June Photos
On June 3 we did a little dorm outing where we took our kids to Mayer’s
Ranch, a huge plot of land nestled in the forest along the escarpment just above
the floor of the Rift Valley. It is an hour’s drive away from RVA, though
it is only 10 miles. This is a beautiful place that was originally settled
by British colonialists just after WWI. This is also the home of one of
our dorm kids, Julia Bakker.
Click on the photos for a full-sized picture.
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Our dorm (left to right: Julia, Rachel, Bea, Sigrid, Abby, JoUn, Joy, Love, Dora, Elizabeth, Melanie, Josephine, SoHee, Meredith, and David is in the back) |
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Elizabeth and Abby heading to the swimming hole. |
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These are pictures of a huge Mugumu (wild fig) tree. *More below |
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These are pictures of a huge Mugumu (wild fig) tree. *More below |
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Karissa swimming with her friend Lauren. This pond is fed by a warm spring, and the water was lovely. |
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Our dorm enjoying the warm water. |
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* More on the Mugumu (wild fig) tree:
This tree is so big that its branch spread covers about one acre! This is
a sacred tree in Kikuyu tradition. Old Kikuyu beliefs say that the spirits
live in the Mugumu tree, and the people used to bring goats or sheep to the tree
for sacrifice. In fact there is a flat stone under this tree which we were
told was an alter where the animals were killed (this tree is hundreds of years
old). We were also told that to this day, the Kikuyu will sometime still
gather around this very tree for ceremonies. Our kids had fun climbing it,
though I’m sure this was sac religious. | 
