An Old Pokot Lady

After church, we walked about 20 minutes to Geoffrey's house for lunch with his wife. On the way, we passed by this lady. I found her to be quite intriguing. She lives alone on the corner of this land in this small house. As we passed by, she was sifting through some beans. I agreed to her request for "pesa" (money) for the privilege of taking her photo. (This makes the first time I've ever done that. Ususally when people insist on money for a photo, I politely decline. Usually they then agree to do it for free.) When I handed the 20-bob coin to her, she just stared at it in her outstretched palm. She asked Geoffrey (in her broken Swahili) why it was so little. He told me later that he figures she thought it was a 1-bob coin. She's likely never seen 20 shillings since it was minted as a coin a number of years ago. Apparently, handling money is a bit of a rare occurance for her.