26/09/2017
The Story of Eldoret
Eldoret was founded in 1910 when *Willie van Aardt* was granted block no. 64 but found it unsuitable to farm. The Post Master General *Mr. J. Gosling* toured the area and determined that land to be suitable for a post office and set about to construct one.
Curiously, the land was also exactly *64 miles from Londiani.* And so it was that the place was named Sixty-four.However, after Governor *Sir Percy Girouard* came to visit in 1912, the settlers suggested to him that the town be named after him.
Some said it should be called *‘Girouardfontein’* maintaining the Afrikaner naming culture. Girouard declined saying that his French name would be difficult for the British (and Afrikaner) settlers to pronounce let alone the natives - (the ‘d’ is silent).
The fact that they wanted the town named after him shows that he was an instant celebrity among the Afrikaners many of whom had French Huguenot roots. His wife however, was the reason he was popular. She was Afrikaner by birth.
While the name *‘64’* or *Sisibo* to the locals was quite popular, it was not considered as were the other suggested names - *Farm 64*, *Bado Kidogo* and *Sosiani.* Another popular name was *Sirikwa.*
This was the name of an ancient tribe that once occupied the Plateau but which disappeared some say into Southern Africa. Their name also failed to be considered. Finally, the town was named after the nearby *Eldare River*.
The settlers however added the letter ‘t’ after the name ‘Eldare’ so as to make it sound more like a Nandi name. The Nandi language ends nearly every noun with the consonant ‘t’, something the settlers found very curious.
And so *Eldaret* it was! A spelling mistake in the gazette notice that appeared in January 1912, gave the town the name Eldoret. Nobody bothered to correct it and so it has been like that ever since.
(Excerpt from the book _On the Wings of a Sparrow: by G. Sang & H. Kili)
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