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WILLIAM BoruetT pens down another book

By Kiplon Kangogo

The renowned writer, William Kipyegon Boruett, has penned down another book. The writer, previously famous for writing children story books, has this time round gone further to weave up a magnificent book reflecting pertinent issues he has come across over the past sixty or so years of his life that he says are attributable to the benevolent Hand of God. He rightfully titles the book, The Hand of God.

Mr. Boruett, who ails from Baringo County, is known for writing four previous books; Give the Devil His Due, KCPE Revision Mathematics, Greedy Tumbo and Joy the Unwanted Child.

However, the new book, which is biography, extols the virtues of hard work, creativity, generosity, kindness, courage, wisdom, selflessness and above all integrity.

He says these virtues, added to the pursuit of education, are the pillars upon which every nation requires for its people to prosper.

Other themes tackled in the book include relationships, weddings and marriages and brings in a fresh dimension where spouses play complementary roles. We are then impressed upon the view that a successful marriage takes two honest, faithful and hardworking people.

The power of prayer both in times of plenty and adversity is emphasized and the importance of education as the best gift a parent can bequeathed his or her child stressed.

Quite a number of past and present prominent people and leaders are presented in what takes historical perspective. Those mentioned include among others the late Tom Mboya, the late Lawrence Sagini, the first President of Kenya Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, retired President Mwai Kibaki, retired president Daniel arap Moi, former Provincial Commissioner the late Nicholas Kipchumba Mberia and the late Henry Cheboiywo who was MP for Baringo North.

Those mentioned from Baringo Country include the late famous Lena Tungo Moi, the late Japheth Chemjor who was District Education Officer, the late Henry Elijah Rerimoi Chepkonga who was the Clerk to the Baringo District Council, Kabarnet and Mzee Stephen Chepkonga Kangwony who was a staunch and an exemplary Christian among others.

The book adopts the spirit of such world classics as Leo Tolstoy’s book Anna Karanin, which plunges deep into the business at hand without much ado .

The book employs stylistic devices of literature that include narrative, song, dialogue and poetry. It is a modest book - like a skirt, is not long or short.

It adopts the approach of the first person, “I” and the writer then narrates all the travails of his life from his own point of view. Some episodes are quite humorous and expected to draw mirth and laughter from the reader while others are quite sad indeed capable of driving one to a state of sadness and tears.

The setting and most activities take place in Baringo County but Mr. Boruett is a widely traveled man who has been to Singapore, USA, Swaziland, Uganda and Malawi among others and wherever he goes, we get to learn about those countries and their people.

Mr. Boruett expresses his profound appreciation for the tireless efforts accorded to him by the editors and many others to make the book a truly deserving gift for all. The book is published by Phoenix Publishers, Nairobi and has hit the shelves already.

“Life is a journey of great challenges. It requires association with people of great potential to make it; people who will influence one’s life for the better,” Mr. Boruett says and explains that this principle had helped him carry out various successful undertakings, the book included.

The converse is true; that if you relate with people of low integrity, jealous, dishonest, lazy and without vision, your success, if any is bound to be short lived.

“I strongly believe that it would have been a different story if I were to listen to the negative voices that were there in plenty ready to lead astray, consciously or otherwise,” he says.

Mr. Boruett is a religious man and a regular church goer. He has even donated land where a church was built on his farm at Chepsito, a few kilometers from Eldama Ravine town. Hence, his book is spiced with several Biblical quotations to support his arguments although the book promises to be still a good read for all people of all races, creed, ethnicity or class.

“I am most grateful that for every undertaking that I have made, I have done so with the full knowledge of the fact that man’s efforts alone is not enough; God’s guidance is required to reach the desired destiny,” he says.

He advises the youth, both in and out of the book to work hard, acquire sound education and at the same time seek a close relationship with God.

The forward of the book has been written by Mr. Nelson C. Kuria who is the immediate former Managing Director of the Co-operative Insurance (CIC) of Kenya which he terms it as a soul searching endevour of Mr. Boruett’s life and a heart-warming presentation of God’s blessings as opposed to luck, coincidence or hard work as most of us would tend to.

“In Mr. Boruett’s story, we see how the early years of a child’s life shape his or her world view. This is why parental support, through these early years is crucial,” Mr. Kuria opines.

Mr. Kuria explains that he had interacted with Mr. Boruett when the writer was a delegate of CIC Ltd and also as a friend and had found him to be a pro-active man who puts his heart to whatever he does with great determination and singularity of mind.

“Above all, his love for the Bible is indeed inspiring. I urge every inquisitive mind to not only read this book comprehensively but to do so with their Bibles at hand in order to benefit from the invaluable wisdom in this book,” Mr. Kuria Concludes.

Mr. Boruett is an educationist of long standing. He started as a teacher of English at Sigalagala Technical School in Kakamega county and ended up as the Headteacher of Kabimoi High School in Koibatek district.

After retiring several years back, he has successfully led a number of public institutions besides an array of his private businesses. Apart from being the current Chairman of Skyline SACCO Society Ltd in Koibatek district, Baringo County which he has seen it grow from scratch to a giant financial institution, he has also had significant input in the Koibatek District Education Board among others.

He attended Kituro Primary School in Baringo Central, then GAS Baringo for Intermediate before proceeding to Mangu High School in January 1960 for secondary school education.

He was born at Kapkomoi village, Ewalel location of Baringo County to the late Chebiegon Cherop and Kobilo Chebiegon. Both his mother and step-mother were called Kobilo and to differentiate them, his mother was called Kokob Jemuge while his step-mother was Kokob Nyagan. This was a common practice among the Kalenjin community that once one had had a grandchild, she was called the grandmother of that first born son or daughter of her first-born child.

Mr. Boruett pays great tribute to his parents for the good foundation they laid for their children and at the same time inspiring them that the sky is the limit. He also pays great tribute to his father-in-law Senior Chief Daudi Kibet of Sacho location whom he says he was a great listener and a man who had a particular way of urging one to go on and say more.

Mr. Boruet is a family man and says it would have been impossible to write the biography without the steadfast support he received from them. He says his wife Miriam, a former teacher too whom he has been married to for over 45 years has been a constant companion while the children who are now grown up men and women engaged in diverse professions ranging from medicine, teaching to engineering have been obedient, hardworking and visionary.

He says now that he is through with the book; his concentration is to write a sequential book to Joy, the Unwanted Child. He says he wants to pursue certain characters of interest in the book especially Lucy Lityala, who exhibits extra-ordinary traits of a bad woman and would like to find out how the final end of such characters turn out to be. He also would like to pursue the dreams and career of the main character in the book, Joy who had expressed the wish to be a medical doctor. He promises another good read once the book is completed.

However, he is currently working on the book, 'Cancer is not a Death Sentence' a collection of inspiring short stories.

Mr. Boruett says his books are selling well especially Joy, the Unwanted Child, which had been put in the ‘Orange Book’, a categorization of officially recommended books in the Kenyan education system. He says the book, which he wrote just a few years ago, had been re-printed severally.

In his efforts in various fields where he puts integrity first and adopts simplicity in life, many have come to appreciate Mr. William Boruett. It would be quite difficult to single him out from the multitude in the streets of Eldama Ravine if you were not introduced to him. Such is the simplicity of Mr. Boruett yet behind this mask is a great man with great potential.

It was, without doubt, for these reasons that the former District Commissioner of Koibatek Mr. Wicliffe O. Ogallo recognized his work and immediately recommended him for the award of the Head of State Commendation (HSC), which he was awarded in 2006 by His Excellency President Mwai Kibaki particularly for running a knowledgeable board at the Baringo Farmers SACCO, now renamed Skylne SACCO Society Ltd,having a committed staff and offering excellent banking serves. ends

marriage: the tugen cultural norms

By Richard Chelimo

The Tugen sub-tribe of the Kalenjin Community resides at the floor of the Rift Valley stretching from Koibatek Hills in the South to Ng’orra in the North. It occupies the present day Baringo County.

However, the Tugen are by no means the only inhabitants of Baringo County. There are the Njemps around Lake Baringo, the Nubians and the Swahili at Eldama Ravine town. There are also migrant communities mainly the Kikuyu, Luo, Luhya, Turkana and the Kisii.

Prior to the coming of the white man in the 18th Century, the community lived a tight society with elaborate cultural norms, which were strictly adhered to without any regard to one’s status or age.

Today, some of those cultural norms have dissipated but most are still explicitly noticeable in the community. The community, just as it was then, continues to value specifically the role of marriages, which they take as the genesis of life and relations.

Marriage in the community takes place at a mature age of both spouses and expected to beget children. Any marriage not lucky enough to get children is not considered to be a marriage per se because majority of the ceremonies spring from and revolve around the conception of the child.

The family without a child is thought to bring that family lineage to a dead end; without anybody to carry on with the mantle and family name to posterity.

Therefore the community valued ceremonies and activities surrounding the marriage.

When a bride was given out to the bridegroom and the girl was noticed to be expectant, the process of actual marriage begins.

The family of the bridegroom starts to bring gifts to their in-laws long before the child was born. Gifts such as milk, honey, beer and clothes were brought.

And when she had had a child or two, then the bridegroom’s family arranged the actual traditional wedding. During the ceremony, the family of the bride, her uncles grandparents played a big role as friends, relatives and the general members of the community participated.

The ceremony was conducted by an elderly man (Boyob Tum), an elderly woman (Jebiosetab Tum) and a teacher (Motiriot) which was a man and a woman slightly above her age. The ceremony lasted for three to five days depending on the ability of the bridegroom’s family. But her father was not allowed to attend the ceremony and was visited with many gifts at his home.

During the ceremony, the family of the bride presented to the other family a she-goat as a sign of acceptance of the ceremony and their daughter to be married by bridegroom. It was also a binding gesture that the two families would live amicably and that the marriage would last for the rest of their lives. It was indeed a ceremony of great happiness.

A similar goat would be returned to the relatives of the bride when the bride has grown old, had great grandchildren and died. The goat was called Chemomos, (The one of the woman belt). Such ceremony signified that the two families had lived well among themselves and in normal circumstances; it took place after the fourth generation.

In the next issue, read on Family Planning. At least two boys in the family were considered sufficient!

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