picturesque drives out of the town to Kakamega where large maize farms and the crying stone border the road, to Iten where you get to see the Kerio valley and to Kapsabet where a small diversion leads you to the chepkiit falls-a truly awesome natural wonder with an arboretum, a butterfly paradise and a descent of more than three waterfalls that rumble down 100meters into a gorge. It is so hard to describe the falls that it only takes a one to pay a visit to them. But I ask a visit when with all this political animosity; will I ever get to see the chepkiit falls and the whole of Eldoret town again? Will I get to take a group of people on tour and explain to them the growth and investment opportunities of the town as they enjoy its beauty? Will I ever get to just drive through the town especially with this majimbo stuff in the air? If it is my tribe that preventing me from going back then am willing to shed it even by removing my skin just to get a glimpse of the town once again because I truly miss Eldoret town!.

My curiosity is now eating me up just to see how the town looks after the violence. I understand that no building within the town was burnt down so much is the same as I left it, but I ask is the town as active and vibrant as it was before? What about my friends who used to live there and I intended to visit, will they ever get their homes again? And the students of the various colleges that the town had attracted, will they go back again? If only Kenya could return to the way it was if only I could reverse time say back to September 2007 so that I can spend a few more days in the town. If only this political crisis could end so that possibly life would get back to normal so that I could get to see the town again. I guess that Eldoret is loosing out so much in terms of investment and its image as the fastest growing town in Kenya. I wonder if it will ever regain that status. Well it has the infrastructure since it's the only town except Nairobi to have all the key development facilities that include a referral hospital, an airport, a university and be connected to a major road network and railway line thus making it the regional industrial and agricultural hub for the whole of north rift, but I wonder will it be able to attract investors back to the town? Will people from other parts of the country get to live there again and build, study and just enjoy the town? I truly hope so and look forward to a time that Eldoret will be Eldoret again all the life and activity it is known for and trust that it will happen fast since I truly miss Eldoret town.

magu nguru
Twawezakenya.com

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