|
 Philip
Price, 1953
"It was a tough assignment, but
He who had called us was faithful"
|
"Why don't you come and live here with us and teach us more of these good words?" That was the challenge
I received from the many Pokot people who had gathered to
celebrate 'Sindagh'.
For some weeks, in the middle of 1955, I had been camping at Tamkal
in the Mwino Valley in north-west Kenya, to build a classroom for the school there. On that day hundreds of people had gathered for this feast. They praised
'Tororut' for the prospect of a good harvest following the sowing of the seed. Jesus was not known to them. Instead, they lived in fear of the malevolent activity of different spirits that could so easily interfere with the harvest. The celebrations that day prevented any work on my building. Instead,
I sat in my tent with Jakobo, the teacher evangelist, and together we told the story of God's love as revealed in the Lord Jesus. The major attraction of the day was my wind-up gramophone on which
I played 'Gospel Recordings' in Pokot. All day long the crowds listened, and asked many questions, culminating in the one which began this article.
 |
Mwino Valley in
north-west Kenya |
EVANGELIST
I had arrived in Kenya in 1953, as a single man to do 'out-station' work, supervising a number of small primary schools, each in strategic areas and manned by a teacher evangelist. For a long time
I had been praying for a good centre to use as a base, and it soon became clear that
Tamkal would be an ideal spot. About 10,000 people lived in the Mwino Valley, along which flowed a permanent river giving a good water supply and all around were the raw materials for building purposes.
Tamkal itself was about 4,500 feet above sea level and more healthy than the arid deserts around.
| The first
"Church of the Cross" at Tamkal, 1963 |
|
 continued
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January 2003 index