Footnotes

Illeret, Kenya (July 2006)

It feels great to have been part of a group who partook in excavating the oldest human footprints in modern anatomy (see National Geographic article here) under Dr. Harris. During the course of the paleo-anthropological dig in Illeret, Kenya with the Koobi Fora Field School (with the support of the National Museums of Kenya), we were lucky to be in the vicinity of the Dassanech people. After excavating in 40C arid and sandy weather (against the evil Leakeys nearby) with the typical acacia thorns being broken off inside some part of the body, the group would jump onto the lorry and Land Rovers and drive to Lake Turkana where we took our baths. Sometimes we would stop by Illeret and pick up a couple of children. One day, the Land Rover broke on our way to Lake Turkana. My two Dassanech friends (who wanted to become sprinters one day) and I decided to race to Lake Turkana. It was beautiful (and of course, I had no chance against their speed). At the end of the race, one of the girl stopped me, put a silver bracelet around my wrist and said, “Edyta, you are my friend.”