On Saturday, the 4th of July, the Mpala community celebrated a new event, Unity Day, in honor of the United States’ 250th and Kenya’s 63rd anniversary of independence. Festivities were in full swing at the centre with resident researchers, student groups, staff, and children coming together for exciting games, races and celebratory food.
Organized by Dr. Dan Rubenstein, the day featured a Pentathlon of games for the adults and welcomed over 100 pupils from the Northern Kenya Conservation Clubs (NKCC).
Runners pushed their limits across 5km (3.1 miles), blazing through three intense loops around Mpala’s challenging 1.4km ring road. Right after the race, precision met tradition during the Maasai spear throw, a high-stakes javelin competition that had the whole crowd roaring alongside the 100m dash and basketball speed shoot.
For the younger champions, the day began with an exhilarating game drive to play Safari Bingo, which quickly rolled into exciting mimes, skits, and traditional dances.
“The noted Oxford African Evolutionary Biologist, Jonathan Kingdon, asked us about a decade ago when he visited Mpala in July, how were we going to celebrate the 4th of July, American Independence Day”, said Dan Rubenstein. “We answered his question by having a traditional meal of hamburgers, hotdogs, ice cream and cake and games for students and children that lived in Mpala’s villages. This year we decided to enhance the day since it was the 250th Independence Day for Americans. We did so by honoring the schools in our Northern Kenya Conservation Clubs who performed the most amazing dances and mimes at our recent Community Conservation Day with a special ‘Unity Day’ that celebrated both countries’ independence from Great Britain. The student performances were amazing and appreciated by all as were the games that followed.”
As the exercise and excitement of the historic afternoon came to a close, everyone joined in a spirited singing of Kenya’s and the United States’ national anthems before cutting into a celebratory cake prepared by Eunice Koech, who has been a chef at Mpala for over 26 years.
Honouring the performance of the participants, medals were handed out, and the day wrapped up with a feast of burgers, hot dogs, fries, and fresh salads.
We would like to extend a huge thank you to NKCC’s patron Dan Rubenstein and to everyone who made this day one for the history books!
