15. October 23, 1967: Letters from Frank, Diane and Vicki to his folks


October 23, 1967

Dear Mom and Dad, (From Frank to his folks)


I’m going to finish the kids’ letter this week, and I will write one to Jim to fill in all the details, so will let you share that one. The little kids were supposed to fill in this space, but all got to bed before it got done, so will let them write another. As you gathered, we had a long weekend and spent it trying to do lots of things and accomplishing little. Everyone in the country had Friday off as it was Kenyatta Days, their Fourth of July, to celebrate Uhuru, or the end of the MauMau. They really do it right, all kinds of dances, native of course, decorations, bands, and this goes on all day in at least all of the provincial headquarters like Embu. I would like to have been able to stay home and watch this one, but had to make time to buy a month’s groceries and to see some of the other people from up-country, and hear of their experiences and what they have accomplished. Milton is okay now.

Love, Frank


15.1 October 23

 

Dear Grandma and Grandpa,(Cochrane)


(Diane) Well, we just got back from our monthly trip to Nairobi and it was quite eventful! We went to the Rift Valley and climbed Mt. Longonot. It’s an extinct volcano. The climb was pretty easy most of the way, but there were a couple of rough spots. We all made it all the way to the rim, even Kiva. She took the climb real well. We entered the Rift Valley by way of the Mau Escarpment. Just before we dropped into the Rift we stopped along the road to gape at the view. It was really something to see. It wasn’t all jagged and rough like I had expected, but it was still something to see. The land fell away from where we were standing at the edge of the road to the valley below. It was about a thousand foot drop from the road to the plain and all the way down it was steep as anything. After the drop off the Rift Valley Plain stretched away as far as the eye could see. The other edge of the Rift could just barely be seen in the distance. The plain was flat, really flat. There wasn’t a bump in it, except for the three volcanoes that were in view. Mt. Longonot is the biggest at 9111 feet high. When we got up the side of the mountain we could see and see and see! From the top of the rim we could see Lake Naivasha, that’s the lake with all the birds.


The inside of the crater of Mt. Longonot was all overgrown with small trees and shrubs that looked something like sagebrush. I wanted to go down in the crater, but no one else did. It would have been hard to get down in it anyway. By the time we got to the rim, there wasn’t enough time to walk around the rim to the peak, but Mom and Dad promised us that we would climb Mt. Longonot all the way sometime. I guess I have to go now so there will be room for Vic. 

Love, Diane


15.2 Hi! Yip it’s me, Vick. Since Die told you all about Mt. Longonot, I’ll tell you about our shopping trip. 


The first day it was mostly to see about boarding school for Die and me.We went to Kenya Girls’ High first. Diane was old enough and took the exam (which didn’t mean a thing) but I was a year too young. So we went to Kenya Primary School (grades 1 thru 7) to see what was cooking there. We had to wait to see the principal and when we did, all he could do was say no in as many different ways as possible. 


The first thing was that we were out of his district and should go to Nyeri School instead. Well, I wasn’t very hot on the idea, but then he said he could flunk me back into the sixth for a term and pass me to the seventh in January. Dad didn’t like that idea, so he started making excuses. He asked me if I knew any French or Latin. I said no, of course, why anyone teaches anything so useless, I don’t know! Then he asked me about geometry and algebra. I said no because I hadn’t had a formal course. Later I found out that all they teach is an introductory course anyhow, which made me mad at myself. So he said it was absolutely impossible for me to even try to enter the seventh grade. Fooey! I’m going to take correspondence instead and he can go fly a kite! I wasn’t wild about boarding school anyhow.

Love, Vic

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