North - Arr. Mombasa from Durban with wife 19/4/1905; Firearm registered Mombasa 20/4/1905; Land Grant application for mission in Bagori country 28/11/1905; 1906 Kisumu.

EAHB 1907 - R. Wilson - Bunyori

https://au-archives.hykucommons.org/downloads/f86da3cc-d986-4b7e-84cf-ee80c798447d?locale=en The Beginning of Church of God Missions in Kenya and the Early Missionaries who Served at Ingotse MissionOne of the missionaries who was associated with Mr. Baker’s mission in South Africa, was Mr. Robert Wilson. After reading “Hearing and Doing”, a magazine published by the Africa Inland Mission describing the pioneer work in British East Africa and the great spiritual destitution of the local people, Mr. Wilson and his wife felt called to go there as missionaries. After earnest prayer for guidance, Mr. Baker agreed to pay Mr. Wilson’s expenses to travel to East Africa to see the land and ascertain the needs of the people. On November 17, 1904, a train took Mr. Wilson from Johannesburg to Lourence Marques (now Maputo, Mozambique), where he boarded a steam ship bound for Mombasa, Kenya, arriving there on November 29. The next day, he rode the train to Kijabe, Kenya, west of Nairobi, where he met with Rev. C. S. Hurlburt, the founder and director of Africa Inland Mission. After two days, Mr. Wilson went by rail to Kisumu, the end of the rail road on the northeast shore of Lake Victoria.

The next day, Mr. Wilson set out on foot to walk the thirty miles to Kaimosi, the headquarters of the Friends Industrial Mission which was about three years old at that time. The Friends were pleased about the possibility of a new missionary coming to serve among the Nyanza people, and offered their mission as a base from which he could work until he got established. He returned to Kijabe, where Rev. Hurlburt took him on a tour of the area and tried to interest him in working with the Kikuyu people there.
Upon his return to South Africa, workers at the mission conference enthusiastically agreed that Mr. & Mrs. Wilson should go to East Africa. The name was changed to “South African Compound and Interior Mission”, to include the proposed new mission station in East Africa.
Preparations were made, and in a few months, Mr. and Mrs. Wilson and their two sons, Harland and Robert, traveled from South Africa to East Africa. Because the rail road ended at Kisumu, they had to go the rest of the way to Kaimosi on foot. Mrs. Wilson, who was pregnant, was transported in a carrying chair by four porters. The government advised that the missionaries leave Kaimosi temporarily because of unrest in the adjacent Nandi territory, so the Wilsons moved to Maragoli, a Church Missionary Society station where Mr. Willis was in charge. Soon Mr. Willis and Mr. Wilson undertook a walking tour to explore the Bunyore area. On the way back, Mr. Wilson met Chief Otieno, who expressed a desire to have a mission station on his tribal land. On August 15, 1905, the Wilsons, with the help of some African porters carrying the tent and their supply of food, moved to Bunyore, which was later known as Kima. Their first task was to build shelters out of poles and grass, and the next year they built a more permanent residence with the help of two South African men, Bertson and Anderson. Two years later, John Bila, an African Christian from South Africa came to help with the work of evangelization, and then Mr. and Mrs. Richardson joined the Wilsons at Kima. Mr. Wilson suffered a sun stroke and had to return to South Africa.