Kathmandu. Over the past few weeks, thousands of people have flocked to the remote village of Cheporor in western Kenya in search of gold. In fact, it is said that the gold rush began when 33-year-old goat herder Manse Lomacher searched for gold. Lomacher had found about three grams of gold a few weeks ago. Which he sold for about $280.
The situation is such that the area which was once covered with bushes and pastures is now full of ditches and heaps of soil. Lomacher believes that a large number of people began to flock to the village of Chaporer after news of his discovery and the resulting bounty spread. However, it is unclear whether the arrival of people in the search for gold was solely driven by Lomacher’s discovery or whether other recent discoveries in the field also played a role.
Local officials estimate that at one time the crowd reached 10,000 people. Even a small amount of gold is giving these people hope for a life-changing future. Most of them depend on the uncertain income from farming.
“I want to find enough gold to pay my school fees,” Lomacher says. People in these areas sometimes search the sands of the river in search of gold, but they rarely find anything important.
According to Lomacher, he found the gold by accident. While searching for the missing goat, he met some women searching for gold on the bank of the river. “I joined them and that’s how I came to know that there was gold in the area,” he says. ’
Patrick Lokolia, a farmer and shepherd from the neighboring village of Napavoi, also joined the search, hoping to earn some extra money and support his family. “I had never mined gold before I came to Cheporr,” says 18-year-old Abigail Chelengat. ’
She hails from a nearby district. There she was hoping to find enough gold to pay her school fees and continue the education of her younger siblings. Hundreds of people are lining up behind him. They dig the stone with their beaks and shovels.
Some carry the soil to a nearby river. Most of the women there live in murky water and filter the soil, hoping to find even a little gold. Some experienced people go into deep pits, dig soil and break stones, their only purpose being to find gold.
According to West Pokot County Deputy Commissioner Samuel Keari, the rush of people looking for gold began after two major discoveries. “Some youths found a lot of gold. The next day, the women again found more gold in the same area. ’
Kiari says women have been searching for small quantities of gold on the banks of the river for years. They typically earn between $8-$23 a week.
But in early August, the news of the discovery of a large amount of gold attracted widespread attention. Kyari believes that as the rumors spread, the search and the scale of it were exaggerated. This led to a lot of people arriving. Many of these people had little or no experience in finding gold. They had come in the hope of finding the gold. —From the BBC
