Here is the legendary farm whose plantation is grown and harvested in two different countries in this world. It would have been just that, a legend but the local people say that it is as true as the day is to the night.

To begin with, what was grown on this farm by a team of well-funded experts and supported by the full force of the government is now just a legend. If there were any harvests out of it; then they were never put to the intended use as far as the locals can remember. What remains of the crop, nobody seems to care anymore. Perhaps it holds the unique record as the only farm in the world which has been planted by the government of one country but is being harvested by the citizens of another country. At least what remains of the crop on it. This farm is on the land of the government of Kenya but is being harvested by the citizens of Uganda.

There is a hot and burning issue in Busia County that nobody wants to talk about; yet everyone is willing to tell their story. The story of the green or white elephant that refuses to die a natural death. It consists of a large acreage of green plantations, but locals call it a white elephant. Listen to their true story as told here.

We began by asking a village elder at Angorom village why they just can’t forget about this government project and move on.

“How can I forget about it, when every day this thing is staring at me before my very eyes?” Posed the village elder. “Everywhere I look in my compound I see them, yet I cannot use them, nor can I utilize for something else the land on which they are planted. One tree’s shade covers so much space. Sometimes when I am sleeping, I dream about my wasted land. I have nightmares.”

In the Beginning

In the beginning, the government through the research station of KALRO enticed farmers to participate in the project aimed at making Kenya self-sufficient in palm oil for industrial manufacturing use. Kenya was importing and still imports all its palm oil requirements from East Asia and West Africa. It was determined that the climate in Busia County and several other areas of Western Kenya is conducive to the growth of palm trees, hence the production of sufficient quantities of palm oil both for local consumption and even export market.

The 1980s

Intensive and extensive capacity building was undertaken for the local populace. They were taught that palm trees mature in only 4-5 years and have many benefits. Palm oil can be used to make cooking oil, soap, margarine and a variety of other products. Not only that, the palm tree has a good shade, can be harvested for firewood as well. Its fibres are used to make cottage industry products such as brooms. Some local residents played it a safe wait-and-see attitude, but many embraced the project. When the government says something is good; it must be good. Government is never wrong. That is the positive attitude of rural folks in Kenya. They took the Palm tree seedlings and planted them in their farms and homesteads.

In the early 1990s, the area received some more Palm Tree seedlings from Ghana; together with experts. The farmers were given further training. Not long after another group of experts landed from Egypt to train farmers on how oil is extracted from the palm fruits. They used a manual oil extracting machine. The Egyptians promised the locals that once they attained a plantation of one million palm trees, they (Egyptians) will come and establish a Palm oil refinery. That is the message the locals understood. More of them planted the seedlings.

The Long Wait

Then began the long wait for the palm oil refinery site. The hopeful locals never lost hope. But the Ghanaians never returned with their promised further training and inspections. Nor did the Egyptians return loaded with factory machinery. Only the stored manual oil extractor still reminds residents of their long-gone forage into Busia County. However, when the locals realized that some of the main architects of the project were retiring of age; the truth dawned on them. The project was elephantic; it was going nowhere anymore. That was 20-30 years down the line.

Desperate locals started their own innovative ways to use the fruits. Some would roast the dry palm nuts and eat them. But that is not what they were meant to be, so it was not profitable.

We met Pascal, a young man bodaboda motorcycle taxi operator who carried us to Adungosi town. He says locals pound the nuts in the local wood-pounding mill called Kinu. They extract a little oil for domestic use and for selling to other households. He tells us that the palm tree has herbal medicinal uses. But again is this what the project was intended to achieve?

The economic use for it to benefit the local population seems to have gone with the breath of the wind of experts.

The Want and Waste

The village elder at Angorom village had this to say: "We were taught to plant these trees ten by ten metres apart, so you can see how much land a few trees now waste. If it was meant mainly for firewood use, then the local tree varieties have more branches that can produce more firewood than these palm trees. Even their shade is not so good. What puzzles us is that nobody from the government is telling us what to do with these green elephants. Even if it is cutting them down to reclaim our land."

The Palm tree farm is found at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO) whose land are acres and acres of palm trees as far as the eye can see towards Kenya’s border with Uganda.

One long-serving employee we spoke to said that at one time, the research centre had over one million palm tree seedlings which is distributed free of charge to farmers in Busia and other areas. But as the farmers became disillusioned with the lack of progress on the building of the factory, they stopped taking the seedlings.

How about the research station palm farm? Gone are the days when the huge palm tree farm was weeded and tended to with meticulous care. Nothing is happening from this side of the border, he said and avoided elaborating.

On the bodaboda ride to Adungosi, I posed the query to my taxi rider Pascal.

“Oh, that is a dangerous place; a home of snakes and animals. You go there at your own risk. The funny thing is you can’t enter the palm farm from this side, because it is guarded government land. But as you can see over that horizon, the palm trees plantations border our neighbours. So youth from Uganda sneak in and harvest the pods. They pound into oil and sell it to locals in their country and here.

We asked a lady fruit seller in Busia town what she thought of the Palm trees scattered around her county. She had the following response: "Oh those makindu-like trees? When I was growing up, I found them here. So you say they are new? New in which way? Well if the government brought them, then it is ok, but if I get my own land I won’t plant them." Why? "Well, I guess because it is hopeless if the government is no longer planting them."

With a twitch of a smile, she boasts to me of being an international trader.

At first, I think she is just pulling my leg; until she began relating the facts about her business.

“I buy my raw materials from Uganda and Kenya. It depends on the season though Uganda has a steady supply all year round.”

So that makes you an international trader? I joke as I fiddle with my small image capture device. The weather around Busia, the Headquarters of Busia County Kenya, can be termed as hot-hot most of the year-round, with bright sunlight. When I look up at her again, the small smile is still pasted on her face. This is when I realize she is not smiling at me; this is her business trademark. You cannot help but feel comfortable at her kiosk.

Her business is located at the tail-end of the walls of St. Mathews Boys’ High School on the road known as Kasarani Street. The business is directly behind Busia’s new Soko ya Samaki (Fish Wholesale Market). Standing at her kiosk, you can see the huge temporary Soko ya Samaki which is a stone's throw from Kenya’s border with Uganda. It is a very busy area. Every few minutes a bicycle or motorcycle loaded with goods zooms past either going or coming from the direction of the border.

A soft-spoken 24-year-old runs a full-fledged factory with all the elements of a modern industry scaled down.  To appreciate the magnitude of Mary Namwangu's business, one has to consider that despite her facilities or lack of, she goes through the full cycle of manufacturing, just like any modern factory. The process involves:

STEP 1: Procurement

As a purchasing entity, she sources her raw materials from various places. She personally undertakes the purchasing and transporting of raw materials in Kenya or from Uganda depending on the season and prices. She then orders and buys the packaging materials.

Her main raw material is Peanuts and Simsim (Sesame). She sources her supply from middle-traders who buy them from farms during harvest season. She travels once or twice a month to Uganda to buy her supply.

Why doesn’t she ask someone to bring the materials to her kiosk or send someone else who is going to Uganda to buy the supply on her behalf?

It makes economic sense she agrees. However, there are several inherent challenges. The first is that she uses her supplies for manufacturing, so she needs to ensure personally do the selection of the peanuts and Simsim to be sure of freshness and they are of the highest quality.

However, the main challenge is the reality that the cross-border trade ring is very latent. One day there can be few customers; the following day a flood of buyers. It can happen the time the person you sent is returning coincides with the customers’ flooding day. This person will simply sell your stock on the way and return to Uganda to buy you a different lot. He/she will have used your money for their trade and you won’t be any wiser. Meanwhile, if your stock level in the store was low, you suffer a catastrophic blow in production.

Farmers in Uganda are harvest twice a year; that is why we buy mostly from there. Besides if you stay so long from the trade route, your contacts will dry up. You will end up buying from brokers whose prices are exorbitant.

STEP 2: Storage

The next step in her production is sorting, drying, and storing

STEP 3: Processing

The Peanuts and Simsim are then roasted to the required standard. The roasted nuts are then processed to remove the covers. This is followed by grinding to different types of finesse in preparation for mixing for different products she packs and sells.

STEP 4: Packaging

Mixing paste ready for sale both in manual measurements or pre-packed, sealed tubs containers. She mixes and packs her products in three different forms: Paste, soft cake, and powder.

The paste and soft cake are sold in ready-packed sealed plastic tubs, but large quantities can be measured in take-away packs.

The products, packages, and sizes include:

1. Peanut Butter as bread-spread packed in sealed plastic  tubs sizes: 250g and 500gm

2. Simsim Butter as bread-spread packed in sealed plastic  tubs sizes: 250g and 500gm

3. ODI No 1 as an additive for cooking sweet potatoes, or as an accompaniment when eating ugali

4. Odi no 2 as an additive for cooking vegetables, bananas or sweet potatoes

5. Peanut Powder as an additive for cooking vegetables. It can also be mixed into OD 2.

6. ODI No 1, Odi no 2, and Peanut Powder are measured and sold in amounts of 1, 2Kg or more according to the customer’s requirements.

Some customers buy in large quantities then go to sell in small measurements to households users or in spoonfuls to customers who like to eat the cake as a snack. It is really sweet.

STEP 5: Sales and Marketing

“I sell my finished products in both Kenya and Uganda… Yes, I am an international trader”.

I ask her: I thought Ugandans have been using these products for eons, don’t they make enough for themselves?

Again that permanent smile: “Business is business. If you have a better product and you make an effort to present it well, customers will always come for more. Even you; I know if you buy and take home, your wife will always ask you to bring some. My prices are also so competitive compared to what is sold in Supermarkets from elsewhere.

On this particular day of our visit, Simsim Butter is out of stock. Apparently, it is her most popular brand and moves like the proverbial hot cake.

She encourages us to buy a sample of each of the rest of her products to go and try at home. She is one business lady one cannot resist promoting.

Which supermarkets does she supply? She names two shops and skits around the question. Says that is her business secret.

“You…. you want to know all the secrets of my business, how do I know despite who you say you are; you are just another competitor?

Challenges

Namwangu has heard of a machine that can do all processes in one run: fry, cobble, and grind the peanuts in one go. But she has never seen it. “Iko huko Nairobi.” But she knows it is sold in Nairobi’s Kariobangi Light Industry. Her butter and paste products have a shelf-life of 4 months. She needs a preservative to increase this. Also, she needs to improve her product promotion, labeling, and going further afield to reach more customers.

Her production is also affected by shortages of raw materials.

Why can’t you stock sufficient material to last you say, 6 months of production? “Nitatoa hiyo pesa wapi?”  (where do I get that kind of capital?) She bursts into laughter.

“This may look to you like a small business but…wachatu! If you want to make a good profit, you have to stay on top of the game.”

What is her dream?

Namwangu has been in this business for four years. To grow her business to full-scale manufacturing. For that, she requires a better location. “This place is good for the customers I have, but look, is it ideal for supplying to shops and supermarkets?” She poses.

Namwangu says her dream of being a full-fledged businesswoman in her product range can be actualized with an injection of capital of Ksh.200,000.

For centuries, Leprosy was the most misunderstood disease in the world; leading to its sufferers being stigmatized by their fellow members of society. In my formative years, I attended a high school located near Leprosy Isolation and Treatment base at Nyarusuria Village. Out of curiosity I and a friend visited Nyarusuria. It turned out to become a tradition as we made friends there. We used to spend some of our free Sunday afternoons paying social calls to the villagers.

Due to the stigma attached to the disease, we sometimes made a long detour through the savanna overgrowth to reach the expansive village, so that other students would not see us. This was after one student reported to the school authorities that we were visiting a “proscribed village”.

Contrary, the Principal, a highly educated and understanding man, assured us that the disease was non-communicable. Although he did not give us permission, he did not also bar us from making our nocturnal visits. During these afternoon visits, we would sit with some of the “detainees”, some of who came from different parts of the country exchanging information and discussing current affairs from the radio. I came to understand sufferers of this disease were some of the most ostracized members of our society. It is an experience that remains etched deeply into my conscience.

The Lost Land of Alupe

As I embark on my recent safari to Alupe Leprosy Isolation and treatment centre in Busia, I feel some sort of deep ache in my heart; a feeling I cannot describe here on paper. On arrival, I learn that the centre is now closed after the Kenya Government together with United Nations World Health Organization (WHO) declared Leprosy a disease that has been eradicated in Kenya.‌‌

Leprosy in Kiswahili as Ugele can affect different body organs and limbs of the body. However, it is mainly on the small limbs like toes and fingers where its manifestation is clearly visible to the naked eye. It affects the ability to carry items by hand and limits feet mobility of the affected persons.

Until the 20th-century Leprosy was one of the scariest diseases that afflict human beings. The fact that it is mentioned in the Holy Bible as a sort of atonement punishment does not make the disease any less socially palatable to many communities. Those who got in contact with the sufferers of the disease know that it is one of the most dehumanizing diseases of its kind.

For centuries the only known practiced form of dealing with the disease by science was isolation/treatment. In Eastern Africa, a number of Leprosariums (Leprosy isolation and treatment centers) were established by the Ministries of Health or medical authorities in some cases in conjunction with missionaries in East Africa. In Uganda, some of the Leprosariums included: Bunyani and Buluba. In Kenya, some were established at Kakamega, Sabweni, and Chogoria. In Tanzania, some of the centres were at Makete, Chanzi, Ndanda, Kolandoto and Maketopera; among others. People who suffered from the disease were referred and admitted to these centres for management and “treatment”.

While isolations were used as a form of quarantine and treatment; the centres also served as a way for “prevention of the spread of the diseases” to the un-affected population. It was also convenient and cost-effective as the few expert doctors available could serve a larger number of people affected with Leprosy at one location. This method of handling the disease was not common to Kenya only; it was a worldwide medical and public health practice:

“A leper colony, lazarette, leprosarium, or lazar house was historically a place to isolate people with leprosy (Hansen's disease). The term lazaretto, which is derived from the name of the biblical figure Saint Lazarus, can refer to isolation sites, which were at some time also "colonies", or places where lepers lived or were sent. Leper hospitals exist(ed) throughout the world to treat those afflicted with leprosy, especially in Africa, Brazil, China, and India.” - wikipedia

Through research and care practiced in these centres worldwide, the disease became more understood by researchers and various effective curative regimes were introduced. Thankfully, isolation centres turned into hospitals for treatment of leprosy leading to Kenya achieving the WHO elimination target of less than I (one) cases per 10,000 people in 1989; with few recorded leprosy cases mainly from Uganda. The Leprosarium at Alupe was shut down on 21 December 2020.‌‌

The Great Alupe Exodus

The establishment of a Leprosariums, then known as “Leper Colonies” for the Western Kenya region was considered between 1949 –1951. Eventually, in 1953, the Government of Kenya in collaboration with an NGO established the leprosy camp at Itesia which had 2,500 registered patients most of who were being treated as outpatients. This followed with the construction East African leprosy research centre also based at Alupe.‌‌

Flashback to those days before the disease was not even “understood” by science. Imagine a deep sleepy local village at the border of Kenya and Uganda suddenly finding itself the focal point for quarantining patients from all over Kenya for the treatment of Leprosy. ‌‌

Some of the villagers were hearing about the disease and seeing those afflicted with the disease for the first time in their life. Until today, none of the villagers I talked to knows why Alupe in Busia was selected as a Leprosarium.

To them, it was not a welcome move from the authorities. Predictably, the then residents of Alupe reacted to the establishment of the Leprosarium the only way people overwhelmed by calamities do. Most packed their families and fled to different locations.

With the exception of the “hospital”, Alupe became an abandoned land.

However, as the disease became more understood and treatment made possible, the population of persons suffering from leprosy at Alupe became fewer.

The landscape also benefitted from the establishment of the Kenya Agricultural & Livestock Research Organization, KALRO.

The expansion of Kenya Medical Research Institute, KEMRI, and the establishment of its satellite branch at Alupe further brought to fore the viability of the once-abandoned land. The KEMRI Research laboratory called the Centre for Infectious and Parasitic Disease Control Research (CIPDCR) Busia has boosted the quality of health care at the local hospital (Alupe Sub-county Hospital). Both institutes engage a sizable number of experts from different parts of the world and employ a large number of support staff from the local population. This center is continuing in the tradition of Alupe being a home for medical treatment.

The Allure of Alupe

Suddenly, the miracle of Alupe has spouted like a mushroom. The latest addition to the Alupe landscape is the Alupe University; a large campus that is being built 3 km from the main Busia–Malaba road; and within a stone-throw from KEMRI and KALRO and the Uganda border. From the outside, the buildings look impressive.

The effect of the closure of Leprosarium and the establishment of the university campus is the magic wand that Alupe was waiting for.

“What is happening now is reverse immigration,” says Hilary Monyi who works at Alupe; “what used to be an abandoned and undesirable land is now beckoning investors.”

People are going to acquire land and put up buildings as one of the benefits of having a university campus here. The ghost of leprosy has been exorcised and buried in the timeless frame.

Fast forward: “Very soon,” says Justine Emoit, a local hotelier; she predicts: “Busia town will extend to Alupe as one”. ‌‌

There is a unique farmer/food manufacturer at Osia village, Teso South, who is transforming the landscape of income generation from subsistence farming through “Pawa cakes”.

Pacilisa Wanyonyi hails from Busia County in the village of Osia and seems to have mastered an entirely different answer to the quest for better financial living and managing the effects of pollution on human health.

Farming Conditions in Busia

Farmers in Busia, like some other parts of Kenya, live in a potentially “hostile” agricultural environment for farming of cash-crops. Some of the common cash crops grown in Kenya like coffee, tea, sugarcane, maize, and wheat cannot be grown in Busia County. Farmers practice mostly subsistence crop farming growing finger millet, cassava, sorghum, peanuts, and simsim. These crops are basically traditional food crops that are consumed in the homes with little excess hardly sufficient to sell and provide the much-needed cash for expenses such as school fees.

According to Pacilisa, nowadays much of the processed and packaged foods we buy from shops and consume pollutes our bodies. They cause us to fall sick often. When we fall sick we go to the hospital and are given drugs; which though they treat the diseases they don’t manage to clean our blood system of these food pollutants. Often the drugs are themselves polluting our bodies. Mrs. Wanyonyi advises that we can relieve ourselves of this vicious body pollution cycle by eating traditionally produced foods in their natural form.

That is why much research and time is being expended in seeking cheaper yet safer sources of energy with the least environmental degradation and less harm to humanity; otherwise called green energy. Such alternative energy sources being explored include solar, wind, and vehicles run by electricity.

Pacilisa is no ordinary farmer, she is a pioneering entrepreneur in the manufacture of food products whose raw materials are mainly traditional crops. The source raw materials for her foods include Wimbi (Finger millet), Mtama (Sorghum) Mhogo (Cassava), Nduma (Arrow roots); whose formula is mixed with varieties of green vegetables.

Although the traditional home preparation and cooking of these foodstuffs does not have much variety in terms of recipes, it has sustainable nutrition. A typical meal consists mainly of Ugali (fresh soft cake) served with boiled green vegetables, green gram, beans, meat, fish, sour milk, or mushrooms.

The main dish for breakfast is porridge which is prepared as a homogeneous soft or thick paste with flavors of plain, sour, or with milk (added). While these dishes are nutritious and very popular in Western Kenya, they are mainly only available and served in homes or in hotels in the region. In the other parts of Kenya, their main dish is the non-nutritious maize meal.

Pacilisa has risen to the challenge to fill this gap in the market by producing traditional foodstuffs in ready-to-eat form and available to a wider group of consumers throughout all seasons.

Launch of KALRO Busia Project

The type of food production engaged by Pacilisa is called “value addition”. It has been pioneered by researchers at Kenya Agricultural and Livestock Research Organisation (KALRO).

In 2007 Pacilisa Wanyonyi’s group called Muhula Women Group was among the pioneers engaged in the KALRO project. Initially, they were recruited to participate in the research on the variety and suitability of finger millet to be grown in the dry areas of Western Kenya.

Selected members of the group were provided with several seed varieties of Wimbi and vegetables to plant in their farms. The type of different varieties they were given to plant included: Ohale, Gulu-E, V-15, PP-24 plus the local varieties. During the first planting season Pacilisa says, she harvested 4 bags type V-I5 on one-acre farm she had allocated for the project. It was later identified that type V-15 was the most suited for that area.

After engaging the group for several planting seasons, in 2020 KALRO turned to the second phase of the project. That was training the groups on how to maximize productivity and profitability from farming dry-land crops. This was through the application of value addition on traditional foods. Benard Lusigi of The Standard Newspaper wrote about Value Addition after the Kakamega Mkulima Expo. He interviewed Agnes Kwazu, a food nutritionist and value addition scientist from KALRO,

“farmers growing traditional foods do not benefit from the agricultural value chain.”

Therefore KALRO came up with the project to improve their income.

Pacilisa says KALRO has also sponsored them to attend and participate in trade fairs to display their technology and products in various forums including:

• 2017 – Arusha Tanzania at Selga hotel

• 2017 – Field day at Busia

• 2018 – ILRI Nairobi for 3 days where according to Pacilisa, President Uhuru Kenyatta, then a Minister, while touring the fair tasted and liked her Wimbi cakes

• Feb 2021 – Kakamega Mkulima Expo after which she featured in the Standard newspaper story.

• Busia - Several training programs at Amukura Institute for Agriculture

New Production Facility

For the production and factory facility, Pacilisa has constructed a full-fledged bakery in her compound with two jikos. She has also acquired a cake baking machine. However, she says she operates on a tight budget and desires capital to buy a dough mixer and a bigger noodling machine.

Previously, she has taken a loan and bought a motorcycle to use to distribute her Pawa bakery products. She has employed 22-year-old Tom Nyongesa as her salesman. She has so far cleared half of the loan. The retailers of her products are spread over a large area at Adungosi, Roadblock (Busia), Kisoko, Chakol Girls High School area; and Our lady of Mercy area in Busia.

Her products line include: Mandazi, crackle (Chevda), crisps, doughnuts, cookies, cakes, bread, biscuits, busera and brown ugali. All are made using local grains and vegetables.

Is this business tough? Pacilisa, an early retirement teacher due to health, concedes that the business is good, even though she faces some challenges. There are times when she experiences shortages of millet during long droughts. Also, she is still not comfortable with the shelf life of the products. She hopes to find a preservative that will preserve her products for a maximum extended time.

Meanwhile, Pacilisa Wanyonyi is not complaining. She says her business has enabled her to build a bakery and a decent house. Also, she is educating her children from the proceedings. Her firstborn Duncan Okuro is studying Bacher or Science in Criminology at Egerton University. She says he is also a model. The second-born Anita studied Biotechnology and is a graduate of at Bukura Institute of Technology. The other three children are still in school.

Her main challenge is getting the machines and Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) certifications for her value addition products. Besides being a manufacturer, Pacilisa is now a resource trainer. Due to her background as an educator, she now provides training in value addition to individuals and groups.

Ekapulu, says Justine Emoit, is the type of vegetables only found among the Teso.

“It is very nutritious and if cooked well, no one will touch meat or chicken or fish in its place” she confides.

She should know, Emoit is a rare Chef who serves original Teso recipes in her hotel aptly named Utamaduni Hotel. Utamaduni is the Kiswahili word for tradition. The other local Luyha vegetables are Echaboi (also known as saga), Esuga (Suja), Eboo (Kunde), Amudokolo (potato leaves), and Omurere.

The Utamaduni Hotel is conspicuous in that it is set at Adungosi Centre on the road to Malaba, less than 10 km from the roadblock at Busia. In fact, most travelers plying the arterial Busia-Malaba road zoom past Adungosi unaware of its culinary secrets; so they just drive past without paying much attention to it.

“But the day one stops and eats my food is always the first among the many days they will be dining here,” says Emoit with confidence.

She is not boasting for nothing, because we were referred to her hotel by one Bodaboda motorcycle rider in Busia town when we inquired where we could eat traditional food cooked in the original traditional way.

Actually, we had expected Mr. Namulanda, the taxi driver to take us into one of the many hotels and food kiosks spread around Busia, the headquarters of Busia County.

So we were a bit apprehensive when, instead, our guide led us almost 10 Km out of Busia town.

“Do you know the proprietor of the hotel?” I asked the taxi man cagily.

“Not personally, but some of my clients have asked me to bring them all the way here, so her cooking must be good”.

The proprietor of the hotel Madam Emoit has seen it all. First, she worked as a nurse in Turkana County for several years. When she retired from nursing, she was employed as a secretary at Chakol Girls’ Secondary School. While serving as a secretary at school, she aspired to go after her heart’s desire; which was to serve people with traditionally cooked meals. “nilikuwa natamani kuwapatia watu chakula kizuri na kisafi ambacho mtu anakula hadi anashiba kabisa”. She aspired to serve people healthy food that brought satisfaction to their palate.

Here I was a hungry customer at lunchtime; it was my turn to be served. The menu was simple and straightforward. Although the actual menu is conspicuously inscribed on one wall of the hotel, I requested the owner to recommend one of their best traditional lunches. I was served Atap or Ugali in Kiswahili (brown cereal cake made of a mixture of millet/sorghum/cassava). It was accompanied by a bowl with Ekapulu vegetables as a starter. The vegetables looked like a homogenous thick sauce mixture that had a pleasant smell and sour taste. Emoit explained to me the sauce was her secret recipe. As I started on the food she went into the kitchen to prepare for me what she called one of her specialties. There is a large open window between the dining area and the kitchen, so one can see her as she busies herself.

For the main dish, I am served the ‘kitoeo” partner that goes with the brown Ugali. The side dish consists of a large chunk of dried meat swimming in a light soup. She explains that the soup consists of Simsim and Peanut sauces with a touch of sour milk.

As I start eating I find I relish every bite of Atap dipped in this sauce. I notice she routinely makes the rounds to customers’ tables, the way a surgeon makes rounds in a hospital ward. She stops at each table to have a word. She asks me if I need salt. Mouthful, I shake my head.

During the next round, she asks me as a new dinner; how do I find her food. Between bites, I say I like the taste of the food. She turns to the next table with two smartly dressed lady customers and remarks, “you see he doesn’t need more salt either”. Indeed I had not even noticed the need to add more salt to the food. It is as if the cook knew the exact amount of salt to add to the sauce. I am later amazed to learn that no salt is added to the food during cooking. As I eat, I become attracted to the dishes the other dinners are eating. I can see tantalizing servings on other tables as people enter, ate and leave. Have you ever eaten in a place where you wish you could eat every meal on the menu?

I eat slowly just to savor the special taste of the food. I notice that she serves every customer personally. Apart from serving, she is throwing in a string of conversations with each one of them. Eating at Mama Utamaduni is the most homely and personal experience I have had in a local public eatery.

Which college did she go to learn such cooking? College… she is surprised. She says her recipes are natural in that they belong to time immemorial in the Teso community.

“When I was growing up, I lived with my grandmother. I learnerd everything about preparing traditional food from her diet and cooking. Since then, I have strived to cook for my family and guests according to what I learn from my grandmother. It is the best honour I can give to her. This food is timeless. You are eating this as it was cooked one century ago”.

She learned from her grandmother how to store and preserve different types of foodstuffs. Then how to prepare grain, tubers, and vegetables for cooking. She says her grandmother did not know how to read and write, yet she could plan meals for everyone from a few people in the family to hundreds at functions when needed. As a young girl, she was amazed how her people used to store and preserve different foodstuffs so that it could last for a full season; sometimes two seasons in the event rain fails for a year.

According to Emoit, this experience informs the type of recipes that rely heavily on dried grain, smoked fish, dried meat, and vegetables. Most spices and salt are either made or collected locally. Unlike factory-made and purified spices and salt, they have a full natural taste and are beneficial to health.

The common spices for Busia residents in their recipes include Simsim/groundnut sauce, peanut butter,  sour milk, Ginger, and the homemade salt “munyu” called Abalang.

Among the popular dishes at Mama Utamaduni Hotel are:

• Akirine naka wanoin (smoked meat)

• Ikolee ka emaide/ikenyam (dried fish)

• Amoten (boiled matumbo)

• Akou na epeyite (roast chicken)

These are served with Atap, Akok (Sweet potato), Emogo (cassava), Nduma (arrow root), or Bananas.

One of the specialties Mama Utamadani loves to keep on her menu is Emolokanyi (the scrubbed foot of a cow). The other specialty which is prepared in advance order is the dish consisting of meat/blood/matumbo mixture cooked in a special way only her grandmother could cook; and by extension, by Justine Emoit herself. However, there is sometimes a challenge due to the scarcity of ingredients.

Indeed dining at Mama Utamaduni’s place at Adungosi is not only a meal but an event.

As finish my meal in satisfaction, I request for her to reveal to me one of her secret recipes:

• Dry meat

• Abalang

• Simsim sauce

• Groundnut sauce

• Sour milk

• Local vegetables mix

For cooking instructions, she confides: “tell them to come meet me in a person at Adungosi…. hahaa!” she laughs in a motherly way only a great African traditional chef does.

In Kenya, the Maasai of Narok and the Marachi of Busia have several idiosyncrasies in common. First is their love for cattle. They keep large herds of cattle. When you travel within the Marachi-land of Busia you will be excused to think that you are in Maasai-land because picturesque resemblance of the local breed of cattle they keep in large numbers.

The Maasai, like the Marachi, are also traditional craftsmen. However, unlike the Maasai whose handicraft consists of beard-work and is practiced mainly by women; the Marachi traditional craft is practiced by men. The Marachi handcraft is based on weaving and furniture manufacturing. Their furniture is so unique that it is a brand by itself even without the modern brand naming and labelling.

Among the furniture and products from Marachi is the unique item, the sofa set, which is so attractive every homeowner who has seen it would love to have it in their house. In some parts of the world, this kind of item would be a collector’s item gracing the lounges and verandas of prominent homes and high-class hotels. 

In search of this attractive item, we arrive at Bumala, 50km from Busia town on the Kisumu-Busia-Uganda highway. Bumala is the heart of Marachi sofa set production. To the South-West, Bumala is graced by beautiful conical-shaped hills behind which we are told lies the land of the Samia, cousins to the Marachi people.

Our inquiry about the origins of Marachi sofa sets had begun at Eldoret, a cosmopolitan city-to-be on the Western ledge of the Great Rift Valley. For many decades, this urban center has been main the display center and largest market for sofa sets emanating from Marachi. At Eldoret, the vendors were directed to the towns of Bumala and Sega. They told us they order their stock either by phone or travel there in person to replenish their stock. The sofa sets are delivered to Eldoret by buses that ply daily between Uasin Gishu County and Busia County.

To find the extent to which the Marachi sofa sets are distributed within the Western region of Kenya, we visit furniture showrooms in Kisumu city and Lwanda satellite town where everything that happens in Western Kenya is replicated on a smaller scale.

At Bumala, one does not need to be directed to the workshops of the Marachi furniture because it is the first thing you encounter when you arrive in this vibrant town. On the roadside towards the heart of the town is an assorted of products prominently displayed at their long-term showroom located on the side of the highway.

In one of the workshops, we met 24-year-old furniture expert weaver Pius Ochieng. He comes from Ng’ela village, a distance of Ksh 100 by Bodaboda motorcycle taxi. He is both a designer, carpenter, and weaver. He began playing his trade in Bumala in 2017 when his father passed away. He was forced to drop out of school in class seven to take over his father’s place of furniture workshop and help provide for their family. He says he had known his late father Fred Oloo as a furniture maker all his life.

“It was not difficult for me to learn the art of weaving because I had been assisting my dad in making furniture from the time I was a small boy. Furniture making is in our family.”

We are in luck as we find him just beginning the weaving process on the sofa whose skeleton is complete. So we can watch and see the real action of Marachi sofa-set making. Even as we talk he is beginning the finishing stage of the sofa he is working on. In the background music is blaring from a solar radio hanging from the ceiling which looks like a permanent feature in the workshop. His senior at the workshop is 40-year-old Stephen Makokha who says he has been in the business of making Marachi furniture for 20 years. 

“This type of vocation is not only a learned trade”, he explains, “it is like a family loom.” The Marachi are traditionally hand-makers of household and trade products.

“It is in the Marachi blood; that is why it is called Marachi art.”

Various raw materials are used to make the furniture. The backbone material is sawed timber which is intwined and bound with flexible sticks called Zisoloho. Before they dry, Zisoloho is very flexible and, therefore can be bent and twisted into any shape. Which makes it a very good material for building frames for chairs, stools, and tables.

The other material used is a twine called Madoro. This is mainly sourced from the Sua River. The manufacturers have to spare a day or two to go and harvest Madoro. Harvesting involves uprooting the creepers, splitting, drying, and then twisting to shape. There are also ready-made Madoro sold by vendors at Sega who harvest and sell to furniture manufacturers. The raw materials are sold in rolls called ngatas at a price of Ksh. 1,000 each.

• A two-seat sofa consumes two-and-half ngatas of Madoro and takes a day to weave.

• A three-seat sofa consumes four ngatas of Madoro

• A four-seat sofa consumes five ngatas of Madoro.

Other materials include cushions, various cover materials, and vanish.

There are three main centers for manufacturing Marachi sofa sets: Bumala, Sega, and on Busia Road to Uganda. During market day, on Saturdays, several freelance home-based producers bring their products for sale at Bumala market.

 Pius is using his proceeds from the business to educate his siblings. Pius’s older partner Stephen Makokha is proud that his work has helped him develop his family economically; including building a house, paying dowry, and educating his children. He says previously, all craftsmen “fundis” made one form or design of sets. However, exposure to the internet has changed that. Due to this exposure to different furniture designs from different parties of the world, Marachi sofas have also modernized and adopted some new designs. Some customers also request custom-made designs with frames made of different materials including metal frames. 

“We can handle all that with no sweat,” says Makokha, “just show us the design you want we will reproduce it using these materials”.

What many admirers of the Marachi sofa sets don’t know is that apart from the sofa sets, there is a large variety of products handmade in Marachi land. These include Marachi coffee tables, side shelves, stools, trays, wine bottle baskets, shopping baskets, and lampshades. They can make virtually any custom-made product if given a design.

Marachi sofas are so popular that customers come from Nairobi, Mombasa, and even Uganda. Besides what is displayed, the artisans produce orders for a hotel and homes. However, many of the customers are those who stop by and buy. The challenge they have is that they are not organized as a trading society so they cannot take advantage of their unique design to popularize their production. The other shortfall is they do not have a brand name or sticker indication of who the manufacturer is.

Finally, they lack a central shade on the road to make and display their products. 

Pius Ochieng’s parting shot to all sundry: we make Marachi sofa sets, do you want one?

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