With Samburu lush and green following the rains, we held our annual Tenebo Day in December – tenebo means “together” in the Samburu language. We brought all our field staff, Lion Scouts, camp staff, plus members of Warrior Watch for activities that would get them thinking, talking, laughing, engaging as a unified team.
Shivani’s sister Shalini helped organize a great day of activities – both old favorites and some new ones. The day was sponsored by our friends at Sasaab Lodge.
Sports Day included simple races such as three-legged race, potato and spoon race (blindfolded) and sack race causing much hilarity and bringing out the competitiveness in the teams.
Round the Table included activities such as threading a needle, putting a deck of cards in number order and making the longest word from a set of nine letters. But, perhaps the most successful activity in this section was the small mini animal jigsaw puzzles that the teams had to solve. Most of the Ewaso Lions team had never seen a jigsaw puzzle! So, to explain to them what it was, show them how to put one together and then watch as they painstakingly put one together with the help of their teammates, brows furrowed in concentration, quietly whispering – was quite fascinating! Team Moses won this activity.
Treasure Hunt was quite a tough activity for the teams but by the last clue everyone had got the hang of it – and once again this was a hugely competitive activity. Each team was given a clue in English, and it was then translated to them by their team leader who then sent one of his team members to find the item being described.
Here’s one of the clues – can you guess what the item is and where it was hidden?
Look at this to see your handsome face
You will find me at the car parking place
Golf proved to be the hardest activity of all. Some people whacked the ball so it went flying, and some people were too timid.
Tug-of War is an old favourite – which really shows how strong the guys are.
And so the winners were Justus, Yesalai, Jeremiah, Lempunya and Lemeen!
From one moment to the next the atmosphere changed – from utter chaos and laughter, to pin drop silent concentration. But whatever the activity, the teams gave it their all – and getting them thinking, talking, laughing and engaging had been no effort at all – the sign of a committed, strong and dedicated team.
Tenebo Day 2014 was generously sponsored by Sasaab Lodge.
Special thanks to Shalini Bhalla and Jeremy Lucas for help with this post and photos.
> Read about last year’s Tenebo Day here.
