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Golfing in Kakamega
Tony Rainbow of ACCES
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[This article first appeared in the April 2007 ACCES newsletter.] It would be unfair to portray Kakamega only as a place of poverty. Rather than share an article about our programs and students, this month's article shows another slice of life as experienced by Tony Rainbow, when he and his wife served as volunteer Representatives. It seems incongruous that there should be a golf course in Kakamega, but there is! It was developed over seventy years ago by the British who liked to take England with them wherever they went. The clubhouse would not be out of place in many English villages, with windows and doors obviously imported from England. It is easy to imagine Carruthers or Stanley-Smythe holding forth on the problems the bloody Huns were causing in Europe or the disgrace brought to the Royal Family by Edward VIII! To say that it is an interesting course does not do it justice. Footpaths crisscross it on almost every hole and there is a constant flow of people. Cows graze in the rough and process much of the grass on site so you must watch where you tread. A lot of the rough has been cultivated and planted with maize and beans. People are allowed on the course at any time to cut grass by hand which they then stuff into huge sacks and transport home on the back of a bicycle to feed their cows. There are always people cutting firewood and it is surprising how small some of that wood is. Holes are marked by small branches with a plastic shopping bag attached. The moles cause havoc on this course. Mo is actually relieved, as she is just learning to play, so the huge clumps of soil being "dug up" by her aren't too obvious. Quote from her - "this is the most stupid bloody game I've yet played!" One further distraction is the birds. One day I was confronted by a Marabou Stork who did not appreciate my ball dropping near him. I've never seen a bird this size as it stands almost four feet tall and has a wing span of well over six feet. Its chest is covered with those long white feathers that are used to make up a feather boa and I wouldn't want to get within range of its beak which is large enough to do some fearsome damage. In flight it looks like a pterodactyl! There is another very large bird with a distinctive cry. It's disconcerting to hit into the rough and to have one of these things fly overhead repeatedly crying 'Ha ha ha, Ha ha ha.' Fair comment I suppose. I had mixed feelings about playing while we are here, but what I discovered is that it is a little industry providing a source of income to quite a few local people. A caddy for 18 holes is 200 shillings, about $4. There are boys who pick mushrooms in the morning and sell to players. Other boys and older men earn a few shillings by giving lessons, fetching balls if you want to practice, cleaning shoes and clubs, or any other task you can dream up. The club employs people to work the course and in the bar and restaurant. The best local players regard golf as their job, making good prize money in tournaments around the region. There are over 300 members of the club, five of them being white. Quite a change from colonial times. |