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