Phewy it is just so hot. The weather here has now turned slightly humid and for the last couple of days it has been too unbearable to venture outdoors in the sizzling sun. Not helped of course by a small bout of EXTREME cramps. However I have now finalised (pretty much … lol) various travel plans between now and coming home.
Alison’s mother is being moved into the Fairseat foundation next weekend and the coming week will be spent chaotically organising the move. The following weekend, Alison and Paul are venturing to the island of Lamu – known now as the more popular choice to Zanzibar the spice island. Zanzibar is the destination for most South Africans going on holiday and has therefore become extremely commercialised. Lamu is on the north coast of Kenya and is relatively near the Somalia border. For this reason they advise that you fly direct to Lamu and don’t drive (because of the car-jacking risks). Once you’re on the island though, you’re as safe as you can be in Kenya and able to enjoy a relaxing break on an island that has no cars. (Similarities could be drawn with the Scilly isles?) Perhaps people are turned off from going to Lamu because of it’s closeness to the Somali border.
Anyway, I have two safaris booked now – one of which I will be going on whilst A + P are in Lamu and the other at the end of February. I then plan to spend the week preceding the Kilimanjaro trek sleeping, stuffing my face with vitamins and healthy foods and doing obscene amounts of exercise. :-D and then it’s off to Kilimanjaro! A week long trek up Africa’s highest mountain is – I’m guessing – going to leave me feeling pretty washed out. So I have a short while of recovery before flying down to Mombassa for a weekend with Alison and Paul. I was planning on visiting Tsavo national park but upon realising that I would not see anything unique to Tsavo (i.e. it’s all in the Mara) I am saving the money and will stay in Mombassa for a couple of days extra. People go for entire fortnights to Mombassa and all they do is sunbathe so I am not going to feel guilty for having two days of perfect happiness lying in the sun on a white beach with clear seas and palm trees scattered everywhere. Bliss or what. I’m on holiday, holidays are all about enjoying yourself! They also have glass bottomed boats which take you out so you can go snorkelling. They stay the beach side of the reef (which is so vast along the Indian Ocean and enables the seas along the beaches to be so still and clear) so you can [safely] view all the local sea life. They do offer diving training but with my fear of deep open water I think I might give that one a miss… Snorkelling though…how awesome would that be. And me in a wetsuit?! Phwoaar I’ll be fighting the locals off… (those who remember Aberdyfi will remember my hysterical struggle to even get IN a wetsuit let alone walk around as if it is a second skin…) and I will be wearing a wetsuit because too many embarrassing stories could come so easily from not wearing one.
SO I would then fly back just 3 days before I fly home again to the UK. When I talk about it all like this it seems that time passes so incredibly quickly (can’t quite believe it has been a month already…) and before I know it I will be back from Kili and Mombassa and on a plane home again to the grey old Wendover.
Despite the heat in the middle of the day, it has only really affected me because of the humidity levels rather than the actual heat. I find myself getting more and more used to the temperatures here, and almost like clockwork – at half past 4/5 o’clock I find myself in need of a jumper because it has dropped down to just 22 degrees!! I mean, how on earth will I cope once back in the UK?!? I’ll be wearing my snow jacket and ski trousers that I have brought with me for Kili. Brrrr just thinking about temperatures in Wendover are making me shiver…
However, despite not being overly homesick, I will be happy to see and live in the UK again. Just a few months make you realise how lucky you are to live in such an overly developed country. I am certain that upon my arrival at Heathrow I will shortly want to turn around and get back on the plane to Kenya… but for now, I miss simple things like having a choice of 20 brands of yoghurt and cheese. SALAD I miss it so much I genuinely am not functioning properly (ok being SLIGHTLY melodramatic there) without a good chicken caesar. Like the one from Pizza Express…mmm. Salad and vegetables in general go off so quickly down here. They grow amazingly quickly but have a very short shelf life. Got very excited this morning as I got to try my first Pawpaw (which is only exciting because of it’s reference in the Jungle Book ‘if you pick a pawpaw….’) etc
Another thing I find myself missing is Hugo, my true love – my red VW Polo car. It became a second room for me to empty all the rubbish I seem to acquire over [short] periods of time and now he is empty and clean and only being driven once or twice a week. Heartbreaking stuff right?!?
Whilst I increasingly find that I am falling in love with Kenya, nothing excites me more than the day I will get to see my mummy and daddy again (altogether now … aaaawww). The day that I left to come here was pretty emotional and I imagine that coming through the arrivals hall will be just as funny to watch as a stranger… If only because most people on gap years tend to go backpacking - yet here I am with two HUGE bags that I can barely lift (all full of clothes) in such a typical Hannah way. Ha ha ha!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
Sunday, January 21, 2007
So yet another week has passed and here I am in Nairobi once again.
This past weekend I ventured back to Chagaik with the help of Paul and Alison. They [the school] had said that the accommodation was now ready and they were expecting my return. I stayed for a night and gave it all the positive attitude that I could muster under the circumstances. I quickly realised however that it really wasn’t for me. Everything continued to change, and to cut a seriously long story short, I am now back in Nairobi safe and sound. I have had about 6 hours sleep in the past 48 hours so am completely kanckered.
Anyway, for now have decided to neglect the idea of researching other volunteering opportunities. It will take a long time to organise, and if it was a placement anywhere other than Runda it would be a logistical nightmare to try and organise transport to and fro etc SO have decided I’m going to travel and have a good barrel of fun instead! I think this is an awesome idea. No idea where, no idea what and no idea how much. But will be researching this week and feel much happier knowing that I will hopefully return to the UK now with extremely fond memories of Kenya and wherever else I drag my little tushi off to.
Hurray!
The bonus of being here in Kenya and realising that I now want to do travelling is…. Everything is cheaper!! You get resident’s rates, and because you’re organising without the aid of some overpaid fat man in England – the costs are cut further. (And this is just from looking in the window of the local travel agents…) To drive is cheaper than to fly (but that’s pretty obvious) and so what is 6/7 hours in a car if it saves some money to see more baby lions or whatever?! More updates on this when I know more.
My brief stay in Chagaik (for the second time round…) was more fruitful than the last however. My new good friend Faith (an english teacher at the school) showed me around and took me on a walk in the area etc etc Not only are the surroundings absolutely stunning (plush like looking out of Wendover woods in spring…but with MILES of bright green tea leaves and huge big trees) BUT I learned a little something about the tea process… You know that the leaves are ready to be picked when you look at a field of tea and see little dimples in the plants – almost like holes where the plant has failed. At this point (and I clearly came at the right time…) the tea plants grow hundreds of new shoots. The bits of the plant which pickers pick are the top three leaves. They are grown from one stem, and consist of three leaves – each slightly smaller than the other. These apparently are the only leaves to be picked. Pickers are paid by the kilo – their pickings are weighed at the end of each month and they are paid accordingly. Interesting stuff hey?
Kenyan tea (as I already knew) is made differently to the English ‘whack a bag in a mug’ concept. Instead, they heat lots of milk with some water, sugar and loose tea leaves in one pot and sieve it off when they want some. They leave the pot of tea brewing on a hot fire for hours (and it doesn’t taste as though it has been sat heating up for ages). It truly was the best cup of tea I will probably EVER have. Not only was it made from ground tea leaves from the field just opposite the school, the milk was freshly produced by the dozen cattle that are resident at the school.
An authentic cup of tea.
Now, speaking of authentic tea. Alison and Paul spent the night at the appropriately named ‘tea hotel’ in Kericho town. One might make the dangerous assumption that they might be catering for a clientele interested in sampling the local tea. However, ONE would be mistaken! The tea was rather disgusting apparently, and the food and accommodation not much more improved. I do get the impression they would have preferred coffee (which seems SCANDELOUS given the grief they give Alison’s mum for ordering coffee on their first and previous visit to the Tea hotel some time ago). Oh the hilarity! I think I’ll give staying at that one a miss….
Our first journey to Kericho saw us stop via Molo (which I have since discovered is the best place in the world to buy vegetables). This involved Alison winding down the window and dozens of women begging you to buy their potatoes, carrots (that are HUGE), peas, plums, cabbages (the size of a small bin) and so on. Strong accusations of 'you do not promote me my sisters' get flung through the window and having been in Kenya for only a few days I thought this was pretty intimidating...not scary at all they just want you to buy their veg, but intimidating all the same to have people smacking the window inches from your ears. ANYWAY on the way back through Molo to Kericho for the second time, I planned to get some veg thereto keep me going whilst at the school. And a sign of just how used to the culture I have become...what did Hannah do? I just hopped on out of the car and walked along the street trying to find the freshest looking veg! Managed to get a huge sack of potatoes, a gargantuan cabbage and a large bag of even larger carrots all for about £1.50. And to think that I was trying to haggle them down on that....surreal.
On our return from Chagaik/Kericho some 24 hours later, the car began to slow pretty quickly and we came to a grinding halt... A tyre had gone. The rubber had completely burnt out and it was so hot to the touch. SO Alison and Paul (who seem quite used to this occurance considering the state of the roads) worked like clockwork getting the jack out and putting the spare tyre on. We put a warning triangle about 8-10 metres from the car - but the drivers still came whizzing past at 80/100 kph leaving only a foot or two between them and Paul's back. We then ventured into Narok to try and find a replacement for a spare (considering the roads were only getting worse and we were 2 hours from Nairobi another wheel down would not be good...) And this place was selling second hand tyres and tried to sell Paul a pretty rotten looking tyre for 3,800 KSh (that's nearly forty quid...) anyway a guy came along and said he had a better tyre with a better price, which did indeed turn out tobe true.
It was at this time that I realised that I had got sunburn THROUGH the window of the car on the right side of my neck shoulders and arm. So annoying but there we go, with a tyre now fixed we were well on our way and arrived safely back in Nairobi whereupon I crashed out and had a well deserved kip...
This past weekend I ventured back to Chagaik with the help of Paul and Alison. They [the school] had said that the accommodation was now ready and they were expecting my return. I stayed for a night and gave it all the positive attitude that I could muster under the circumstances. I quickly realised however that it really wasn’t for me. Everything continued to change, and to cut a seriously long story short, I am now back in Nairobi safe and sound. I have had about 6 hours sleep in the past 48 hours so am completely kanckered.
Anyway, for now have decided to neglect the idea of researching other volunteering opportunities. It will take a long time to organise, and if it was a placement anywhere other than Runda it would be a logistical nightmare to try and organise transport to and fro etc SO have decided I’m going to travel and have a good barrel of fun instead! I think this is an awesome idea. No idea where, no idea what and no idea how much. But will be researching this week and feel much happier knowing that I will hopefully return to the UK now with extremely fond memories of Kenya and wherever else I drag my little tushi off to.
Hurray!
The bonus of being here in Kenya and realising that I now want to do travelling is…. Everything is cheaper!! You get resident’s rates, and because you’re organising without the aid of some overpaid fat man in England – the costs are cut further. (And this is just from looking in the window of the local travel agents…) To drive is cheaper than to fly (but that’s pretty obvious) and so what is 6/7 hours in a car if it saves some money to see more baby lions or whatever?! More updates on this when I know more.
My brief stay in Chagaik (for the second time round…) was more fruitful than the last however. My new good friend Faith (an english teacher at the school) showed me around and took me on a walk in the area etc etc Not only are the surroundings absolutely stunning (plush like looking out of Wendover woods in spring…but with MILES of bright green tea leaves and huge big trees) BUT I learned a little something about the tea process… You know that the leaves are ready to be picked when you look at a field of tea and see little dimples in the plants – almost like holes where the plant has failed. At this point (and I clearly came at the right time…) the tea plants grow hundreds of new shoots. The bits of the plant which pickers pick are the top three leaves. They are grown from one stem, and consist of three leaves – each slightly smaller than the other. These apparently are the only leaves to be picked. Pickers are paid by the kilo – their pickings are weighed at the end of each month and they are paid accordingly. Interesting stuff hey?
Kenyan tea (as I already knew) is made differently to the English ‘whack a bag in a mug’ concept. Instead, they heat lots of milk with some water, sugar and loose tea leaves in one pot and sieve it off when they want some. They leave the pot of tea brewing on a hot fire for hours (and it doesn’t taste as though it has been sat heating up for ages). It truly was the best cup of tea I will probably EVER have. Not only was it made from ground tea leaves from the field just opposite the school, the milk was freshly produced by the dozen cattle that are resident at the school.
An authentic cup of tea.
Now, speaking of authentic tea. Alison and Paul spent the night at the appropriately named ‘tea hotel’ in Kericho town. One might make the dangerous assumption that they might be catering for a clientele interested in sampling the local tea. However, ONE would be mistaken! The tea was rather disgusting apparently, and the food and accommodation not much more improved. I do get the impression they would have preferred coffee (which seems SCANDELOUS given the grief they give Alison’s mum for ordering coffee on their first and previous visit to the Tea hotel some time ago). Oh the hilarity! I think I’ll give staying at that one a miss….
Our first journey to Kericho saw us stop via Molo (which I have since discovered is the best place in the world to buy vegetables). This involved Alison winding down the window and dozens of women begging you to buy their potatoes, carrots (that are HUGE), peas, plums, cabbages (the size of a small bin) and so on. Strong accusations of 'you do not promote me my sisters' get flung through the window and having been in Kenya for only a few days I thought this was pretty intimidating...not scary at all they just want you to buy their veg, but intimidating all the same to have people smacking the window inches from your ears. ANYWAY on the way back through Molo to Kericho for the second time, I planned to get some veg thereto keep me going whilst at the school. And a sign of just how used to the culture I have become...what did Hannah do? I just hopped on out of the car and walked along the street trying to find the freshest looking veg! Managed to get a huge sack of potatoes, a gargantuan cabbage and a large bag of even larger carrots all for about £1.50. And to think that I was trying to haggle them down on that....surreal.
On our return from Chagaik/Kericho some 24 hours later, the car began to slow pretty quickly and we came to a grinding halt... A tyre had gone. The rubber had completely burnt out and it was so hot to the touch. SO Alison and Paul (who seem quite used to this occurance considering the state of the roads) worked like clockwork getting the jack out and putting the spare tyre on. We put a warning triangle about 8-10 metres from the car - but the drivers still came whizzing past at 80/100 kph leaving only a foot or two between them and Paul's back. We then ventured into Narok to try and find a replacement for a spare (considering the roads were only getting worse and we were 2 hours from Nairobi another wheel down would not be good...) And this place was selling second hand tyres and tried to sell Paul a pretty rotten looking tyre for 3,800 KSh (that's nearly forty quid...) anyway a guy came along and said he had a better tyre with a better price, which did indeed turn out tobe true.
It was at this time that I realised that I had got sunburn THROUGH the window of the car on the right side of my neck shoulders and arm. So annoying but there we go, with a tyre now fixed we were well on our way and arrived safely back in Nairobi whereupon I crashed out and had a well deserved kip...
Sunday, January 14, 2007
So another week gone by, it’s only been two so far…yet already feel as if I have been here for months.
Being so well looked after by Paul and Alison, it really is a blessing that they are so willing (!!) to look after me!
So what a weekend of animal encounters! On Friday, knowing that the next day we would be journeying to Amboseli National Park, we visited the Kenyan Wildlife Service (the opposite side of town, a bit like trying to get from Marylebone to Barbican on a Saturday morning…a journey I know far too well…). Here you can pay for the national park fees in advance by putting the money onto a swipe card. A bit like topping up your mobile phone. Anyway, the KWS is situated in the Nairobi National Park and within the NNP there is an animal orphanage. WELL! I just couldn’t contain myself and so Alison and I headed into the animal orphanage. I was assured there wouldn’t be too many babies there - I would get far too mushy and want to take them all home with me which wouldn’t be the best idea - and in fact it is a home for animals that for various reasons are unable to survive in the wild.
We worked our way round the usual lions, blue-bollocked monkeys (they don’t show those on Monkey Business do they now!!) and a menagerie of Crowned Cranes. We got to the cheetahs den (I love cheetahs just to add) and the keepers asked if I wanted to go into the enclosure! I thought ‘hmmm let me think about this one….ER YES!’ and I got to go in with a nervous Alison behind me whilst the cheetah ruffled its head wanting to have its rather large tummy tickled (just like my own cats only 7 times bigger). I was not nervous around the cheetahs – I figured that they were hand reared from cheetah cubs and despite being fully grown with rather large canines they were still winding round the keepers legs. SO CUTE anyway we came back at feeding time and got to go in again and I started stroking this GORGEOUS animal and she was purring away (somewhat louder than my tabby cats at home…) and rubbing her head up against my leg. AAAHHHH highlight of my life.
So then yesterday we went to Amboseli National Park as Paul was entertaining a colleague over from the UK. We just went for the day (which involved two 3-hour drives there and back) but it was spectacular. Amboseli is known for its very large population of Elephants. Over 600 in all, and the park is only a third of the size of the Mara. It is actually an extension of the Serengeti – it is just called something different because of the border with Tanzania, hence the Mara and Amboseli not being called the Serengeti. It was so surreal to be standing out of a landrover window (which, ok, is pretty uncomfortable but you get the best photos…) and staring at this MAHOOSIVE big Elephant only 3 metres from your car. We also managed to spot a cheetah (although not a cuddly one I guessed, as it was wild…) and a hippo, as well as your usual gazelle, buffalo, zebra, ostrich etc
Amboseli is normally a very dry park – indeed it has a Lake Amboseli which apparently only has water in it after the rainy season (which comes in March). The pictures of brown dry and arid grassland was just a picture yesterday and not reality. The place was full of water, many of these brown fields of grassland/savannah were turned into luscious green landscapes – with some areas totally flooded and full of happy hippos. One road eventually got closed off as we watched a safari vehicle attempt to drive through a massive mud patch on the track and get stuck. You couldn’t overtake because the side of the tracks (which are built as causeways, higher than the ground) were boggy and water-laden so you’d just get stuck in that in trying to overtake.
I took over 200 photos CRINGE because my camera has that great multi-shot function. I got some awesome photos, and of this I am seriously glad. Being so close to wild animals in their natural environment is just magical. And despite the vast quantity of people who go on safari, the expanse of land enables you to just get away park your car and just sit watching these great big Elephants come lumbering up towards you..
On an even happier note, Alison received a reply to her newsletter from a chap who knows someone who runs a charity out here in Nairobi. Talk about coincidence. He and his wife work with street children and provide education etc (is the idea I am getting from what I have heard already). Anyway he plus a delegation from the UK have flown out THIS weekend to Kenya and we are going to get in contact – he has in fact offered that I could go and work with the people that have come over from Britain, at the local school in Nairobi. I was struggling to know what to do decision wise, whether I was to go back and try again with Chagaik or whether something better would actually surface as a result of the chaos. I sent a prayer request email on Friday and LOOK!! It really does work this whole Christian thing eh?! No promises yet, but it is a hopeful opportunity to replace the disappointment of Chagaik.
Being so well looked after by Paul and Alison, it really is a blessing that they are so willing (!!) to look after me!
So what a weekend of animal encounters! On Friday, knowing that the next day we would be journeying to Amboseli National Park, we visited the Kenyan Wildlife Service (the opposite side of town, a bit like trying to get from Marylebone to Barbican on a Saturday morning…a journey I know far too well…). Here you can pay for the national park fees in advance by putting the money onto a swipe card. A bit like topping up your mobile phone. Anyway, the KWS is situated in the Nairobi National Park and within the NNP there is an animal orphanage. WELL! I just couldn’t contain myself and so Alison and I headed into the animal orphanage. I was assured there wouldn’t be too many babies there - I would get far too mushy and want to take them all home with me which wouldn’t be the best idea - and in fact it is a home for animals that for various reasons are unable to survive in the wild.
We worked our way round the usual lions, blue-bollocked monkeys (they don’t show those on Monkey Business do they now!!) and a menagerie of Crowned Cranes. We got to the cheetahs den (I love cheetahs just to add) and the keepers asked if I wanted to go into the enclosure! I thought ‘hmmm let me think about this one….ER YES!’ and I got to go in with a nervous Alison behind me whilst the cheetah ruffled its head wanting to have its rather large tummy tickled (just like my own cats only 7 times bigger). I was not nervous around the cheetahs – I figured that they were hand reared from cheetah cubs and despite being fully grown with rather large canines they were still winding round the keepers legs. SO CUTE anyway we came back at feeding time and got to go in again and I started stroking this GORGEOUS animal and she was purring away (somewhat louder than my tabby cats at home…) and rubbing her head up against my leg. AAAHHHH highlight of my life.
So then yesterday we went to Amboseli National Park as Paul was entertaining a colleague over from the UK. We just went for the day (which involved two 3-hour drives there and back) but it was spectacular. Amboseli is known for its very large population of Elephants. Over 600 in all, and the park is only a third of the size of the Mara. It is actually an extension of the Serengeti – it is just called something different because of the border with Tanzania, hence the Mara and Amboseli not being called the Serengeti. It was so surreal to be standing out of a landrover window (which, ok, is pretty uncomfortable but you get the best photos…) and staring at this MAHOOSIVE big Elephant only 3 metres from your car. We also managed to spot a cheetah (although not a cuddly one I guessed, as it was wild…) and a hippo, as well as your usual gazelle, buffalo, zebra, ostrich etc
Amboseli is normally a very dry park – indeed it has a Lake Amboseli which apparently only has water in it after the rainy season (which comes in March). The pictures of brown dry and arid grassland was just a picture yesterday and not reality. The place was full of water, many of these brown fields of grassland/savannah were turned into luscious green landscapes – with some areas totally flooded and full of happy hippos. One road eventually got closed off as we watched a safari vehicle attempt to drive through a massive mud patch on the track and get stuck. You couldn’t overtake because the side of the tracks (which are built as causeways, higher than the ground) were boggy and water-laden so you’d just get stuck in that in trying to overtake.
I took over 200 photos CRINGE because my camera has that great multi-shot function. I got some awesome photos, and of this I am seriously glad. Being so close to wild animals in their natural environment is just magical. And despite the vast quantity of people who go on safari, the expanse of land enables you to just get away park your car and just sit watching these great big Elephants come lumbering up towards you..
On an even happier note, Alison received a reply to her newsletter from a chap who knows someone who runs a charity out here in Nairobi. Talk about coincidence. He and his wife work with street children and provide education etc (is the idea I am getting from what I have heard already). Anyway he plus a delegation from the UK have flown out THIS weekend to Kenya and we are going to get in contact – he has in fact offered that I could go and work with the people that have come over from Britain, at the local school in Nairobi. I was struggling to know what to do decision wise, whether I was to go back and try again with Chagaik or whether something better would actually surface as a result of the chaos. I sent a prayer request email on Friday and LOOK!! It really does work this whole Christian thing eh?! No promises yet, but it is a hopeful opportunity to replace the disappointment of Chagaik.
Thursday, January 11, 2007
I AM SO ANGRY.
Said the well-behaved Christian girl.
What follows is the reply email sent from Mr Langat responding to a sharp email Paul and I produced yesterday. Anything written in bold is my response at various points.
From: samwel langat
Dear Paul, I acknowledge receipt of your email.
oh good.
While choosing not to dwell much on last weekend, i nevertheless wish to convey our school's apology for the issue of accomodation It occured to me that Hannah looked enthusiastic to teach at Chagaik and i hope she still is.
Hmm let me see, that would be a no?
As i am writing now ,the contractor is on site and setting out to fix the cistern and pan in the house as well as the sinks and drainage.
Setting out? I was assured it was all nearly finished. Bodes well.
Paint work is over in all the other rooms except the bathroom which will be done soon.
There was no mention of paintwork at the weekend, just the plumbing. And the bathroom will be done soon?
I want to take his word that the whole plumbing job and any other work remaining will be over in 4 to 5 days.
He wants to take his word. Right. Well considering we were looking for a definite time frame that doesn’t PARTICULARLY help matters.
We all felt that the house need be in an acceptable state by the time Hannah and Lyndsey will be arriving.
There is much emphasis of Lyndseys presence here – we hadn’t confirmed to him when she was coming and what to do because of communication problems and now he is dragging HER into it? Plus they may have wanted the house to be ready when we arrived…but it wasn’t?
The fact that the house is in the school compound will give them the necessary experience and security.
Throughout all inward visits from the High Sch, we have taken every measure possible to assure our visitors of utmost security.
That is because the British Council organised everything.
This time we will do so appropriately. I once again assure you that in those 4 to 5 days the house will be fully ready.
Yet he is taking the word of a local plumber…enough said.
These past few days we have had to change our teaching plans with respect to Hannah and Lyndsey's absence and i do not want to think about students and staff response should Hannah decide not to come back. It will be devastating both to us and our Partnership with AHS.
We emphasised many times I was not going to the school on behalf of AHS for insurance purposes, this is unfair ‘blackmail’ and not at all deserved.
We had all looked forward to their presence.
Well I looked forward to going.
We will provide fuel as had been agreed on.That is Gas and lantern lamp.
HURRAY!
Hannah and Lyndsey will be expected to teach and assist in Drama As had been agreed. Any other related duty like accompanying students to the field during PE will also be considered. Worst part of the email. We had in fact agreed that I would be teaching two African novels and the Merchant of Venice in English Literature classes. I was also to teach History. I have this in writing, and I even have record of Samuel saying that drama lessons only occurred outside of school time. So in his eyes, I would be teaching drama after school and walking people to the field? Not exactly 8 weeks worth of work now is it?
I once again give you those assurances.Regards to Hannah and Alicen.Bye.
Samuel
So, I am riled but at least he has given us an accurate insight as to what the proceeding 8 weeks would be like (hell) if I were to return to Chagaik. For this I am at least thankful, in knowing that I do not want to return. There need be no more thinking about on this matter – Samuel has pretty much made my decision for me in that one email alone.
However, today I was searching for the right solution to this and at least I have now been provided with this. I will continue to be positive – there are many options for me back here in Nairobi and I just have to trust in God that this is what I am meant to be doing and that actually something better will occur from this.
What follows is the reply email sent from Mr Langat responding to a sharp email Paul and I produced yesterday. Anything written in bold is my response at various points.
From: samwel langat
Dear Paul, I acknowledge receipt of your email.
oh good.
While choosing not to dwell much on last weekend, i nevertheless wish to convey our school's apology for the issue of accomodation It occured to me that Hannah looked enthusiastic to teach at Chagaik and i hope she still is.
Hmm let me see, that would be a no?
As i am writing now ,the contractor is on site and setting out to fix the cistern and pan in the house as well as the sinks and drainage.
Setting out? I was assured it was all nearly finished. Bodes well.
Paint work is over in all the other rooms except the bathroom which will be done soon.
There was no mention of paintwork at the weekend, just the plumbing. And the bathroom will be done soon?
I want to take his word that the whole plumbing job and any other work remaining will be over in 4 to 5 days.
He wants to take his word. Right. Well considering we were looking for a definite time frame that doesn’t PARTICULARLY help matters.
We all felt that the house need be in an acceptable state by the time Hannah and Lyndsey will be arriving.
There is much emphasis of Lyndseys presence here – we hadn’t confirmed to him when she was coming and what to do because of communication problems and now he is dragging HER into it? Plus they may have wanted the house to be ready when we arrived…but it wasn’t?
The fact that the house is in the school compound will give them the necessary experience and security.
Throughout all inward visits from the High Sch, we have taken every measure possible to assure our visitors of utmost security.
That is because the British Council organised everything.
This time we will do so appropriately. I once again assure you that in those 4 to 5 days the house will be fully ready.
Yet he is taking the word of a local plumber…enough said.
These past few days we have had to change our teaching plans with respect to Hannah and Lyndsey's absence and i do not want to think about students and staff response should Hannah decide not to come back. It will be devastating both to us and our Partnership with AHS.
We emphasised many times I was not going to the school on behalf of AHS for insurance purposes, this is unfair ‘blackmail’ and not at all deserved.
We had all looked forward to their presence.
Well I looked forward to going.
We will provide fuel as had been agreed on.That is Gas and lantern lamp.
HURRAY!
Hannah and Lyndsey will be expected to teach and assist in Drama As had been agreed. Any other related duty like accompanying students to the field during PE will also be considered. Worst part of the email. We had in fact agreed that I would be teaching two African novels and the Merchant of Venice in English Literature classes. I was also to teach History. I have this in writing, and I even have record of Samuel saying that drama lessons only occurred outside of school time. So in his eyes, I would be teaching drama after school and walking people to the field? Not exactly 8 weeks worth of work now is it?
I once again give you those assurances.Regards to Hannah and Alicen.Bye.
Samuel
So, I am riled but at least he has given us an accurate insight as to what the proceeding 8 weeks would be like (hell) if I were to return to Chagaik. For this I am at least thankful, in knowing that I do not want to return. There need be no more thinking about on this matter – Samuel has pretty much made my decision for me in that one email alone.
However, today I was searching for the right solution to this and at least I have now been provided with this. I will continue to be positive – there are many options for me back here in Nairobi and I just have to trust in God that this is what I am meant to be doing and that actually something better will occur from this.
Tuesday, January 9, 2007
So last night we met at the Safari Park hotel on the other side of town, to welcome this delegation from Malawi. They are supposed to have come to Nairobi to look at the factory where their passports are made, but it in fact seems they came to have a bit of a jolly and go shopping...
They raised the issue that there has been a shortage of Malawian passports and they feel pressured because they have none to give out... this later turns out to be another flaw in organisation. Instead of reordering passports when they are down to their last 3,000 for example, they just let the stock completely run out and then panic order because they have none left! It's a totally different way of thinking, and is perhaps caused by the mentality that if there is still some stock left then why spend more precious money on passports. They do also order more passports, but fail to pay for them and then wonder why they don't get them. Very interesting drawing conclusions from that, and even more interesting to see that it is not just Kenya that lacks any sense of organisation skills, but indeed most of Africa.
Joseph junior has been off ill today and yesterday - Alison sent him to the doctors yesterday afternoon and it turns out he has typhoid. He should be fine as he is on a course of treatment that should hopefully sort it all out and Alison and Paul are paying. But at the high prices the doctors charge, many who aren't lucky enough to have someone pay their bill for them will just suffer in silence. On the Runda estate, Runda Water provides a drinking tap around the corner, where people have free access to drinking water. It turns out Joseph paid someone else for some water because he couldn't get to the tap or something, and the person selling the water clearly just fished it out of some stagnant pond and now he has Typhoid. How dreadful is that? It really brings home the danger of bad drinking water, and it is so cheap to fix up drinking water taps and wells etc. The old government of Moi seemed to just fritter all the money away on estates and backhanders that the Kibaki government is only just able to try and catch up on itself today.
They raised the issue that there has been a shortage of Malawian passports and they feel pressured because they have none to give out... this later turns out to be another flaw in organisation. Instead of reordering passports when they are down to their last 3,000 for example, they just let the stock completely run out and then panic order because they have none left! It's a totally different way of thinking, and is perhaps caused by the mentality that if there is still some stock left then why spend more precious money on passports. They do also order more passports, but fail to pay for them and then wonder why they don't get them. Very interesting drawing conclusions from that, and even more interesting to see that it is not just Kenya that lacks any sense of organisation skills, but indeed most of Africa.
Joseph junior has been off ill today and yesterday - Alison sent him to the doctors yesterday afternoon and it turns out he has typhoid. He should be fine as he is on a course of treatment that should hopefully sort it all out and Alison and Paul are paying. But at the high prices the doctors charge, many who aren't lucky enough to have someone pay their bill for them will just suffer in silence. On the Runda estate, Runda Water provides a drinking tap around the corner, where people have free access to drinking water. It turns out Joseph paid someone else for some water because he couldn't get to the tap or something, and the person selling the water clearly just fished it out of some stagnant pond and now he has Typhoid. How dreadful is that? It really brings home the danger of bad drinking water, and it is so cheap to fix up drinking water taps and wells etc. The old government of Moi seemed to just fritter all the money away on estates and backhanders that the Kibaki government is only just able to try and catch up on itself today.
Monday, January 8, 2007
So with another day comes scorching sunshine. Ever the stupid girl, I was unable to reach certain parts of my back to put suncream on (although at the time I thought I had done fine) thus resulting in a weird patch of sunburn right in the middle of my back. Great.
And with another day comes more development on the chaos of Chagaik. I find it both disappointing and bizarre that the school’s organisation failed so. When they spoke of wanting me to have a great time at Chagaik so that I could feed back to others wanting to follow my lead, I did not imagine they would balls it up so royally. Kenyans all seem to have huge ideas, and the best of intentions but they are crap at following through with them. This is why the Indian population was invited to settle in Kenya under colonial rule - because of their entrepeneurial skills. And this is also why there are such large expat communities here. Companies want to bring their own staff over who know the job rather than train up new people because they sadly just don't havethe capacity (very generally speaking) to follow through with managerial positions. This is again another reason why unemployment is so high, and it all falls down to education. Whether you've had it but been lectured at rather than encouraged to problem solve and evaluate, or whether youcouldn't afford it.
At the end of the day, if I do make it back to Kericho I will find myself with only 4-5 weeks maximum of teaching time. I came out to Kenya with the idea that Chagaik was the central and integral part of my trip, but now I am filled with more scepticism towards the whole scheme. What appeals right now would be to find some voluntary work within Nairobi part time, 4 days a week perhaps, giving me extra time so see more of the country that I have been so drawn to for a long while now.
When discussing previous AHS – CSS links with the teachers on Satuday night, it transpired that it is actually the British Council that organises the link both ways – but more so for the girls coming out to Kenya. The guesthouse not far from the school is actually owned by Unilever and is used mostly for company visits etc. The British Council actually pays for and co-ordinates staying in the guesthouse and flights for the girls. Had I known this before I went out, rather than going with the false knowledge that the organisation is done jointly between schools, I would have scrutinised the process of organisation far better than I actually did. Anyway, no matter, I am a leaf in a stream(thanks ruth!!) and this is all developing for whatever reason and I am sure to find out what I should in fact be doing in due course. (one hopes).
Alison’s mother Micky returned from a weekend at fairseat an elderly home today, and seemed very spritely. She said ‘I’m going to give you some advice, and if I were you I would just tell the school to SOD OFF’. And this from a woman the same age as my grandmother who looks like she just ate some lemon if anyone uses such profanities!!
Anyway, am taking the week to think it all over and see what action the school is taking. So basically a week of sunbathing and relaxing (oh my it is SUCH a hardship…) so here’s to that!
Hannah
And with another day comes more development on the chaos of Chagaik. I find it both disappointing and bizarre that the school’s organisation failed so. When they spoke of wanting me to have a great time at Chagaik so that I could feed back to others wanting to follow my lead, I did not imagine they would balls it up so royally. Kenyans all seem to have huge ideas, and the best of intentions but they are crap at following through with them. This is why the Indian population was invited to settle in Kenya under colonial rule - because of their entrepeneurial skills. And this is also why there are such large expat communities here. Companies want to bring their own staff over who know the job rather than train up new people because they sadly just don't havethe capacity (very generally speaking) to follow through with managerial positions. This is again another reason why unemployment is so high, and it all falls down to education. Whether you've had it but been lectured at rather than encouraged to problem solve and evaluate, or whether youcouldn't afford it.
At the end of the day, if I do make it back to Kericho I will find myself with only 4-5 weeks maximum of teaching time. I came out to Kenya with the idea that Chagaik was the central and integral part of my trip, but now I am filled with more scepticism towards the whole scheme. What appeals right now would be to find some voluntary work within Nairobi part time, 4 days a week perhaps, giving me extra time so see more of the country that I have been so drawn to for a long while now.
When discussing previous AHS – CSS links with the teachers on Satuday night, it transpired that it is actually the British Council that organises the link both ways – but more so for the girls coming out to Kenya. The guesthouse not far from the school is actually owned by Unilever and is used mostly for company visits etc. The British Council actually pays for and co-ordinates staying in the guesthouse and flights for the girls. Had I known this before I went out, rather than going with the false knowledge that the organisation is done jointly between schools, I would have scrutinised the process of organisation far better than I actually did. Anyway, no matter, I am a leaf in a stream(thanks ruth!!) and this is all developing for whatever reason and I am sure to find out what I should in fact be doing in due course. (one hopes).
Alison’s mother Micky returned from a weekend at fairseat an elderly home today, and seemed very spritely. She said ‘I’m going to give you some advice, and if I were you I would just tell the school to SOD OFF’. And this from a woman the same age as my grandmother who looks like she just ate some lemon if anyone uses such profanities!!
Anyway, am taking the week to think it all over and see what action the school is taking. So basically a week of sunbathing and relaxing (oh my it is SUCH a hardship…) so here’s to that!
Hannah
Sunday, January 7, 2007
The next installment...
Hmm so this weekend all went rather pear shaped unfortunately. I arrived (after 6 hours in a car with the constant sensation of being a sock in a washing machine) at Kericho where I met the link teacher for the school I was to be at work in...
The accommadation was not yet ready for me as theyw eredoing all sorts of plumbing work to it, so they said at the time I would be living with the head teacher's relatives for a few weeks until the work was done. So I thought...ok not what I expected but that couldbe really fun living with a big family and getting shown how to cook etc...
It later transpired that the house was an empty one - devoid of both furniture, hygiene and people. I was expected to spend 2 maybe 3 weeks at this house ALONE, whilst I was the only mzungu in the town. This is a daunting threat when faced with the challenge of living alone and isolated for my first two weeks. I thought the nerves were just me being my typical self when first starting something and wanting to back out. They didn't go away however and I realised it was that wonderful gut instinct kicking in, telling me something was definately not right. With Paul and Alison staying an hour away in Kisumu I decided the best thing to do was to call them up (having first got the adolescent and teary bit out of the way with my mum) and they agreed the best thing was to pick me up the following morning as they drove through Kericho.
I checked myself into the hotel we had had dinner at and thought I would simply play it from there. It was difficult telling them I was going back to Nairobi - I havn't confirmed how or even if I will be returning there. The organisation was completely awful. They knew I was coming for roughly a year, and yet still they moved me to about 3 different possible houses in the space of 2 hours (all just as isolated and empty). Nothing was explained and I was just feeling absolutely dreadful. In whose mind is it ok to let a young blonde girl stay in a busy town like Kericho by herself and expect her to be ok with that?1 They tried organising someone to stay with me after I made vocal my 'distress' but it just didn't happen.
I am going to keep myoptions openw ith the possibility of perhaps goingback there. But there are local schools in Nairobi that I can go and volunteer to help with english language and a multitude of orphanges for children who's parents died of AIDS. I would love to be able to go and spend some time with them, and help look after them. It is so awful to have to go through that, but they at lleast deserveto be loved and looked after. Sadly in this part of the world there are not that many volunteers, especially in the week because of the high number of unemployment. People will not volunteer because they need a job to earn them money. And that's not a fault of the unemployed, it is just frustrating that these kids don't necessarily get all the care and TLC they need and deserve.
Going to meet a delegation from Malawithis evening, the minister for immigration and a few others. Which should prove pretty interesting I hope. On Saturday we are going to either Amboseli or Nakuru, it has not yet been decided. Nakuru has rhinos and Amboseli has elephants. I naturally want to go to Amboseli because not only should there be baby elephants (im going mushy at the thought) but it is on the border with Tanzania and there are suPERB views of Kili which should definately wet my appetite for the trek to come in March...
Hannah
The accommadation was not yet ready for me as theyw eredoing all sorts of plumbing work to it, so they said at the time I would be living with the head teacher's relatives for a few weeks until the work was done. So I thought...ok not what I expected but that couldbe really fun living with a big family and getting shown how to cook etc...
It later transpired that the house was an empty one - devoid of both furniture, hygiene and people. I was expected to spend 2 maybe 3 weeks at this house ALONE, whilst I was the only mzungu in the town. This is a daunting threat when faced with the challenge of living alone and isolated for my first two weeks. I thought the nerves were just me being my typical self when first starting something and wanting to back out. They didn't go away however and I realised it was that wonderful gut instinct kicking in, telling me something was definately not right. With Paul and Alison staying an hour away in Kisumu I decided the best thing to do was to call them up (having first got the adolescent and teary bit out of the way with my mum) and they agreed the best thing was to pick me up the following morning as they drove through Kericho.
I checked myself into the hotel we had had dinner at and thought I would simply play it from there. It was difficult telling them I was going back to Nairobi - I havn't confirmed how or even if I will be returning there. The organisation was completely awful. They knew I was coming for roughly a year, and yet still they moved me to about 3 different possible houses in the space of 2 hours (all just as isolated and empty). Nothing was explained and I was just feeling absolutely dreadful. In whose mind is it ok to let a young blonde girl stay in a busy town like Kericho by herself and expect her to be ok with that?1 They tried organising someone to stay with me after I made vocal my 'distress' but it just didn't happen.
I am going to keep myoptions openw ith the possibility of perhaps goingback there. But there are local schools in Nairobi that I can go and volunteer to help with english language and a multitude of orphanges for children who's parents died of AIDS. I would love to be able to go and spend some time with them, and help look after them. It is so awful to have to go through that, but they at lleast deserveto be loved and looked after. Sadly in this part of the world there are not that many volunteers, especially in the week because of the high number of unemployment. People will not volunteer because they need a job to earn them money. And that's not a fault of the unemployed, it is just frustrating that these kids don't necessarily get all the care and TLC they need and deserve.
Going to meet a delegation from Malawithis evening, the minister for immigration and a few others. Which should prove pretty interesting I hope. On Saturday we are going to either Amboseli or Nakuru, it has not yet been decided. Nakuru has rhinos and Amboseli has elephants. I naturally want to go to Amboseli because not only should there be baby elephants (im going mushy at the thought) but it is on the border with Tanzania and there are suPERB views of Kili which should definately wet my appetite for the trek to come in March...
Hannah
Friday, January 5, 2007
I am taking every opportunity to use electricity at the moment...as I don't think I will be having that much access to it over the next couple of weeks. Will attempt to post as and when I can, probably once a week when I can visit Kericho at the weekends whilst doing shopping.
Today we are going to visit a coffee plantation, if that's what they're called lol. And getting ready for an early start tomorrow. To drive the distance of Nairobi-Kericho back in the UK on luxuriously smooth roads would only take 2 hours. However, we are hoping to leave at 7 am (4am UK time which my body is deciding it's going to run by, since when was I a morning person) and we'll be lucky if we get there at lunchtime. We're going to stop at Lake Naivasha at a country club hotel, which actually was set up when the first commercial planes were flying from cape town to london. They would fly from Cape Town to Naivasha in one day, stop overnight, then Naivasha to Alexandria in Egypt in another day, then Alexandria to Geneva and then overnight again to London. They were flying boats so they landed on the water - interesting, as Naivasha is full of Hippos...
So we'll stop at the hotel briefly, and hopefully get a view of the millions of roses that grow at Lake Naivasha. The roads from Nairobi to Naivasha are comparably better than the roads then leading to Kericho, and this isbecause the flower growers funded the roads themselves. Seem a little bizarre? Well not when four jumbo jets (each carrying 65 tons of roses) fly out from Naivasha heading for our local Tesco's and Marks and Sparks...
We'll then be heading on to Nakuru which should take about 1hr45, and we'll be detouring to stop at the equator. Usual touristy stuff, but it's all gotta be done!
Not even REMOTELY missing home yet, this could be because i'm living it up in a luxury Kenyan pad with sky tv and a HUGE room complete with ensuite. Plus our very own pet mongoose dans le jardin. I am sure this stint of luxury will soon be replaced with spiders and mosquitos but hey..it's all part and parcel! this time in 9 weeks i'll be on a mountain in Tanzania somewhere...which is a pretty cool thought...
Hannah xx
Today we are going to visit a coffee plantation, if that's what they're called lol. And getting ready for an early start tomorrow. To drive the distance of Nairobi-Kericho back in the UK on luxuriously smooth roads would only take 2 hours. However, we are hoping to leave at 7 am (4am UK time which my body is deciding it's going to run by, since when was I a morning person) and we'll be lucky if we get there at lunchtime. We're going to stop at Lake Naivasha at a country club hotel, which actually was set up when the first commercial planes were flying from cape town to london. They would fly from Cape Town to Naivasha in one day, stop overnight, then Naivasha to Alexandria in Egypt in another day, then Alexandria to Geneva and then overnight again to London. They were flying boats so they landed on the water - interesting, as Naivasha is full of Hippos...
So we'll stop at the hotel briefly, and hopefully get a view of the millions of roses that grow at Lake Naivasha. The roads from Nairobi to Naivasha are comparably better than the roads then leading to Kericho, and this isbecause the flower growers funded the roads themselves. Seem a little bizarre? Well not when four jumbo jets (each carrying 65 tons of roses) fly out from Naivasha heading for our local Tesco's and Marks and Sparks...
We'll then be heading on to Nakuru which should take about 1hr45, and we'll be detouring to stop at the equator. Usual touristy stuff, but it's all gotta be done!
Not even REMOTELY missing home yet, this could be because i'm living it up in a luxury Kenyan pad with sky tv and a HUGE room complete with ensuite. Plus our very own pet mongoose dans le jardin. I am sure this stint of luxury will soon be replaced with spiders and mosquitos but hey..it's all part and parcel! this time in 9 weeks i'll be on a mountain in Tanzania somewhere...which is a pretty cool thought...
Hannah xx
Thursday, January 4, 2007
SO here we are! I'm typing this from the expat community of Ruaka in north western Nairobi and here I shall try to recount some hysterically funny scary and bizarre moments that i've already encountered whilst here in Kenya.
I have just been distracted by the characters of Joseph senior and Joseph junior walking past the window and waving at me. Joseph senior is the gardener for Alison and Paul, and Jospeh junior is gardener/daytime guard. He sits in a little hut next to the cast iron gates that secure the driveway, and got all upset this morning when he was unable to let Paul out to go to work, as he was having the day off and forget to inform Jospeh junior of this... who incidentally is quite the handsome young man!
The safety here is (understandably) very secure, with the very possible threat of the crazy Somalians who do indeed make trouble wherever they seem to go. There is much to be safety conscious about, but for this first part of my journey I am staying in an expat area, the nakumatt (kenyan tesco's) does literally sell everything. It is the ultimate in ethical living - everything is locally shipped to the supermarkets, it has not circumnavigated the globe several times as much of our UK foodstuff does. There is no such term as free range or organic, because there's nothing to oppose it like battery farming and GM crops. Indeed, on the last friday of the month (payday here in Kenya) a man with his herd of goats will stand on the verge between the roads on the kenya - mombassa highway (although just WHAT justifies a road being a highway, i'm not sure...) offering them at cheap prices, either dead or alive.
I have arrived at what is supposed to be the middle of summer. Whilst it is still around 25 degrees here, the effects of the El Nino out in the pacific is being felt here as it continues to drizzle and then chuck it down alternately. The rise in the ocean (this phenomenon is felt across the equator) temperature just by 2/3 degrees leads to mre evaporation causing more cloud cover and then in turn leading to more rain. There were several areas of Nairobi that, by late this afternoon as we drove past, were heavily flooded with rushing streams full of that iconic red murram earth.
The roads as I well discovered today are hideous. Which I had always heard, but I always thought people just generally meant a few rotten potholes. But oh no. We came across a stretch of road near mathaiga (where the stupidly posh and out of place colonial gentlemans club still exists, and has a men only bar as I was shown last night at dinner) which literall had potholes 3 foot by 4. The main two reasons for the roads being in such disrepair are fairly simple. When Kenya got it's independence in 63 or thereabouts, the roads and railways were in peak condition (for the time) and would still be had they been maintained. However, the tax obsessed Moi spent the money 'elsewhere' and as such manyof the roads have fallen into disrepair. The other main reason is that where roads have in the past been relaid, they have not set the foundations properly so as soon as the rain comes, the road just falls apart leaving this gaping big potholes.
When Moi was elected out, and Kibaki was elected in then better things started happening on the roads. Now that corruption is nowhere near as bad as it was with Moi, the EU are willing to fund road building. The road to Kisumu is in fact being rebuilt as we speak. The EU pays for the road to be rebuilt, but to ensure that it is done properly european contractors are drafted in to actually build the roads. This caused uproar with local builders etc who wanted to know why they weren't given thejob. Well it's simple - they had their chance to build the roads, and they kept money for themselves by not setting down the right foundations. I.e the government paid for top spec roads but the contractors/builders kept a lot of the money for themselves. So is it so surprising that the EU drafted in their own workers? Not really. It's a hard but truthful reality.
The land is so arable here down in the the south west of the country, that it could easily produce enough crops to feed the entire country. But it is the infrastructure that lets it down, and there is no feasible way to get food from the south up to the barren land near Lake turkana in the north west and the Somali border in the east, which can often not see rainfall for four years.
One very enjoyable thing I have noticed already about Kenya is that it is so plush and green. Thick vegetation down here grows everywhere (again, with this murram earth, the land is incredibly fertile) and it's refreshing to see even in the centre of town big trees often playing resident to storks that sit atop the branches hunched up like old men.
Today I was driven around Nairobi and the thing that hits me most is the extreme in which you can go from Mathaiga where the plush country club lies, and dozens of embassy and ambassadors buildings with trim hedges and lawns are, straigh to Kibera. The worlds biggest slum. We didnt go into Kibera as there are no roads or even paths, just narrow alleyways between corrugated tin shacks, but we did drive straight through another slum right on the side of the right. And to have only been in Mathaiga and Ruaka just 10 minutes before. I've never seen anything like it. And Kibera is another British mistake in history as well I have found out. The Kenyan government (whilst still fairly corrupt, is at least doing lots of good things at the moment here) refuses to do anything with Kibera. Their argument is that it is a piece of land and the British government assigned it to the soldiers who had fought in WWI and came from the north of Africa, so that they had somewhere to live. So their argument is that there are no Kenyans that live there. But with over 80% unemployment and several million 'living' in Kibera that claim seems so impossible and ridiculous to believe.
We journeyed on Nairobi's 'ring road' today, (Nairobi equivalent of the the M25) which apparently is the hotspot for carjackings in the country. At night. I was first surprised to see that Paul has a radio like some police dude in the 4x4, but after hearing this, I fully understand the security link there! With Paul working for the company that he does, he and other managersof the company could be targets for ransoms. For this reason alone, the radio in his car has a direct link up to the GSU which is Kenya's idea of the SAS. (cool!)
4x4's is the subject of my final rant, and quite deservedly I feel! There is a growing faction back home of people objecting to the useof 4x4's in such urban areas. And frankly, anything is urban compared to these roads (and i've not even been up country yet). But what is funny is the locals and their 4x4's. They're all old and shabby and look at least 20 years old. You might foolishly put this down to the lack of money here, but locals won't even give a landrover a look if it is newer than 20 years old. If you took one of these shiny black contraptions in the Amboseli National Park for example - the real home for 4x4's you'd have to get the KWS to come pull you out of the mud every 5 minutes. It's funny really, considering people's attitudes to the new, and how in this case, the older landrovers are much more basic and do what they need to do - drive over stupid terrain and go through floods without floating.
Anyway, enough for one day! If you read this leave a post! Am missing home already. Us masungas stick out like a sore thumb here...! I'm not missing UK prices though. Or transport. The government should seriously think about bringing over some matatus to england instead of the red buses..... hahaha if you've ever been on one you will know just how much I am joking. You have to have a death wish to go on knowing what they're like. And a sign saying 'mug me please'. ha!
Hannah
I have just been distracted by the characters of Joseph senior and Joseph junior walking past the window and waving at me. Joseph senior is the gardener for Alison and Paul, and Jospeh junior is gardener/daytime guard. He sits in a little hut next to the cast iron gates that secure the driveway, and got all upset this morning when he was unable to let Paul out to go to work, as he was having the day off and forget to inform Jospeh junior of this... who incidentally is quite the handsome young man!
The safety here is (understandably) very secure, with the very possible threat of the crazy Somalians who do indeed make trouble wherever they seem to go. There is much to be safety conscious about, but for this first part of my journey I am staying in an expat area, the nakumatt (kenyan tesco's) does literally sell everything. It is the ultimate in ethical living - everything is locally shipped to the supermarkets, it has not circumnavigated the globe several times as much of our UK foodstuff does. There is no such term as free range or organic, because there's nothing to oppose it like battery farming and GM crops. Indeed, on the last friday of the month (payday here in Kenya) a man with his herd of goats will stand on the verge between the roads on the kenya - mombassa highway (although just WHAT justifies a road being a highway, i'm not sure...) offering them at cheap prices, either dead or alive.
I have arrived at what is supposed to be the middle of summer. Whilst it is still around 25 degrees here, the effects of the El Nino out in the pacific is being felt here as it continues to drizzle and then chuck it down alternately. The rise in the ocean (this phenomenon is felt across the equator) temperature just by 2/3 degrees leads to mre evaporation causing more cloud cover and then in turn leading to more rain. There were several areas of Nairobi that, by late this afternoon as we drove past, were heavily flooded with rushing streams full of that iconic red murram earth.
The roads as I well discovered today are hideous. Which I had always heard, but I always thought people just generally meant a few rotten potholes. But oh no. We came across a stretch of road near mathaiga (where the stupidly posh and out of place colonial gentlemans club still exists, and has a men only bar as I was shown last night at dinner) which literall had potholes 3 foot by 4. The main two reasons for the roads being in such disrepair are fairly simple. When Kenya got it's independence in 63 or thereabouts, the roads and railways were in peak condition (for the time) and would still be had they been maintained. However, the tax obsessed Moi spent the money 'elsewhere' and as such manyof the roads have fallen into disrepair. The other main reason is that where roads have in the past been relaid, they have not set the foundations properly so as soon as the rain comes, the road just falls apart leaving this gaping big potholes.
When Moi was elected out, and Kibaki was elected in then better things started happening on the roads. Now that corruption is nowhere near as bad as it was with Moi, the EU are willing to fund road building. The road to Kisumu is in fact being rebuilt as we speak. The EU pays for the road to be rebuilt, but to ensure that it is done properly european contractors are drafted in to actually build the roads. This caused uproar with local builders etc who wanted to know why they weren't given thejob. Well it's simple - they had their chance to build the roads, and they kept money for themselves by not setting down the right foundations. I.e the government paid for top spec roads but the contractors/builders kept a lot of the money for themselves. So is it so surprising that the EU drafted in their own workers? Not really. It's a hard but truthful reality.
The land is so arable here down in the the south west of the country, that it could easily produce enough crops to feed the entire country. But it is the infrastructure that lets it down, and there is no feasible way to get food from the south up to the barren land near Lake turkana in the north west and the Somali border in the east, which can often not see rainfall for four years.
One very enjoyable thing I have noticed already about Kenya is that it is so plush and green. Thick vegetation down here grows everywhere (again, with this murram earth, the land is incredibly fertile) and it's refreshing to see even in the centre of town big trees often playing resident to storks that sit atop the branches hunched up like old men.
Today I was driven around Nairobi and the thing that hits me most is the extreme in which you can go from Mathaiga where the plush country club lies, and dozens of embassy and ambassadors buildings with trim hedges and lawns are, straigh to Kibera. The worlds biggest slum. We didnt go into Kibera as there are no roads or even paths, just narrow alleyways between corrugated tin shacks, but we did drive straight through another slum right on the side of the right. And to have only been in Mathaiga and Ruaka just 10 minutes before. I've never seen anything like it. And Kibera is another British mistake in history as well I have found out. The Kenyan government (whilst still fairly corrupt, is at least doing lots of good things at the moment here) refuses to do anything with Kibera. Their argument is that it is a piece of land and the British government assigned it to the soldiers who had fought in WWI and came from the north of Africa, so that they had somewhere to live. So their argument is that there are no Kenyans that live there. But with over 80% unemployment and several million 'living' in Kibera that claim seems so impossible and ridiculous to believe.
We journeyed on Nairobi's 'ring road' today, (Nairobi equivalent of the the M25) which apparently is the hotspot for carjackings in the country. At night. I was first surprised to see that Paul has a radio like some police dude in the 4x4, but after hearing this, I fully understand the security link there! With Paul working for the company that he does, he and other managersof the company could be targets for ransoms. For this reason alone, the radio in his car has a direct link up to the GSU which is Kenya's idea of the SAS. (cool!)
4x4's is the subject of my final rant, and quite deservedly I feel! There is a growing faction back home of people objecting to the useof 4x4's in such urban areas. And frankly, anything is urban compared to these roads (and i've not even been up country yet). But what is funny is the locals and their 4x4's. They're all old and shabby and look at least 20 years old. You might foolishly put this down to the lack of money here, but locals won't even give a landrover a look if it is newer than 20 years old. If you took one of these shiny black contraptions in the Amboseli National Park for example - the real home for 4x4's you'd have to get the KWS to come pull you out of the mud every 5 minutes. It's funny really, considering people's attitudes to the new, and how in this case, the older landrovers are much more basic and do what they need to do - drive over stupid terrain and go through floods without floating.
Anyway, enough for one day! If you read this leave a post! Am missing home already. Us masungas stick out like a sore thumb here...! I'm not missing UK prices though. Or transport. The government should seriously think about bringing over some matatus to england instead of the red buses..... hahaha if you've ever been on one you will know just how much I am joking. You have to have a death wish to go on knowing what they're like. And a sign saying 'mug me please'. ha!
Hannah
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