HARVESTING SEASON(JUSTIN LAGAT) Like they had always done in the previous years, all the grand children gathered very early in the morning at their grandmother’s house. It was the harvesting season and they always volunteered to assist their elderly relatives harvest their crops. In return, the elderly would give them some presents in the form of bangles and necklaces or by simply making a delicious meal for them and telling them stories. However, the greatest of all the presents they really got were the blessings they received from God.

Each was given a sack and they set out to the maize field some few meters from the granary. They were fifteen kids in number aging between nine to fourteen years. The younger children remained with their grandmother in the house to assist her to gather firewood and prepare porridge for those in the field.

The field was not all that big. Apart from David who was just there to escape the chores he would have been doing at home had he not been there, other children gladly began harvesting maize; peeling and throwing the maize cops and grouping them in one place where they could easily pack them to their sacks later. Occasionally, one of them would come up with a story to amuse and cheer them. They would laugh happily and time flew very fast. Soon, the younger kids brought mugs and jugs of porridge. They sat down under a shade within the farm and refreshed themselves. After feeling rejuvenated, they resumed their work till their shadows grew shorter and they started putting the crops in their sacks. Each one had to make three trips to the granary.

As she watched them from a distance, their grandmother was very impressed by their efforts so that she started figuring out the best way to reward them. As they came to pour out the maize from their first trip, she asked them about the remaining trips and they let her know. They went for the next trip.

On their third trip, David was so eager to get a present from their grandmother that while the rest of his group went further into the field to load their sacks, he remained behind. He quickly pushed some maize stalks into his sack and hurried back, but as he was about to reach the granary, his grandmother asked him to put aside his load and wait for the rest to arrive. The other children soon arrived and each one was asked to mark his or her sack and put it aside, then they gathered and enjoyed a delicious lunch which their grandmother had prepared for them.

“Now, I am very pleased with your good work”, their grandmother told them after their lunch. “You will all take with you the load from your last trip as a present!” All of them were beside themselves with joy as they gladly thanked her and lifted their sacks to take home. David was terribly disappointed and even though there were useless maize stalks in his sack, he lifted it as though he was also carrying a heavy load because he did not want the others to know what he was carrying!

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