Every community has its meeting places where they socialize and catch up on events. In big cities, Barber Shops, Hair Salons and Car Washes have been places where people usually get local updates, even gossip. In OlKalou, milk collection centers were The gathering places where people met daily with a common purpose. They had to wait until the trucks came to pick up the milk, giving them ample time to chat and bond. Lifelong friendships were built at the collection centers.
OlKalou was home to “migrants” who came from different parts of Central Province. The farm workers employed on these farms came from all over Kenya, majority coming from other tribes. That made the gathering very diverse and interesting. People had stories to tell about where they came from and their life experiences that finally led them to OlKalou. Some of the stories were hilarious, some unbelievable while others were heartbreaking.
News were scarce those days. Most families did not own a radio, and those who did only listened to them sparingly to save on Eveready batteries which were not easily affordable for families that lived on a tight budget. There was really not much to listen to anyway from the one station VOK (Voice of Kenya / Idhaa ya Taifa) which was owned and operated by the Government. The station ran for limited hours, opening at 6am and closing at 10pm, which I know sounds unbelievable today. But, that was our reality growing up.
We did not know of any family in OlKalou that owned a Television set, and even if they did, there was only one TV Channel which was operated by the government and it ran for limited hours just like the radio station. It is worth noting that the TV hours were even fewer than the radio station’s. OlKalou families were also very busy on their farms from dawn to dusk, leaving them very little time to listen or watch news or entertainment programs on radio or TV if they had one. This made the milk collection centers the place where important news were shared and anything else worth sharing, including entertainment. And entertaining they did. My brothers came home with new stories every day after delivering milk at our collection center. I was always eager to hear their stories from every trip. Here are some of them:
