Armed with an iPhone, a 10-figure grid reference and Ena’s book describing the ground, we set off to the highlands above Nakuru and soon managed to follow Google Maps to the spot where Waterford Farm should be. It took us to a grandly colonial two-storey house. My friend, fluent in Swahili, started chatting to the residents. This was Commander Good’s house, who from the book was a close friend of Jimmy and Ena. “Do you know where Col Power’s house was?” asked my friend. The lady of the house pointed through the trees: “There is the Powers’ house.”
The Powers developed Waterford Farm as a going concern, eventually employing around 100 people; they built a school and a health centre for their employees. Jimmy dug a lake with a shovel and some oxen, developed a dairy herd of around 500 cows and grew cereals. But with the uncertainties of independence, they sold out to the government scheme, then bounced to South Africa, Devon and eventually settled in Barbados, where Ena was headmistress of the girls’ school for many years. The farm has since been in local ownership.
These days much can still be seen of their efforts. Their house itself is the sort of large brick bungalow that you see all over Kenya. Well-built and a little extended over the years, but the veranda is exactly as it was in the picture I have of Ena. Standing in the same place as them from the photo album I could feel something of their spirit and sense of adventure. Life was extremely tough to start with. They had to put in water supplies and sanitation, including a “long drop” lavatory, and lived off savings and friendships of other settlers and locals until the farm was viable.
Source link : https://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/africa/kenya/personal-pilgrimage-kenya-great-rift-valley/
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Publish date : 2024-04-20 07:00:00
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