The Dams of Embu

Juston and his family stop at the supermarket for some supplies for their road trip around Embu. 

He stands in the supermarket aisle and asks his parents, “Do you know what nobody knows the answer to?” 

“Why did the chicken cross the road?” His father asks and they all laugh. 

“Noooo, the question is where is the Mwea pishori rice from? Juston asks, holding a packet of rice. 

“I am not sure, but Mwea is a place, right?” His mother responds, reading the label on the bag of rice. 

“Yes, but where is Mwea located?” he asks. 

They do not respond so Juston tells them. 

“It’s from Embu!” He says. 

“Really? I never thought Embu produced rice!” His father responds. 

“It does, as we drive along, you’ll see all the rice stands along the road, I bet they sell cheaper than what you spend at the supermarket,” Juston speculates. 

His father is tickled by this and asks him, “how do you know this?” 

“I know things dad,” he replys. 

“Well then, what else do you know about Embu county,” dad asks.

“Ok here we go, Kenya’s large-scale hydroelectric power generation comes from the seven fork dams, 5 of those 7 are from Embu,” Juston says excitedly. 

“Hold on, hold on there’s more to this,” Juston continues now animated.  

“The 5 dams also have waterfalls, which one can swim under, sooooooo can I go swimming there dad?” he asks 

At this his father laughs knowing that this is where all this was leading up to; a manoeuvre to get a fun vacation.  

“I’ll agree to this only if you tell me one more amazing thing about Embu,” dad negotiates.  

“Hmmm…” Juston thinks for a minute. 

“I got it, world class athletes come to train in Embu because of the high altitude,” he explains. 

He continued to explain what that means. “When one trains in high altitude areas, they get used to running on low oxygen so when they go for competitions, they do not lose their breath so fast.” 

“Good job son,” his father says proudly. 

“With that in mind let’s get you some new sports shoes. Who knows, maybe I have a future Eliud Kipchoge marathoner right here,” dad adds as they walk over to the shoe aisle.