Welcome to Eldoret!

On Monday morning I headed northwest to the small town of Eldoret. Now, after a few days of settling in, I am starting to feel at home, and so it is time to communicate to you guys what the place is like. Unfortunately the cable for my camera is back in Nairobi, so for now I don't have any photos of my house. Anyway I'll try to explain as vividly as possible.

(Photo from the internet)

Let's start from the inside - out. The town of Eldoret is located in the Central Rift Valley, not too far from Lake Victoria and the Ugandan border. It's lies around 2500 metres above sea level, and has around        250 000 habitants. It is by the way the fastest growing town in Kenya. It is mainly a farming town, but holds quite a lot of factories aswell.

(Eldoret city centre, photo from the internet)

My impression of the town so far is that it is very busy, very brown and very windy. People are nice and not too used to wazungu so you get a LOT of attention. The city centre is really small, you can in fact walk from one side to the other in less that 15 minutes. It holds everything from loud, smelly town markets to huge Nakumatt shopping malls, all scrambled together to make the town lively and interesting.

(Eldoret in a nutshell, taken from the internet)

I'm living in the estate of Kamukunji, which is actually a small slum, so I am feeling right at home! The place is situated on a slope leading up to some beautiful hills that are really nice for hiking. The railway passes at the bottom of the slope, mainly carrying cargo. Out of the 5000 people living in Kamukunji, the ones I've met are wonderful people! They are outgoing, talkertive and have really made me feel at home in this place.

(My home, Kamukunji, taken from the internet)

Now, our house is located pretty close to the railway, that is, on the bottom outskirts of the area. It's part of a one story building with 10 apartments facing inwards towards a small square in the middle. Our house is about 5x6 metres in size and has two rooms: living room/kitchen/bedroom and bathroom. The kitchen consists of a sink and a gas cooking plate; the bedroom of a bed and a mattress (that we're sleeping on 4 weeks each); the living room of two chairs, a small table, a boookshelf and a study table; and the bathroom of a grounded toilet, a tap and a cold shower.

(Outskirts of Eldoret, photo from the internet)

In other words, my Eldoret world has everything I need, and nothing that I don't need. It's perfect!