Rocks and Tea For All

After our evening in Kericho we made a short drive to a local tea plantation where we had a tour and learned how tea is made.  We were able to buy tea to bring home and I can't wait for my first cup of tea masala.  The tea plantations employ many local people and an issue facing them lately is the move to mechanization.  Using machines to pick tea means fewer jobs for people in the community.  Mechanization also results in an inferior tea because the machines pick indiscriminately.  Harvested tea is put through a multistep process which starts with picking (only the tips with two leaves, please!), maceration, cutting, tearing, curling, fermenting, firing, grading and packaging.  To learn more about how tea is made please check John Geddes' blog at:  johnageddes.com

Tea Plantation:  Tea in foreground  Workers' Housing in Background

Tea Leaves:  The one of the left is inferior, the one on the right is Prime

Tea Leaf Tips

Processing Plant

Tea plants ready for picking!

Newly planted tea!

Next we stopped at Kisii Soapstone Art & Craft factory.  At this location local tradespeople make the beautiful stone sculptures found in stores such as 10,000 Villages.  All of the items are carved, polished and decorated by hand .  We had an opportunity to watch the entire process and the option to buy a few items to take home.

Joseph, the stone carver!

A Small Hand-crafted gift!

Only the women do polishing

Decorating

Sales Area

Beautiful Designs

Arriving at the Icipe Facility

My Favourite Ginger Flavoured Beverage!

Cheers Mike!

Both of our stops today were on our way to Mbita, where a significant amount of work for CanAssist will begin.  Our day will start very early tomorrow so I will add more details later.  I'll leave you with this beautiful sight which awaited us in this wonderful lakeside town.  Thank you again James for the lovely photo!