Ambling in Africa: Care for a spot of Tea?

Tea is for drinking and coffee for selling - at least that was the British adage...

It's freezing!!! Well at least by Kenya and my recently adopted standards. At 14 degrees, Sam (above) and I brave the mind numbing cold and load into a car heading north to the Tea growing highlands of Kenya. We bounce around spilling our lattes (hardened travelers are we) for about an hour moving steadily north and upward. Tea grows high on the mountain ( we are around 3500 meters) and when we reached our destination it is misty, wet, even colder (if that's possible) and fresh. It's a sea of green, lush and endless rolling out over the hills seemingly forever.

Sam's enthusiasm for the combination of the historical and natural beauty is contagious. I've known Sam for about 6 months and we've spent a bit of time running in the Karura forest, hiking around Kenya and the occasional cup of coffee. A fellow humanitarian aid worker, he is intensely committed to making sense of the world around him. His insatiable curiosity is only slightly overshadowed by the thoughtful and generous way he treats people around him and his commitment to the people we are here to serve.

The Kiambethu Tea Farm is 5 generations of Brits Tea farming in Kenya. Started or "settled" by AB McDonell in 1910 the farm is more a model and historical site than a productive Tea Farm given that the good folks at Unilever have taken over much of the ago-business aspects of Tea farming in the region. The gardens, birds and views are truly spectacular and an astonishing departure from the Nairobi landscape only an hour away.

The 1930's Estate where we enjoyed lunch in the very British drawing room. No Bangers and mash I'm afraid....

That said...and my insidious cynicism and sarcasm aside, during the presentation part of the tour, I learned that the tea really should be harvested by hand to ensure the picked product includes all the right parts but not to much...and that the remaining "table" the tea bush, is able to regenerate the new tender leaves in 2 - 3 weeks. Because that indeed .... makes for a good spot o' tea! The expertly plucked (by yours truly) sprig below shows the parts. The Pekoe (pointy bit at the top) is the most prized and flavorful, the first leaf slightly less so, the 3rd even less and the 4th part not usable at all. When making Black tea all is used (other than the 4th leaf) whereas white and green tea use the parts as described. And making it look like tea? Just a roll or crush and let heat and time do the rest.

Workers are paid around 10 cents a Kilo...and good picker can pick 80kg in a day....so $8... that's a relatively good wage here

And generally speaking there are only a couple types of tea, the flavors are created by the way in which it is processed and any infusion after the fact. Like infused by Bergamot, a citrus fruit from Italy that is added to make Earl Grey...who knew!!! (Well Sam did actually...) There was a time when Coffee was it in Kenya....I'll do a coffee tour soon and talk about the extractive economics of the post colonial government.... but for now, Tea is for selling and coffee to be ignored. Pity that yeah?

South Sudan..... what a fucking mess.....

I'm curious about the view the rest of the world has on South Sudan and the happenings of the last week. Nice, France was horrific as was the attempted military coup in Turkey.... but South Sudan I'm sure will see 1000's dead from what I can piece together...and the number of IDP's (Internally displaced people) remains at 14000 or more. I'm not attempting to diminish in anyway the tragedy of children massacred in Nice and democracy perhaps fatally wounded in Istanbul, but there are more dead, no sense of justice, safety or future for the South Sundanese people. It's immensely sad that an African tragedy has become so usual that the interest of the world is often attracted by other events, present and conspicuous events duly and respectfully noted. The instrument of change is not democracy, not the despotic kleptocratic rule of the leaders, it's the worlds ability to impact relying on our vehicle of peace and reason - the United Nations. We,....and they need to focus on these unfolding events to ensure that the Rwandan Genocide of '94 is not repeated here in South Sudan...as there is no doubt in my mind that it is very possible.

I chatted briefly with my good friend Rod Knox who happily runs his Hope bay Hop farm on Pender Island, Canada a world away. To his credit, and in additional to being a very good human, he is intensely aware of what is going on in this and most of the African conflicts that I have previously been painfully and naively unaware of. We discussed the similarities with "shake hands with the devil"where Romeo Dallaire details the UN participation in the Rwandan Genocide of 94. The possibility is very real indeed. Thanks Rod for sharing your thoughts and your continued interest in these and other events.