Twende chai!

Passing the fields of tea on our way to language school.

Twende chai!  Let’s go to tea time – not a literal translation, but the meaning is clear.  Chai (tea) is an important part of a Kenyan’s day.

Field after field of lush, vibrant, green; each day, traveling to language school we pass through the tea fields.   It is a beautiful sight.



According to the Maramba tea box, “The first tea (Callmellia sinensis) seeds were introduced to Kenya from India by Mr. G.W.L. Caine in 1903 and planted at Limuru, near Nairobi.  The commercial cultivation of tea in Kenya began in 1924.  Today Kenya is the world’s leading black tea producer.”

As with everything, there is good and bad in tea.

Waist-high in tea!

Tea must be hand-picked; it can’t be done with a machine. Tea pickers work very hard. They must pick the tea when the bush is ready whether that is in the hot sun or the cold, pouring rain. During picking times they begin picking at 7:00 a.m. and end at 5:00 p.m. with a break at mid-day.  They are paid by the kilogram for the weight of the tea they pick. The tender, top leaves are plucked from the tea bush and thrown behind to land in the basket which is strapped to the back of the picker.  This one said she will pick 40 kg. of tea leaves in the morning and another 40 kg. in the afternoon, if she is quick and works hard – over 88 pounds of tea in the morning and another 88 pounds in the afternoon.   That is a lot of tea!


The tea leaves are then dried and packaged.  There is much more to the process, but for right now let’s just concern ourselves with the tea pickers.

Housing for tea pickers --
Many families will live in one building 

Many times these hard workers are under educated and live close to poverty.  If this one doesn't pick she doesn't get paid; so if she falls sick or for some reason can’t perform at her peak, she loses wages. How many years do you think someone can bend over and pick leaves all day long carrying at least 40 pound on their back at a time?



When you drink your next glass of iced tea, pray for the tea picker who picked the tea leaves which went into the teabag that was used to produce that wonderfully cool refreshment.


Ask God to bestow His grace upon the one who picked your tea, that that one may know the God of all creation who owns the cattle on a thousand hills.  That even though they live in physical poverty, they may prosper in spiritual wealth; understanding God’s abiding love and promises, His grace and forgiveness of sin, and His watch-care for each of His children.