I do not have much to say on his friendships, or the kind of friend he was since I did not experience him in this capacity. I however know of one of his friends whom I have seen since I was in my early teens. His name is Michael. I later came to learn that this friend grew up with him in Laikipia. He is one of the “Bull milking” adventure people. They grew together, helped each other in life, supported each other’s careers, saw their children grow, lost touch for sometime, then got back in touch and kept in touch when technology advanced. My father’s friend is still a to go to person when I need insight in life.

This has made me look at life differently. That there can truly be forever friends. Who would I wish to introduce to my children as a friend. Who will my children look up to as the person who stuck by my whole life? I do not know the answer yet, but I hope as life unfolds, someone will stick by for the long haul.

My father was a paramilitary man and for that his household was respected and somewhat feared. He has had households established in three villages. Ronda and Piave both in Nakuru and at Burnt Forest in Uasin Gishu. I can not say much about Ronda because I never grew up there. In Piave he was the respected stranger and in Burnt Forest he was the village elder or “mzee wa mitaa”. In this capacity he resolved family conflicts, participated in elections and census, community projects advocacy and was very instrumental in the Amani Mashinani Program after the 2007/2008 post election violence. He helped where he could, counseled young people, spoke in functions and mentored those he was privileged to interact with. He was also not afraid to scorn bad behaviour where he saw it. He was straight forward and upfront.

And for this post, I leave it at that.