Getting Started with Natural Dyeing

Our weaving program is progressing well. We have had the students producing some nice gauze scarves. That has been the latest project. The weaving takes longer than for kikoys as it is not a tight weave. That means that, although the material costs will be lower, the difference will be made up in the increased labour costs.

That is a problem when the market is being flooded by cheap alternatives from India which are not hand woven. For many, cost is more important than quality. However, I believe there is still a market for something which is made well and which is made by hand. The scarves are beautiful.

Gauze Scarves – the Latest Venture

Showing Off the Scarves

My personal favourite is the red scarves as they change colour from turquoise to red depending on the angle at which you look at them.

Weaving the Scarves

In addition to the products on the floor looms, we’re also continuing with the carpet production. That is more challenging as carpets are naturally more expensive than cotton products made on the floor looms. It is therefore much harder to move these once they have been completed.

In order to help with sales, we’ve decided to do some natural dyeing again. This is not the first time for us to do this, but for the last few terms we’ve only been using natural coloured wool: whites, browns, and mixtures of the two.

Carpets in Natural Colours

We have a number of local plants which we can use. We’ll start with those and once we know what’s available in the garden we’ll be more adventurous and check out some of the plants we can find in the bush around Naivasha.

The Owl in African Tradition

Last night our little dog got out and ran around on the top plot of the centre, much to the frustration of the workers trying to sleep up there. We have been having a lot of problems with our water recently and had dug a ditch for the new water line. The little dog was small enough to squeeze through a hole made for the pipe and was thereby able to gain access to new territories to explore.

Apparently there was a lot of noise and only part of it was the barking of the dog. One worker told us that an owl took an interest in the dog and tried to catch it. Now I know the little thing is small – that’s why we named him “Fupi” (meaning “small” in Kiswahili), but I find it hard to believe that an owl could have managed to carry him away.

Owls have a special place in many African societies. They are considered to be a tool used by the witchdoctor, a harbinger of doom. When you hear their call, it is believed that someone is going to die. Apparently one was repeatedly spotted flying around the centre days before our head teacher died a couple of years ago.

African Witchdoctor

I was surprised that we still had an owl flying about the centre. I’d seen a barn owl a number of times in years past but just assumed it had moved on as more houses sprung up in the neighbourhood. So maybe one of these days I have to build a home for the owl. I’d considered doing so long ago but then thought the owl had moved on.

When I mentioned my intentions to one of the workers, he recoiled in horror. I thought it would be a great solution to our rat problem. But he reminded me that the owl is considered a bad omen, one associated with witchdoctors. The idea that I would do anything to attract such a bird to the centre was clearly something he was very uncomfortable with.

That explains the worried looks we used to receive when we put a plastic owl up a number of years ago to try and scare all the pigeons away. I guess that, together with the giraffe bones and skulls I’d collected and had strewn around the garden didn’t do our reputation very much good in the community. They must have wondered why we were collecting witchdoctor paraphernalia.

There is a place in the hills above Naivasha where many owls are known to have their nests. People sometimes go there to collect the eggs which are then taken to Nairobi and sold to Arabs for a lot of money. The money is attractive, but nobody understands what someone would want to do with owl eggs. I suggested the Arabs may want to rear these birds of pray and train them. The sport is called Falconry, something which is virtually unheard of here in Kenya, though I was surprised to read that there was a falconry centre at the coast, in Malindi. But here in Naivasha people don’t understand such a concept: why would someone willingly want to keep an omen of death around them?

Piercing Eyes

When you look at the piercing eyes of the owl as it looks down its beak, you can almost imagine how these stories started. But why would the West have such a different perception of the owl? True, it is often a bird associated with wizardry even there. The wizard Merlin in Disney’s movie “The Sword in the Stone” had one as his companion as did Harry Potter and his wizard friends in the popular children’s story books. But they are also considered good. When someone says you are as wise as an owl, that is a compliment, not a death treat. It would be interesting to know why there is such a difference in perception.

Burned Alive

One of our students – let’s call him John – was coming to the centre the other day when he suddenly heard women screaming. Rushing to the place he saw some women clustered outside a locked gate, trying to break into the property. On the other side of the wall a woman was screaming. She was crying that she had been unable to live up to God’s expectations. There was nothing else she could do. She had tried everything but now life was no longer worth living.

Who Can Repair a Broken Heart?
The sign on the back of a matatu (taxi)

And with that she’d decided that she deserved to burn to death. She first drank some paraffin and then set herself alight.

When John finally made it over the fence he found a woman covered in flames. He looked around for something to put out the fire. But all he found was charcoal powder about him. So taking big handfuls, he threw it over her and finally managed to put out the flames. By this time she was screaming and blood was pouring from her mouth.

After wrenching the gate open, the women who had been frantically screaming outside came running in. They took the poor soul and put her into a car and rushed her to the hospital.

Unfortunately the woman did not survive her injuries.

A few days later I met the pastor who buried her. It was a large funeral so she must have been well known. She had told her pastor earlier how she had tried her best to overcome certain family problems but just could not get over them. What a tragedy that the only recourse she had felt open to her was to end her own life. And in such a horrific way!

Despite the outcome, we were very proud of John, that he had been brave and willing enough to try and save her.

John had demonstrated his courage on a previous occasion as well. As he was returning home one day through Naivasha, he saw a large crowd of people so went over to investigate.

Downtown Naivasha
A Jacaranda tree in full bloom

The crowd was gathered around an old well and were peering into its depths. Apparently a young child had fallen in. The hole was so deep everybody was standing around trying to figure out how they could get the young one back out. Members of the Red Cross were there along with people from the Municipal Council. Someone had brought a rope and a few long ladders. They had tried to tie them together but that had been unsuccessful.

And so they were stuck, unsure of what they could do.

When John saw what was happening he stepped forward and offered to go into the deep well himself to collect the child. Initially they resisted the offer as they felt it was much too dangerous. But when they realised they’d run out of options, they tied the rope around him and slowly lowered him down into the deep pit.

Unfortunately John was left with a dead child to bring to the surface.

Despite not being able to save the child, we were still proud of John and impressed with his bravery. Anything could have been down that hole: dead goats or dogs, or snakes. Yet that thought had not stopped him from wanting to help. Sometimes it takes one person to be willing to stand up and make a difference. Well done!

Changes in the Air

The weather truly is strange in Naivasha at the moment. We’re getting a fair amount of rain even though the rainy season has technically not started yet. But we’re not complaining! The lake desperately needs the extra water and the showers, though not particularly large but quite frequent, help keep the grass green and the dust down.

Rain Clouds Approaching the Centre

Another unusual occurrence this year is that there are so many butterflies around. In Jan 2009 we saw thousands of them come through the centre, but they were all small white ones. There were so many that it almost looked like it was snowing.

Butterflies like Snow

But this year different verities were to be seen: big ones, little ones, very colourful ones, swallow tails…. Some I haven’t seen since I was a child. What brings them this year is a mystery, though we are enjoying the phenomenon.

Marvellous Butterflies

Two weeks ago fish suddenly started dying in the lake. Many of the fish were very large. The government assessed the situation and banned the catch and sale of fish until they could determine the cause.

Immediately rumours started that flower farms were to blame; it’s always easy to blame the big guys. Others suggested that it was due to some form of algae. Sometimes the lake does indeed look red though we’ve usually concluded that this from top soil being washed into the lake from outlying farms. Others theorised a lack of oxygen in the water was killing the fish. The report on the cause is expected imminently. Maybe then the fishermen will be able to earn a living once again.

Rains over Lake Naivasha

Last week a woman came to us asking for our help. She wanted her son to come do the weaving course at the centre. She makes her living by either catching fish for the market. Now that fishing has been banned she is struggling to feed her children. We’re not quite sure yet what we should do as the boy is quite young. He should be in school finishing his education, not in some vocational training course. But we can’t give the schooling fees to everybody who comes to our gate!

Technically schooling is now free in Kenya. However, sometimes parents have to pay even more today with the free education than they did when school fees were expected. The school has so many other charges which the parents are obligated to pay. One local school tells the parents that they have to pay virtually all of the school fees as they no longer receive funds from the government since millions of shillings disappeared through corruption. Who can say whether that is indeed the case or whether the school officials are using the crisis to their own ends?

More recently the Daily Nation reported that Sh1.7bn worth of books have disappeared from the schools. When you go to a local school here in our area you don’t see very many books as it is. This latest development will probably make the situation even worse.