Traditional Prayers for Late Queen Elizabeth Held at Soy Club, Place She Slept for Two Nights

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By James Gitaka

A section of Kalenjin Elders from the Nandi Sub tribe has conducted traditional prayers to mourn the departed Queen Elizabeth II.

Until her death on September 8, 2022, she has been the Queen of the United Kingdom and other 32 commonwealth countries since 1952.

The Elders who sang sorrowful Kalenjin traditional songs before conducting their traditional prayers reminisced on the Queen’s maiden visit to the western part of Kenya in 1952 aboard a white train that made its first stop at Moi’s Bridge Railway station.

Queen Elizabeth and her husband the Duke of Edinburgh.

During her visit, the queen met the white settlers within the region. She also met the community members.

Queen Elizabeth 1948 wedding picture

Memories of the late Queen’s visit have for a long time been cherished by the Nandi community members who live at the border of Uasin Gishu and Kakamega Counties.

The queen spent her two nights at the Soy club and resort back in 1952, the place we are at the moment. She slept in room number 20. It was memorable since she engaged some of the grandparents before heading back to Sagana where she received the news of passing away of her father King  George  V1,” said Hassan arap Koskei, the proprietor of the Eldoret Soy Club and Resort.

The Community around the area have preserved a 1948 wedding picture of the late Queen Elizabeth and her late husband Prince Phillip Duke of Edinburgh.

It’s part of the souvenir that has remained in the room she spent her two nights at the Soy Club.

A woman holds a photo of the late Queen Elizabeth II and her husband.

This picture was bought by our mother at Ksh3 then. We have preserved it for 89 years. She was the only one at the time who could buy the picture on behalf of the community who at the time were not privileged. Many of our people had been serving the white settlers for 70 years before our country gained independence,” recalls Leah Chemutai, a 70-year-old woman.

Return Koitalel head

But for the traditional Nandi dancers who conducted the native prayers outside the room where the queen slept, they are calling upon the New  King  Charles III to help them repatriate the head of Nandi Orkoiyot Koitalel arap Samoei.

Samoei was chief of the Nandi Community and led in resisting the British colonial rule before he was assassinated in October 1905 at Nandi Hills.

The queen was a brave person. We celebrate her bravery but we ask the new  King to bring back the head of our  Orkoiyot for the  Nandi community to give him a  befitting sendoff,” said Ezekiel Maritim.

Hassan arap Koskei, the proprietor of the Eldoret Soy Club and Resort signs a condolence book for Queen Elizabeth.

Further, the quest by the Nandi Community to have their white highlands reverted to them, especially within Nandi County and the repatriation of the head of Koitalel Samoei is part of the atrocities that many African countries have associated with the rule of the late Queen.

The late Queen Elizabeth will be laid to rest on Monday, September 19, 2022, at Windsor Castle next to her late husband, Prince Phillip in St George’s Chapel, United Kingdom.

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