kjb kenya

19th July 2011 at 5:05pm

2011-07-19T09:19:00.001-07:00

I wrote a new blog post just below this about 5 hours ago giving an update on Peter. Since then I returned to the Hospice with James and also Peters guardian. We sat with Peter for a couple of hours... his breathing was getting worse and more laboured. I was meant to return to the city to pick up visitors, but I sensed that he was rapidly getting worse. He was not in pain but struggling to breathe, We decided to stay and see how he got on, and at 5:05pm he gave his last breathe. Thankfully he was in the company of the 3 of us who really cared for him, who have been his family for so long. We were glad he wasn't in pain, and it is good that it all happened so quickly and he didnt suffer for too long. We are very sad to lose him though and in shock that it did happen so fast. We will miss him so much. Right now there is not much more I can say.

Thank you to all those who have prayed and sacrificed financially for him.

LAST STOP BEFORE HOME

2011-07-19T04:02:00.000-07:00

Hi to everyone, its been long since my last blog, with a lot going on and too much to say just now, but i hope to do a new update in the next week or so which will tell you all about the adventures of the Rhino charge... The fate of Shaun the Sheep... and updates on work life here in Kenya. But for now I wanted to tell you about how Peter is getting on. The 13 year old boy I look after who has terminal cancer.

Peter has slowly been detriorating over the last few months and before I left for quick trip back to the Uk in the middle of June I had been in discussions with the Nairobi Hospice about the need for eventually moving Peter into a Resdidential Nursing Home/Hospice. We had one lined up that looked good, was great value and run by the catholic church. I headed back to UK for some meetings, and made sure that Peter had all his medication and was looked after while I was away. Peter's condition had been getting worse recently to the point where he didnt leave the house much, his lost sight in his right eye, as the tumour is pushing on the eye and almost forcing it out the socket. He has also got multiple tumours on his head, another pushing on the other eye etc.

When I returned from the UK the following day I was called to the house, Peter was having chest pains and wasn't well. We got the doctor out and changed some medications etc, and thankfully he improved. However it was a sign of what was to come and we had a discussion with his guardian and agreed to move him the to residential hospice sooner rather than later. The guardian and I did a trip up the road during the week to check out the place. There is a lovely irish nun called Sister Eileen who runs it, it has 9 beds, is only a year old and is a fantastic facility. Its quiet which is good in some ways, but I was worried Peter would bee lonely.

Anyways we got it organised and last Tuesday I moved him up there. OI was worried he might feel we were abandoning him, but actually he was quite keen to go, he was experiencing pain all the time and I knew he just wanted to be comfortable. We settled him in, but it was hard leaving him... i was close to tears, it was very tough, especially as I knew this would be the last place he stays before he finally passes away. This poor kid has spent his whole life being moved from one place to another, with no parents, and being looked after by so many different adults. This would be his last home, his last bed...

I came back a couple of days later to pick him up and bring him to the doctor in the city and just to take him out for the day. I looked in his wardrobe and his clothes and everything were still in the suitcase... this i how he has come to learn to live... everytthing he has ever known has been in a box or suitcase, he lives out of that... and he would not think to put things on his shelf... everything is neatly packed and kept in the suitcase... it says a lot.

He seemd to be ok in the hospice even though he was a little bored but his bed in comfortable and he has made friends with another patient. Yesterday I planned to come up and visit... and the sister phoned me before hand to say he was very weak that day, not so strong and weas very tired. I arrived to see him asleep in bed... but he sat up when we came, was talking a bit and ate some food... but he seemed to have changed quite a bit... the sister says almost over night there has been a change. We stayed for a short time, I had to get back to the city, but he was so pleased to see us. The sister kept calling me the rest o fthe day giving me updates and this hinted to me that perhaps his detrioration is serious. He got worse again in the evveing, but was at least eating.

This morning I drove up with the doctor from the city, and I found him propped up in his bed, really struggling to breath, barely able to move, his chest going up and down so fast. He looked so weak and it was shocking to see him in this state, he barely had enough energy to keep is one reasonable eye open and to say more than one word at a time. He has so much pain all over. His stomach is huge, the liver is bigger, his whole body is getting distorted. His head is huge and I will include a picture below taken a few weeks ago... imagine its all a lot bigger than that now. This poor kid is going through hell right now. Even the hospice staff are struggling emotionally with all this, its such a brutal way to go, and if hospice staff are sgtruggling, people who deal with canacer patients all the time it shows how tough this is all for peter.

It incredible how he has changed so much in a few days. I tried to get the docs to predict what woudl happen, but I knew I was asking unreasonable questions because no on really knows. But eventually I got it out of them... once there are respiritory problems thats how it starts for a lot of cancer patients to go. It was finally said, that pretty much now he could go at any time.

I can;t believe it, I came back from the Uk expecting it would be a couple of months before dealin with residential care and even longer before the end would come, and now this might all end in a matter of days, or even hours. Hard to know what to do now in the next few days, but I am organising people to visit him and spend as much time there as possible. That last thing I want is for him to pass away and for one of us that are close to him not be around.

Peter has incredible faith in God. While he was still at his guardians house, he barely left the house, but each evening he walked through the streets, stiumbling along, while people would stare at his disfigurement, he would go to an evening prayer service everyday at 5pm. he trusts in God, and I wouldn;t say I know many certainties in life, but for sure I know God has a place marked out for him in heaven... where there will be no more disfigurement, or pain, where he will be whole again.

There are many more things I could write, but thats all I got for now.... I have to rush back to see him this afternoon, before it gets dark later. I would ask you to pray for Peter.... pray that he won;t be afraid in the coming days, pray that he won't be in pain, pray for the nurses and carers around him.... pray that he will have peace in the remaining days. Its not long now before he will be truely home with his Father in heaven.

BAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

2011-05-18T02:13:00.000-07:00

WHEN IT RAINS.... IT DOESN’T POUR – For a while, all of us in Nairobi were wondering if the rains were not going to come this season, the whole of April passed with hardly a drop, the grass was turning a slightly beige colour and dust was swirling in the air in the form of dust devils. Finally though as May came, so did the rains. Last week it was pretty strong, almost every day. Thankfully the roof of the house is still holding on, but only just. The verendah still seems to leak water in the rain and is generally out of use at the moment and each day its a challenge to keep as much mud off your feet as possible and not drag it into every building and room. When you think about it, in the UK when it rains, the worst you have for walking is on wet pavements and passed puddles, hardly ever is the challenge presented for walking through muddy streets, paths, walk ways etc. On my way to work in the morning the streets are not only busy with cars, but pedestrians walking on the road, the hard tarmac, rather than the swampy mud fields that line the hard surfaced roads. It can be a bit of a game of chicken, or bowling, as you swerve the car passed people, huge puddles which might be secretly hiding a 2 foot pothole which would love to do damage to your car and your spine, and avoiding hitting on coming vehicles. Its not the most fun driving and its hard also to avoid splashing people with dirty brown muddy water. The weird thing last week was that when I got up in the morning it seemed there was not water in the taps, the toilet or the shower. Eventually there would be a trickle out the tap but at this point it was dirty muddy water pouring into the sink. I turned on the water pump for the backup tank and eventually some water would come through the shower, just at the point I had finished bathing in some cold tap water stored in some plastic bottles, at least then I could have a shower to warm up again! This happened over a few days, and I wondered how it could be pouring with rain outside, but not pouring through my water taps, toilet or shower. This is typical Nairobi, we rely on water for electricity, it turns the turbines, we rely on water for the taps etc yet during the rainy season we can get really bad power cuts and shortages of water in the pipes. So sometimes when it rains, it really doesn’t pour.

BAAAAAAAAA – At homegroup on Thursday night the subject came up about Mark’s birthday dinner on Sunday. What present should be bought???? Now Mark is a Welshman and of course the obligatory joke about the perfect present being a sheep for a Welshman would be very funny came up. Questions arose about where could you buy a toy sheep as a joke, or a stuffed teddy like sheep. Eventually as we were getting nowhere Ben piped up half joking, half serious, ‘what if we bought him a real sheep?’. Some in the group couldn’t believe he was serious... I loved the idea, how funny would that be, it would be the most legendary present ever, it would go down in history, and here in Kenya going out to buy a sheep would actually be possible. We discussed it some more and the ideas kept growing. Where could we get it? What would we call it? How could we transport it? Could he keep it at his house? What would his wife think? A plan started to come together. Friday a few of us set to the task of finding a sheep. I spoke to people at work and our accountant told me he had a friend from his church who could help, so Friday morning we set off to Kiserian, into the sheep market and began the process of selecting a sheep. There wasn’t much choice but in the end I picked up a black headed sheep. They tied him up and placed him in the back of my car. James sat in the back keeping an eye on him and we headed back to my house. Now the tricky thing at my house was the dogs... not sure if they would be friends with the sheep or not. We unloaded him, the dogs went beserk and so we had to keep them away. We tied him to a post in the garden, on a very long piece of rope and he set about at mowing my lawn. It was probably the nicest, greenest grass he ever tasted. The staff at the house were initially thinking I had brought a sheep home to be slaughtered and shared around, but I had to disappoint them and said it was for a friend’s birthday. The funny thing is that here buying someone a live sheep is not that strange, certainly in Kenyan culture, so although the expats would think we were crazy, the Kenyans thought it made sense! He munched on the grass Friday and Saturday and slept in the store room over night to avoid being attacked by the dogs. Charles washed him and made him really clean and ready to be presented at lunch on Sunday. Now in the initial discussions we decided we would call the sheep ‘Dolly’ after the infamous cloned sheep from Edinburgh. However there was a slight snag... i forgot to check the sex before we bought it and of course I ended up buying a male sheep. Never mind we stuck with Dolly and my friend Anke spent 5 hours on the Saturday embroidering a name badge for the sheep. Sunday came, and Ben picked up Dolly from my house in his Landrover, as I was at church early to lead worship. We had arranged with the security guard at the church which is held at a private school, to tie the sheep up and look after it during church. So we did church and then a group of us waited for Mark and Sue to head to the restaurant for lunch so we would arrive after them. We loaded Dolly up again in the car and headed to the restaurant which was out of town and near the safari park. As we arrived, we realised to get into the restaurant we would have to cross a rope bridge, just like the one from Indiana Jones, and they would see us crossing the bridge and also perhaps Dolly might not want to cross the bridge in the first place. So as Ben went to bring Mark to the car park with all the other birthday lunch guests, the girls tied ribbons and bows onto Dolly, as I kept him calm. It seemed I was dubbed the Sheep Whisperer as I seemed to have the gift of keeping him calm. I stood behind the Landrover with Dolly and everyone came round. Mark’s face was priceless! Utter shock! Not in a million years did he ever expect such a present. The joke went down very well and everyone saw how funny it was. Both Mark and Su loved it. We tied him to the Landrover to munch on the grass in the car park and the Masaai security guard promised to keep an eye on Dolly. During lunch we discussed what they might do with Dolly, mark was thinking BBQ, but Su was desperate to keep Dolly in the garden. The nicest thing was that Mark said it was a great present and said he would never forget it, he commented that he knows when he is an old man, he will be walking down the street one day and have a little chuckle to himself that one day for his birthday in Africa, a bunch of crazy guys bought him a sheep! Currently Dolly.. whose name is slowly changing to Shaun, is residing in mark’s garden, enjoying the grass and the flowers! We will wait to see if Shaun is kept, sold or eaten... watch this space!

WHEN THE TANKS RAN DRY – Over the Royal wedding weekend, when I took the Friday off and the Monday here was a bank holiday I knew I should have filled up my tank with Petrol! Tuesday came, back at work again but in the evening I was invited to someones house for a good old catch up and some delicious haggis flown in from Scotland. I left the office a little early to head across town and decided to pick up some fuel on the way, as the needle was hitting the red section of the dial and the fuel warning light was flickering on. The first petrol station I stopped at... ‘no fuel’.... no problem, its a common tale here, quite often a station runs out and you just head to the next, so thats exactly what I did, reached the next one... ‘no fuel’... ‘oh ok, no problem’... moving on to the next and of course once again .... ‘ no fuel’.... ‘oooohhhhhhh’. By this point I had crossed Waiyaki Way and was getting closer to my destination but the needle was plummeting down the fuel gauge highway towards oblivion. As I approached each station I realised something was very, very wrong! Each one had cars pulling in and pulling straight out, there was no fuel. I called Juliet to say I was trying to find fuel so would be late, she then told me the attendants at a petrol station had told her there is no fuel in Nairobi!!!! WWWWHHHHAAATTTT!!! No fuel at all? That can’t be true. Thinking I was being smart I headed back to the highway and decided to head up the Naivasha Road, as I knew there would be some petrol stations there and perhaps being on the highway, slightly out of town they would have some left. I was wrong again! I was reaching the point of no return. Do I just head towards the haggis, but run the risk of not getting home later, do I just head home and abandon the haggis or do I try and find a petrol station and then do whatever I want.... I of course took the stupid option of heading further out of town in search of petrol and hoping to be the only guy left in Nairobi with a full tank and a smug grin on my face. As I got further out of town towards Kikuyu town I realised I had made a mistake and I needed to head back.. but being on the highway I couldn’t turn round, with the crash barrier dividing the dual carriageway. I was driving further and further away from home with an ever decreasing fuel tank, panic was beginning to set in. Eventually I reached the Kikuyu turn off, which would give me the option of turning round on the highway and going back the way I came, OR heading into Kikuyu town and taking the back routes home but possibly trying just 1 more petrol station that was a bit more remote. So of course I took the risky option of taking the back routes and of course the petrol station was empty too. Now I had a real dilemma, the fuel gauge was only on the last fractions of red on the dial and I was about 30 mins from home. If I took the left road it would be slightly quicker, BUT I would be going through Kawangware slum and I could hit bad traffic and if I ran out of petrol there it would be dangerous, it was getting closer to 6 o’clock and getting dark, that would be dangerous. If I took the righthand road I would be taking longer to get back but going past Karen and work, so I would know more people in the area if I got stuck. This time I took the safer option and went right. Of course I had made another huge mistake! I cruised along slowly trying to be as fuel efficient as possible and then I came closer to the main roundabout at Karen.... WWWWOOOOOOAAAAAHHHHH!! Probably the worst traffic jam I have ever seen in Kenya! The whole roundabout was blocked, no traffic moving anywhere! We were on a slight hill coming down to the roundabout and we were not really moving. I decided to switch off the engine to save fuel.... yes yes I know you use a lot of fuel to start the car etc, but I was desperate and wasn’t sure how long we would be sitting so thought it would be best. The traffic moved a little so my plan... take the hand brake off and roll down the hill slowly... another bad idea. The foot brake and steering don’t really work when the engine is not on and without wanting to break my handbrake I was in another dilemma. I sat there and watched as I got closer to the roundabout that perhaps for us coming from our direction turning back into town would not be so bad, as most people were leaving town. However there were cars, buses, lorries everywhere and what would happen if I got stuck in all that and then ran out of fuel? I had another option I could turn round and take a back road to avoid the roundabout but that would require doing about 3 miles through country roads which would be quiet. I decided to keep going, with me checking my petrol gauge now every 10 seconds (and I do not exaggerate), the needle was barely touching red and I was getting closer to the jam from hell. We got to the roundabout, I put the car in 4 wheel drive and a group of us tried to skirt round the edge to take our simple turn left. People were everywhere, mud was everywhere from the rain, cars were getting stuck, my wheels were slipping and I would have to rev hard sometimes to overcome bumps and holes, knowing that each time I was sucking the fumes out of the petrol tank. The car was surrounded by people and cars but we kept edging further. I could see part of the problem, the main road from town had cars everywhere, literally 6 cars wide, covering every part which made it almost impossible for us coming the other way, but this was happening from each side of the roundabout so thats why it blocked. I spotted on the other side of the road the Shell petrol station, it had just received a tanker full of fuel.. I couldn’t believe it.... so close yet there was a 6 car wide jam between me and the petrol station, there would be no way of getting there. I pressed onwards hoping that with some miracle I could make it home. I was perspiring, heart beating, almost shaking with the stress, I had to get through the Ngong forest without breaking down, that would be very dangerous, it was getting very dark now, as we got closer to town the traffic got worse and we hit another traffic jam. What could I do now??? I was desperate and in a very risky position. I realised I would be passing work and finally resigned that I would park the car there and get a taxi home. At least the car would be safe and I would be safe. I pulled back into work, over 2 hours later having left work, with faces full of surprise greeting me at the gate. I called a taxi and after it eventually came I set off on the journey back to my house which normally takes 15 minutes (20 max). An hour and half later I actually made it home!!! Having left work at 4pm I arrived back at my house at 7:45pm! Exhausted, stressed, relieved. We had a few days without fuel in Kenya, I used taxis for 2 days. There seemed to be some arguments between the ONLY supplier who sells to the marketers such as Shell and Total and with the government. Speculation has arisen that the government was blackmailing the petrol guys for bribes to raise money for their 2012 election campaigns... it seems a very real possibility. Now the fuel guys are taking their own back on the government by refusing to tender for the latest fuel tankers docking at Mombasa. The price of fuel has risen and is expected to run out again in a week or so. I’ve stock piled some fuel at my house this time, so I don’t hit the same problem again. It could all get resolved and we don’t run out, but if it does this time I will keep rolling and I will not miss the chance for some haggis again!

A GOOD DAY TO BE BRITISH – Although that certain Friday was no public holiday here in Kenya, I made the personal decision that being a subject of the Queen it would only be responsible and my duty to take the day off and celebrate in her grandsons wedding. It seems I was not the only person to think the same...South Africans, Germans, Kenyans, Britons, infact almost everyone! I did need to go into work in the morning to deal with a few issues, Peter had not been well overnight and so I wanted to get him checked out at the docs. As I passed the childrens home I walked into the hall and found 4 teenage boys glued to the TV screen watching the pre-match... I mean pre-wedding build up. I asked if they knew what was happening... they answered ‘yes’. I asked if they knew who was getting married...’yes of course’... oh ok, so it seemed the kids at the home wanted to watch it as well. After the visit to the docs, we passed by a supermarket and as we walked round, EVERY TV set had the wedding on, even the security camera TV’s and everyone seemed to be keeping an eye on it. Eventually I dropped the boys off back home. I passed my house to see Will’s and Harry get into their car to head to church and I figured if traffic was ok I would make it to David and Juliets in time for the actual wedding... the pressure was on, could I make it to my venue before the bride! I whizzed through town, traffic not busy and arrived just in time to see Kate jump into her car and head to the church. Feet up, lunch ready, we sat and ate a Salmon lunch whilst watching the wedding of the millennium! The chat for the next few days was wedding, wedding, wedding, even with my friends from other countries.. EVERYONE loved it, the Kenyan press was full of it, and for us Brits there was a real sense of patriotism and pride. This is what we do well... pomp and circumstance... everyone agrees, no one does it better! It was the Disney fairytale wedding, and as they talked about 2 billion viewers, being here in Kenya you could see how that was possible. If it was as big as this here then imagine all the other commonwealth countries and beyond how big it would be globally! An awesome day and a really positive vibe. Colonialism may have brought good and bad to Kenya but there is still that sense of connection with Britain that remains. A very good day to be British!

PRESSURE – So the last few weeks things have been developing with Peter, the 13 year old boy I look after who has cancer. Each week on Thursdays we go to the Nairobi Hospice. He has a neuroblastoma tumour on his forehead which is incurable. Each week his tumour grows bigger and bigger, its almost at the size that even hats are struggling to cover it. The tumour is starting to move down by the side of his right eye and causing it to close. His eyesight is now beginning to fail in that side as the tumour causes pressure. He tends to walk around with the hat covering half his face and he keeps his head bowed. I was heartbroken the other week as we sat with doctor and did some counselling. He confessed that the kids who live around his guardians place, where he stays, call him names and laugh at him, they refer to him as ‘Mango Head’, as he told this, tears rolled down his cheeks. The cruelty of children can be unbelievable sometimes, but I know that they are young and don’t understand. What was positive was that he says the kids at Cheryl’s treat him well, don’t tease him and are supportive. As the tumour grows it is increasing pressure on his brain. We went for a CT scan last week and I could finally see the extent the tumour is growing on the inside of his skull and putting huge pressure on his brain. An Oncologist saw the scan and said he was surprised Peter was still able to walk, stating that the pressure on his brain must be immense and that it could start causing paralysis and parts of his body not to function. In a way it seems to be a miracle he is still able to do so much, and for that we are grateful. The hospice was keen for Peter to come back and stay at Cheryl’s because he could get 24 hour care there, a proper bed and be with his friends. They sent a request to the children’s department and we requested permission to bring him back to cheryl’s. The sad thing is the Childrens Department considered the case and then said it was too dangerous to keep him at Cheryl’s saying if he died there we would come under big scrutiny and examination, the police would be involved etc. So they would not allow him to come back and have now said he is not even allowed to be there during the day. It is UNBELIEVABLE!!! The chances of him dying at Cheryl’s are slim, and even if he did, there is plenty of evidence from the doctors etc of why he would pass away. It seems no-one is thinking of what’s in the best interests of the child, just more about covering people’s backs. It is devastating news and I am not sure what to do now. I do know though that in time we will have to consider nursing home care for Peter, especially in his last days, or if he ends up paralysed. I have already been given information on some places and will hopefully check them out soon. We face tough times ahead, and the pressure is increasing on Peter physically and psychologically. Another tumour is now starting to grow on the other side of his head and I can see Peter starting to wonder what’s happening and losing strength and hope. I’m trying to remain strong for Peter and we continue to work hard for him and trying to provide the care he needs.

ANYONE FOR TENNIS? – In an aid to try and get fit and lose a bit of weight I have tried to do some exercise and for me the best way to exercise is to do it when you don’t really even notice you’re doing it, for example playing games. In Edinburgh for me this was always basketball, a game I love to play. The real desire for going was to have fun with some mates and play games, but the great side affect was it helped you to get fit. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find many basketball players here, although there are courts everywhere, so I began to think, hang on, we are in a hot sunny country (well sunny sometimes) and so why not take the advantage and play some tennis. I suck at tennis, those kids who I used to teach at Rydings School in Zimbabwe will testify to this, being beaten by a 12 year old does hurt your feelings a little. Anyways I suggested it to David and Juliet and they too were keen, and also confessed to sucking at tennis too. Perfect! So for the last few weeks we’ve been playing tennis on Wednesday nights at the Muthaiga Club. Its been great fun, and we all seem to be on the same level in terms of ability. We have been improving, so hopefully that will continue. We will wait to see if it is affecting my weight or fitness levels, but at least we are having fun!

BOOKS GALORE! – So I can finally announce that the library is complete. For months we have been working on this and trying to get it finished. There have been numerous problems on the way but we have overcome them. During the Easter holidays I worked with a small group of kids from the high school age down to primary and we set the whole library up. We labelled the books, put them into age groups, reference sections etc and recorded each book on to the computer. For the kids who helped they were very excited to get chance to use a computer and they did a great job of recording the books into an excel document. We worked very hard for a few days and it was finally done. There are many booked (although we can always use more) which the kids can now access for pleasure or for school work. We have a nice carpet down in the room, with a sofa and rug, its the nicest room in the whole of Cheryls and hopefully it will inspire the kids to read more!

COAST.... photos below

2011-04-12T06:45:00.000-07:00

GOING COASTAL... – 4:50am the alarm tune starts playing away, my eyes creep open to see the darkness still blacking out the curtains and window frames, turning on the bed side light my eyes scrunch up as though someone is trying to gouge them with their fingers and I need to protect them. It’s time to get up, check the boys are awake, quick shower and then hit the road. I open the bedroom door to walk to the bathroom, via the spare room, knocking gently asking out loud ‘are you awake?’. I open the door to see the light is already on and two smartly dressed boys sitting on their made beds, suitcases nearby ready to leave. A little surprised I congratulate them on their readiness and still eye scrunching I head for a shower to wake me up. James who is helping me on this expedition woke at 4:30am and decided to get the other boys ready. Charles the gardener is busy in the kitchen making hot chai for the boys. I throw on my clothes, gather my bags and head for the kitchen and car to start packing. Outside is an eerie silence not normally associated with the Nairobi city life, it is still early enough that most are in bed, except for the few cars wishing to avoid rush hour traffic and heading to work early. Everyone climbs in, the car is packed, the boys are excited, after a quick prayer for a safe journey we exit the gate, waving goodbye to the house staff and start meandering through the empty city streets. It is not long before we are out on the Mombasa highway and heading south. We are on the Athi Plains just as the sun starts to rise, this is record timing, the journey has now fully begun... 600kms to Watamu on the coast of Kenya. THE REASON WHY? – So what was this trip all about? Well Peter who is now 13 years old has been battling with cancer for almost 18 months now. He has a neuroblastoma on his forehead. Chemo was attempted for 12 months at one of Kenya’s top hospitals, but as the course came to an end, the aggressive tumour came straight back. This left us with the agonising decision of what to do next. In the end, following doctors advice and looking at predicted outcomes it was decided Peter had had enough treatment and discomfort of chemo. It was now time to leave him in God’s hands, barring a miracle Peter will not make it, probably before the end of the year, but timing no one really knows. It was now time to move from investing in Peter’s treatment to investing in Peter’s life and the time he has left. After a quick rallying cry to many supporters money was raised to take Peter on a trip of a lifetime, a week on the Kenyan coast, something that most Kenyans never get to experience in their lifetimes, but what would be considered a middle class holiday for the average westerner. So the road trip party was going to include: Peter, one of his best friends Erico and James who has finished high school and awaiting university who cares for Peter and looks after him, plus myself obviously, the chauffeur, holiday planner, first aider and parental figure. This trip was all about spoiling Peter. WATAM’’S – The resort which gave us a special discount for our trip and were so amazing helping us in making this trip possible was Turtle Bay Beach Club, which is in Watamu, soon to be nicknamed ‘Watam’s’ by the boys. Watam’s is nearly 2 hours drive north of Mombasa on the coastal road. With numerous beach resorts along the coast line Watamu is one of the slightly quieter ones but one of the most glorious beaches. Turtle Bay Beach Club although providing your standard resort type stuff with all inclusiveness somehow manages to retain a family run feel. This place was chosen because it is great for families and being all inclusive meant it would be easy for the boys. So for 6 days the boys where on the coast and it was an interesting time... EYES WIDE OPEN – Walking down the steps towards the lobby, luggage in tow were 3 boys with eyes wide open, gasps of breath, followed by little giggles. The lobby was huge, cold towels brought out to freshen the faces and along with cold juice, it was time to feel like Kings. After dumping the bags in the rooms, with the now constant giggling and shocks of awe we headed down to the vast pool and there at the edge was the white sands of Turtle Bay and the big blue wide expanse of the ocean. Shock and awe was finally defined by the 3 boys. I headed with Peter down to the sea, the other 2 standing slightly back, afraid of the vastness and size of the ocean, seeing waves crashing into the sands for the first time and being intimidated by its power. Peter though, unafraid and craving adventure walked with me down to the edge, barefooted and ready to plant his feet in the ocean for the first time. Although Peter grew up next to lake Victoria, a rather sizable lake connecting the countries of Eastern Africa, the ocean was a whole new ball game, this was big, I mean really big. He slowly placed his feet in the zone where the waves would gently lap up onto the white sands, the luke warm feeling of water rushing in between his toes and over his small feet, this was the Indian ocean, Peter’s first ever ocean. James and Erico stood back and watched in amazement. For firsts, they don’t come much better than this. All I could think of, after all the rubbish that I’ve faced in recent months, was ‘how amazing is this’, it felt like a huge honour and privilege to be there, to witness such joy and wide eyeness. How many oceans have I seen, how many seas have I swam in, from a young age, to me this is just another ocean full of fun and excitement, to the 3 boys this was the edge of the earth, the furthest perhaps to travel in 1 lifetime, miles and miles away from the Nairobi frenzy. It was just time to stand in awe and wonder, who could make something so magical, so powerful and so utterly beautiful as the ocean. BEACH LIFE – There were only a few beach beds by the pool but many on the beach itself right at the hotel, next to thatched rooves and shades. The first morning we selected our patch (which would end up being ours for the week), my plan to be in sight of the pool and the ocean to keep close eye on the boys, with a metal table allowing me to padlock my bag to it and keep the valuables safe. Some beach life educating needed to be undertaken, but was soon abandoned. The boys could not understand... why would you sit all day on a beach bed sleeping when there was a giant pool with crystal clear water and a scary ocean just begging to be explored. So we hit the pool, knowing that I had about 2 and half swimmers in tow. James took to the pool water with ease, Peter strode in with confidence and demonstrated his swimming abilities, basically front crawl, head in the water, powering as hard as he could until he needed to breath again which would required stopping, standing up, wiping his eyes and taking in huge gulps of oxygen, this obviously limited the distance he could swim at any one time. Erico, pretending to be able to swim seemed to wade through the water never really daring to lift his feet off the floor. The swimming pool was huge which about two thirds set a low depth and then a slightly separate deeper end. It soon registered that swimming lessons for Erico would be required. Having been 15 years since getting into the baby pool at Rydings School in Zimbabwe and teaching Gabriel to swim for the house competition I was a little concerned I had forgotten how to teach swimming (although even 15 years ago it had all been made up at the time as well, although Gabriel did eventually swim an entire length of the senior pool with a paddle board, what I genuinely feel as one of my greatest achievements and proudest moments). After about 20 minutes of lessons Erico was free to do his thing and well for the next 5 days he practically lived in the pool, when he was not in the pool he was at a table for lunch, or in the bathroom, or heading down to the ocean and canoeing, or cycling, but at all other times he was in the pool, the least of us at swimming but with the biggest heart for dwelling in the water all day, he was quickly named ‘Erico the fish’. By the end of the trip Erico could swim breast stroke, swim under water and had all the confidence of a child having enjoyed a lifetimes worth of summer holidays. DRESS CODE – So the restaurant was next to the pool and reasonably informal. One thing that concerned me before travelling was the extent to which Peter’s tumour was growing, and his desire to constantly cover it with a hat. We discussed as we headed to the pool that he could keep his hat on if he wanted, but the temptation of splashing around without the care of looking after a hat meant in the pool he was happy without it, there were too many other distractions to bother thinking of what other might see, or think. Outside of the pool though is a different story, with adults starring and looking at us like we were some motley crew, 3 kenyan kids an a white guy, I guess we did kind of stand out. For the first dinner we headed to the restaurant. I knew there was a dress code, I knew hats were not allowed, but while trying to identify some sort of manager the boys where already at the buffet getting food. I gave up looking and just decided to get on with it. Some of the chefs at the buffet had questioned him over the hat, and feeling very protective I wanted to bounce over and tell them to back off in the politest way possible. But when eventually the dress code manager person came over to mention he should remove the hat, slightly embarrassed I stood up and took him to one side, in some attempt to be out of earshot of Peter, to explain to the waiter the situation. No problem, no problem, now it has been explained was the message from the waiter. Still for a few meals from the waiters or chefs not aware of the situation they would say things to Peter and I realised he was being rude in response... not surprising really, in the end I told him if anyone has issues just tell them to speak to me, in my best big brother attitude. After a couple of days though, everyone was used to us, the waiters, chefs and manager guy were all really nice and we were fine. Well how could you not be fine with soooooo much food available. The boys feasted. At times perhaps it was a challenge to find the right food for them at the buffet, particularly as it was tailored mainly to western tastes, but the boys soon found their groove. The most interesting choice they made was breakfast which generally consisted of an omelette with bacon or sausages on bread... bread covered in strawberry jam... each morning it left me delivering a giggle of my own, although that was lost on the boys. ALL BOYS NEED ADVENTURE – bicycles were free to take out, and this was Peter’s biggest wish, to get on a bicycle and go somewhere. We went to try them out, finding bikes the perfect size for the boys... and for me... well it felt like I was on some bmx for an 8 year old. I decided I would manage, having ridden bikes for years in Edinburgh. Helmets were adorned onto the boys heads, somehow managing to get over Peter’s tumour. Obviously being the experienced cyclist and bad rolemodel that believes in ‘do as i say and not as I do’ I decided to fashion a nice baseball cap instead of a helmet, so that I could keep the sun off my forehead and hoping that the protective layer of thin cotten fabric would protect me from any unfortunate tarmac to forehead greetings. Off we went, heading to the centre of Watam’s along a very straight and slightly potholed road. Pain, then some more pain, shortness of breath, sweat pouring down my back, my neck, my forehead, pain, more pain, knees starting to snap under the pressure, yes this bike was indeed far too small for me. Worried I was going too slow I managed to keep in front and lead the way. Watam’s consisted of a bank, a salon, a petrol station, a few little shops and about 3 roads, oh and an Ice Cream parlour. After the first leg of our Tour de Watam’s there was a significant requirement to eat ice cream, so sat around the plastic patio furniture we ate our Italian Ice Creams, satisfied that they were truely earnt, even though we had just gorged on a huge lunch just an hour earlier. 3 very happy cyclists and 1 older guy with a knee broken, head spinning who was pretending to be able to ride a bicycle with some kind of skill. We headed back to the hotel, with Peter who had a HUGE big grin on his face, this had made his day. That was it, I realised we just needed one big thing each day, one thing that he would love and enjoy, beyond the already awesomness of being in the swimming and by the sea, something big that a story could be told from. Canoeing was the order of the day next. As the ocean would leave the Turtle Bay shores to venture on to some foreign beach perhaps in India or somewhere far away, we were left with a big open space to explore fish, crabs and anything we could find. A sand bank would appear in the ocean, and a smooth glass like surface on the water of the lagoon as the waves had moved away to focus their attention on the breaker further out and coral wall with the tide over on that distant shore. Canoes were free for the hotel guests and so we set off paddling. Slightly concerned about the swimming abilities of some of the crew, life jackets were forced upon the 3 boys, again by the overly confident, bad role model adult who clearly didn’t need one. Heading out in 2 canoes we left the shore line for our first adventure into the deep ocean (well slightly deep lagoon, well maybe 5 foot deep lagoon). We reached the sand bank, parked up the canoes safely on the sand, and wondered around the coral to see what we could see. After many small fish, a big green fish, bright red star fish and an octopus we decided to head back. This was to be the first of many adventures in the canoes. PIZZA – If there is one thing that makes a boy smile, its the word ‘Pizza’. Apart from the main restaurant there was also a Pizza restaurant we could go to. Once tasted it was not forgotted, and in some attempt to avoid pizza at every meal I negotiated our way through a week or alternating between the main restaurant and the pizza place. BALANCING ACTS – being a resort type place in the evenings there would be some kind of performance, perhaps a choir, a band, acrobats or a magician. Probably the highlight was the acrobats, about 8 super strong Rasta’s who must spend most of their time in the gym jumping through hoops, climbing massive pools, all balancing on each other and doing flips and flops on some very hard concrete. They had truely remarkable skill. Unfortunately Peter didn’t always make the evening entertainment. It became clear after the first cycle trip and the canoe trip his body couldn’t cope with huge amounts of exercise, he would become very tired, and the headaches had started to really set in more and more. Each day we juggled with doing some fun activities with also time to rest and chill and it wasn’t long before he discovered the purpose of those beach beds. In the evenings I decided it was best he had early nights, to make the most of each day. It was a balancing act between having fun and not pushing him too hard, by the end we had it down to a tee (or is that tea, I’m not sure?). AEROBICS AND OTHER POOL ACTION – The pool was generally a casual area, with kids and adults all messing around. At around 11am each morning the music would come on, blasting through some huge speakers and for a brief moment you questioned yourself and where you actually where. Was this a beach resort in Kenya a or cheesy nightclub in the UK pumping out Rihanna with possibly the worst DJ in the world who only liked listening to songs for approximately 30 seconds at a time before moving on to the next. James and Erico decided to join in on the first day, yes it was time for water aerobics. 2 young Kenyan boys amongst a whole bunch of white Kenyans, Europeans and Americans. It was hilarious as in the water dancing began. Photos would never do justice but a good time was truely had by all. Later in the afternoon was water polo. On day 1 I ended up taking the position of goalie, which wasn’t so much fun, particularly as the slightly aggressive British guys decided to take it a little too seriously and felt being a big guy it was fair to stand 1 metre in front of my face and throw the ball as hard as possible into my face. My purpose for being there was to try and include as many of the kids playing as possible and also to keep an eye on Peter and the boys, making sure these over eager adults were careful with the boy, who by visibility alone was clearly in need of being taken on gently by any would be attacker. My days at water polo were limited, in fact 1 match was enough, but for the other days the boys continued to play and for Peter scoring goals was a particular treat he managed to enjoy quite a few times. Towards the end of the trip, about 3 evenings in a row, as the sun began to lower in the sky, the shade moving across the pool, the hotel guests slowly starting to depart from their day at the beach and heading to rooms to freshen up for dinner, I was in the pool with Erico and a British boy, a similar age to Erico. We hardly spoke the 3 of us, but for probably over half an hour each evening we threw the polo ball to each other, sometimes deliberately splashing each other, sometimes just trying to do spectacular catches and sometimes just enjoying the simple pleasure of throwing and catching a ball. We did occasionally say some things and talk and I discovered this young lad was here with his family, but was the youngest, didn’t really have anyone to play with and was from Wales. I loved it, here was this young lad from the UK, on his annual family holiday, with Erico a young orphan from the slums of Kenya both in the pool throwing a ball to each other, simply as equals, simply as two young lads just having fun. For me it was just another pleasure to be part of. DHOW (NOT REFERENCING HOMER SIMPSON)– On the last day at the resort I booked a special treat for the boys, a trip on a Dhow (a traditional sail boat used to transport goods up and down the coast). It was a sundowner trip, down the local creek, with cocktails and bitings. Normally the boat could take up to 35 people, but on that day only 8 of us had booked, so we had the boat to ourselves. We cruised down the creek, drinking yummy cocktails (non-alcoholic for us) and ate plenty. Probably the best part was the plate of breaded king sized prawns which was left for myself and a British guy to finish off as no one else seemed to like prawns. YUMMY! THE HOLIDAY THINGS – So when you’re on holiday you write postcards, you use your pocket money to buy souvenirs and both of these were enacted by the boys. Through the generosity of so many people I was able to give the boys pocket money to spend in the hotel shop. In the cool air conditioned atmosphere of the hotel shop the boys perused the shelves and items until decisions were finally made and hats and t shirts were purchased, soon to be worn by the newly graduated tourists. Post cards were written to the doctors and people at the Nairobi Hospice who have been helping take care of Peter and also to Cheryls, to bring sunny coastal greetings to all the staff and kids. LEAVING – The day finally came where it was time to hit the road again, it was greeted with much sadness and an almost unbelievable notion that such a holiday could end. But the treats were not over and a brief stop at Mombasa city brought in a tour of the famous Fort Jesus, something studied at school along with a passing by of the massive (fake) elephant tusks that cover the road in the middle of the city and represent the iconic image of Mombasa, something often seen on TV but again for non-coastal Kenyans, hardly ever seen. Heading back up the highway an overnight stop was held at Maneaters Camp, as one of the few guests we pretty much had the place to ourselves. The swimming pool was tiny in comparison to Watam’s but presented an excellent size for playing tig in the water. The camp is situated at the famous area where Colonel Patterson killed man eating lions who terrorised the workers building the rail road through Africa, watch ‘The Ghost and the Darkness’ film for the gory details! The following day it was time for the long tarmac road back to the big smoke of Nairobi, putting the sunny coastal region further and further behind us and arriving back in the cooler climate of Nairobi. The adventure was over, but would be played over and over again in the minds of the 3 young Kenyan boys. A trip to be truly remembered until the day you die, whether that be this year or in 60 years, it was a really blessing, something to be treasured and never forgotten something that helped to put life into a young boys days, whose days may be numbered.

Photos from the coast

2011-04-12T06:29:00.000-07:00

Coastal photos...

2011-04-12T06:22:00.001-07:00

More Coast Photos...

2011-04-12T06:18:00.000-07:00

CANCER

2011-02-18T21:56:00.001-08:00

Right now it seems that the horrible disease of cancer is dominating everything. The start of 2011 has been a nightmare and there are worrying signs for us ahead. As you will know we have 2 children with cancer and also Samuel is battling with a tumour as well.

After my trip back to the UK I came back to Kenya to find Peter, the 13 year old boy who has been battling with a tumour on his head, having arrived back at the same situation he was in 13 months previous. We were had reached the stage of Peter receiving his final chemo session at the start of January, but just as that was due, a smal bump came up in the same spot as before on his forehead. It was very hard to take and when I did return from my grans funeral the lump had really grown, chemo was halted and tests were done. It was now time to face the docs and get an update. So in the midddle of January we had a meeting and were told the surgeons said they could operate and try to remove the tumour, but there was no guarantee they could get it all. Peter woudl then need to go on chemo for another year or so with possible radiotherapy too. The complication with chemo though is that as he has had so much already the cancer will have started to evolve and build up some immunity so it woudl be tricky in choosing which chemo drugs to use. The prognosis wasn't good and the docs left it to us to decide whether we go ahead with surgery and treatment or call it a day on trying to cure Peter. We walked away from the meeting devastated, how on earth could we make such a decision on someones life?? either give him a chance or call it a day and bring a death sentance on him.

We met the next day to discuss but none of us could come to a conclusion. I was getting ready for the Mount Kenya trip and I knew I needed more time to think. Also I was hoping to talk about the caase with 2 people on our mount kenya trip who were senior and experienced hospice doctors. So for the next 2 weeks I was away on the expedition, thinking, questioning, and in all honesty was probably more worried about how I could live with myself if I decided not support more treatment, its something I am ashamed to say that in a way that worried me more than the choice for Peter, how could I play God???

So a few weeks went by and I got some good advice from the hospice guys, they said ask what his chances are of surviving beyond 5 years. I got back to Nairobi after the mount kenya trip and emailed the doc asking that very question. He came back to me saying that 'IF' surgery worked and he received more chemo etc, his chances of lasting more than 2 years was 2 in 10. As soon as I received this email it was now clear in my mind. We could not put Peter through such painful surgery, loads more chemo and pretty much end up in the same place. It was clear we had come to the end of treatment for cure but now focusing on making the best of the days he has left. Thankfully his legal guardian and extended relatives all came to the same conclusion and there was a great deal of reassurance in that we had reached the decision together and shared responsibility in it.

Peter still doesn;t know what is going on, but I have now registered him at Nairobi Hospice, a place I once went to as a school boy on my first trip to kenya, to help out for a week. How could I ever believe that 15 years later I would be back there with a boy I am caring for. Next week on thursday we will go to day care and with the help of the nurse, counsellor and doctor there we will break the news to Peter. I am dreading that day and just cannot imagine how Peter will take the news, a boy aged 13 knowing that his life is going to end soon. We don't have a time scale and no-one can predict, but with the location of the tumour and the rate it is growing it is not looking great.

In the coming months we are going to face some very diffficult times and some seriously heart breaking ones. It seems so unfair that after all this work, after taking him through so much we are now in this situation. But I am glad of the support of the hospice and I know we will be really relying on them for help. Their vision is "Putting life into their days" so not worrying about extending life, but making the most of the life we have. This has made me think about Peter and the time he has left. I want to do something special for him, while we still can. I remember in the UK that there are charities that organise special things for kids who have terminal illnesses, such as disney world trips etc. If I could I would take Peter to Old Trafford to see Man utd, the team he absolutely adores, or I would take him to disney land Paris. But I know this is not possible, too many complications, getting passports, money, and risks of taking someone in his state overseas. But what I can do is organise a trip to Mombasa, its not Old Trafford, or disnety worl, but ist the closest thing to ana amazing holiday for a kid from Cheryls. I have spoken to a resort called Turtle Bay, an all inclusive place in Watamu. Its not my ccup of tea, but they seem to do things for kids, its a safe place and they have a great swiming pool etc. They have agreed to help us out and are giving me resident rates, with a 20% discount on top, plus the childrens rates are really cheap. My plan is that 4 of us would go down. Myself and Peter, plus a best friend of Peter (someone he can choose) plus James, who helps me out with lookking after Peter, James is one of our older boys who has finished school and spent many a night in the hospital looking after Peter.

The cost of the trip for 5 days which includes petrol etc is roughly £1,000 for the 4 of us. Its not often I would use this blog to directly try and raise money, but in this case I must, because I don't have this kind of cash available. I would be hoping to do the trip at the start of April, I can't wait too long in case his health detriorates and we couldn't travel, but I also need time to get organised and raise some money. The hotel have also agreed I don't have to pay the 50% deposit until a week before so they have given me more time than usual. we cannot put this money through the CWK charity as it would not necessarily fit their Trust Deed, so in raising these funds I would just need to receive them in my UK bank account and then I can pay the hotel here in a bank in Nairobi.

As I say i don't often use this to appeal for money directly but in this case the blog seems the best tool. We will still be spending money on Peter's medical care and we do have some funds in the bank to keep going with this, hopefully we will have enough in the long term, but for now we are ok. So I need to raise £1,000 for this special trip for Peter, a final gift, pretty much the last thing I can do for him other than organise his care. If anyone can help please email me and let me know, small or large, anything would be really appreciated, I want this to happen for him, I want him to enjoy the time he has, I want him to get the chance to play in the ocean, mess around in a swimming pool, have some laughs with some friends on the beach, eat some yummy food and for a week just pretend like everything is ok and forget about all this cancer stuff, I want to put life into his days. my email address: kjbkenya@hotmail.co.uk

Finally I must say thank you for all the support so many have given towards Peter over the last 18 months. Your prayers, your financial support have been overwhelming. I am gutted the outcome is not different, but if it wasn't for so many people getting involved perhaps he wouldn't have made it this far. Please keep praying, there is always room left for a miracle.

MOUNT KENYA - PHOTOS ALSO BELOW POST

2011-02-10T06:12:00.000-08:00

ON TOP OF THE WORLD – After years of talking about it, it being a distance dream.. (of mine I’m not sure, but of somone’s, yes), the time finally arrived for our expedition up Mount Kenya, Africa’s second highest peak after Kilimanjaro, only 900metres higher. Our expedition was to take 5 nights traversing and ascending into Mount Kenya’s peaks and valleys before climbing the to the summit (or Point Lenana, which is as high as you can walk). We set off, gear in hand to Old Moses camp. The pace is always slow at the start because the biggest fear is getting altitude sickness which at the least means you have to get off the mount, and at the worst means death. The slower you walk the better because it means you acclimatise quicker. Slow walking??? Thats my kind of mountain trip! First camp we were in tents, a little too short for me and David, windy and cold at night and arriving in the dark and trying to find all your stuff was no fun. Our porters carry our stuff, plus some plastic table and chairs for us to dine with, total extravagance. That night at Old Moses there was a hut so we ate sat in side, a delicious meal and then headed to bed. David and I both struggled to sleep and by 2 am, without any sleep we decided to pack up our stuff and head into the hut to sleep in one of the small dorm rooms, so for about 4 hours we slept. Next day we continued to climb, the vegetation changing around us, no more trees, mainly bush, heather and some very unusual looking plant life. We headed up to this beautiful valley which would be only ours for the night. IN the bottom we could see a tiny hut which would be the kitchen and bedroom for the porters, for us it was tents again. The valley was stunning and amazing it was only us there. Through the whole journey we could see some of the peaks of the mount, mainly covered in some snow and it was always drawing us and pulling us closer and closer.

That afternoon as we rested and recovered at camp we start to see what initially looked like cloud moving into the valley. After more inspection we realised it wasn’t cloud but smoke from a fire. Above a whirring noise kept coming and we watched as a helicopter kept going back and forth above us. We discovered through phone calls to basecamp that a fire had been started by Poachers on the Chegoria side of the mountain (supposedly a stunning landscape which we had been saving for our descent). People were being rescued from the fire and it soon became clear we would not be descending the mountain that way. This did bring some initial disappointment from the group but then relief we hadn’t come up that way and got caught in the fire.

The next day we packed up and I was ready early. Because of my bad asthma our expedition organiser had given us extra guides, so Paul one of the guides encouraged me to set off early ahead of the others so we could tackle the first initial climb which would be tough. It was much easier for me to walk at my own pace and control my breathing, my strategy was keep going slow and steady with stopping as little as possible. It was all about rhythm, breathing and walking in rhythm, that’s how I would control my breathing so everytime i stopped it was hard to get back into the rhythm, so me and Paul set off, at my pace, and before I knew it we were at the top of the first hard bit of the morning. I was so pleased and realised if I was going to get to the top the next day I would have to do it this way, on my own with Paul as my guide. The others caught up and we descended into another valley and slowly headed to Shiptons, our final Hut before the summit. The landscape continued to change and became more and more weird with what looked like alien plant life. The closest thing I could compare it to would be a Star Trek ‘set’ from the early episodes in the 60s or 70s, it was crazy.

Reaching Shiptons we felt the cold and could see the mighty task before us to reach point Lenana. It was standing there above us, proud and majestic, partly snow covered with an almighty steep scree just before it. All of us felt anxious, how was this going to be possible???? Even knowing that thousands had gone before us in time, it still seemed crazy and impossible. There was an air of anticipation in the camp that night, as we ate, read our books, talked with some crazy Israelis who were also climbing the next day. We kept going outside the hut to see the mountain, I guess hoping in some way it had changed shape and wasn’t quite as bad as the last time we looked, or perhaps maybe just we had missed looking for an easy route. It never changed, and remained the same shape all night funnily enough.

I woke at 1am, knowing that in an hour we were to get up, so I put my ipod on and watched the minutes tick by. At 2am we rose, started packing our things in the dark, (having all pretty much slept in the clothes we were to climb in that day). Tea and biscuits for breakfast and then back packs on and for the first time, really warm clothes, rain coats, gaiters, waterproof trousers, basically the works. My day pack was filled with snacks and energy stuff to keep me going. As usual I was ready before everyone else so Paul grabbed me and said lets go. We set off, the first to ascend the final stage. I had my head torch on, walking poles at the ready and set off in the pitch black. My plan was clear, using my head start, stay as long as you can infront of the others, so then when they catch up and go past hopefully there would not be as far to go so I could reach them and join them at the top so they wouldn’t have to be hanging around for me. So head down, breathing kept in control and realise its just going to be uphill for the next 3 – 4 hours in the dark. As we set off my head was down with the torch just lighting the way in front of me, the ground sparkled like it was covered in thousands of diamonds, the gravel, the grass, the plants, the rocks, the sand, everything sparkled, it was magical. But soon this began to end and we got to the scree, climbing each step but occasionally the feet slipping back. I tried to just look forward and not think of the others behind me, but after not long I could see the torches below getting closer and closer and then I heard talking. As we stopped to breathe I looked behind and realised it was the Israelis, who had set off the same time as the rest of my crew behind me, but seemed to be powering on hard. We let them pass, and began to walk again, my crew still a fair way behind, mayb 15 minutes gap. We carried on at the pace of my choosing, slow and steady, one foot at a time in front of the other, breathing in breathing out hard, breathing in, breathing out hard, we just kept walking and to my shock somehow we seemed to have caught up with the Israelis, they had slowed right down and were struggling. We passed them but they kept up and then they passed me, it was like playing tag for about 20 minutes, until I was ahead and had created a gap between me and them. I wasn’t trying to race them, I was trying to concentrate on my own pace, but secretly inside I was pleased to be back in the lead again. My own group seemed far away but I knew the higher we got the slower I would become and I was sure they would catch me anyways. We stopped to rest by a Tarn, still in the dark, we sat myself and paul, rested and he told me the next step is the last stage, 1 hours climb. I looked down and couldn;t see any lights, we sat for 10 minutes eating and resting. My eyes were adjusting to the light and I could see the peak looming ominously above me, a large black rock shape that was obviously bigger than a single rock, but there it was. I began to see how steep it was around us and that the scree just ran straight down, if you got dizzy and fell it would be a long way rolling down the mountain at this stage. One Israeli met us and sat down, but we had rested enough and set off again. At this stage it began to dawn on me that perhaps if I could keep going maybe I could get to the top first... me the asthma boy, overweight and unfit might just make it there for the sunrise and the honour of being first (although I did have a head start so it wouldn’t be that amazing).

We set off and boy did it get hard, then harder and even harder still. Soon we were scrambling over rocks and the steps up and over rocks grew bigger and harder, harder to control breathing, legs aching, oxygen getting lower and weather getting colder. The closer we got to the top the more I could see and the more it felt it was getting further and further away. I began to stop more and more to breathe, the torches below getting closer and closer, I knew the Israelis were picking up the pace and I had resolved to myself I had got this far being in the lead I must get to the top first, I was not going to let the Israelis snatch victory in the final stages. We kept pushing, higher and higher, the top getting closer but the climb getting harder. I could see the last stretch, I dug in deep pushed hard, threw caution to the wind and worked my way up to the final moment, a large rock to climb up, Paul gave me his hand but I was determined to do it myself, I pulled my way up and there we were, on top of the world... well the small bit of world around me. I could see the flag on the final few rocks, Paul waited and let me rush to it, I hugged it and leaned on it, breathing and seeing the sun just start to peak above the horizon. I had made it, I made it first, I was at the top, in time for sunrise.... I could not believe it. For a few minutes I had the place to myself, it was mine, my flag, my summit, my view, I had done the impossible. What relief and what joy. The Israelis soon joined me and I shook their hands (with a little smugness inside, but really just happy, and pleased for them too). About 10 minutes later the rest of the gang joined. I think we timed it perfectly, I had left maybe 15 mins before them and so it was perfect we were all at the top at the same time.

We spent 20 – 30 mins at the top, watching the sunrise, taking photos and trying to take it all in. BUT it was freezing... I was struggling to control my breathing and soon it was time to go down. This was the hardest bit, we had to cross a very steep rocky and snowy and icy section which at times meant being on all fours holding on to the mountain. One bad slip and you would be sliding down to major injury if not death! This threw me, it wasn’t the height or danger but in concentrating so much on climbing down I forgot to control the breathing and I lost it, and for an asthmatic thats a big deal. We got to the point of being able to walk a bit easy down but my breathing had gone, my body was devoid of energy and I trudged down, the back of our group, defeated by my inability to breathe. There is a small hut on the other side which we were not using and I just got there, lay on the gravel slope on my side curled up, I was done, I was spent, I didn’t want to go any further. I was sad at that point, I thought of my grandmother who had just passed and sat their slowly attempting to eat a pop tart but each chew required too much strength, tears rolling down my cheeks through my glasses. It was my lowest moment. I gone from total joy and jubilation from being at the top to being lost, sad, grieving and drained of energy. Everyone was ready to press on down. I picked myself up, wiped my cheeks, Paul who had come to know me very well came over as I set off down he just took my day bag off me, he knew I was spent and had little energy and was struggling to breathe. He took my back pack and we headed down, past the glacier down another scree, past the most beautiful pool at the bottom of the glacier and by 11:30am we reached the next hut. I was done, I was wrecked, we had breakfast and I went to lay down. I was worried my breathing was still not right.

An hour later they called us for lunch I began to eat a sandwhich when suddenly I realised the sandwich had peanut butter in it, i couldn’t believe it, it was the last thing I needed. My lips swelled a little, there was an itch in my throat and a pain in my chest and started to feel sick. I tried to blank it out but I couldn’t. I went to lay down, I slept, relaxed and in time it faded away. By evening I had regained some strength, the breathing was better. Next day we continued down Naramora side, at pace, the plan to reach the hut and then next day walk to the gate. Word came though that there was a problem at our last hut etc and so perhaps we would be picked up there and go stay at someones house. In a way I was sad we wouldn’t walk to the gate but as time pressed on and the first rain set in I decided, we had done it, we had done the mountain and it was time to go. The final 9 kms on the last day would have been on a dirt road, we would not have seen much so I was happy we were leaving, I was stinking, I was ready for warm weather and a shower.

So we had done it... in fact the hardest bit of the whole trip was sleeping at night, it was horrible, but the climbing, when I was able to do my own thing was fine and despite a rubbish descent I had made it and done it well. We were slow, but that was to our advantage as none of us had issues with altitude sickness and hadn’t taken any tablets to prevent this. I loved the top and I am so glad I did it. I joked with my friends and people who had organised the trip beforehand, trying to show I was forced into the trip and didn’t really want to go and well if you asked me a week before I really wasn’t interested in the trip, i had so much going on at work and in my life I was struggling to face the thought of doing the mountain. But having done it, it was fantastic, hard, fun, tiring but great. Don’t think I would be going to the top again, but maybe the next challenge is Killimanjaro... we will see.

Mountain Photos... more below this post

2011-02-10T06:09:00.000-08:00

More Photos

2011-02-10T05:59:00.000-08:00

Christmas Photos

2011-01-20T04:34:00.000-08:00

MORE CHRISTMAS PHOTOS BELOW

2011-01-20T03:56:00.000-08:00

IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME... – So the Christmas season has ended and now we are all into the gloomy January days... unless you live in Nairobi where it’s bright sunshine and the hottest month of the year! The Christmas period has been an eventful one for me and not the best, in a way I am glad it’s all over, but there were some good times had with kids. Below this post you will see some photos from our Christmas celebrations with the kids. About a week before Christmas we put up a Christmas tree and decorated it as well as doing some homemade decorations for the hall. On Christmas day I made my way into the home mid morning, and then headed off to the Police station to report the robbery from the day before to get the police report. Back at the home around lunchtime we started to cook something a bit different for the kids, bacon, eggs and beans. It was a bit tricky cooking outside on the charcoal fires, getting the timing right was the biggest challenge but we managed to get everyone fed and there was a mixed reaction to how good the food was... interesting the baked beans didn’t go down too well, which surprised me as they eat beans all the time with rice, but perhaps it was that Baked Beans are sweeter, but the scrambled egg was a big hit! In the afternoon various visitors came and spent time with the kids, this is one of the interesting things about Kenya, on Christmas day many families do their own celebrations and then head out in the afternoon to spend time with the less fortunate. In the evening we played some games outside while the volunteers moved a huge mound of presents, that had been stored in the library, down into the hall under the tree. After the games the kids came into the hall with tables set for dinner with Christmas crackers and seeing all the presents, they were sooooo excited! I had brought 2 large stockings from the UK which were then stuffed with toys. Each child came up about 3 times to get something from the stocking just before we ate. Dinner consisted of beef stew and chapatti, that day I decided to get a higher grade of beef and so the kids loved it! After dinner we handed out the presents and that’s when the real excitement came. Last year each child managed to get some small toy and a second hand book. This year most kids had at least 2 presents and many had 3 or 4 (especially the little kids). It did feel like we had stepped up a bit there. A big thanks to all those that contributed to presents and Christmas which covered wrapping paper, decorations, presents, crackers and decent food! Of course we topped the evening off with a showing of HOME ALONE, the kids favourite, it never seems to fail. Overall a great day, I made it home about 11:30pm after dropping off volunteers, legs, eyes and well the whole body was pretty weary so my bed was like heaven when I got back.

BOXING IN THE SUN – The next morning after Christmas I was up at 7:15am, heading off to church to lead worship for the first time at KVC. It seemed to go well but to be honest I was struggling to keep my eyes open and have the energy to play and sing. After church I whizzed up the road to David and Juliets. The whole armed robbery was starting now to play on my mind as I knew it would come up in conversation over lunch. David and Juliet had invited about 15 people I think round to theirs for lunch. Some people I knew, others it was a first time. There were a few kids playing around, drinks in the garden, and they had put up some dining tables in the garden too, decorated really well and then it was time to eat. We had such a lovely time and for the first time I actually liked Christmas in the sun because it was such a nice day and wonderful to be sat at this elaborate table outside in the sun eating a gorgeous lunch, fantastic. There were the inevitable conversations about what happened on Christmas eve and this was the first point I guess it sunk in that I could have actually been shot and either wounded or dead at this point. Pretty hard to take. But the day was good and I met some new people and made new friends which was nice.

DOUBLE BLOW – Monday I thought I would pop into Cheryls and see how everyone was. I was greeted by an undercover policeman who was talking about the robbery. He was pretty sure that within a couple of weeks they would have the guys responsible. I was sceptical, but entertain his discussion anyway. Tuesday came and I headed into work feeling very low, I guess everything had caught up on me. I headed into hospital with Peter who was getting checked up after his last chemo. He had a slight bump on his head from banging it on a bunk bed and we wanted to get it checked. In the hospital the docs were concerned and decided he needed an xray, our big concern was the cancer was back. I started to walk him to X-ray, wondering what his meant, if his cancer is back what does that all mean. My phone rang and it was my sister with bad news, my Grandmother had just passed away in the night. Trying to concentrate on the phone call in the busy hospital it felt like my world was just turning upside down. The conversation ended and we headed to x-ray. Back at the docs reviewing the x-ray I told the doc what I had just heard, it was all hard to take in. The decision then was to get a CT scan... but all I wanted to do was get out of the hospital and go think about my gran, but I had to persevere for Peter. We did the X-ray and scan and sorted out a few things for Rukia as well. Eventually I left something like 4:30pm. I was exhausted, confused, upset, relieved that Peter seemed to be fine in the end. I dropped him off, gathered my stuff and headed to David and Juliets to stay with them. Walking in the door it all hit me and I burst into tears. Later that evening I spoke to my parents and arranged flights etc to come back to UK for the funeral.

NEW YEAR – The week progressed, flights were booked for the following week and I wanted to get as much work done before I left. New years eve I finished work at 7pm exhausted again and headed over to David and Juliets, there was big group of folks from South Africa staying with them and we had a nice meal, although I have to confess I could have easily gone to bed at 8pm. We ate, we laughed and then headed to Peter Toners house for midnight. Peter is from Scotland and so had organised Haggis and a piper. It was a fantastic night and for a few hours I laughed and joked and forgot about everything that had happened. We left not too late hoping that the new year would bring more joy than sadness!

BACK IN THE COLD – So last week I was in the UK for my grandmothers funeral. Everything went as well as a funeral can, it was difficult saying goodbye, but I was relieved that I had managed to see my gran on my last trip in November and that was a nice memory to have. I just caught up with a few friends and family and didn’t do too much work apart from dealing with a few emails. It was kind of tiring changing beds every few nights and living out of a bag but nice to get a break from Kenya.

BACK IN THE HEAT – So back in Kenya now and it seems the joys of 2011 are not quite here with us yet. Peter, the boy with cancer it turns out now does have big problems, the lump on his head has started to grow again and in the 2 weeks I have not seen him it has progressed at a rapid rate. I know the docs are confused and it seems unusual what has happened. I am yet to speak to them directly but its worrying times. I have heard words about surgery and all sorts but I don’t know for sure yet. It’s all up in the air. Also adding to this, before Christmas I spoke to the docs about Rukia, the other girl we have with cancer, they have told me she has only 30% chance of coming through this too. It’s not looking good. Last week she was in hospital with pneumonia and on oxygen. Thankfully she came home yesterday but her future is up in the air. Both these events are devastating and worrying, I’m not sure what is going to happen but we are in a serious situation with them both now and I know in the next few days we will have to make a very tough decision about Peter.

FINDING SNOW IN KENYA – Now if I asked you where can you find snow in Kenya, you might probably say on Mount Kilimanjaro, but of course you would be wrong, because Kili is actually in Tanzania. So where else would you find snow??? Up mount Kenya of course! It’s the second highest peak in Africa, I think only 1000ft lower than Kili so it’s still pretty high. I think there might be some snow on top, but just depends on the time of year. Anyways next week on Thursday 27th January, 5 of us are heading up mount Kenya. This trip has been on the cards for over a year or so, and it is finally here. We will take 5 nights and 6 days to do the whole trek. It’s going to be huge, sleeping in tents and huts, freezing cold, battling with altitude sickness etc but I do hear it’s well worth it, well that’s what I hear, I’ll let you know what I think when we get down! Only 1 week to go now!

CRIMEWATCH – So since the whole Christmas eve robbery things heated up around the Cheryls area. This one gang has basically moved in and been doing car jacking and mugging people at gun point. Sadly a child was shot nearby and other vehicles have been car jacked. However it seems things have now calmed down. The police did stick to their word about dealing with it. They moved in a big unit of under cover police and have been tracking down the gang. The easiest way for them to solve this problem is simply to shoot the gang and execute them, much easier than bothering with prisons and trials. It’s an interesting tactical approach one of which I have mixed feelings about. On the one hand it feels good that this gang will have gone, but at the same time just killing them off feels a bit wierd. They have chosen that life though and they know this is how the police react. So it seems things are quietening down again and hopefully back to normal. We are looking at improving our own security at the home, but I am hoping and do expect things will be back to normal. This kind of pattern happens all over Nairobi, a gang moves in, cause problems, police move in and kill them off, a new gang sets up somewhere else where the police are not around. So please don’t let any of this stuff worry potential visitors, you probably stand more chance of being run over by a car in the UK than anything happening to you here, so I reckon that’s the best way to look at it!

Christmas Photos

2011-01-20T02:50:00.000-08:00

CHRISTMAS EVE

2010-12-28T00:07:00.000-08:00

BECOMING ONE OF THOSE STORIES – When visitors come to Kenya we always do some sort of orientation, words of advice etc etc, and usually cover some sort of security info. Sat round the dinner table with friends the issue of security comes up a lot, we talk about stories we have heard, ‘I heard the other day a guy was car jacked near...., did you hear about that house that was robbed the other week....’ its not like its in every conversation but it can come up quite a bit. Then on trips back to the UK or talking with friends I relay those stories on to people, almost in the vain hope that perhaps it sounds quite cool and a little bit dangerous working in Kenya, living on the edge you know and all that. But despite the stories, and as much as I have tried to take care of myself and those of the people with me I guess I never truely believed I would become one of those stories myself...
It was Christmas eve, a frenetic time organising Christmas for the kids at Cheryl’s, greeting visitors, organising volunteers. I was tired, excited, overwhelmed and rushing around like a mad man. At 4pm I offered to drop a volunteer off at The Junction (a shopping centre) and 2 of our girls (aged 15 and 17) who were helping house sit Samuels house while he was up country. Both the girls and the volunteer needed to be at the places by 4:30pm. I needed to fill more soda crates for Christmas day as I had only filled the ones from my house earlier in the day because the ones at Cheryls had been locked in a room and Rose had the key but was out at the time. I normally fill crates near my house at a wholesaler but didn’t have time to go there. We rushed into Dagoretti Corner where I knew of another wholesaler, thinking lets get this done on the way to dropping off the girls. We went into Corner but the wholesaler was shut... time was ticking on, I went round to a kiosk i knew and tried there. They had crates but were selling at 100ksh extra per crate and that meant an extra £3:50 in total. Knowing I could definitely get them cheaper at my house even though it was a hassle going back there I decided lets not pay more than we have to. The kiosk lady said there was another wholesaler near by we could try there, almost over the road from where Cheryls is. We wizzed round to the place and found it. Its virtually on the main road, next to a few tin shack house. There was a small entrance with a corrugated iron gate and about a 30metre track to the Coca Cola containers where they sell. The way my car had been facing I decided it was easier to just reverse in and then I could unload the crates. The drive way was only big enough for one car. Just as I had arrived at the gate there were 3 men walking into the depot, i asked if this was the depot and they confirmed, one of them kindly offered to open the gate fully so I could get in. I reversed up the drive and got out, there were some staff around and other shoppers buying sodas. I open the back of the car and started to unload crates. I had put 2 crates on the floor and then it all kicked off.
The next 60 seconds has taken some time to piece together in my mind but I think I have finally got it. As I was about to unload the 3rd crate I looked up and saw a guy take a gun out of is jeans, for a moment I puzzled thinking ‘why does a guy have a gun and why has he taken it out and unlocked it ready etc...?’. Instinct must have kicked in because I don’t quite remember but i must have shut the boot door leaving 2 crates still inside my car and I headed to the drivers seat. Just before I could get in another guy grabbed me and twisted me round. I had my wallet in my back pocket ready to be used to pay for the sodas, he went to grab it and at first I tried to stop him, again instinct took over and my left hand quickly moved to my left pocket knowing my phone was in there and trying to prevent him taking it. As we struggled he yelled over to the guy holding the gun, who was moving it from pointing at me to pointing at the coca cola people by the containers. He yelled ‘Shoot him, Shoot him.... shoot shoot’ as I struggled with him. Realising what he was saying I released and he emptied the pockets. I resisted again him taking my inhaler and office keys almost arguing ‘wait whats the point, they are worthless’. The keys fell to the floor and at that point he left me to walk round the other side of the car. I turned and looked at the gate at the bottom of the drive. One door was closed but the other opened. The gate was not bolted into the ground and didn;t look too strong. Some how I don’t know but I still had my car keys, I think they were in my hand and the guy had not tried to get them. I heard them arguing with the volunteer on the other side of the car as they were trying to grab her bag and she was trying to get them to just leave the camera with the photos. I climbed into the drivers seat, with the pure determination we were getting out of there, the guy had left me for a few seconds and this was our chance. I started the engine, tried to rev the engine to make sure we didn’t stall, and I looked again at the gate and put my foot down. We raced down the short drive and with the bull bar on the car we blasted through the gate onto the dirt road getting to the main road. We raced onto Ngong road and I could hear the 2 girls in the back of the car upset, crying, shaking, I put my foot down and had one arm behind trying to comfort them. We quickly turned left and within about 30 seconds from leaving the depot we were back at the gates at Cheryls, I was banging on the car horn. The gates opened and we rushed in, everyone surprised I was back and confused with all the fuss etc. I opened the car door and got the girls out to hold them and to find people to come and be with them.
I was shaking, confused, felt like crying, angry, I paced around thinking what to do. My phone had all my contacts, I thought I had lost my keys and couldn;t get into my office, but eventually I found them in my car, I must have picked them off the floor when the guy dropped them, but don’t remember doing so. I got onto skype in the office and found the number of my sisters work trying to get hold of her but she was out. Then I realised i could cancel my cards myself using the skype phone. Eventually things calmed, the volunteers took taxis home rather than walk. The girls calmed and settled and I eventually left back to my house and then over to David and Juliets on the other side of the city which was the original plan for a Christmas eve meal.

THE AFTERMATH – Its been a strange few days, most of the time I have just felt sad, not sure why but just that feeling of depressed. On Christmas day we went to the police station to report and get an abstract for records, but knowing telling the police was a wait of time in terms of solving it. They had heard about the robbery from the coca cola people and were not surprised to hear from us. The rest of the day was spent with the kids and running Christmas. I’ll update the blog in the next week or so with all the Christmas chat, but for now I just need to write about this. The next morning I went to church early to do the worship and then over the David and Juliets who were having about 16 people over for a boxing day lunch etc. Everyone there was shocked at what happened and were trying to comfort me. In a way I hadn;t believed when the guy had said shoot shoot that he actually would. But as we shared stories of other cases i realised I was very lucky he didn;t. Often these guys are all drugged up and high, and with all the adrenaline people get shot in these situations. One guy was car jacked near the safari park, and while asking for the gunners to leave him with 100ksh to get a taxi they shot him in the stomach because they thought he was messing with them. Obviously as I wasn’t working so much it has given me more time to think and consider everything. Although I had heard the stories I still have had in my mind, that ‘ hey I’m white what can they do, too big a risk to hurt a white guy’, but that arrogance is just foolishness. People who have nothing to loose, who are probably high don’t care about that. Because of that at times since I felt like a fool. I questioned if I took too many risks and what if I had just gone to the wholesaler near my house, what if I had just paid the extra £3:50 what if I had been able to get the crates earlier in the day, what if I hadn;t been rushing round like an idiot would I have been more aware???? I felt guilty. But then I though what if I hadn;t reversed in, would I have driven away as I would have been facing tthe shooter while trying to revers, if we hadn;t reversed in I wouldn;t have driven away and escaped. So as much as I question my earlier decisions there were others that perhaps helped us. On reflection I don’t think we did anything majorly wrong, the guys had already walked into the depot to rob it, when we drove in it was simply a bonus for them and bad luck for us... literally wrong place at wrong time.
So now... I’m a bit more nervous, still very sad and still need to process. I need to review security at Cheryls and review my own security. The odds are slim of ending up in these situations but that doesn’t matter any more for me because it has happened. The odds of it happening twice are very slim... people have said well ok, you’ve had your one.. thats it, you came away unhurt, passengers were unhurt. But if I think too much like that I’ll relax and end up being arrogant that I’m untouchable now which would be foolish. As a guy I replay the situation over and over and feel should I have done more, could I have taken the guy robbing me down etc, but as its been pointed out to me most guys go through this feeling and again feel guilty they were not macho enough, but apparently all the security experts say the best thing a guy can do is to give up, hand over what they want and you stand the best chance of protecting the people with you. Goes against your instincts but if you feel as a guy you should protect the ones your with then just surrender. I guess this makes sense. Now I need to be strong, but I’m finding it hard to focus, hard to find energy to do anything, I’m exhausted and seem to have lost motivation. But i know this won’t last, I’ll come through it, I’ll be stronger for it, I’ll be more alert now and will be praying hard this never happens again. I am now one of those stories that people will tell, I’ll be that guy the was robbed at coca cola that got away with his life, his car and most importantly hsi passengers. I don’t want to be this story, its not cool, its not glamorous and I hate that its happened. But that’s it.

SEASONS

2010-08-27T10:27:00.000-07:00

THE HUMAN ZIMMER FRAME – It was lunch time, I popped down to Nakumatt Junction to pick something up. As I headed to the washrooms I spotted an old lady coming out of the supermarket, she was very frail, slightly stooped over and had a teenage Kenyan girl on each arm helping her walk... I chuckled to myself as I headed into the washroom, picturing a supermarket scene in the UK with an old dear coming out of Tescos with her shopping bag, firmly gripping onto the metal zimmer frame, here if you have the money you can do away with the NHS provided metal frame and just employ some young girls to walk with you everywhere. It also reminded me of the labour markets here compared with home. In the West with think up and invent new gadgets that can reduce time consumed and the cost of employing someone, hey if a machine can do it then that’s much cheaper than a human (or so we think). But here in Kenya and I guess most of the developing world employment is low, so any excuse for someone to work the better, any possible job that can be done, forget a machine if someone can earn a living doing it so much the better. In many ways people in developing countries can be much more entrepreneurial than maybe us in the west. When you have no job you have to come up with something to make something, otherwise you starve! Occasionally I head into the city centre, but I try to avoid it when I can. Parking is a bit of a nightmare, the city council charges for parking on the streets, but thats pretty much all the options you have. The good thing is you buy a ticket from a city council worker (not a parking ticket machine of course) and that ticket can last you all day wherever you park in the city, whether you move your car or not... something I think they should do in the UK!! Because security is not always great and us white folk are paranoid about our shiny big 4x4’s there are various guys who spend their days hanging on the streets and when you park they offer to watch it for you, I mean you don’t really have a choice, so you go off and do your business and come back, the guy has watched your car so you give him some money. This happens all over, even in the slum market I sometimes go to buy stuff for the home. But some people have taken this even further, in the city centre they park a car in a bay... then wait for someone to come along who need a space, they offer the space, move the car and you take it, almost like they reserve it for you, then of course you pay them something. This is their job, this is what they do all day, thats how they make money. Any opportunity to create a job thats not even needed, but we still pay them because hey, thats a parking space and I need it, even if they have held it to ransom! Alan Sugar eat your heart out!

HERE COMES THE SUN – So its winter time here, or as they say at church Sumwinter... because no-one really knows what it is, for us in Kenya its winter, but for all the expats its what we traditionally call summertime and the private international schools this is the summer holiday, but anyways, we are all confused, but the one true fact is that there is not much sun at the moment. The good news though is that through a few connections Cheryls has been hooked up with Solar Aid, an organisation that helps primarily to provide solar power to schools and communities who are not on the grid and just using candle and lamps etc. Well they have decided to come and install some solar power at Cheryl’s to help reduce our electricity bills! It is truely amazing and we are so pleased. We are not sure the extent of how much we can put on solar but I know that Solar Aid is hoping for the whole institution to go Solar and basically take us off the grid, if we can do this it would be amazing, but even if it was just 50% it would still be amazing! It seems we have built up a good relationship with them, they are doing fantastic work and hopefully this installation will be mutually beneficial. If they can do a good installation, when their donors or visitors come into Kenya they can bring them to Cheryls and showcase what they are capable of, otherwise it’s a 10 hour drive into the country. It’s nice that this project will basically help both organisations. It also means our kids will learn about using solar power and protecting the environment and when there are power cuts in the city we will still have light and it won’t affect us, which is great because some of the kids can get upset and a bit traumatised when it’s so dark. Such a large solar installation will need maintenance and future investment, for example when batteries die (I think they have a shelf life of about 5 years). The suggestion from Miguel at Solar Aid is that we use a scheme they have called Sunny Money. We act as an agent, and get about 5 people who are basically sales persons to go around and sell these small solar products which cost about £5 - £10 for use in people’s homes, such as a solar powered light bulb, mobile phone chargers etc. These are everyday products that your average Kenyan citizen can use and will in the long run really benefit them. The sales person gets half the profit and the agents get half the profit from each sale. So if we take on the scheme, we can save the profits in an account and then use that when our main installation needs repairs or maintenance, and at the same time we can be creating jobs for around 5 people! Everyone wins, including the environment... all because of the sun.

SICK RON – so my big shiny 4 x 4 is called Ron after legendry Anchorman ‘Ron Burgundy’, in case you hadn’t figure it the colour of my car is Burgundy Red. Well last month Ron became a little sick and I have learnt a big lesson about how these roads and the quality of the petrol can really affect cars out here. The blocks my engine sits on where cracked, the distributer leads were blocked, spark plugs worn out, front brake discs gone, new brake pads needed and other bits and pieces such as fuel filters. This is even with the car being serviced every 4 months!!! The petrol can be very dirty out here and I have realised I should when possible put in the performance fuels when I can which are much cleaner. It’s an extra 5 shillings per litre but should be better on the engine. The roads are so bumpy and dusty that even with a 4 x 4 the cars really take a beating. I’ve had to spend over £500 in the last month on all these little jobs and the car still needs a proper service doing but I can’t afford that right now. I think as far as I can remember in the UK I never had spark plugs changed. I’ve gone to different garages and it has amazed me how much care these big cars need, I cannot imagine why anyone would drive a saloon car (well I guess money is a factor) but the saloon cars really don’t last long at all. Hopefully Ron will stay well for a little while, but I see the tyres are starting to wear out and a new set will cost around £450... woah! So keep up your prayers for Big Ron, he needs it!

PEACE OUT – Last time I updated you on the blog I was talking about the referendum on the new constitution, well miracle upon miracles everything went through peacefully and smoothly, it was fantastic. We all stocked up on food and water in our house ready to bunker down if needed, but the day went well, was just like a Sunday or a holiday, the result came in very fast and people seemed fine with it and accepted it was a fair vote. I wonder if people are a little optimistic expecting the 2012 parliamentary election to go as smoothly (mainly because that really will affect people’s jobs, i.e. the MP’s and they don’t go quietly) but at least it’s a step forward and there is a very positive vibe in the country. This morning as I am writing this they are signing the new constitution in Uhuru park in town with the full pomp and circumstance, military bands, big flags, dignitaries from other African countries and lots of speeches etc! It seems like the new constitution could be good for the country and although its not perfect it includes a lot of things that people want. The problem comes though with the leadership, because it’s fine to have a piece of paper that states what the laws should be, but if the guys at the top don’t enforce them then actually it becomes meaningless. We need to hold these guys at the top to account but time will tell if they really do change, or basically stick to being greedy and stealing from the poor to give to the already rich!

WE’RE ALL GOING ON A SUMWINTER HOLIDAY – the last month has been holidays for the school kids as we prepare to enter into the 3rd term of the year in September. Holiday times are great as the pressure eases for us in the office. Many of the kids go to stay with a relative which is great because this keeps them connected with the communities they come from and it also means we only have 20 kids left at the home which eases the burden on resources. Everything slows down a bit and many of the staff take some leave, and even for us who stay we tend to come in to work a little later and go home early. I think for some of the visitors this last month they have wondered if we are lazy or not... but in truth all of us are exhausted, not just the late night – next day feeling tired exhausted... but the 3 or 4 months of solid work, no rest, 6 or 7 day working week, seriously high pressured filled working days exhausted. When the holidays come it takes the pressure off myself and Samuel and we feel we can breathe a little. I personally have felt very worn out and exhausted the last month or 2 and I know I have started to get irritated at small things and I know that’s a sign of being worn out. Not sure I have been the happiest person to work with lately but hopefully I can come out of this dip. In the next week or so things hot up again as we hit the 3rd term. We have a number of kids doing their final term of high school and also primary school, its exam time for them and crunch point. I find myself in the parent role at the home encouraging the kids to revise, helping them put a programme together and buying past papers so they can practice. This is it, there are no second chances. So as they revise in this last week of holidays Samuel and I must try and find the financial resources to send them back to school, their fees, shopping, staff salaries for our teachers and food to feed the kids. The holidays are great and we do enjoy the chance to take it easy a little, but the end of the holidays sucks, it becomes the biggest pressure time as we scramble to get back into term again. I look forward to a proper holiday to the coast when my parents come out and visit next month.

SWING TIME – A couple of months ago a family that was moving donated loads of clothes and toys and a swing set! The swing set is designed just for a family use, and I knew it wouldn’t last 2 minutes with the 250 kids from school. We stored it behind the classrooms during the school term and in a way that was very unfair because the kids have been going crazy asking when they can go on it. In the UK we have so many public parks and playgrounds we often forget how lucky we are to have these free facilities. Swings for kids at the home are an absolute luxury and amazing thing to play on. So as term ended and most of the kids left I decided we could get them out and put them in the playground area. Many of the kids we have staying are quite young, around 4 and 5 so having these swings has been amazing. The ground was too hard to peg it down, but we used big stones to try and hold it down, I was a bit worried about injuries. We are having new classrooms being finished and there is building supplies everywhere, its a bit of a bomb site at the moment, and not the ideal playing area for kids, but these kids are very different to the UK. Here they learn to avoid these hazards and many visitors come and worry that kids will get hurt sometimes, but the kids have learnt to adapt to their environment, avoiding hazards and it always amazes me how few accidents we have. In fact most of the accidents are usually the older kids cutting their fingers on the sharp knives when chopping vegetables. When term starts we will have to put the swing set away, but I’m hoping when we have completed the building process we can raise some money and build a proper sand pit and some industrial strength swings like you get in parks... the kids would love it!

LUCKY – So I came to Kenya to work with orphans and vulnerable children, but in the process it seems I have also turned into the RSPCA. We have 3 dogs at Cheryls, not pets as such, in fact the kids don’t really like them, they just hang around, grab food when they can and basically we keep them here as guard dogs, or at least to alert us if there is trouble. They stay at the home most of the time but sometimes they do just wonder off. Recently the large brown dog, about 4 years old, came back from being out for a few nights with a nasty cut on his forehead. He stopped eating for a few days and just didn’t look himself. In the end I took him to the Vet next door to see what was up. It seems that he had never been castrated and must have ended up in a fight after cruising the Dagoretti Corner area looking for a female dog to hook up with. I’m amazed he hasn’t been killed yet as he always crosses the very busy Ngong road and cars are swerving and dodging him all the time. Anyways the Vet said he needed to have the snip, get some medicine for an infection and also get his wound stitched up. Oh by the way his name is Lucky... and Lucky has never been handled that much by people, getting him into the car was a real drama, some serious howling and wining, he was not happy. He spent a night at the Vet, got the snip and the medicine etc and we went to pick him up. Feeling very sorry for himself we brought him home and decided we should tie him up during the day to stop him wondering off while he recovered. For the first time ever Lucky got real dog food, as I went to Nakumatt to get him proper food to make sure he ate well during recovery. Well being a big dog he easily managed to rip off the special plastic collar to stop him licking his wounds. He went to get his stitches removed but down in his .... erm.... nether regions he had kept licking and the wound wasn’t dry. Ok the vet said, plan B, we took a plastic waste paper bin, cut a hole in it, attached it to a collar and lucky spent the next week with a bin on his head to stop him licking his wound. This worked, although perhaps his pride was dented slightly by everyone staring at him with a bin on his head. As he was tied up most of the day we took him for short walks up the road on a lead, again something in his whole life he has never done. Thankfully I had support from some visitors in helping Lucky get Vet treatment and the Vet himself gave us a massive discount because we are childrens home. But after about 3 weeks looking after Lucky, he has basically decided that us humans are not bad afterall... me in particular, and although I don’t buy him proper food any more (it costs a fortune) he comes up everyday when I arrive and loves to play. He has bad manners for a dog, loves to nip and snap (but only playfully not harmfully) he is still quite young and now he is getting a little rowdy, he keeps trying to contest for who is boss, so I have to keep reminding him that its me!! Anyways no-one else at Cheryls was going to do anything for him, but I couldn’t stand and watch him fade away... I think everyone thought I was crazy, but the staff and the kids do think he has lived up to his name... he is in fact very LUCKY to have got treated and be as strong as he is now.

CHANGE – so I decided to change the look of the blog, I’ve been here a year now and time for things to look different... 100 points if you can guess what the image is... and I would like to dedicate the new style of blog to Mike Wilson, he knows why... enjoy the read!!!

A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL

2010-07-23T03:49:00.000-07:00

THE HILLS ARE ALIVE WITH THE SOUND OF IRISH MUSIC – Its been a very busy time over the last month, perhaps the busiest since I have been here, but I was expecting it mainly because for the USA and UK this is holiday season so loads of visitors. In my house I have been at the stage of having 9 guests... crazy! Anyways a few weeks ago we had visitors from Ireland, they have been here many times, sponsoring some of our kids and they are professional musicians, one of them performs with the Celtic Tenors. They came to do a number of concerts around Nairobi at various venues with the kids from the home in the choir also singing a few songs. It was a busy week but the kids loved the experience, it ranged from performing in some very posh restaurants around the city to a Hindu auditorium and the old Muthaiga Club. The nice thing at the restaurants was that people basically had a diner music evening, so after the kids performed all the places provided some food for the kids. The first place was Lord Errol restaurant in Runda (where all the diplomats live) the kids had dinner in a private room, served by waiters etc and got a full meal. The funniest thing was getting the bread rolls at the start. The kids were not sure what to do so trying to do the right thing they picked up the rolls using their knives and forks, and proceed to try and cut them open using their knives and forks and then adding butter. It was quite a display, and they were really struggling so I stepped in to show them they could just pick up the rolls with their hands and rip them open, no need to be so formal. The whole thing was a great experience and it was fun to see them being waited on with lots of fresh juice etc. Not all the places were so accommodating but the best places were Lord Errol and also the Rusty Nail, the owner was so excited seeing the kids perform and really wanted them taken care of well. The songs they sang included Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious (or spelt something like that) also Happy Talk, Something inside so strong, Happy Day, Amazing Grace and some Swahili songs. At the end of the week the irish people spent a couple of days in a school hall we borrowed to record the kids singing, hopefully a CD will be produced soon, so they will be a great thing to buy and use to raise money. The whole experience was awesome for the kids, and every audience loved hearing them sing. The Irish guys did such a fabby job and it was wonderful to see how much they cared for the kids and also the encouragement they gave to us was great! Good times had by all (Although a little tired by the end)

15 MINUTES – Kind of related to the story above, for the concerts we had a friend organising some promotion for us. On the Wednesday before the start of the concert some of the kids and James (the Celtic Tenor) were invited on to Capital FM, Nairobi’s biggest radio station. They were on the programme for an hour, one of the coolest programmes on the station targeted at young people. There was a great response, normally on the programme they talk about relationship stuff but loads of people called in and emailed asking about the home and saying it was sooo good hearing about the work Cheryls was doing. A couple of the kids told their story and the presenters were really moved by it. Musa did a rap that he wrote a couple of years ago (he is only about 13) but the DJ’s loved it and invited him back to record it with the DJ. Everyone at CAPITAL thought it went really well and are very keen to support us in the future. When we begin fundraising for the High School project hopefully Capital FM will help us out! After the interview there was a small media buzz about us and we were invited on to the Citizen TV breakfast show. Unfortunately they didn’t invite the kids to come they just wanted me a Samuel, which I thought was a shame, because I always think its best to hear straight from the kids, they have such a big impact on people. But anyways was fun to head down to the TV studio for the interview. I was very nervous.... not sure why but I guess the pressure of getting our message out. We had a 15 minute interview by a nice lady called Kobi, which was mainly focusing on the music and the concerts but we tried to say a bit about what we were doing. Afterwards I was a little dissapointed we didn’t get to discuss a few of the things and also disappointed we didn’t have kids there but still at the end of the day it was free publicity! And well I guess that was my 15 minutes of fame!

INDIANA JONES TAKES ON LARA CROFT – Last weekend I managed to sneak away from the house for a night and David and myself headed down to Bisle to visit Mo. She has I think about 180 acres set out in the bush. She has a basic house set on top of Lorry Containers, relying on Solar power and borehole water. The land is just virgin bush and although a little dry its beautiful. She has an amazing view over this massive valley, just stunning. It was nice to get out of the city for a night. We arrived at 6:30pm just in time for some quick sundowners, ate dinner and slept, very exhausted. The next day we decided to go on a walk around her land and also the next door land. I was thinking, ok a short walk around the land, see the sites, all good stuff, maybe last an hour??? So 4 hours later there we are crawling on all fours and climbing through the bush, with no food and water... hmm not the best planning I’ve ever done! I just hadn’t thought really, you know, its virgin bush, there are no real paths, and at times it was thick bush. Mo, David and I had on our bush hats, which tend to be brown and styled a bit like Indiana Jones’ hat. They are fantastic for keeping the shade off but also as you are moving through trees and bushes they keep the branches and stuff from flying in your face. We climbed up to see some old Rock Art by tribes long long ago. It was funny at times I really felt like Indiana Jones as I took of my hat off to wipe the sweat from brow and place the hat firmly on my head, but just don’t think I’m as cool as him, and well we didn’t find any buried treasure! But a fun time was had by all, we got back for lunch and then hit the road back to Nairobi. That evening I was back again at the airport picking up visitors, and it just felt surreal, that morning I was really in the Dark Continent, exploring through the bush, and then in the evening in the big capital picking up visitors at the busy busy airport.

NAME DROPPING AGAIN??? – SO I happened to go to the airport early one morning (arriving at 6am) only to figure out after 3 and a half hours of waiting I had come on the wrong day... its a long story. But it was not all in vain, as the various flights from around the world came I happened to spot someone I recognised coming through from customs. Now it took me a second to realise who it was, mainly because you just don’t expect to see him here. One of my all time favourite programmes.... ok actually THE all time best programme in the world ever ever ever is ER. I love it and have all the seasons. And of course one of the best characters from ER was Dr Green played by Anthony Edwards. Well he walked into arrivals escorted by staff and with his family. I was like NO WAY!!! How cool. He pottered around arrivals getting money from the machine, sorting stuff out and it was funny because basically no-one else knew who he was... but being one of the few Mzungus there I knew who he was... yes Dr Green... or Goose from Top Gun! How bizarre, but also cool. I assumed he was here on holiday, but decided to google search him and Kenya (is that really sad? Perhaps) and turns out he supports a project called Shoes 4 Africa and he is on the board in the USA. I think he has helped build a childrens hospital in Kenya. So awesome, much respect Mr Edwards... and welcome again to Kenya!

WOBBLY WHEELS - Recently I’ve been cruising down the Nairobi roads.... or should I say bouncing down the Nairobi roads and I’ve noticed a high number of cars with back wheels that seem to be falling off. There are so many bad roads and I’ve had a number of slow punctures and one particularly bad flat tyre, but it seems some people don’t quite put the wheels back on properly, and everytime I see one of these wobbly wheels I pull back a bit expecting the wheel to come flying off and the car collapse on the floor! And then in fact just the other day i saw a car at the side of the road, with the back wheel off fallen off!

AND THE WINNER IS... – Today on the way to work on Capital FM they did a mock Oscar award ceremony, and the prize was for the government organisation that takes the most bribes. In the running was the ministry of lands, ministry of immigration, social services, health fund, prisons etc etc. The winner this year, at the number 1 spot was: THE POLICE! As I got to work I quickly glanced through the paper and spotted an article covering the same thing, and in fact it was official, they actually do research into this each year and they have a league table for the worst corruption in the government. I think the Police force have retained the number 1 spot 2 years running! To be honest if I had to guess which was the worst I would had said the police... how can a country function without an honest, reliable police force, without the rule of law... in truth it can’t.

ONCE UPON A TIME – there were some Irish people, tall ones, thin ones, big ones and all with very strong accents which the lovely Kenyan people struggled to understand. The strong Irish people travelled on a long journey, across many lands from their home land to a far off distant country in deepest darkest Africa. The Irish people were not alone though, others travelled to the same destination, from America and the Netherlands. It was an international gathering of hero’s ready to take on a big task, completing the building of the most finest classrooms, library and computer room in all the kingdom! The workers were only given 1 week by their mighty leader... Sir Basil Love. They put to the task with great earnest and constructed and built, and built and constructed each day until the sky was dark. The week went by in the blink of an eye and as the days passed by the international gathering worked harder and harder, the sweat dripping off them day by day. The young children from the kingdom looked on in awe and the building grew bigger and bigger and looked more and more finished, like a palace, fit for royal children. On the last day the international gathering pressed hard to do all they could in the final moments, with Sir Basil directing things, finding the resources to get closer to completion. By the last moment, the team had done all that was possible in a week, but unfortunately there was still a little left to do. The wise knight, Sir Basil was able to stay a few more days and set about to engage the local craftsmen to complete the work as the international gathering of Irish, American and Dutch prepared for their departure. Before they left they gathered one last time for a big feast... a feast of every meat known to man in the kingdom, a good time was had by all! The gathering left for their various countries satisfied they had worked hard and given all they could, the people in the kingdom celebrated their achievements and the knight Sir Basil completed his work of organising the craftsman, and he headed back to the irish land with a smile on his face. The servants in charge of the new building now set with the task of furnishing the library and computer room were pleased as 5 laptops had already been donated and some funding from a school in the distant land of England was promised to come and help buy book shelves and materials for the library. The quest was now set to find as many books as possible for the children from the kingdom, books they could enjoy reading, hopefully sat on a carpeted floor or bean bags. The King knew that if all the children could read many books they would grow up to wise and successful, he also knew if they could learn computers they would become creative and be able to use them for the rest of their lives. The King and his followers have begun to search the land and far overseas for help with this final quest, knowing that if successful all the children in the land will live happily ever after....THE END

TOSPY TURVY – Well if you have been reading this blog for a while you will know we are trying to buy land for our future development. A few weeks ago and after much work we got very close to signing a deal. I had worked really hard to get everything together, did some negotiating and it seemed we were almost there. Then just at the last minute our lawyer was doing some final checks and found there was something wrong with the documentation. Its a long story but it seemed the deal was about to fall through. I was gutted, we had put so much work into it and at the last minute it was about to collapse. However Samuel and myself talked it through and agreed if its not meant to be its not meant to be, we will just find somewhere else. So last week I set off up to Naivasha again to find some land. I met the land agent and we checked out a couple of places. They seemed good, but the locations were wrong and also the price a little bit more than the other land. I was a little sad, feeling that the land we were about to buy was so good and wondering if we would find somewhere as good for that price. I was planning to go back to Naivasha this week to see more land, but yesterday we got a call from the lawyer. She has been working hard to get things into place and see if with the vendors help we could get the land deal back on track. It seems that that could now be a possibility. So having felt that deal was over, it seems its back on the table. We will have to make sure everything is in place and proper but in the end we could be back at buying this land. We still need £50,000 but we have enough to pay the deposit and get going. Its been a really difficult and stressful time, my emotions have been up and down about it, but if it all works out then we will be very pleased!!!

COUNTDOWN TO VIOLENCE – Amongst all the busyness and tiredness working here at Cheryls something bigger is happening in Kenya which is playing on my mind a little. Kenya is trying to change its constitution and there will be a referendum on 4th August. This will be the first election since the violent elections back at the end of 2007 which brought chaos to the country. There is deep division over whether to approve the constitution or not. I feel the tension in the air as everyone is talking about it and wondering what to expect. Most people are just hoping it all passes smoothly, but there is worry that 2 of the tribes will start fighting over it. Its constantly in the news and in the papers and each time we meet up as a bunch of friends we are talking about it. I guess the reality is that for white people we shouldn’t have to worry too much as we are not involved in it all, but obviously what happens around us affects us and the staff we employ etc etc. We all need to pray hard that this referendum will go smoothly and will not see the violence as of last time, but each day the whole country seems to be watching the clock tick down... hopefully its not a simmering pot ready to boil over! For those with friends and family over here, please don’t worry, everything will be fine for us, but it will be sad if parts of the country start messing around, it will be sad because once again the tourist industry will collapse again, and really the country can’t afford that. The good thing is the government has deployed huge security forces to the areas that may see violence. The good thing is Nairobi doesn’t seem to be a hotspot. I guess I feel apprehensive but at the same time sure everything will be ok. We will see.... tick tock... tick tock...

VUVUZELLA'S REACH KENYA

2010-06-24T01:16:00.000-07:00

THE BEAUTIFUL GAME – So some people refer to Football as this... especially during this world cup time, but for me the real Beautiful Game is of course RUGBY!!! Its my favourite sport and thankfully is growing and growing in Kenya. More and more locals are getting into the sport especially as the Kenyan 7’s team is doing so well on the IRB world Circuit. In Kenya there are now a number of 7’s tournaments but the highlight of the year is the “Safari Sevens” tournament which takes place at the Harlequins Ground not too far from Cheryls. Over the last few months they have been building a new stand, and as the reputation was so positive proceeding it I felt it had to be something that cannot be missed. Unfortunately I could only make the Saturday, but I booked tickets and took James, Lillian, Neema and Mary (one of the current volunteers). Now as a fan of the original 7’s tournament at Melrose I was very excited to see what the Kenyans could offer. There were plenty of teams taking part from France, UK, South Africa and various countries around Africa. The place was packed with thousands of Kenyans, and a few other international folks. The infamous Vuvuzela used in the current World Cup in South Africa had been on sale in the local supermarket and there were those out in force using them. There were a couple of Kenyan teams playing, including the national one, when they came on the pitch the sound was deafening, the screaming was electric and the dancing was probably vibrating the ground for about a mile around us! It was a carnival atmosphere, which looked very promising. To begin with I was loving the event and vowed to book to come to the whole weekend next year. But the day progressed on and as the crowds swelled with numbers I became more and more disappointed with it all. The rugby was fantastic and of a very high standard, but I began to realise that most of the people that continued to arrive were not that interested in rugby, they just wanted to cheer on the Kenyan teams when they played and get drunk. Fair enough, national pride is important and the Kenyan national team is very good. But a sevens tournament is a festival of rugby, its an exhibition of loads of teams from around the world. As a rugby enthusiast, you appreciate all rugby, even when its not your team playing, at sevens you encourage all teams, welcome them onto the pitch, pick a side and cheer them on, clap and cheer at great try’s etc. Ok ok, so I’m a rugby purist, but as the day rolled on I found that I was amongst the few actually interested in the rugby... the crowds around us kept singing vulgar songs which I would expect more at a football match, they sang bad songs about the ref, and everytime the ref made any decision against a Kenyan team they booed and sang songs slagging him off. Hang on... thats not rugby, thats what happens at football. One of the great strengths of rugby is the respect given to the referee! As the day progressed it got worse and worse, to the point whenever any team did anything good against a Kenyan team like scoring a try the crowd would boo and jeer! Again thats not rugby, if you don’t want to clap just keep quiet. Then as the day drew to an end and we began to leave people started to run on the pitch which is usual at most sporting events and quite funny, but as security tried to catch people the crowds stood and watch as the gladiatorial events took place below, then they began throwing bottles and beer at the event organisers and officials. We left promptly. The papers and press hailed the whole event as a success, the huge numbers of support, but for me the Beautiful Game was spoiled, something that had the potential to be great was ruined. I hear Kenya wants to get a spot on the IRB world Sevens circuit, but I hope it never does, carnival atmosphere is whats required at sevens events, not football crowds. Next year I think I will get folks round to my house and watch it on TV, because at the end of the day, the rugby players were great, the teams were good and they know what rugby is all about, its them who I want to support!

BACK 2 SCHOOL – We have about 35 children in High School, mostly boarders. Each term parents are given a visiting day where they can come and spend time with their kids. We have 7 girls all in one school (All Saints), and when they were home at Easter they requested I came on visiting day with some of the little children. In the end Samuel and myself decided to go together, the 2 dads. We took Chege, Otis and Ruth with us, all aged 3-5 and James and Lillian. We wizzed up the road on a Sunday (which was nice and quiet) and got to the school at about 11am. We were the first parents to arrive. We found the girls and it was great to see them. We caught up with the head and were then escorted round the various teachers to find out how the girls were doing. Its a bit like a parents evening but during the day. There are mixed results with our girls, some are struggling in subjects like Maths and Chemistry, but we are very proud of one of our girls who came top of the year in Form 4 (the last form of school)!!! Also the teachers said our girls are so well behaved and set a great example to the others and are positive role models in the school. It was great to hear this, a real sense of pride for our girls. We then all sat around in the garden area and proceeded to dive into lunch. We had brought cooked chicken stew and beef stew, still warm in the pots, with some rice and chapatti. Lots more parents had arrived at this point but we were definitely the centre of attention, mainly because we were such a big group, 7 girls, 3 toddlers, 2 young adults and the 2 old men, me and Sam. Also being white you tend to stick out at these events, making me a little self conscious, but we were having a blast, laughing and making jokes and everyone stared on. We went round and took some photos (which can be seen below this post). I guess the sad thing was seeing a huge number of girls in one section of the school just staring on to all the visitors, these girls didn’t have anyone coming on that day, perhaps parents were working or couldn’t afford to come, it was sad they could watch everyone else having a nice time, but I heard later that after we all go home, the treats left with the girls are then shared with all the others who didn’t get visitors so thats nice. It was a fabby day, and although it had been a very hectic week it was worth taking this Sunday to head to the high school and see our girls. We really miss them when they go away. Its days like this you are reminded we are one big family and we truely are the parents, fun times!

PETER UPDATE – So many people are asking about Peter which is great, awesome to have so many supporters for him and people praying for him. Well he is doing well, test results recently are looking good, i mean we won’t know fully whether he has recovered or not until he finishes treatment but everything is looking positive. Currently he is receiving treatment every 3 weeks. His next treatment is due sometime this weekend. He has 7 left in total on the current plan, but the good news is that he only has one more which involves injecting chemo into his spine, called the I.T. This is good because its always the most traumatic part of the whole treatment process and the one thing I always worry about. He hates it and being a smart kid he knows its coming each time, but he is dealing with it well, and although he gets nervous before hand he has learnt to just accept and get on with it. BUT great news he only has one more like this and then he will just be receiving future treatments through a drip. This is also good news because hopefully it means we spend less nights in the hospital, but then again it all depends how he reacts each time to treatment anyways. Funding is very low at the moment, we have pretty much worked our way all through the money we raised earlier in the year. We have enough left for the next treatment this weekend and then we will have run out. After this weekend he will still need 6 more treatments and then probably further tests to see what happens next. Based on costs of treatments so far (which average at about £400 per session) we need about £2,400 for the final 6 treatments. If anyone is interested in helping Peter with his final course of treatment please do get in touch ASAP. My email address is: kjbkenya@hotmail.co.uk We are so close to the end and we have come so far we really need to make it to the end to make sure he has the best chance of getting rid of the cancer! Its a shame he is still not allowed to come to school because the chemo reduces his immune system he is at risk of infection, I know he is incredibly bored, but thats a consequence of the situation and he is coping with it. We try and get him work to do but its just not the same as being in school. Anyways please do continue to pray for him, especially as he receives this last I.T. and then please pray we can find the resources to complete the treatment.

THE DROPPING OF NAMES – So who would have thought I would be wining and dining with football superstars???? OK well maybe thats a slight exaggeration, but basically from Kenya there are 2 famous football players: Mariga and Oliech who play for Inter Milan and Auxerre. Oliech grew up in the slum just where Cheryls is based and used to go to the same school as James. He played in the same junior football club as some of our boys. ANYWAY.... Mariga came to the sevens rugby which was kind of cool, but then a few days later James and I were sat at Java house having a bite to eat when this big HUMMER turned up and a small entourage. I joked saying that probably was the famous football guy and of course it was. They came and sat at Java and had lunch... on a different table to us. But I thought it was funny I was dining in the same place as an Inter Milan player... definitely wouldn’t happen in the UK, I don’t move in the same circles as Premier League players! But as I’m in the process of name dropping, I might as well drop another...Jonathan Scott... so do you know who he is... well if you watch Big Cat Diaries on BBC one then he is one of the presenters, the one with the moustache. He lives up in Karen not far from Cheryls, I often see him driving passed and then occasionally he is doing his shopping in Nakumatt and having coffee at Dormands. Apparently he is a really nice guy, but I;ve never spoken to him, but anyways cool to see the odd famous person here and there.

THE DARK SIDE – ok so the title for this section is a bit flippant, but probably due to the fact that I recently watched the entire Star Wars series, which is the first time I have watched them all the way through, 1 - 6, but thats really not important. Recently I have been reminded again about the children we are working with. A week ago one of our foster kids came to school all beaten up, with cuts on her lips and hands and marks on her back. She was very shaken and still in shock I think. The previous night the mother had beaten the girl because she accused her of stealing 5 shillings which is about 4pence. I was so angry and couldn’t believe what had happened... all that over 4 pence, but it demonstrates the poverty and situations people are dealing with and the pressure some of the parents etc are under. However there is no excuse for this kind of behaviour. We know the mother well and this is very much out of character. We provided the girl with medical treatment and she stayed over night with us. We then pursued the situation with the mother and dealt with it all. Many of our kids have gone through this kind of experience, but with all the joy and laughter at Cheryls its easy to forget. Also on our day trip to the high school we met a girl who used to be at Cheryls, but left a few years ago. Her story is very sad, and I can’t go into it all here, but basically her mum started prostituting her out to her friends when she was about 13 years old. The girl ran away from home and managed recently to get to another childrens home. The head teacher at All Saints is giving her a free high school education but now in the holidays she has no where to go, when she ran away from home, Lillian found her working in a hotel near Cheryls, only 14 years old. She is a very smart girl, but its aweful what has happened to her. Its a long story why she is not at cheryls, partly to do with the mother who was causing problems, but we are now stuck in a position where we cannot support her, which is sooo frustrating. When the girl goes to boarding school she doesn;t get any shopping, for example when we send our kids to high school we have to provide things like shoe polish, shampoo, toothpaste, toilet roll, sanitary towels etc etc etc its a huge cost to us but they need it. The sad thing is although this girl gets free education she gets no shopping. I was so encouraged when I heard that our 7 girls share what they have with her (and our girls only get the bare minimum). So although as an organisation we cannot formerly support her its great that our girls have seen her need and are standing by her. Some people question the need for childrens home, and I hear from some of the big NGO workers who think they know everything “I believe every child has family” meaning why put them in childrens home... well I too believe every child has a family but some families are dangerous environments for kids and they are safer with us, thats the real world, unfortunately not every parent or relative is a good one and kids need protecting.

HURRAY HURRAH – So it only took 9 months but I have finally got my work permit. Just as my visitor one was about to run out! But even then it was really crazy to actually get the stamp in my passport. You would think after 9 months and all the red tape I could just go get the stamp, but NOOOOOO, i had to join various queues... go to various offices, back and forth which took a whole day, was then told it would take a week to get the stamp in my passport, but as I explained my visa was going to run out, they did it on the day... but come on thats ridiculous... 9 months of waiting and then still another week for the final step. I shouldn’t be surprised, no one was when I told them... thats life here in Kenya... the government loves the red tape. But at the end of the day I am finally here, legally and have a 3 year permit which is fantastic. I never really felt like I belonged before, always feeling still like a visitor, but now I have this I feel finally I am truly here for the long haul, thats a great feeling and a huge burden off my shoulders! Phew RELIEF!

ALL SAINTS TRIP

2010-06-24T00:49:00.000-07:00

SAUSAGES, GUNS AND RETREATS

2010-05-24T01:50:00.000-07:00

SAUSAGES – So we have just had the rainy season... the LONG rains. Although it seems to have lasted longer than normal I think and also been more rain than normal. One of the strange things you sometimes get when it rains is sausage flies. Its weird, you never see them any other time, and it doesn’t happen every time it rains, it must just be when the conditions are right. Anyways it starts to rain, then you hear a fluttering sound, looking up at any light which is turned on (oh by the way it only tends to happen in the evening) you begin to see a few sausage flies flapping about by the light, then a few more, then a few more. When they enter a room looking for a light they flap everywhere. They have long white wings and so are easy to spot. Sometimes they are flapping around you and you have to keep brushing them off. In just a few minutes they seem to be everywhere. Once driving back from the hospital I saw them on every lamp post, its like a swarm. Where do they come from??? Where do they go after the rain? Its the strangest thing. I saw them years back when I lived in Zimbabwe. We were having a party at someone’s house, it began to rain and they all turned up, flying everywhere. Pretty soon the house was full of them, all dying on the floor (they don’t last long). The host was picking them up and putting in a bowl. She went to the kitchen, took the wings off and started to fry them. So a long with the crisps and snacks at the party, there in a few bowls dotted around the house were fried sausage flies. One night a few weeks ago, we had a movie night at the kids home, the flies turned up just before we began the movie and before the kids had dinner. Some of the young ones love it when they come because they have fun trying to catch them. They collect them in a pot and start plucking wings, a competition to see who can get the most. One of the wee girls, does this and doesn’t even bother cooking, she is happy to just start eating them, raw, still riggling around! Living in Nairobi you can feel very westernised in many ways, but its times like that when you are reminded where you really are, a lot of these kids have come originally from up country and this kind of activitiy would be normal, a treat even... hmmmmm think I prefer chocolate as my kind of treat!

YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE – A very sad thing happened the other day, just on Friday. Both Samuel and I left work a little early, at about 4pm. I was heading across town to David and Juliets, he was heading to pick up his girls from school. After he got them, (up in a small place called Kiberia, not to be confused with Kibera) he was leaving the school and another car bumped into him, deliberately. Everyone from the village and the school kids flocked around to see what had happened. Any car accident always draws a crowd, I mean come on... free entertainment! The guys got out of the other car shouting to everyone to go away, and of course they ignored that request. Samuel was waiting to talk with them about what had happened, when the main guy took a gun out of his pocket and fired some shots in the air, before pointing the gun at Samuel. At this point everyone scattered. They took his wallet (which he had just been to the bank with to get some money for his family and also money for building materials for the new classrooms being built), they took his wedding ring, phone, pushed him to the ground demanding his laptop. As they went into the boot for the laptop (which also had all the cheque books) he managed to escape running away knowing that he could be killed, although the girls were trapped in the car (and unlikely to get hurt but you never know). He waited a few minutes in a villagers house, before going around at the side and seeing their car had been gone. Terrified about what had happened to the girls he raced back to see they were ok. When he was telling me what happened on Saturday, he said he was watched movies like this, but on Friday it was like living in a movie. It must have only been 4:30pm in the afternoon, broad daylight!!! He was lucky to be alive, many people are killed over such petty things. He was very shaken up and you can’t imagine how the girls felt. Its horrific. Again these are stories we hear happening to others, then suddenly the reality hits when it happens to someone you know so well. Everyone was shaken at Cheryls. It seems so unfair, someone who sacrifices so much for others, and yet suffers such injustice. But at the end of the day we are all grateful he is still alive and unhurt. He was very shaken over the weekend, but I am so impressed by his strength, he is pressing on, coming to work today with a smile on his face.

DEAL OR NO DEAL – So the latest on the old land issue. We have gone into a deal with the land owner, an old mzee, a tycoon, who certainly has plenty of cash! He has agreed a price with us that we are happy with. He gave us 60 days to do our surveys and then if all is fine we can begin the real deal! I can’t believe we have finally got to this point, it is so exciting! For me there will be 3 important days this year. The first is when we find a piece of land and begin the process of purchasing. The second will be when we sign the formal agreement and pay the intial deposit, and the third and probably most important day will be when we have payed the balance and the land belongs to Cheryls Childrens Home! Our future will secured! So day one has arrived, we have reached that mile stone, I wanted to crack open champagne, even though I don’t drink, but we were being cautiously optimistic, we still have a long way to go to get to day 3. So we have engaged lawyers who are doing the surveys, checking everything out. So far we have raised about £70,000 and to reach the full amount we need to raise a further £50,000. According to the deadline now in place it looks like we will need the full amount by September. Not long now to go, but we are pressing forward. This will be the biggest milestone of the whole project. Many people want to help raise money to build a school and the other projects, but buying the land is the hardest stage, lets be honest it’s not exciting buying a piece of land for most people, also maybe some have doubts it can be done, but without the land there is no future for us beyond what we are currently doing. Even then at any point the Kenya Railway Authority could demand their land back and we would be homeless. This land we want to buy is our future, another £50,000 and we are there, the clock is ticking. You can download the updated building project proposal, which has all the latest details and new details from: www.box.net/shared/01ldis939k

RUNAWAY TO THE HILLS – Sometimes life here can be from the sublime to the ridiculous. It’s been a while since I have been to the Muthaiga club (a very old colonial private members club, I think the one in Out of Africa). I can only go if invited by David and Juliet, occasionally we go swimming there, or have afternoon tea. It’s a small treat from David and Juliet I really love. It’s where Kenya SOCIETY like to hang out. We often laugh at how on earth David and Juliet were invited to be members, but even so they are there! Sometimes the club runs a special event, and one thing that I think happens every year or certainly regularly is “Beating the Retreat”. I was a little confused about what this was all about, but said yes to the invite. I pitched up from work, trying to look reasonably smart in my £3 white Tesco shirt and Marks and Spencers trousers... am sure no-one would really know! Juliet and I sat and had some tea and cakes as the others arrived. Slowly by slowly Society turned up along with the KTB’s (the Khaki Trouser Brigade, of which I am a fully fledged member, my regular uniform for work) and we headed out to the lawn. Although the club is international and is increasing the number of Kenyan members, this event was predominantly white, and mostly British. We had our drinks, caught up with some friends, and it was nice to see I was getting to know more people... not Society people, but the middle class whites, teachers etc. Eventually the beating of the retreat began. In processed a small group of pipers and drummers in their green camouflage. We sat for about 25mins in the failing light, as the small band piped through various tunes including highland cathedral etc. At one point 2 off the group did some highland dancing to the tunes, which did look a bit odd in their camo army uniforms and not in highland dress, I did wonder who plucked the short straw in having to dance. Eventually it came to an end, the head piper marched forward to some old chap in a panama hat, said a few words and they then processed out. In Kenya there is a large British army contingent, partly as an aftermath to colonialism and the good ties between Kenya and the UK and also because the northern parts of Kenya make great training ground in preparation for Afganistan. Now I presume, the beating of retreat is done when an army group is heading home, or heading off to wherever their next destination is, possibly Afganistan. So its a traditional thing. It was the oddest experience in many ways, 300 expats and old colonials sat drinking pims and various drinks as these army boys carried out the old ritual. Although I don’t truely belong in such places as the Muthaiga club, and if I was around it long enough I would begin to despise it possibly (or maybe not its kind of nice...) but I do love these brief encounters and experiences, and a taste of the old colonial history. How many times has the beating of the retreat happened at Muthaiga, how many dignitaries and members of high society have sat and witnessed the same thing. It’s kind of fun, kind of surreal, and a bit of a laugh, and for a brief moment transports my mind from the daily struggles and pressures from Cheryls, to focus on something different and see a whole different side to life in Africa. If only Society knew who I really was... I chuckle inside myself as I hob nob with the rich and... well rich.

3 FUNERALS AND NO WEDDING – Imagine I have been here in Kenya for about 8 months, I know a few people, not many but a few. The strangest thing happened the other week. In the space of about 10 days 3 people I know died. I didn’t know some of them that well, but in the space of 10 days, out of the limited number of people I have come across, 3 die in 10 days. The first to go was Mo’s mother, a lady called Tinka. I haven’t seen her since our youth trip in 2004, but I remember long ago, back in 1995 I was spending a Christmas in Nairobi while on my gap year in Zimbabwe. I was staying in the guest cottage next to the house I am living in, with Mike and Gerry. Tinka lived opposite, and on Christmas day invited all the waifs and strays in Nairobi, people who had no-where else to go on Christmas day. She was a lovely, fun, slightly crazy lady, but I will never forget how she opened up her house for so many people. She has been in a nursing home recently and her daughter Mo was living opposite me. Sadly she passed away. Following this a guy I met before Christmas last year committed suicide, an old school friend of David. I only met him once but you could clearly tell he had serious problems. He hadn’t worked since school, was on various medications, but nothing helping. He had tried to commit suicide once before but failed. David is one of the few people left who spent time with him. We would often talk about it and he would beat himself up that he doesn’t do more for the guy and his brother (also with mental health problems), but in reality David was the only person left in Nairobi who would even bother to give them the time of day. Eventually it obviously got too much for the guy and he killed himself. He lived just down the road from me. Finally the third and the saddest one for me is that Geoff has passed away. I met Geoff and Dorothy back in 1995 when Mike and Gerry took me to Geoff and Dorothys house in Naivasha for new years day (I think a tradition for Mike and Gerry). We were the only guests, I had never met them before but they knew Mike and Gerry were bringing this young lad with them from Zimbabwe. They welcomed me into their home and as Christmas presents were passed between the 2 couples I was shocked and humbled to be given some Christmas presents from Geoff and Doroty. Having never met them, they still wanted to welcome me and give me some Christmas greetings. I have never forgotten that, and probably never will all my life. I have never met anyone like them. They were missionaries here for most of their life, doctors serving the poor. Even into their 90’s they were still providing medical to the local community from their house. When I brought youth groups from the UK in 2004 and 2007 I took them to meet Geoff and Dorothy, a little worried a bunch of teenagers would overwhelm them but they welcomed us all in and I think Geoff particularly liked chatting about the education system with the youngsters, I was just praying in the corner everyone would behave and remember their manners (I needn’t have worried, they were always great teenagers). We only spent a couple of hours there in 2007, but when I visited Kenya for 10 days in 2008 I had coffee again with Geoff and Dorothy and David. As we went back to Davids house Geoff phoned him, he was desperate to send a message to me. Both him and Dorothy wanted to say thank you, because 7 months earlier when we had visited with the teenagers, 2 of the leaders had done the washing up for them, they had wanted to say thank you! I couldn’t believe that they had remembered something like that, they didn’t even have to say thank you, but again I was humbled. The last time I saw Geoff was October last year, we were up in Naivasha with David and Juliet and Claire. David and I popped down to see them, but Dorothy was asleep, we saw Geoff walking around the garden, still in his shirt, sweater, formal shorts and long socks, enjoying the birds and flowers. We chatted for a while and caught up. They have a guest cottage there I have been meaning to use for a while, but never got organised enough. I was even going to use it the other week, but it didn’t happen. Dorothy is very old and frail, deaf and blind and relied heavily on Geoff, we all thought she would go first, but sadly Geoff fell in the shower the other week, he went into Nairobi Hospital, he took quite a bump to his head. David managed to see him, both him and Dorothy were there, a week or so later he passed away (in fact it happened during the night of the Beating of the Retreat, we had just been talking about them over dinner). He was muched loved by so many people in Kenya, it was a privilege to know him and have a few moments of my life with him, I regret I didn’t organise myself to spend more time with them. His memorial is on Friday, I won’t be able to make it, but I will be thinking of him on that day, and if any of the young people are reading this who met him, i hope you can spend just a brief moment thinking of him on Friday.

THE NEW TIGER – Having watched the Constant Gardner and seeing there was a golf course right by the Kibera slum, I thought I would never play golf here, its like in England where Golf is usually for the well off (unlike Scotland where everyone plays). However I discovered there are other courses and David wanted to play and was probably as bad as me. So when I came back from the UK in March I brought my clubs over. After many cancellations we finally had a round on a course called Vet Labs, which is part of a university. It’s not the poshest course but its still nice. The kind of informal golf course I like. Of course here you don’t carry your bag, a caddy does it for you (a source of employment and only costs £2). I loved playing golf with my best friend Mark back in Edinburgh, just the 2 of us out at melvilles, slicing, hooking and occasionally striking the ball well, in and amongst the trees, not taking it too seriously but competiting a little with each other, thats the golf I play. This time there were 4 of us in the group (including a 12 year old who I knew was going to be better than me!), plus the 4 caddys. Hmm too much of a crowd for my liking, and having not played in nearly a year the pressure got to me. Thats my biggest weakness, I phsyc myself out, rush, try and hit the ball as hard as I can, and any golfer knows that’s all completely wrong. It was strange because it had been really wet weather all week, and despite the warmth, it was wet and drizzly and like playing back home. I totally managed to embarrass myself by rubbish play, but we made it round, and thankfully the 12 year old didn’t laugh at me too much. My first strike I topped it, and it kind of dribbled off the tee not going anywhere (hmmmm good start infront of the club house). Alice, the 12 year olds mum, just said casually “thats what you call an air shot” trying to lighten the mood and help me relax, and the 12 year old quickly piped up “no mum, thats what you call a DUFF”, Alice all embarrassed now by her cheeky son. But it was all cool, i didn’t even hear them, and actually I wouldn’t mind, he was right it was a duff. We laughed the whole way round, sweated in the heat and altitude and despite some stress on my part it was a bit of fun. David and I both agreed, it was embarrassing, but we need to play more often, get some practice in and its good fitness! So hopefully tomorrow we will hit the course again, hoping to do a little better next time. OK not Tiger woods yet, but getting there (golf wise).

SACK – I had the toughest day a week or so ago. I had a friend visiting from Uganda on her way back to the UK. I was waiting at home to go the airport to pick her up in the morning when I got a call from Samuel. “The teachers are on strike”. I rushed in, emptied my bank account almost, I knew it was about money. I came in to find some of the teachers in Samuels office, I had 30 mins before I needed to leave for the airport. Its a very long story, but in brief this is what happened... until we can get most of the kids sponsored we will struggle to pay for all our running costs. Our priority is the kids, they must get fed and also get their education, which usually means it’s the staff that go without being paid. This is the hardest bit of my job, as Samuel and I discuss how to spend the little resources we have its when we see its the teachers and staff who must suffer. We talk about it a lot with them, we understand their difficulties, and its often people like Samuel and the other core staff who go the longest without being paid, the teachers tend to be the first to be paid because we don’t want to lose them. We know that if we can dramatically increase the child sponsorship we can pay everyone every month, its hard asking someone to work when we can’t pay, knowing they have their own families to provide for, food to buy, rent to pay. If someone is in real trouble we always give them something, and when they are not paid there is always a record kept. We know one day we will generate enough monthly income and will also pay everyone what they are owed. We talk about it at almost every meeting. But the sad thing is a few teachers wanted to cause problems. Samuel offered to meet with them, sat and discussed it and gave chance for them to talk more, ask questions, but everyone left agreed with the situation. It then transpired that they decided to sit in their classrooms not teaching, and then on the Friday had a strike by sitting in the staff room refusing to teach. Samuel invited them in again to discuss, they refused, he went down to see them, they refused to talk. I came into work that Friday, they didn’t talk. We discussed it and had to find what money we could to pay them all they were due. The Head teacher was furious with them, 2 other teachers refused to strike and carried on teaching. As in the UK there are strict laws about industrial action, you are obviously meant to negotiate as long as possible, and then striking is last choice, and if you do strike you are required to give formal notice. The first we heard of it was when the kids came to the head teacher asking why is no-one teaching us. This was the worst thing. Although we have no problem staff coming to ask for money, we totally understand, but these teachers had made a big mistake, by not talking it through with us, and then punishing the kids with an illegal strike. We discovered that some had not been teaching properly since the Easter holidays. For us the kids come first, and to punish them because the teachers were unhappy was wrong. We had no choice but to let all these teachers go, their attitude was all wrong. We can understand if someone needs to leave and find a new job that will pay every month, we would wish them well, but to punish the kids like that and treat them that way was wrong. Thankfully money had come in on the Friday, which we would have used to buy food, and pay schools fees for the high school kids from last term and a little bit this term, some also would have gone to the staff, but now all that money has had to go to the 7 teachers. We now face a difficult couple of months ahead, and the risk that some of these kids will be sent home from High School because the fees have not been paid. The teachers left us not even apologising for the strike. One teacher came back immediately to apoligise, infact during the strike he continued to mark books, but realised he should have stood up to the others, he had been a recent appointment so we understood he was afraid to resist. He acknowledged how wrong the others had been and wanted to give back some of the money we had given him. We decided to welcome him back to us and he is back teaching. Over the weekend Rose, our head teacher began recruiting, and by Tuesday we had a full compliment of staff again. We discussed with all new staff the situation, that money is tight at the moment, but the kids must come first, that our future building project is to make sure our future is secure and money for that can’t be used for the day to day stuff (something we had explained time and again to the old teachers, but they didn’t care about the future, just about today), that the only real way to secure paying staff is to increase child sponsorship, which guarantees food for the kids and salaries for the staff. They all agree and see what we are trying to do here. We are so pleased with the character of the new teachers and already the school is vibrant and we are moving forward. The old teachers have tried to spread horrible rumours to parents, trying to persuade the community kids who come here to leave us. But thankfully the parents trust us and see what we are trying to do. The old teachers went to the labour office to try and sue us for more money, but the labour office has investigated and seen what the teachers have done, and shown them where they have gone wrong. Its been a horrible time, and horrible that we had to do this. It has been really stressful and hard to have broken a relationship now we these adults. I’m sad they have left so bitter and still trying to cause problems. We won’t get dragged into anything with them now, we will just focus on carrying on with our work, we believe we will stand strong and all the other staff see the work we are doing and stand with us. Its been the hardest time. BUT this week has been positive, the new teachers are great and although we still face tough times ahead this whole experience has brought the rest of the staff together and a greater sense of unity. I desperately want us to reach a much higher number of sponsors, so that as each month comes we can pay the staff what they are due for working so hard, we can pay for food, we can pay our electricity bill, pay for water, pay for our kids in high school, we can truely provide for all these kids. We have 144 kids not sponsored, thats our target, thats what we need to aim for and fast! This has been an epic week, and maybe hard to understand from an outside perspective, but I believe Samuel and I have been professional, we have discussed everything with the head teacher and acted as a team, the labour office have confirmed we have done nothing wrong. It’s time to put the past behind us and move forward with a new team, confident in the future before us.
If you know of anyone who would like to sponsor a child you can download a form from: www.box.net/shared/o96v6386is

SAFARI - A JOURNEY

2010-04-27T23:54:00.000-07:00

HIT THE ROAD – So a couple of weeks ago I finally got chance to take my first official holiday since being in Kenya. There are sooooo many places to explore and discover in Kenya and in a way I want to see them all as fast as I can, i have no patience, but living here is not about going on constant holidays, so I need to wait until opportunities arise and funds allow. Unfortunately as I am still waiting for a residency permit I have to pay tourist rates, which totally sucks as they are sooooo high compared to resident rates, but in time it will come. So myself, David and Juliet hit the Mombasa road south down to Tsavo West and then moving on to Tsavo East. Tsavo is the biggest national park in Africa (possibly the world, I’m not sure). Tsavo has always been a favourite of mine, it is vast and spellbounding, everytime I go my breath is taken away, and then you study the map and realise that we only ever really drive round a tiny part of it. Because of its size you don’t always see many animals, and for those just visiting on holiday and wanting to see the big 5, its probably not worth coming to Tsavo because you are most likely to be disappointed, but if you appreciate a stunning landscape, rapidly changing scenery and the feeling of truely being in the wild, this is the place to be. We stayed at a tented camp (quite luxurious – I managed to sneak residency rates here which was great, just had to pay tourist rate to enter the park). Our tents overlooked some hippos pools, where the hippos resided all day, splashing around, and cooling off in the water. Crocodiles also inhabited the pool, and on the last day I had a baby one just under the wooden structure on which my tent was placed. At night time we had to be escorted to the main bit with the restaurant as the hippos move from the pool and head out for their night time feasting. On the way back on the last night as my Askari walked me to my tent we spotted a Python slowly moving across the path just to go under my tent structure. In all the time I have ever spent in Africa I think this is the only situation I have come across a random snake in the wild, I have seen others, but not like this. Thankfully it was just a young one at 1.2metres long. It was white with dark brown markings. He was on the hunt and moving slowly. I knew that he wouldn’t be too interested in my tent as he looked hungry and was looking for food. Later on we spotted him again going past my tent and heading off to the bush. It was so cool really feeling like you are in the wild, with so much wildlife around you. We spent 3 days there, doing game drives, enjoying the scenery and relaxing in the swimming pool (which cooled us down from the 40 degree heat). I love Tsavo, and will always be a special place to me.

ORPHANS OF A DIFFERENT KIND – One of the most popular tourist things to do in Nairobi is visit Daphney Sheldricks Elephant orphanage where they rescue baby elephants and bring them up to go back into the wild. Now if you sponsor or foster one of these elephants you can book to stay at Ithumba in Tsavo East. Tsavo East is not as popular as Tsavo West, especially in the nothern part. Partly because the area is so dense with bush you can hardly see anything so its not a place for game drives etc. Well David and Juliet and 2 other friends Tim and Shellen, sponsor elephants, so we all booked at Ithumba for the second part of our short holiday. If Tsavo West was in the wild, this place is even more so. There are no other lodges, camps and tourists in the area, it was just us, the elephant part and the Kenya Wildlife Services headquarters. It was awesome. A very bumpy 2 hour drive off the main road, passing through tiny villages, listening to some great tunes on Ron’s stereo and waving to the kids who love spotting Mzungu’s (white people) and constantly wondering, have we made a wrong turn, the deeper we go the further it will be if we are lost. But we made it to the camp, it has only 3 tents and a large open structure which has comfy chairs, dining tables and lamu style beds for relaxing during the day. Its self catering but also not that basic so you do feel a little bit of pampering. When you book you book the whole camp, so we had it all to our selves. So 4kms down the road is where the young elephants are. Once they are old enough Sheldricks moves the elephants down from Nairobi to this camp and start the re-introduction to the wild process. There were 8 elephants when we were there, 6 older ones and 2 younger ones (one of which was quite sick and had a heart problem, also my favourite). We would wake at 5:30am drive to the ele’s and feed them with milk at 6am, which was cool. Come back and eat breakfast and sleep, then at 11am we would meet the ele’s out at a small pool. After their breakfast they head out into the wild for feeding on branches etc and go with a couple of carers, so they always arrive at the pool at 11am, where we feed them with more milk. Sometimes the ex orphans turn up as well just to say hi which is very cool. On both days they came, but that was a little scary because these ones were like 10 – 12 years old, so very big and slightly wild now, but the carers make sure us tourists are fine. The ele’s eat, swim and then move on. Then we go back and crash, laze around, have lunch, sleep, melt in the 40+degree heat and then at 5pm go back for the last feed, as the elephants come back to their camp. It was an awesome experience, sometimes tiring, but feeding the elephants out in the wild by the pool was the best bit. On the last day loads of the ex orphans came along with a totally wild elephant, I wasn;t too worried, until the head carer quietly said...”hmm maybe you should get behind that tree”... so the 5 of us cowered behind this pathetically tiny tree from this giant elephant who wasn’t too pleased to see us. But he calmed down and we all carried on. It is so different being out in the wild, on foot, not inside your vehicle, the feeling is soooo much different and special, you are not protected by some large metal machine, but standing there, exposed to whatever wildlife is around. The adrenaline, the connection with nature is fantastic and I love it. The great thing also was to see that 2 of the older elephants had decided to spend the night out with the ex orphans, the young ele’s can move into the wild whenever they want, they tend to go away for 1 night, then come back and then go for longer etc until they finally leave, it was great to see the re-introduction actually happening before our eyes. (See photos below this post)

THATS HOW IT FEELS - After the 3 days Ithumba we did our last feeding of the elephants and I felt a real sadness as we drove away. I tended to feed the sick elephant and in such a short space and time I felt quite attached. But I also reflected driving away how similar this situation is to Cheryls and our volunteers. I felt really attached to these young elephants after only 3 days, thinking that feeding them each day I had built some connection, but in truth it was more in my head than in the elephants. The carers don’t really want the elephants to get too used to people so they cope better in the wild, but you feel you do, but in reality you don’t. The elephant comes to you because you have a milk bottle in your hand, and the carer is near by so he trusts its ok. He soon leaves when the bottle is empty. I left on the last night wanting to matter to these elephants and feel significant to them, but actually thats because I wanted to feel significant and important, the truth is it’s the carers that really matter and who are important, they work incredibly hard, in harsh conditions and for long hours and weeks. They dedicate their lives to these elephants. They are the important ones and they are the ones who really gain the respect and love from the elephants. As I left I suddenly felt a comparison to volunteers I manage at Cheryls. We have a mixture of volunteers who come to us, some are fantastic, some are maybe a little hard work. But most people come with a desire to help and support us, but I know that feeling, that desire to feel significant and to matter to someone (or something) that needs help. I think this is totally natural and normal, but i guess the truth is the same here, its the staff that really matter, they are the ones who work so incredibly hard, sometimes not getting paid, sometimes being taken for granted, but they are making the long term and significant impact on these kids, just like the carers of the elephants. The sad thing is sometimes they get unnoticed by volunteers and visitors, and volunteers can occasionally come with an attitude of its them (the volunteer) thats making the impact and can change the kids lives. Don’t get me wrong, having volunteers is fantastic and a really important resource we need at Cheryls, so if you are thinking of volunteering please do come and visit, you are totally welcome and I want you to come. But what i hope visitors know and understand is that we have an awesome bunch of dedicated and hard working staff who love these kids and sacrifice a lot for them, they are here through the drought and through the rain, they are the ones making the difference. The great thing about being a volunteer at Cheryls and with the Elephants is that you get a chance to catch a glimpse of this, and in a small way support those staff who are working so hard. That can be a real priveledge and awesome opportunity. I guess at the end of the day volunteering is about sacrificing time and resources to help others in whatever way is necessary, but probably more dominantly a time to learn and experience how others are living and working, being educated, and thats awesome. For me at Ithumba, it was useful to experience that side of volunteering again (which I haven;t done for a long time) a reminder of the feelings of a volunteer, the importance of a volunteer but also knowing where the true significance and importance is, the staff. Oh and I definitely want to go back and volunteer there again!

SSSSHHHH IT’S QUIET – The school holidays are a great time, over Easter they last about 4 weeks, and we are now in the final week of hols. The majority of the residents go and stay with some relatives for a few weeks, which is great because it connects them with where they have come from and extended family. Usually these relatives can’t cope with the kids long term but can take them for a few weeks in the holidays. Most relatives are good at looking after them, but sometimes kids are here because they were abused by relatives after the parents dies. Thats why we still have about 20 kids left here, those who have been abandoned and those where relatives homes are unsafe. The place is quiet, it means the staff are given a bit of a break, the financial pressures for the this month are just a little less, because we need less food and less water etc. We run movie nights every weekend during the hols for those who remain and we have had some good times. I enjoy catching up with the high school kids and finding out how their terms have been, hearing all their stories and trying to get them all equipped for the term ahead. I think the holiday times are my favourite times, its quieter, you can spend more quality time with a smaller number of kids and I love seeing the high school ones and seeing them grow and mature, discussing jobs, careers and about their views on politics and life in Kenya. It is often sat watching a movie on movie night, with a small child sitting on your lap and seeing how happy everyone is just with a soda and a movie, that I realise I love my job, i love what I do and can’t imagine being anywhere else. Of course its stressful, frustrating and sometimes I can just despair, but the truth is what I’m doing is great and right now I don’t want to do anything else!

MZUNGU MADNESS – So over the last few weeks or months should I say, we have been checking out land for our building project. We having been popping up to Naivasha a few times to check out various places and we think we have found the perfect spot. It fits all our criteria, and myself, Samuel and Mike one of our board of directors all fell in love with it the first time we visited. Its also cheaper than the land we were looking at before Christmas. We still need to do surveys and more research but its looking good. We were quoted a price by the agents and then last week we finally met the owner. An older guy, a bit of a local tycoon. We entered his office, did the obligatory greetings, but to my surprise and joy he said, lets just get right to it, we all know why were are here. This is unusual., normally the conversation has to go around the houses before you finally get down to what you are supposed to be talking about. The sad thing though was he started on the price and he jumped from the price originally quoted, to almost double. I was so frustrated and disappointed, I could tell he had seen us, knew that a Mzungu was involved and probably thought he could try and get more money from us. I was annoyed and felt we have just wasted the last few months looking at this land. He kept waffling and I just thought whats the point of hanging round here, there is no way we were going to pay that much. But deep down I knew it was all a game. He was testing us, to see if we would pay more. I dug my heels in, knowing that at the end of the day the control is in our hands, we didn;t have to buy his land, there is always more land out there. Agents and owners always try and scare you into buying, this land is amazing (which it actually is) this land can go for a higher price, this land can be easily sold to someone else... etc. But the truth is, its just like negotiating in the markets, if you seem keen and start increasing the price you offer, the owner knows he has got you. I looked disinterested in the question, stated the original price is what we can pay thats it, if he doesn;t want it we will look elsewhere. He pressed the conversation on further, just saying we needed to add a little more. Eventually we left, myself feeling frustrated the deal had taken this course. We said we would go away and think about it and talk, he would do the same. As we left he whispered to the agent the price he would sell for which was a little extra on top of the original price, nowhere near what he was fishing for 30 mins earlier. He was obviously testing us and realised there was no dice, this Mzungu wasn’t going to roll over and just pay up. We came back to Nairobi and discussed it, my advice was to hold firm at the original price, believing that in the end he will sell. If he doesn’t we will discuss paying slightly more, because the land is good and probably worth it, but for now we are standing firm, and latest I have heard is that he will sell at the original price but wants a little extra for some fixtures and fittings on the land such as a water tank and small house, but I can appreciate that and believe that’s fair enough, so we will have to negotiate a price on those things or an addition per acre. This happens though, people see a Mzungu involved in the deal and try and squeeze more money, but I’m not interested in that, this is money donated by people from around the world, we need the best price we can get and this Mzungu ain’t just going to roll over and pay double!

IT’S STARTED – One of the things I have been working on this last few months is the sponsorship programme, it is now up and running in the UK through our charity there, CWK but also worldwide as it has been for a number of years. Our aim is to get at least 100 new sponsors by September. So we have got 4 new ones this month, its a start, but we have a long way to go. I can’t express how much of a difference the sponsorship programme will make to Cheryls and also just my working life on a personal note. If we can get 100 new sponsors we will have a regular income and that will take a massive pressure off us. At the moment we have nothing in the bank, but next week will have to equip the high school kids to go back to school, get all their shopping, pay their school fees, and on top of that get ready for our own primary school to be up and running. We need to pay salaries for this month, buy water, pay the electricity bill and cover all the general running costs. Money that is donated comes in at different times, and not always when its needed. Having children sponsored means money comes in regularly, each month and we know when its coming and how much, which means we can plan ahead and have that confidence it will be there. This is why we need 100 new sponsors. If you are reading this and you know of someone who might like to sponsor a child can you point them to this web page: http://www.box.net/shared/o96v6386is it has a child sponsorship form which you can download, print off and send to the CWK guys, it has all the information. If you are from somewhere else in the world other than the UK just email me directly and I can get an international form to you: kjbkenya@hotmail.co.uk I really want us to reach 100 by September. Each new sponsor brings smiles to the staff here, even by the 4 new ones we are encouraged, because we feel we are being supported and know there are people out their standing with us working with these children. Oh and a small request if you have or know someone who has already filled in a form but not quite got round to posting it off yet, please do so as soon as possible, the sooner it is up and running the better. Thank you soooooo much for helping with this, blog readers, lets spread the word and find 100!

DOWNWARD PRESSURE – So last blog entry I had loads of medical issues. Well the good news is that my face is back to normal (well as normal as it can be), both sides are working fine which is great, so I don’t have this stupid half face grin when I smile. Also the blood pressure is dropping back to normal and staying that way without the medication which is fantastic. I still need to keep an eye on it, but its good news. The numb foot is still there and occasional back pain but its gradually getting better, but will need more work from the physio etc. So all in all, blood pressure is dropping and I’m relieved!! I can enjoy the rest of the Easter holidays, before the craziness sets in again next week. In June, July and August I am going to have a huge number of volunteers coming and staying at the house, which is awesome but it will be a busy time too, the future looks busy, but good.

PHOTO

2010-04-27T23:26:00.001-07:00

MORE PHOTOS

2010-04-27T23:06:00.000-07:00

BACK IN AFRICA

2010-04-06T04:33:00.000-07:00

NOT NORMAL ANY MORE – So its been a while since I put up a blog post but that is mainly because I took a trip to the UK in March for about 3 weeks. It was great to go home, see friends and have meetings with various folks. Really nice to have a change of scenery and also enjoy a bit of cold weather (ok so I enjoyed it for about 20 minutes and then after that I was freezing cold and had a real chill in my bones, it took me about 4 days to get used to it!). It was a very busy time and I had loads and loads of meetings which seemed to go well. Some folks thought it was a holiday, but it really wasn’t, the plan was to come back and meet with the trustees and do some networking. I think my veins were running with coffee and tea by the end of the 3 weeks! The funny thing about coming back was that the UK didn’t feel normal, it felt strange. I had only been in Kenya 5 months, so I thought I would just slip back into UK life really easily. But that wasn’t the case, everything felt different, going to a cash machine felt strange getting british pounds, so many white people walking around, everything being clean and shiny, driving at night time and not worrying, walking everywhere (my legs were killing after the first time I walked round Edinburgh!). I was rushing from church and headed down this road, in the distance I saw blue flashing lights and police. I immediately stopped the car and was about to turn round, because my instinct said, best avoid the police to avoid risk of being stopped and having to pay a bribe, but then I remembered I was in the UK and the Police were not going to stop me and were certainly not going to take my money. It was funny, I just automatically stopped, but after I realised my stupidity I set off again, happily going past the police without a care in the world! Things in the UK are just not normal any more, Kenya has become the norm! I had not even thought about Reverse Culture Shock, of coming home.

FAMILY – returning to Kenya and my home was also a bit strange. In my house Peter (the boy with cancer), James (an older boy looking after him) and also Samantha (a volunteer looking after both of them) had been staying while I was in the UK. I was returning to my house, but it was full of people now in their own habits and routines, and I had to adjust my own routines of living there to fit in with them. It took a while to catch up and get used to it, but we soon fell into a groove. It was kind of strange because we were a little family unit and it was my job to provide, so suddenly I had not just to plan dinner for myself but for all the rest too, suddenly I was the Daddy and they all looked to me for provision and guidance. Very strange feeling. I know that Peter has been bored though at the house so recently we have moved him back to the childrens home for a week, he seems much stronger and its more fun there, so until next chemo he is staying at Cheryls, where he is very happy to be back. It also gives me and Samantha a bit more quiet and space, which is usually needed after a long day!!!!

FUNNY FACE – back in the UK, a week before I left I managed to injure my back again, although this time the pain wasn’t in the back it was in my leg, and was seriously painful. I went to see a physio who said it was related to my back, and gave me some exercises to do. My biggest worry though was the plane journey back... 8.5 hours stuck on a tiny seat on a plane. The amazing thing was I seemed to manage ok, and my leg for the time on the plane really didn;t cause too much problem, I was amazed and relieved. I’m still seeing a physio back in Kenya, at least 3 times a week, but its slowly improving which is good news. Then the other day we were out doing some research at a market for a new venture some of the volunteers, I ate a meal which had some peanuts in (i didn’t know at the time) and I had the worst reaction ever, I’ve never been that bad but it wasn’t fun, thankfully it wasn’t full on throat closing and dieing, but it wasn’t pleasant. But then a very funny thing happened. My face went funny. The muscles on one side stopped working, and I couldn’t eat properly, smile properly, drink properly. It was a bit scary as all that rushed through my mind was mini-stroke. I went to the docs on the Sunday, she wanted to do some tests for diabetes, high cholesterol, and it seems I have high blood pressure. That night I was sooooo worried, what if I had diabetes or worse problems. I went for the tests the next day and sat in the docs waiting room for the results. Thank goodness blood sugars and cholesterol were fine, but still had a little high blood pressure which the doc will monitor. The face was still not right and she said hopefully it will just heal. A number of people have mentioned Bells Palsy, which I reckon is what it is. Thankfully this week it seems to be improving, slowly so hopefully in a week or so I won;t have such a funny face any more (at least just the normal funny for me!).

No.2 – So the other evening I had some volunteers at the house and we desperately need Tortillas, an essential ingredient to the whole Fajitas making process. So me and Elspeth jumped in the car and zoomed off to Ya Ya before the supermarket closed. Thankfully they had some in stock, so we jumped back in the car and headed home. We started turning left onto Chaka road, as most of the traffic heads on straight, the road widens for those turning left. There was a lot of traffic and it was not moving on the road going forward, no problem for us we are turning left. I indicated and started moving into the wider left part of the road, when just at that point the bus in front also started moving left... no indicator, and as this is not a bus route I assume he is just moving out of the way of a car infront, also he must see that I am in that lane moving left. He continues to turn, I continue to turn left when I begin to realise he is not moving out of the way of a car he has decided to go down Chaka road and I think he doesn’t see me!!!!! I slam on the brakes (I mean I;m only going 5 miles an hour anyways), but I realise its too late, I bang on the horn but he is oblivious (not checking his mirrors) and the bus turns in front of my car with the side of the bus hitting and scrapping the front right hand corner of Big Ron, there is a load noise, my car (Big Ron) is shaking as the bus driver finally realises what he has done and brakes to stop. The bus conducter lady looks out of the bus and sees what has happened, there is a worried face on her as she sees my car! I’, no worried we will have to wait for police, deal with insurers etc... sucks!!! Especially as we are 300 metres from my house! I get out and check the damage to Ron, thankfully the Bull Bar has taken most of the hit, with Blue paint on it and a small chip of metal taken out, other than that Ron is fine. I look at the bus, the bull bar has put a decent size hole i the side and the paint is scraped all down it for about a metre. Some of the passengers on the bus start to try and get off knowing that it could take hours to get this sorted, but the conducter emplores them to stay on as she looks at me to see my reaction. I look at Ron, he seems fine, apart from a little bull bar bruising, I look up at her, shrug my shoulders and raise my hands as if to say lets no bother going down this process, she takes the hint, signals the bus driver, I get back in the car and we all move on! In many ways I am relieved we don;t have to go down the whole insurance process, I know I was clearly in the right and the bus conducter was probably more worried about what this rich muzungu would do now the bus has damaged his car. But in the grand scheme of things Big Ron was fine, so what was the point. The incredible thing though is this: 3 days early I was leaving cheryls and James stopped my car and pointed to the bull bar. It was hanging off, underneath the metal work had come apart and it was hanging on by its Bull Bar fingertips (I had been on a rough roads recently and also the kids regularly cimb on Ron and particularly the bull bar). So we limped along to a local welder in the slum and for £7 he fixed it, and reinforced it, showing what a rubbish job had been done in the first place. Now if this hadn;t happened, and I hadn’t got it fixed then when the bus hit me the bull bar would have just come off and the car would have been majorly damaged!!! It was unbelievable the timing. So what seemed like a pain to fix the bull bar actually saved me from a much greater problem a few days later! This was Kenya car crash No.2

HALF WAY AND THE 100 – being in the Uk was great to do some promotional work for Cheryls but while I was away Samuel had been working on some things, particularly on the finances. He wrote a budget for this year and he worked out with our predicted income (which is not always a guarantee) we are expecting half of what we need to come in for the year. This was pretty scary when you read the figures. But its also useful to know the details and see why and how we come up short every month. One of the things we want to do in the coming months is improving administration and as our organisation grows we now have an accountant working with us full time which will help us be much better prepared and access information much easier and quicker. Despite the scary stats of seeing how we are only predicted to get in half of what we need, I quickly worked out on a calculator that if we could get 100 new sponsors for kids we could almost cover our shortfall. This gave me and Samuel both hope, it should bee achievable and it will make a massive difference, so our goal is to get 100 sponsors in the next few months!! Samuel was quite stressed while I was away, both of us feel the burden of carrying this project, and when things are tight when you go home at night its even harder, but knowing that there is a way out of this is amazing!!!! It makes such a difference, it gives us hope, that even though we may be short, if we can galvanise enough people to sponsor kids the future will be easier for both of us and we can focus on the bigger picture and the building project. Just need to find 100 people first!

NO EGGS – So the weekend just passed was Easter and like in the UK the Friday and Monday are public holidays. Its funny though it seems although church is on Sunday etc and thats the officially big day, Kenyans seem to make more of the Monday. We don;t buy meat often for the kids, its expensive, but we do on special occasions, so we bought meat for Good Friday and then I assumed we would get it for the Sunday, but nooooooo its for Monday. How strange??? But thats cool, thats how they roll here. Also I looked and looked but no Easter Eggs anywhere to be found. Its funny, Nairobi is becoming more and more westernised and Christmas did have some of the usual commercial stuff, trees, presents etc but Easter, no eggs! It will be interesting if this changes over the years (although could be because the chocolate might melt??).

HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW – So again while I was in UK, Peter still continued with his chemo and treatment, but also he had a CT scan. I came back to see an incredible thing. ON the original scan the tumour was huge and very clear but now on this new scan it can be hardly seen, there is a fuzzy line round part of his skull, but apart from that its normal. Its unbelievable, he has had less than half his original treatment plan and the improvement is astounding. So whats next? As there was never a concrete diagnosis we have to be careful now to try and make sure every bit goes and its not going to grow back. Peter will now receive chemo once every 3 weeks for about 8 months. This means time wise its going to take a while, but from our point of view it spreads things out a bit. So I guess its about 10 – 12 more treatments, Im not actually sure yet, assuming nothing goes wrong. He will need more tests and scans in the future to see the progress but its good to finally be on a steady plan (I think). We are next in this weekend for treatment. We have enough money for about another 2 treatments but after that we run out, so will need to raise more money soon for Peter so we can sure to provide for the rest of his treatment and also cover any unexpected issues such as infections. The great thing is he is feeling good, not had any problems in the last few weeks which is great and he seems strong. I’m so pleased with how its going now and to see such a dramatic change is awesome. I am sooo grateful to everyone for the support and prayers, it was really reassuring being the UK to hear how everyone cares for Peter and want to see him get well, that encourages me and keeps me going!!! Hopefully the tumour will continue to disappear!

NEWSPAPERS, KITES AND MORE HOSPITALS

2010-02-15T04:58:00.000-08:00

WHO KNEW? – So since being in Kenya I seem to have come down with a few illnesses here and there, not from food or anything but mainly picking up bugs from the kids I think!! Before Christmas I got a chest infection, now who knew you could get that in a hot country??? But then a couple of weeks ago, after spending time with Peter in Hospital I came home late on the Friday night not feeling great. Went to bed and woke up vomiting in the night, it was awful I had no sleep, was shivering and was just waiting for the sun to break through the windows and declare it was day time. I must have been awake from 1am till dawn. I got up and lay infront of the TV hoping the bug would pass, it must just be a 24 hour thing I reckoned. But by afternoon the fever was still there, I had no appetite so I decided better get checked out. Off to hospital I went and was there for hours, thankfully though Dre came with me to help. I sat in the waiting room shivering and shaking, my head pounding just wanting to sleep. I saw the doc and then had to do blood tests and Xray. I slowly wondered through the hospital to the various departments, wishing I had asked for a wheelchair. I got back to casualty and lay on one of the beds. Time passed and eventually the doc came back... hmm seems you have pneumonia!!! WHAT!!!! So come on tell me, who knew you could get pneumonia in a hot climate? I went home slept better but was still rough. The drugs that they gave me where nasty, bad for the stomach and brought on diaorea, not fun!!! So David and Juliet made it back from a romantic weekend in Naivasha and ordered a taxi to come and pick me up. I spent the week at theirs, resting and slowly recovering! I am soooo grateful to them, I’m not sure what I would have done otherwise. My appetite slowly came back, but to be honest its not fully back. I spent a week in bed resting, then decided it was time to come back to my house, prepare myself for work. Everyone said take your time, don’t rush.... but I was thinking I feel ok and I feel guilty for all the work I am missing. But they were right. Monday I woke up and felt groggy, I slowly struggled out of bed, lay on the sofa and then at some point mid morning hit the shower. I did pop in to Cheryls for about 30 mins, but thats all. Seems they were right, this could take longer. I have been amazed at how much this pneumonia hit me, I am still not 100% and I seem to tire easily, but I need to get on with things and prepare to return to the UK for a few weeks. Pneumonia hey, who knew? Now that’s a first for me!

FLYING KITES – in Nairobi there is heavy traffic, tall buildings, construction sites, rubbish, dust being blown around and smog that makes you cough, but amongst it all each day in the skies I see Kites flying. Its rather odd seeing a bird of prey swooping over the city streets, but they are big and there are plenty of them. So I guess at home we have crummy old pigeons, here we have beautiful Kites soaring over the city skies. A nice distraction in this frantic city.

CASH FLOW – so one of the key things I learnt doing business studies at university was CASH FLOW and keeping it in good health! I remember during Entrepreneurial Business we watched documentaries of businesses starting up and going bust in a short space of time, and almost every time it was down to cash flow. Businesses that actually were good and made sense, but it was their poor cash flow that killed them off. So at Cheryls thats our biggest challenge, we don’t have regular income at regular times to pay our bills and staff. We haven’t paid all the staff for last month and still need to find this month. January and February we need cash to send all the kids back to highs school and we are still short. Its really hard and thats one of my goals, through our child sponsorship programme to improve our cash flow... it might take a long time but I hope we get there. Also my own personal cash flow I am very much keeping an eye on at the moment as I cover Peter’s hospital expenses, we have spent over £3,000 and there will be much more of that to come! So far we have raise £6,200 and once I get this cash my personal cash flow will be eased as I replenish my minimal savings, but as we look to the future I think we will need to raise at least double that for Peter and his expenses. Cash flow, a good lesson learnt at Edinburgh Uni... yes I did pay attention in lectures.

READ ALL ABOUT IT – So Peter got his picture on the back page of the Daily Nation yesterday. This is one of the best newspapers in Kenya. On Saturday we had to go to hospital for blood tests and possible chemo. During the day there was an event for World Childhood Cancer Day. We arrived late, and I thought it was just an exhibition but we turned up to a small marquee filled with people in a circle, the TV cameras were rolling, I said me and Peter would just sit on the back row as we might not stay long, then I felt someone grab my hand, it was professor Macharia. He asked if he could kindly ambush me and that I sit with Peter on the front row. So we did, and the camera was put infront of us with the microphones....hmmmm... what am I supposed to say? So just for a couple of minutes I shared our story. I don’t know if it ended up on TV, but afterwards the press came to speak to us. Peter had his photo taken with Prof and it seems they ended up on the back page. It was an interesting discussion and I was constantly referred to as “The Daddy” by the host. People could clearly see I am not really, but in this role I am playing with Peter I am taking that part. I don’t truely feel I should be called that, I have many other people involved in helping, but much of the responsibility rests on my shoulders. Coming back to the UK worries me as I won’t be around for a few weeks and I need to make arrangements for Peter. But its a trip I must make.

£300 LATER – So last week we went for Peter’s chemo, his last one of the first cycle. We did the blood tests but found his White Blood Cell count was only 0.3 and it should be between 5 and 12. He wasn;t able to get chemo and needed to go on strong medication. Prof warned us its expensive and he would need injections for a few days. I went to the pharmacy to get the medication, and for 3 simple injections it cost me nearly £300. I was blown away! These are the hard things in this process, the costs and problems that occur that are not always expected. We can plan for the chemo visits, but when he got pneumonia (not from me) and when he needed these injections the costs rise, and thats what is scary, thats a challenge because we can’t plan for that, its also dangerous and Peter is at risk at the childrens home of catching more infections so we perhaps need to come up with another plan. The good thing is now when we go to the hospital everyone knows us, we walk in, people say hi, we seem to jump to the front of the queue, especially as Peter is at risk of getting an infection from other sick kids. The nurse just performed the injection for free at no cost (just had to pay the crazy £300!! For the medication). He has come on so well with the chemo and you can almost hardly tell he had a lump where the tumour is. Many people in the hospital comment and say didn;t the surgery go well, what a difference and I answer them by saying there was no surgery, its just the chemo. After 3 doses there has been a dramatic affect, even Prof is amazed. But we still have a long road ahead. Prof has decided to change our protocol for chemo. Instead of almost every week we are now going for a longer term approach, once every 3 weeks for about a year! Which in a way sucks because it will be a very long road ahead, but at the same time spacing out chemo means we get a break between hospital visits, means I can catch up with more work rather than working half a week in the office and the other half in the hospital, means when I come back to the UK I should only miss one round of chemo. Again this is all assuming there are no complications and infections. The road is long but Peter is doing well, being brave during every injection and knowing the hospital and the people makes life so much easier.

HEAT – Its now been January and into February and boy its hot, these are the hottest months of the year and its roasting.. not pleasant, very sticking and already the land is starting to dry up again, the fields slowly turning for a lovely green to that sandy brown colour. The power keeps going off as the hydroelectric power stations run out of water (not cool when you’re in the middle of watching an England rugby match). The environment is often in the news papers and being discussed by politicians as Kenyans realise that the mistakes they have been making over the past years are starting to directly impact them. No not green house effect, but the chopping down of trees, the increase demand in water in Nairobi and the waste everywhere. The sad thing is there is much talk, but the politicians aren’t really taking it seriously, there is a huge amount of greed in this country and the rich look to become even richer, which means raping the land and counting the dollars, not concerned with the future, because by then they will just move to another country and spend their millions and billions. Next month the long rains should come (they haven’t the past few years), but we pray for a good month of rain, but it always comes with a curse, with no trees the water floods, people die, so as the water of life hopefully hits the land we look forward to increase food production, perhaps a lower cost of food but also the safety of those caught in the floods.

COMING HOME – In just over a week I will be heading back to Blighty, time to meet with our charity over there, review the last 6 months, network with people and supporters, promote the work we are doing, seeing family and friends and then heading straight back into the thick of it here. I am looking forward to some cold weather... strange I know, but i miss the feeling of wrapping up in a warm coat, the fresh cool air on your face and seeing the steam come out of your mouth as you breath. Its funny the things you miss, but I’m not worried about the cold (well unless the pneumonia comes back!). Im looking forward to smooth roads, being able to walk around without fear, being able to walk around at night without fear, being able to drive and not worry about police check points and getting chance to bring back all the things i didn’t bring when I first moved here. It will be a good time I’m sure, not a holiday, but a chance to see folks and also reflect on the last 6 months. The boy is coming home.

SWINGS< ROUNDABOUTS AND MIRACLES

2010-01-28T00:37:00.001-08:00

SWINGS, ROUNDABOUTS AND MIRACLES – So thing have changed once again with Peter. For the last week or so he has just been getting on with life in Cheryls, apart from the large tumour on his head you wouldn;t really know anything was happening, he is still his funny and usual self. Peter has a great sense of humour and is always making everyone laugh. I have been buying him plenty of fruit to eat, lots of fluids and a bit extra food. The amazing thing actually though is how is tumour seems to have reduced in the last couple of weeks. It has been remarkable and so before seeing the neurosurgeon I thought we should go back and see the professor. He was astounded and it seems hard to explain! He ahs never seen anything like this before I think, he has seen non-hodgkins lymphomas go down fast but not like this and also tests indicate its not that anyway. So the decision has been made to keep going with the chemo for now and see whats happening, he will perhaps need surgery later but for now if the chemo works as miraculously as it has been then we shall continue. Peter’s case is being presented to the Tumour Board next week and I know the doctors are all very interested in it because its a bit of a mystery! I know lots of people are praying for Peter so perhaps are we seeing a miracle in the making?? I don’t know? But after the sad news of last week, perhaps there is hope!! I’m trying to just take each week as it comes, because the situation is constantly changing and we are swinging from one thing to the other. The hard times are still the hospital, yesterday he had his second run of chemo, and it was a painful day for him, he did struggle and in a way I think it eventually all caught up with him as he sobbed after receiving the 2nd lot of medicine. In a way I was pleased that he could express his emotion, if I was him I would be very unhappy, sad, angry and confused, I am sure he is feeling all these things, this just seems so unfair, but its important he can express that. He is such a good boy, but letting out your emotions is a healthy thing for him. It was an emotionally exhausting day for me and James too looking after him, but we found that a few very competitive games of LUDO cheered us 3 boys all up! Why does Peter seem to win every game??? Especially draughts, he pretty much beats everyone, even the adults!!

BUMPER CARS – ok so yesterday I had my first Nairobi crash, ok well crash sounds a little dramatic, I bumped a bus. Unfortunately the buss was in pretty good condition and had a good paint job. I was trying to pull out of the Cheryls junction, but the traffic was crazy on the way I was going, I decided the only way to get going was to move out and try and get in the queue (pretty much what you always have to do here, no-one really lets you out unless you push your way in). The bus should have let me through, but he decided to just go and force me off, I think he pulled slightly towards me and I let go of my brakes slightly and edged forward (partly because I was so angry he didn;t let me through) and then my bull bar touched the bus, scraping it slightly!! NIGHTMARE! Was sooo worried, it was my fault, but on reflection he was also his to a certain extent. But waiting for police to get involved is a nightmare. We talked, he spoke on his phone to the boss and I paid him some money for the paint job and we both left, annoyed with each other. My heart was racing after, but mainly because I was annoyed at myself. Oh well, could be the first of many, who knows, it seems to happen all the time with everyone! But its not much fun!

HIGH SCHOOL – at the moment many of our high school students are waiting to get back to school. A couple of the schools we were using we have since discovered are really bad schools so we are trying to transfer schools. For girls this is not so bad because in Moi’s time as president he built many schools for girls, but this has left the boys behind. We have 6 boys here waiting to go back to high school, but we are stuggling to find them. Also the cost per child is sooooo huge for us, its about £300 per term all included for the cheaper schools, but even this is high for us, as we have nothing in the bank at the moment for this. We have 6 boys to send to high school, plus lots more form 1’s who are starting high school this year. Its a massive pressure, and I was laying in bed awake at 5am this morning just wondering how we will manage it. I can;t wait for us to build our own high school and a lot of this pressure will be eased, the cost will be much less! As much as we are working hard to buy land to build for our future projects we still need to keep running things as they are, its an almighty task. The amazing thing is how keen they are to go to school and how much they want to work hard. Our children really value education and are disappointed when teachers aren’t performing well and pushing them hard. In a way its sooooo different from home, but here an education can bring you a real future, so its highly valued, but just expensive!!!

POLICE SQUAD – There are many check points at night time on the roads, supposedly looking for stolen goods, drug trafficking etc, but in reality all they do is take money from people and bribes. Well so far I have managed to avoid getting stopped, but the other day I was pulled over. This was at a police check point on the highway, yes the main large 2 lane motorway in the city, they force everyone to slow down and go through this barricade thing, its nuts!! But anyways i was stopped, he checked my insurance and said hello, pointed his torch inside a few times and then thankfully he let us on our way, at that point my heart started beating again! It is a big question for us living here, do you pay a small bribe, just to keep moving and avoid any hassles, but in the process help contribute to an already corrupt society, or do you stand your ground, risk going to court and paying a high fine. Its a big moral dilemma. On the one hand I want to keep my integrity but on the other I don;t want to risk too much and end up paying a huge fine. Its a tricky one, and in reality until I get my residency permit I don;t want to risk too much, but it is a moral dilemma that so far I have not been faced with, but I am sure at some point my luck will run out and I will have to make a choice!

STIMA – I have learnt that the Swahili word for POWER is STIMA. I want to know why does the STIMA always go off when its your day off and you want to relax at home watching some rugby on the TV??? In all seriousness the power going off can get really annoying. We cancelled our movie night at the kids home on Friday because the STIMA was off. Its just one of those things you have to live with here, but its soooooo annoying! If it does it during the 6 nations I think I will cry! (no exaggeration!)

CRIME – So the other day we had a thief in our childrens home. He was in the office going through Mary’s bag. She was down at the school and I hadn;t arrived yet. He was caught red handed. As I turned up there was a small crowd round him at the gate, some of the older boys holding him, Mary holding his arm, everyone shouting loudly in Swahili. I asked what was going on and was told. I thought i would be able to help but after a while realised i did not understand what everyone was saying so just left it as Mary called the police. Stealing is a very serious crime here and I had heard that in crowded areas people can lynch and kill thieves. Well Mary phoned the police, their advice was “just kill him and then we will come and pick up the body”. They couldn;t be bothered with the hassle of arresting him or the paperwork, so easier just to lynch him and deal with the dead body. Now I understood why the guy was so scared and crying, he knew he was potentially facing death! Its strange that even though you hear about stuff, still when you’re faced with it for real its a big shock. Samuel and I sat down and discussed it, we decided we should just make sure he is really scared and warn him off and then just let him go, we don’t want any blood on our hands. So just as we were about to let him go a policeman turned up and took him away. The whole thing was crazy and real eye opener into the culture here. I was pleased that Sam was so relaxed and we had both come to the same conclusion, it wasn;t worth getting upset about and causing problems, such as DEATH! But what it has done is raise concerns about security. We have become aware of people checking out our place and also that our fence is very poor. One of the things we don;t have is a day security guard, which is a problem. Its nice the kids can come in and out of the gate no problem, but we also have so many strangers coming to see us, asking for help and we know some of them will be criminals checking the place out. We have found some resources to put up a better fence and secure the property, but really we need a day guard, where visitors will sign in and out. It will be a shame for the kids as they will be leess free in a sense, but for their safety its what we need to do. But then we have the same problem, money, everything comes down to money, we need to find money to pay a day guards salary, until then we must wait, keep watch.

ARACNAPHOBES – just an update on the spider situation, well they seem to have gone for now. Its the dry season now, very very very hot and while there is no rain, it seems the baboon spiders are vacationing from my house somewhere else! So hope they are topping up their tans and eating plenty, then when the rains come I’ll be ready, watchful, armed with my DOOM spray and a shoe! But for now the spider wars are over!

The link to Peter's medical profile is below on a post, also for the building project as well.

PETER and CHRISTMAS NEWS

2010-01-19T06:06:00.000-08:00

So its been a long time since I properly updated the blog, but the way things stand I am still drowning in work and problems. So my solution was to throw up some photos of the christmas period so you can see what has been happening.

For the last month my main focus has been on getting us all through Christmas while Sam was on holidays and then focusing on Peter and his cancer. Added to all this we are sorting high schools for the kids which is a nightmare, expensive and hard work. I was warned January is a busy month but its crazy!!! Finding out that the Burns Night Ball fundraiser in Edinburgh was cancelled was like being hit by a train, the whole day I felt lost, disppair and tired that we seem to be facing more challenges, one after the other, its times like that when you just want to win something, one victory over one problem. But in that case I suddenly felt this huge burden fall back on my shoulders and with a fragile emotional state at the moment it was the worst timing.

But I need to soldier on, there is big work ahead and the next few months are serisouly important. We are close to signing the agreement for purchasing land which is a big step, we need to find the £180,000 and fast, without the ball this is going to be so much harder, but we can do it, its sooo important and definately the right step and the key to our future.

There is updated news about Peter, today is his birthday, but we had some tough news yesterday at the hospital, hard to digest and I don;t think it has really sunk in. I have written it in his medical profile, I have updated the whole thing so please do read it. You can download it here and see what is going on:

http://www.box.net/shared/n5bczce6v4

Its going to be tough and next week will tell us a lot about Peter. Please do pray for us, especially Peter. Thank you for the support and encouragement. I have not been able to keep up with much comunication this last month, just making short replies, but I really appreciate it. PLease keep finding out about Peter that definately helps me!! The thing that has amazed me is how hard it is to support him as a parent in the hospital, each time he has a lumber puncture you wait in the waiting room praying things are ok but knowing he is scared and in pain, then you need to pick up his spirits when the tears well up in his eyes as he gets tired of nurses and doctors constantly prodding and sticking needles in him, then trying to communicate in simple terms whats happening to him. But what has amazed me even more is just how hard true parents woudl have to work with a child with cancer. At the end of the day I go home at night, sleep in my bed, and a volunteer or lillian stays with him, while he is at cheryls and not in the hospital others are making sure he is ok, I am in awe of parents when there is only the 2 of you and you are taking care of a sick child, the emotional energy, the ability to keep going, that is awe inspiring and I realise that even when I struggle there are others working so much harder than me, they are the inspirational ones. The first time Peter went to hospital the girl next door must have been about 3 years old, stick thin, struggling with pneumonia. The mum was working each day, the dad was in the hospital for 2 weeks solid, 24/7, he was a hero, he nursed her, fed her, changed her, i admired his strength and ability to keep going and I am reminded I must trudge on, no matter what challenges we face, because sooner or later we will win one of these things!!

MONDAY and CHEMO

2010-01-11T06:45:00.000-08:00

Hey folks

So yesterday was a quiet day, most of the doctors off. We got the test results from KEMRI today after a few harsh words because they were messing us around, my stress getting to me a little. Then came to the hospital.

They have decided to treat it as Non Hodgkins and after much discussion have decided to hold off on the surgery after all and see how he does with Chemohterapy. So we have begun a treatment programme today. I'm currently sat on the bed while the drip delivers the chemo. He had another lumber puncture today and he certainly doesn;t like them, probably like everyone else, but hopefully over time he will get used to it. While he was semi sedated after the Lumber Puncture he had his eyese closed and started humming worship songs, was quite funny.

At the moment I feel a little relief now that we have a treatment programme and know what to expect for the short term future. We have a lot of money to raise so we need to work hard, but at least we know what we are doing. Hopefully he will be home soon for a few days and I can take a break which will be good, and then catch up on all the other work I have missed. At some point I will update the blog with what happened over Christmas, but for now hopefully that updates news on Peter.

If you would like to support Peter financially you can get contact details from the www.cwk.org.uk website and donate through them.

THINGS ARE CHANGING

2010-01-09T03:55:00.000-08:00

Hi folks,

its been a strange 24 hours and things have changed a lot at the hospital, I will try to mke sense of it here for you and keep it short.

Yesterday we eventually saw the neurosurgeons, after some more tests they decided not to go ahead with surgery and just go with the chemo. The plan was for us to be discharged Saturday moring and see Professor next week to discuss the long term treatment plan. However we were to keep an eye on Peter to make sure nothing changed.

So last night Lillian stayed with him, Peter changed and suddenly was very sick, vommitting and feeling dizzy. They didn;t sleep much at all. I came in very early and he was not well. This has now changed things again. The surgeons have had another look and are now considering surgery again. Also our main doc who's day off it is today came in and also called the professor (again who is supposed to still be on his holidays). He looked at Peter and the scans etc and he is thinkign that perhaps its not Non Hodgkins Lymphoma after all but another type of Tumour that can look like it but is very different, but that might not be good news. So again everything is still up in the air, the surgeons and paediatric doctors need to discuss and try to get an accurate daignosis. We desperatly need the test results from KEMRI but they still haven't produced anything. The plan now is that Peter stays in the hospital, may have some surgery next week if its deemed necessary, but will start some medication on Tuesday after more tests.

Its been very frustrating and confusing and also worrying. I am so annoyed we still don;t know but I am so glad we are here at Aga Khan because I knw we have the best doctors workin on him, it seems like its really tricky to fully diagnose. So we need to be patient and wait, and unfortately Peter will; be staying in the hospital now until things change again.

I will keep you posted.

k

EMERGENCY POST - UPDATE

2010-01-08T02:23:00.000-08:00

If you didn't read yesterdays post, read that one first.

Here is an update though for today. I'm sat in the hospital with Peter, he just had some lunch. Today he is having a few more tests, meeting the neurosurgeon etc. Hopefully the operation will be done tomorrow, so that will be the big day.

Thank you to everyone who has already responded, we really appreciate it and it has encouraged me so much. The great news is that someone has pledged £5,000 to cover the cost of this operation and also the previous tests, assuming everything goes according to plan this should be enough, so thats a great relief. We will still need to raise money for Chemo and any other future operations etc, so I guess we are now officially raising funds for Peter. Please do get in touch if you can help.

The big answer to prayer though is that this initial emergency is covered and for that I am so grateful, but we have long road ahead....

Will keep you posted.

EMERGENCY POST

2010-01-07T03:28:00.000-08:00

This is a very difficulty post to write, and I have been wondering for the last 20 hours on what to put. I’m sat in my office today knowing that for the next few days I will be sat in the Paediatric ICU at Aga Khan hospital with our boy Peter Ochieng.

Peter needs a serious operation around his brain and fast. We thought we had more time to prepare for this, but unfortunately nature has not allowed so and we need to move quickly. I have copied a link below which takes you to 2 documents which you can download. One is a short profile about who Peter is and the other is Medical profile which explains how we have got to this point.

I can’t explain how stressful life has been these last few weeks, and particularly dealing with Peter medical issue. I have questioned myself a lot on how we can deal with this situation. Right now we need to raise £180,000 to buy land for our future development for the home, we also need to find sponsorship for 170 children. With all the pressure of that I now need to find funds to provide for Peter’s urgent medical care. I don’t want to take away from fundraising for the land and for child sponsors and I would ask that if you were thinking of helping us with the land or sponsoring a child that you go ahead with that. This is extra, this is not about us as a Childrens Home, this is about a 12 year old boy, from Kenya, an orphan who has cancer and a brain tumour. If you want to find out more and possibly want to help please download these files and read them. Currently I am exhausting all my funds in my bank accounts to pay for his medical expenses, what choice do I have, at the moment if I don’t there is no other money. But my funds are running out fast. We need help, I need help, Peter needs help.

I am sorry for not updating this blog sooner, I’m sorry I have not replied to messages people have sent. I’m just treading water and trying to stay afloat. Please have patience and please forgive. But for now the focus is on Peter, he is actually the boy in the blue Tshirt in the photo on the right (from 2007). Here is the link:

http://www.box.net/shared/hvhkrjx6hc

NEW POST BELOW but here are some links....

2009-12-14T04:35:00.000-08:00

Hey guys, if you read the blog below this will make sense. Here are the links to download files about our building project. If you are from the UK download and use the CWK files, if you are from any other part of the world download and use the CHERYLS files.

You can download the files from:

http://www.box.net/shared/a2vdtvtjir

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K

MEDICINE MAN

2009-12-11T02:01:00.000-08:00

WHAT’S UP DOC? – So its been far too long since my last blog entry! Big apologies to all. One of the main reasons and most current issue is that I have been ill for the past couple of weeks. It started first with a lower back ache, which became very painful and I was starting to walk around like a ‘Mzee’ (An old Man). The most frustrating part was that the little ones at cheryls love being picked up and carried and it was hard trying to explain I couldn’t pick them up, in fact I still can’t, I hope they don’t take it personally!!! The good thing is 3 and half year olds have short memories!! The back ache continued, but then last week I started to get a cold, nothing major to begin with, a few sniffles and I was trying not to behave like a man, with man flu, but the cold got progressively worse until at the weekend there was a constant drip from my nose and my eyes... I was flooding everywhere!!! Ok it doesn’t stop there, after a few days I was feeling really down about the whole cold thing, you know they are not bad enough to really take time off, but they disrupt everything!! Everyone was concerned at the home, I was hobbling around with a bad back and sneezing (which causes excruciating pain in your lower back) with tissues coming out of every pocket and sleeve, I was a mess. Then earlier this week I started coughing and felt it move onto my chest. Oh no!!! I had flash backs to childhood memories of chest infections during the winter months, so even though I am in sunny Nairobi in the heat it seems you can still get chest infections before Christmas! ON Wednesday I headed to hospital to see a doc (not so dramatic, as you can go to hospital like going to a GP). I was struggling with my asthma, my back was killing and I felt very alone in the waiting room. With asthma, when its bad you start to panic a bit, which makes it worse, it was not a great time. I saw the doc, she reassured me and gave me some antibiotics which are now working. I also went to see a chiropractor about my back. It was in a random block of flats, a place recommended by a friend. I really wanted a physio, but can;t find one. The chiropractor seemed a little amateur and it was sooooooo painful! All credit to her she has helped my back a bit, but it stills aches. But I don’t think I will be going back. So here I am, its Friday morning, I’ve not been in work all week and its time to update the blog.

ST ANDY – I didn’t bother bringing my Dinner Jacket to Kenya, I mean what are the chances of needing it here while I’m working at a childrens home? So only after 2 months of being here I was invited to the Caledonian ball.. for Scottish people in Kenya... rats I need a dinner jacket. Well i was able to hire one and attended the ball. It was strange being in this big conference centre, surrounded by mostly white people. We had a little bit of haggis as a starter, flown all the way from Scotland courtesy of British Airways and DHL. There were speeches and a ceilidh band (also flown from Scotland) and for a few hours it was like being back at home, I very soon easily forgot I was in Kenya. The speeches were ok, the British High Commissioner did a very funny one about his stag weekend in Scotland, very open and honest I must say! There was a fantastic speech by a Kenyan diplomat who wore a kilt and looked fantastic, he was in fact the funniest of all. Even though for the most part it felt like home there were still reminders of being in Kenya, all the waiters were Kenyan and it was totally disorganised, there were some older white gentlemen with their young Kenyan mistresses and even some british army guys with some ladies of the night as their guests. As strange night, but fun, a touch of home is nice but I think next time I’m back in the UK I’ll be bringing my DJ back to Kenya with me just in case!

CANCER – The biggest and most challenging part of the last few weeks has been Peter. He is 12 years old and one of the orphans. He lost both parents and ended up with his gran who used to beat him. He only has an uncle who is a drunk. He was brought to us a few years ago by a pastor from the same village. Peter has had a lump on his head for the last couple of months, growing more and more. It was tested but inconclusive and then eventually he went for surgery to have it removed. He was in hospital for 3 days, I went to pick him up and bought him a man united shirt as a present (his favourite football team). I told him when kids are in hospital in the UK they get presents. He was soooo chuffed and it was great to see him smile. He held the shirt for a few hours and then as we got ready to leave he placed it carefully back in the packaging to take home, he keeps it for special occasions. The following week the results came in, its seems he has cancer. We were all hit by this, although I was kind of expecting it, it was a big shock. Cheryls has never been in this situation before. Its complicated and too long to explain in the blog, but there are various legal issues we need to deal with and consider how he will get some care. For me I want to make sure he gets the best treatment possible. We are the only people who can make sure Peter gets good care. I am slightly sceptical about some of the local doctors and clinics, they basically diagnose everyone with Malaria even when its clear they don’t have it, that worries me and makes me wonder how competent they are to deal with cancer. We are talking about cancer, its a very big deal, potentially life and death for Peter. I want to see if we can use the more expensive private hospitals, we may need to employ a nurse for him, he will need a special diet. The challenges ahead for us are huge and I am not sure where the money is going to come from but we need to find it for Peter’s sake. The weight of all this at times has been unbearable, there have been tears, a lot of this is now on my shoulders, in fact I am the one who has to tell Peter whats happening, at the moment he doesn’t know, but on Monday morning I am taking him to the hospice for advice, he will need to know by then. We are his family, we are one big family and it hurts to know that one of our family is going to face some very tough times ahead, but we will stand with him.

CHRIMBO – I wasn’t allowed to listen to Christmas music until after thanksgiving, a rule made by my American friend Dre. So I abided by it and on the Friday morning after thanksgiving the tunes came on! There are Christmas decorations up in the shopping malls, and a kind of Christmas tree tree sold by the roads. Sometimes you can even hear Christmas music playing in the supermarket. I have been to a Christmas carol concert and Juliet’s school’s 9 lessons and carols at the cathedral, but to be honest it still doesn’t feel like Christmas, its too hot!!! I have put a Christmas tree in my house, I’ll try and put a picture up on the blog in the next few days, its an usual one, but I have tried to make an African Christmas tree. A friend of mine across the road donated a fake tree and decorations for the kids, so for the first time ever Cheryls has a Christmas tree and decorations. The kids were so excited and it looks fantastic. I know I will be spending Christmas day at the home and I’m really excited about that, it will be strange, but I know we can give these kids a fantastic day. We want to collect as many presents as possible (most of them second hand) and wrap them ready for the big day.

FRIDAY NIGHT IS MOVIE NIGHT – As its now the holidays for the kids we are running activities with the volunteers at Cheryls. So there has been sports, arts, drama (a nativity play) and other things. One great idea Dre had was to have a movie night on Fridays. So I bring in my TV from home, its bigger than the one at cheryls, we put the sound through the PA system, we buy in sodas, popcorn and usually some other treats like icecream and sit down to watch a movie. Each Friday we have also celebrated birthdays too which has been fun. They are great nights and to be honest it only happens because of the volunteers, we all chip in some cash to buy the things we need, so no money is taken from the budget, its all donated by volunteers. The kids love it, and maybe we will just continue it every Friday, even during school time. I just wish we had a video projector or something, even with my TV its hard for 50 people to see properly.

ORGINAL FAKES – So on the theme of movies, I have started to buy some DVD’s. Now you can’t get proper DVD’s here they are all pirated and fakes, even the ones in the official record shops in the malls. Now yes morally perhaps we shouldn;t buy them, but then there is no real alternative and I decided that if the studios were bothered they would supply Africa with the genuine article, but as they don’t then fake ones are all we have. So I’ve joined the rest of Kenya and just gone with the flow. So far I managed to get hold of the latest 24 series, it cost me 80p. The quality is not great, but it works and after a hard day its great to catch up with some good TV. The funniest thing is that some of them are produced by a company called Alibaba and are from Dubai. On the inside of the cover they talk about only buying original DVD’s and they have all these indicators to prove these are original Alibaba DVD’s, yes thats right, to prove they are original fakes, because believe it or not, some people make fake copies of the fake copies. SO I intend to just buy original fakes where possible.

THE BROOKIE – One of my favourite spots in Nairobi and a true taste of home and a real treat is The Java House, a coffee shop that sells really good food. There are a few around the city and its just a nice place to hang out. IN the summer with our youth group visiting Kenya I invented a new type of Sundae. Java house produce a cookie sundae and also a brownie sundae, both are awesome, but i was thinking wouldn;t it be great to have a mix of the 2, and so The Brookie (Brownie cookie) sundae was born. Now since moving here occasionally we ask for one and have to explain to the waiter what we mean and on a number of occasions we have written on comment cards asking them to put it on the menu. Well the news came in this week from one of the volunteers while I was ill, The Brookie Sundae is now officially on the specials menu’s at all the Java houses in Nairobi! Now for all my achievements in life this is one I am quite proud of! So next time you are in Nairobi make sure you order a Brookie Sundae, you will love it!

IT BEGINS – Over the last few weeks we have been progressing with the building project and buying land. We have negotiated a good price with the land owner and each acre is worth £3,500, buying a total of 50 acres. We are looking to build a high school, technical college, farming activities, accommodation for volunteers and a village for the kids. Its a big project and will probably take the next 10 years. The biggest step is buying land. We are getting close to signing an agreement with the owner which means we will need to pay the 10% deposit and hopefully we can agree to pay the rest in 6 months. This doesn’t give us much time and we are under pressure now to raise this money fast. This is the biggest challenge for us, it will affect the next 10 years of work at cheryls, we need to buy this land, its crucial and £180,000 is a lot to raise. We have written a proposal to help people understand what we are doing and why, I will try and put a link to it on here soon. I am hoping that during the Christmas months as people feel very charitable we can start collecting some money, this is a crucial time, I know when January comes it will be harder to raise funds, post Christmas. We have had some pledges in already which is a great start, but we need enough for the deposit and then the balance. We need to do all this as well as find sponsors for the kids and raise money for the general running, its a crazy time and now the heat is on, we have begun to raise money. If you know anyone who would like to help with this, or you would yourself let me know, we only have 6 months to do it, but it will have a massive impact on the work we are doing.

POWER OUT – a common factor is the power going out, its soooo frustrating, and infact its gone out while I am writing this, I’m working off battery power so I need to sign off soon and get this posted before I lose all power. Its a sign of the city growing too big, the demand for electricity is too high, the power company can’t cope and without much water its even worse. Its part of ordinary life here, no power, but I don’t think I will ever get used to it, its soooo frustrating! The worst is when its your day off and you want to get up late, then you find the power is off so not hot water for a shower... still there are worse things in life, and thats the great thing about working at the kids home, when you start to complain and get frustrated you only have to remember the kids, and what they have lost. When I am around a lot of the white community in the rich areas most of the time the talk is complaining at this and that, and its true I join in at times, but I have noticed I don’t get as annoyed as most of them, I wonder if its because I am working with kids who have lost so much, how can we complain.... I’m not perfect, but I am glad I don’t spend my whole time in the rich white lifestyle in Nairobi, its nice to dip in and out and be reminded of home, but where I truly love to spend my time is playing with the kids on a weekend or late in the evening after office time, i feel constantly drawn to be there, it means in a way I am overworking and that may have led to me getting sick, but I am drawn to be there, with those that have so little, just to hang out, just to be together and the kids themselves express so much love. Somone asked me why our kids are so well behaved, how come they show so much love, I had to be honest and said I don’t think I can explain it, but perhaps its because they have a fantastic bunch of staff and teachers who are constantly demonstrating that love to them, they are learning it from the adults around. For me thats what makes Cheryls special, its what makes it different from other places I have been and visited, its why I want to be here.

PHOTOS AND NEW BLOG POST BELOW

2009-11-20T11:19:00.000-08:00

PRESSURE

2009-11-19T05:38:00.000-08:00

BURNING PEOPLE – So my last blog entry was just before bonfire night. Well over here us expats still celebrate the event, but with a big international community around here I had to explain what it was all about. Dre who is a volunteer here from California was quite shocked that we re-enact the burning of Guy Fawks and felt the burning of people on a large bonfire was unnecessary. On the 6th the choir from the home was invited to sing at a retirement village which is managed by my friend David. The kids were so excited. As we crammed them on the old little bus we have and packed my car full of kids we headed across the city. It made me realise how sheltered their lives are, they don’t travel much around the city... well they are still kids, so it’s not like we can let them just wander around the streets! They were chatting about all the things they could see. At the concert we arrived in the grounds of the retirement village. The grass was lush green, with well kept flower patches. The kids sang for about 25 “Oldies” as David calls them. I wasn’t sure what reception they would get from some of these old colonials, but i needn’t have worried. There was plenty of applause after each song, especially Bare Necessesities. After the singing there was time for mingling, sodas for the kids and PIMS for the oldies. It was great to see the oldies (some chatting in fluent Swahili) with the kids, and showing a real interest. We also had sparklers which was awesome! The kids had never seen anything like it. It was still light outside as it was only 6pm so the sparklers didn;t look the best. David had kindly organised chips and sausages for the kids, which was a real treat! Oh and I think we went through about 14 gallons of ketchup on the chips! After we finished I felt bad, there were so many kids left back at Cheryls who had missed the treat, so we made a plan. On the way home we picked up a few crates of Sodas, more sparklers, lollipops and let some of the kids help buy (they were amazed by the posh shopping centre we went to). As we returned back to Cheryls at about 8pm, music blasting out of my car stereo (Alicia Keyes, “No One” for the 20th time and singing from the kids on the bus), all the other kids came running out to greet us. They all stood in the car park area and I proceeded to show them a sparkler!!!! They were amazed, and as I saw it sparkle I realised how much like a magic wand it must have looked. They were all desperate for one. SO in an orderly fashion and with great care each kid had one, and a soda and a lollipop. It was a great atmosphere and the party kept going before it was eventually time for bed. A fabulous night and a great way to celebrate bonfire night and the burning of Guy.

THE 18,000 – Work at Cheryls never stops... it has been particularly hectic in the last few weeks and as I find myself settling in more I am becoming used more for speaking to visitors, and general people wanting to chat with Samuel and myself. In many ways this is great, but when you have a day of work planned it can be frustrating when you get home and realise you pretty much did nothing you originally planned. The great thing is the work is good and I feel a real sense of purpose in what I am doing. The hard thing though is still the pressure. The other day we ran out of money, nothing left in the bank, and as I speek the bank is still empty, we have money coming from the UK and the USA soon, but it won’t last long... the pressure can be great and sometimes I leave the office wondering how we will move forward. One of the biggest pressures coming up is fundraising £18,000 to put down as a deposit on the land we need to purchase to build the secondary school and income generating projects. This is a massive step for us, and actually we need to raise £180,000 which is huge, but right now we need at least 10% to put down as a deposit. We will then have 6 months to raise the rest. Its hard, because the plans are so right, they are needed and everything is waiting on us purchasing the land. The hard thing is knowing we need to raise this ASAP as well as money for the general running costs. So although we have 2 key aims at the moment: 1. Get at least 90% of the kids sponsored, to help with day to day running costs and number 2. Raise £180,000 to purchase land.... doing these both at once is hard and sometimes I leave to go home, feeling a great burden on my shoulders. Where will this money come from? Who will sponsor these kids? Who can do both? Can we do it in time? What about Christmas and the massive costs in January to send the kids to back to high school, buy uniforms, pay the new term fees? Its hard and sometimes I feel like crying, sometimes I get angry, sometimes i just need to sit quietly. But when I sit and wonder where will this £18,000 come from, I remember the kids, I know their stories, I see their happy faces and know we have been able to take them from a very dark place and bring them into the light and we need to keep doing this.

RUGBY – I was so pleased to hear from my neighbour, Mo, that she had a special kit for Tag rugby, from England Rugby and it needed a home. So without any hesitation I gladly accepted and on Sunday evening I attempted to teach the boys rugby. Now remember that these are young kids, and after asking how many had ever seen a rugby match, only 1 put their hand up, it was a tough evening! Just getting the concept of running and passing the ball back was tough, but after doing some drills they were slowly getting it. It was sooooo much harder than i though it would be, but we got some of the basics. Thankfully at the end the boys were still keen and want to do it again. If i can I’ll get them to watch a rugby match on TV which should help. The kit is awesome, it comes with some TAG rugby balls, Velcro belts which you attached coloured ribbons too. Its fantastic. By next year I think we will be ready to take on the All Blacks.... well maybe! The most beautiful part was the end, the sun was setting on a glorious Sunday evening and we headed back home, walking very happy that a real man’s game had been played!

SPEILBURG CONTINUES – so the filming has continued over the last few weeks. I have just finished editing 2 films for the launch of the UK charity on the 27th Nov. They seemed to have come over well, I still need to do one more and will need to send them by DHL on Saturday to get to the launch in time, so for those of you going, they will be fresh off the DVD burner! LOL Not sure I really qualify for the status of Speilburg, but the movies should really help get a glimpse of life in Cheryls, especially the one of the day in the life of a Foster kids. Michael and Geoffrey, who we filmed, were fantastic, they are the ones that make the film what it is. Premiering on 27th Nov at St Paul’s & St George’s.

ROAD TRIPS – Once again it was time to hit the Kenyan roads and head to pick up some of the teenagers who have finished school, just doing the form four exams. On Tuesday we headed to Lukenya to pick up Lillian, as I got out the car she came running over and gave a big hug. She was pleased to see me and Mary and it was great to be there for her. The teachers checked all her luggage, as they do with all the kids, to make sure they are not stealing anything (thats sad). We also picked up one of her friends and dad, who is a pastor. We headed home and I could see Lillian was glad to be back amongst her big family here at Cheryls. Wednesday we made a long trip up North. We went past Nakuru to the place where Mary is from, Njoro. Mary is our social worker. Her kids live up north with her mum and sisters so we went to see them, in a tiny remote settlement. Mud huts with a few chickens, dogs, rabbits (rabbit pie, yummy) and some land for growing vegetables. It was so peaceful. The sun was out that day and there was a glorious blue sky, with just the sound of the farm animals and birds in the sky. Her family was so welcoming and we were served with Chipati and beans, which was yum. After a few hours there we headed to Nakuru and bought some supplies for the kids. We also stopped at a high school to see if they can take some of our kids going into secondary school next year and also because we want to move some from bad schools. Unfortunately this one doesn;t take new people after class 1. We headed to Shiners girls school to pick up Maria, she had been waiting at the gate all day for us. The other girls from Cheryls came to say hi, and we chatted and laughed for a while. They cried when we left, that was the hard bit, and although we are not their parents, you could see that, yes, we are their family and it was hard to say goodbye. We hit the road again and headed to Shiners boys, this is a bad school and we want to get the boys out of there to other schools (and one day our own school), but today was all about picking up James. He was one of the first kids I remember from our first trip here in 2004, he has had a tough upbringing, but today was his last day in school. So excited to be going home he sat by the side of the road all day waiting for us (we didn;t reach him until about 3:30pm). We caught up with the rest of the boys, chatted and then again said goodbyes, once more tears welling up in one of their eyes (they will be home for school holidays though tomorrow). Back on the road again, we listened to music, stopped for chicken and chips and eventually made it home to big welcomes from the rest of the kids.

HANGING WITH BIG K – so one night, it had been a long day, i had a late meeting with Samuel, it finished around 6pm, and I had been feeling the pressures of the place. I decided to hang around a bit. I went to sit by the fire, those cooking dinner, we chatted, talked politics, African history and how to cook, they said stay for food, so what the heck I did. Ugali and spinach then we chatted and played some more. I sat with James, Lillian and Christine who is the house mother, we talked for ages, eventually I went home, at 9pm. Sometimes after a long day the nicest thing (although still exhausting) is just spending time with the kids, chatting and hanging out, this is family. It is at these times you feel most part of a family, these are the times others don’t see, the volunteers or any visitors, this is the ordinary, the everyday, family dinner time, chatting over the fire and the dining table. This was a good night.

THE BABY IS BACK – so the other week we had what I thought could be a baby tarantula walk on my veranda floor. I knew in fact it was not a baby, they are baboon spiders, a relative of tarantulas and thankfully not quite as big as the really big ones. Well yesterday I invited all the form 4’s who have finished school and the class 8’s who have finished primary school to hang out at my house. They seemed bored at Cheryls all day while the others were still in class. So i took them to my home, stocked them with crips, biscuits, food for lunch and sodas and a whole set of DVD’s. I went back to work, but came home later to find they had now moved on to watching Die Hard 4.0 having already watched the other 3!!! We decided to make sausages and chips, but the power wasn;t working properly so we cooked on gas in the candle light. Just as I was getting things locked up around the house, ready to take the kids back to the home, I was locking the veranda door and I noticed something down near my leg on the wall..... WOOOOOOHHHHHHAAAAA there the spider was, just hanging there, on the wall, the baboon spider. It had rained heavily that day and so its home was probably washed out. We got torches, and all stared... what to do??? Ok Im the man of the house, I need to sort it out.... or maybe I can get Charles, the guard. So I wussed out a little and went to get Charles and a broom. I figured I would brush it outside as it was right by the door... or if Charles was brave he would pick it up, its only a little bit poisonous (I think???). We took photos, the spider didn;t move... what to do... in the end Charles got a shoe and placing it very close to the spider, he began to apply pressure and gently swivled the shoe... that was the end of the spider and he brushed it outside. There was a mixture of feelings, relief, guilt for murdering the poor thing and questions about where his mates might be?? In my bedroom??? Hopefully not!

FINALLY GETTING HIT – there is always so much more I could write in these blogs, and really i should plan more before I write, often I pour out what I just happen to remember or be thinking. Life has been busy though and the pressure has been mounting. There have been long days and not much rest, busy times and proposals to write, money to find and kids to pick up from school, dvds to edit and kids to play with. Eventually at the weekend I was hit with a small bug, not an insect, but some thing that was going round and I needed to stop. I slept, I watched lots of rugby and forced myself not to go to the kids home. I’m finding I am there every day, and on my days off, I still find myself there, not always working, but it can be draining. Even when I find it tough I find myself curiously lured to Cheryls, there is such a positive feeling sometimes being there with the kids, they show so much love and there are so many laughs, it can be hard to stay away. But I know I can’t spend all my free time playing with kids and I know it can then affect my office work, I am weary, I am tired, but at the end of the day, when the big pressures come and the money is needed, the food needs to be bought and an £18,000 deposit needs to be found plus all the rest, spending time with the kids is the reminder and the driving force to keep going and never give up, because at the end of the day they deserve it.

Zipporah, Kieren and Pauline

2009-11-04T04:10:00.000-08:00

SCHOOL DAYS

2009-11-04T01:44:00.000-08:00

A BROKEN PROMISE – Ok so leaving the UK I promised to update my blog once a week, but unfortunately I have failed... oops! Sorry about that. Life has been very busy, but it has been good. Last week I had some visitors from the UK. Mark and Alice came out for 10 days to visit Kenya, work at Cheryls and visit their sponsored child in Kisumu and at the same time a volunteer called Clare moved into the hosue to rent a room. I spent most of the time hosting them, so that is my very poor excuse for the delay in writing the blog.

MATCH OF THE DAY – Over the last couple of weeks I have been watching the Cheryls Childrens Home football team. We have 2 teams, one Under 14s and the other Under12s. There name is “Young Tigers”, which I am not sure why, as there are no tigers in Africa, I think it’s down to a volunteer from long ago, oh well never mind, it makes them seem tough so thats good. They played a big tournament on Saturday. The refereeing has to be considered especially dubious, most refs seem to like standing on one spot on the field, judging crucial decisions from afar! Occasionally with some slightly controversial decision or if the game is heating up they decide to plod down the pitch a little to get a little closer to the action, but lets be honest, that was rare. We had our fair share of biased refs against us, but our older team made it to the final. It was just 5 a side, but it was riveting. The young tigers played against their arch rivals in the final, the rivals all dressed in a kit which basically represented the American flag... again volunteers am sure on their patch were responsible. Anyways our team took on the fake Americans but alas the game ended 0 – 0, it all went down to penalty kicks. In the game for the younger ones we lost out in the semi final to penalties, and I started to get suspicious that my Englishness was rubbing off on our team and I am sad to say it did again. We lost in penalties and came runner up to our arch rivals. It was a real shame, but the boys handled it well, hugging Albert the goalie and those that missed. Still the runner up trophy was big and shiny so there were plenty of smiles later!

JUST A BABY – so the other day I had some friends round. While we waited for dinner to finish cooking we sat on the veranda having some tea. The light was fading as the sun began to set. As we chatted away, sharing stories, updating each other on how things have been, David suddenly lifted up his feet and pointed and made a kind of “oooooh” sound. It was a baby, crawling along the floor, just under all our feet. Now for those who won’t come and visit me in Kenya, or are worried about coming because of creepy crawlies, just stop reading now and move on to the next story. For those with more inner strength and who can face their fears just read on. The baby moved up to the pole of the veranda and against the wall and into a small crack. It was a baboon spider, we think just a baby, because it wasn’t so big, just about 6cm in diameter (legs that is, not just body). The Baboon spider is a cousin to the tarantula family. We shone our torch on it and all lifted our feet, and wondered where he was heading? My worry was he was going down to my bedroom end of the house. The good news based on the reaction of people who have lived in Kenya for a while, is that they mustn’t be seen too often and well lets face it, there is more food outside than in, so I am sure he won;t bother coming into the house.... hmmmm.... at least I hope. Seems a good theory! Basically the rains seem to bring them out more, I guess they may live in holes in the ground. So if you are worried, just visit in the dry season. Anyways i haven’t seen him since (touch wood) so all is good, he was just a baby anyways.... where is his mum though???

THE FIRST OF MANY – What I expected to happen while working here at Cheryls, did happen last week. We get a number of volunteers coming to work at the home. I had anticipated I would end up making friends with the volunteers and then end up with a lot of short term friendships as they move on. Well it has already started. We were very lucky to have a girl called Jacks, who was from Canada and with us for a month. She was great fun to hang out with, brilliant with the kids and great around Cheryls. She has been such a star this last month, but sadly she was jumping on an Overlander trip down to South Africa. I helped her move on Saturday and get to the departure point. I was sad to say goodbye and had a taste for what is bound to happen more often. The strange thing working in another country is that you bond much quicker with people from a similar culture than perhaps you would at home. You are reliant on each other for many things, including just general chat with someone who probably understands where you are coming from. We talked about it, a group of us the other day, saying actually you can get close as friends quickly here, but then people are gone and in reality you may never hear from them again. Its great on the one hand and sad on the other. After dropping Jacks off on Saturday, I was sad to say goodbye to a new friend, but braced myself for more of that in the future. A small downside from life here in Nairobi.

WHATEVER YOU DO....DON’T RUN – This is the title of the current book I am reading, well in fact I just finished it last night. Its very funny and very easy to read. Its all the crazy and funny stories from a Safari Guide based in Botswana. It has been very amusing and a nice light read. Well during Mark and Alice’s visit to Kenya we did a little safari up to Lake Navaisha and Lake Nakuru. We spent some time in a couple or parks and I showed them the sights of up country. The most fun part was going into Lake Nakuru National Park in Ron (my 4 x 4). At last it was my chance to play at being Safari guide. The great thing about Nakuru is that it’s big enough to spend a few days exploring but not too big to get lost in and also very easy to see lots of animals (great for pretending to be a Safari guide). We saw all the usual , G-rafs, Zebbies, Wartys, impala etc etc. I knew we would see Rhino, but I didn’t expect to see so many, but thats always one of the biggies to show the tourist. We saw a lot on the first day, but none of the cats. I knew in reality we were highly unlikely to see any big cats in Nakuru, they have very few and unfortunately no Ellies either (but its a great park and not far from Nairobi). I didn’t want to disappoint Mark, Alice and Clare, so I kept our hopes up, but they wanted to see a Lion kill, i said that would never happen and I would eat my hat if we saw a lion killing something, knowing with 99% certainty we would not see that. In all my time in Africa I have never seen something killed. In the evening at the hotel we chilled out and in the shop I was speaking to some other visitors, trying to see what animals we had missed... “What have you seen today?” I asked a couple from England... “Oh we have seen everything, you know, lions, leopard etc”, “WHAAAAAAT” I exclaimed (aloud in my head), “Where did you see them?” I then asked, hoping to get an insight so I could scout the spot in the morning and try and find them for Mark and Alice etc, the answer was “Oh here in Lake Nakuru park”.... “DUH!!!” I had figured that out for myself, but realised actually they were just tourists being taken by a guide, they would have no clue where they saw them in the park anyways, they had no map etc. SO the next day we trekked out and based on an old painted picture I saw in the bar showing lions in the plains below the hill where our hotel was I headed in that direction. Ok so the painting was like 20 years old and I was sure the lions would have moved from the tree they were painted sitting under, it was still worth a look. That morning after 10 mins, we found them, we were the first out the hotel, the first driving in the park, the first to find them. The thrill of this is awesome!!!! It was soooo special, and I was so pleased Mark, Alice and Clare got to see them. I felt we were lucky, I have been in Nakuru a few times and the only time I have seen lions is a couple of furry golden yellow ears poking above some grass. Here they were laying under a tree in good view. As other tourists arrived we moved on, in the vain hope of finding a leopard (which we didn’t manage to find). And as our car pulled away from the lions, Alice piped up.... “right time to see a lion kill so you have to eat your hat”.... we left the park later that day, my hat fully intact with no bite marks!

THE BOYS AND THE GIRLS – on our way back from Nakuru, I managed to organise a visit for us to 2 of the high schools that some of our Cheryls kids go to. First Shiners Girls and then Shiners Boys. The girls school was big, with 1000 girls, in a nice area, looked reasonably ok, but the dormitories looked massive, I reckon at least 100 girls in each, broken down into sections, but still reasonably open plan. The girls didn’t really leave school at any time, they weren’t allowed off premises, but I saw some guys loitering outside the grounds (this one is close to town) and I am sure there is a little mischief going on now and then. We met 5 of the girls from Cheryls and brought them biscuits and crisps. They gave us a little tour, but I think they were shy, especially as everyone stared at the Muzungus looking around the school. It was great to see where they were though. We then headed down the road to the boys school and I met a very old friend. James, who I first met in 2004, he is now in class 4 and doing the equivalent of his A levels. He is also deputy head boy and basically turning into a great young man! James’ father killed his mother. They have been in the home for a number of years, traumatised by such a tragedy. But James is doing well, deputy head boy!!! He has such a big heart and is studying hard to get into university. He wants to be a politician, but not for the big bucks, power and the usual nonsense that Kenyan people go into politics for. He has a heart to serve those around him, he wants to make Kenya a better place. He is humble and a guy of integrity. If he makes it, it will be people like James who will change Kenya and get rid of corruption and greed in the higher powers. So James took us round and we caught up with some of the other boys from Cheryls, like John who wants to be a journalist. The school looked poor, not as good as the girls. The boys were busy doing their washing and as we came round to the boys dorm areas we saw glass from broken windows all over the floor. James explained that one of the boys had been beaten severely by a high up person on the staff, they refused to take him to hospital because they knew what would happen, so the boys rioted, smashing windows. The principal gave in and took the boy to hospital. He was still there while we visited. I was shocked. The dorms were horrible, cramped, noisy and it felt more like a prison. James explained that a lot of things get stolen, kids get bullied and the staff only care about the Sudanese boys who pay higher school fees. I left the place disappointed, for James especially. Here he was sitting the most important exams of his life, and surrounded by chaos he was able to keep his head, keep his morals and keep the respect of those around him and also focus on his exams. Part of my work here is to help find some land to buy so we can build our own high school. As we drove out the gates I felt determined to build a school soooooo much better than Shiners boys, a school we could be proud of, a school that these orphans and vulnerable children deserve, a school where no-one is bullied, where everyone is treated equally, where nothing is stolen, no child is ever beaten, a place that is beautiful, where children experience love, care and are driven to achieve all they can and a school where you can always hear kids laughing, that’s the kind of school James should be in and that’s the kind of school we will build.

JAVA JAVA JAVA – for those who have been to Nairobi, one of its greatest assets is the Java House, a coffee shop with a whole bunch dotted around the city. For western folk such as myself, its a little haven, a taste of home. Many of us, myself, friends and volunteers spend a lot of time there, chance to refresh and fill up our caffeine tanks. While some of the high school students were back on half term the other week I decided to take them to Java as a treat. They had never been, and when the ice cream sundaes came to our table I think some of their eyes nearly popped out! It was fantastic! They loved it. We sat and chatted and talked about school, life in Kenya, the politics and what they wanted to do when they grow up. Most want to do jobs like nursing, journalism, politics and law. All of them want to help their country. They are amazing children and every day I see what we are doing and feel so blessed to be part of an organisation that is making such a massive difference in these kids lives.

SPIELBERG – I wander around the slums, dressed in my classic muzungu dress, the big white man in shirt, khaki trousers and khaki boots with a big fat video camera. Today I am filming some of the foster kids for a short movie to be shown at the launch of our charity in the UK at the end of November. I have a lot to do, but i think we will make it. We walked through the slums filming the boys, generating stares from all the locals wondering who this white guy is filming. I felt intrusive and invading peoples lives, but I knew we were here to tell Michael and Jeffreys story. Their mums (both single parent families) welcomed us in to their one roomed shacks. I was humbled by their greeting and willingness to display their life to so many people. But I could see a pride in both their mothers eyes, in each house, for their boys, who are getting good primary school education and knowing that they were well cared for through Cheryls. As I continue to pretend to be Steven Spielburg what I hope is that this movie will show the difference Cheryls can make and what fantastic boys these 2 are. If you want to see the film then just go to the launch night, which I think is on the 27th nov, at St Paul’s & St George’s Church in Edinburgh.

DRIP DRIP DROP LITTLE APRIL SHOWERS

2009-10-19T11:15:00.000-07:00

I’M LAUGHING AT CLOUDS, SO DARK UP ABOVE – When you think of Africa what kind of image pops into your head? Beautiful sunsets, clear blue skies, scorching heat, dry land and a nice cold coke in your hand to cool you down. That’s the image that often pops into my head, or at least while I was back in the UK. Well this week the weather changed, quite dramatically, one day it was all blue skys above, now its grey, very grey and the rain has kept pouring, which is fantastic! The problem of dust which we have all been dealing with has now ended, I think I must have swallowed many kilos of the rich red dust, in and around the kids home, now instead of dust whirling its way into every nook and cranny, all over and in the car, through the windows of the office into the tiny gaps on the laptop, we now have thick sloppy mud EVERYWHERE!!! The last few days as I have been driving down the road I have noticed something different and that is mainly the number of people walking ON the road. Its hard enough dodging other cars as it is, let alone people as well. And then all of sudden the penny dropped and the obvious answer finally entered my brain; the pavements are all dirt, no tarmac so people were avoiding the mud. If it was me making my way through the muddy and wet streets of Nairobi on foot I think I would prefer mud up to my ankle rather than a bull bar of some massive 4x4 wrapped around my head!

MAMBO.....POA – So I have always admitted my poor skills in learning other languages, but it seems I am slowly managing to learn a little bit of Swahili, but not your text book Swahili, the every day Swahili that gives you a little kudos when conversing with your average Kenya Joe. Mary in the office is always trying to teach me new things but probably the best phrase so far has been MAMBO... which is responded with POA. I have used this a number of times on people I just happened to meet and they look at me with shock and disbelief and then they smile and we both laugh. Works a charm every time and my hope is that maybe, just maybe this little phrase will separate me from all the rich embassy and big NGO Muzungus.

LIKE A BAT OUT OF HELL – I moved into my new house a week ago, and it was a very strange experience, suddenly being all alone. Monday night was odd, but I coped, I cooked myself some food (didn’t taste that great, bit out of the habit) but I’m still here so thats good. Tuesday night as i had not seen them for about a whole 36 hours, David and Juliet came over for dinner, along with Mo, who lives across the road. We had drinks on the veranda (the sun was still shining at this point), and then Chris and Maia (my next door neighbours, they live in the guest house on the same plot) to say hi, so I invited them to stay. Ok it was me cooking again so I had to step up the game a little, so I brought out the big guns, Pesto, Bacon, Mushrooms and pasta, always a winner (and very easy!). We all had a great time and spent all night pretty much out on the veranda chatting. So David and Juliet stayed over as they live so far across town. The next day we all headed off to work. And that night I wanted to collect one of my birthday presents from across their side of town so I was invited to dinner back at David and Juliets. Hey it had been at least 10 hours since we had seen each other!! So whats this story really all about, and all the bat stuff.... well here is a parental advisory warning, if you are easily scared, or you are related to me or you are thinking of visiting don’t read the next paragraph, just jump down to the next wee story..... anyways back to Wednesday night, in the area where David and Juliet live there are many UN workers, Embassys, NGOs etc and there are some times car jacking, where they steal your car, or worse, kidnap you and hold you for ransom, so basically not a good area to drive around at night on your own. I could have stayed at their house, but with visitors arriving the next day I wanted to get home and get the house ready. I decided to leave at 8:30pm, so not too late, but lets be honest I was pretty nervous. I had a plan though, and this will be called ‘Kierens plan to foil all car jackers and generally nasty people while driving home, whilst probably being a useless plan’ plan. So the plan involves driving as fast as you can, with full car beam headlights on to dazzle everyone and anyone and wearing a hoody to hide my white skin whilst playing the fugees really loud through the speakers so perhaps by some small chance I myself might seem like a car jacker or a gangster and then everyone would leave me alone. I don’t know how great this plan is, but what i can tell you is I made it home safe and sound. Most people probably thought what is this crazy muzungu doing trying to drive his 4x4 like a rally car through the streets wearing a hoody and sweating hugely due to the heat listening to rap music??? I have now decided in future, just stay over, much better option. And for those of you naughty people warned not to read this bit... don’t worry, it all sounds worse than it really is, you have more chance getting knocked over on the roads back home than getting car jacked here! (maybe?)

BARCLAYS – Just a quick shout out to Barclays bank. I plugged Robs book the other week (Cycling home from Siberia.... look there is another plug for Rob, great book, I’m almost finished!), so here is a plug for Barclays: I am not a customer, don’t work for them, don’t know anyone who does. On Friday I walked into Samuels office to find 3 well dressed young men in Barclays ties and jumpers, all smartly dressed and certainly looking like bankers. I was told they were coming the next day to do some work at the home. Samuel was going to be away on Saturday, but I said I would be around, and would be bringing my own visitors (Mark and Alice) anyways. I expected it to be another, ‘lets worship the corporate day’. In fact it was AWESOME. About 30 – 40 people came from branches all over Nairobi. They brought sweets, an amazing lunch, tools, paint, trees for planting, sports equipment, schools supplies and very very big smiles and plenty of laughter. They cleaned the class rooms, planted trees, ran career mentorship meetings with the older ones (many of these guys had come from poor backgrounds before becoming bankers). We worshipped, we danced, we played loud music on the PA, we laughed, we prayed, we presented, we ate an we all had a fabulous time. They all wore bright blue T shirts with Barclays on, but apart from that, there was no plugging, no official photos, the whole focus was on the kids. I do believe many of the Barclays staff were moved by the whole experience. They were so relaxed and so much fun. So all praise to the corporate, Barclays, on Saturday at Cheryls Childrens Home you rocked! Thank you! (for your info, apparently Barclays do this kind of thing, on this day all over the world... I wonder how many other groups enjoyed their day as much as we did?).

GUTTED – So its raining, a lot! Currently we are paying for water each week for the kids home, we have to buy it in and its expensive. What we need is some guttering where we can channel the rain water into our tanks. We have the tanks, just not the guttering. There are so many financial priorities at the moment, many of the kids are getting ill, because of the rain, and when money is short who can afford something as simple as guttering. Well we were so chuffed when one of the current volunteers offered to cover the costs! AWESOME! They started today and the guttering will be going up in the next day of so. We can collect rain water, save some money and maybe help the old environment a little bit too, so not really gutted about all that!

THE PLAN – Why do I always leave the most important stories until the end... do people even read this far down the blog? Probably not. Anyways if you have, consider yourself privileged to read the most important bit. The pressures on the home are immense, cash flow is always an issue and once we pay one bill, i feel great, only to discover we now need to find money to pay the next thing. That I have to say is slightly depressing! But we have a plan... the home already does a little bit of child sponsorship, but do to moving money globally etc the cash flow is not always great and we only have 28% of the children sponsored. We have worked out a new plan for sponsorship and are currently working on the finer details so we can get it going ready for the Cherish Watoto Kenya official UK charity launch later in November. If we can get 100% of the kids sponsored that would mean the running costs of the whole project would be covered, including future staff that need to be employed in the next 12 months. That would be awesome. Its a mighty task, its a lot of children, but if we can achieve this in the next 10 months or so it means we can focus on developing the bigger picture. This is the plan, its exciting and if we get their it will revolutionise Cheryls. It will mean staff will get paid every month, as opposed to when money is available, bills would get paid on time, and we wouldn’t have the same money pressures everyone week. For Sam who has run this place for the last 10 years I think he needs a break from these money worries, it would be great to give him that next year.

AND THE WINNER IS – Thank you for all the entries to the competition for naming my car. If you look at the pics way below you can get a wee glimpse of it. Now there were many good suggestions as well as some rubbish ones... and although you are meant to give cars a girls name I have to announce that Claire Oxenham (and Amy too I think) have won the competition and will receive a free guided tour of Nairobi in my car, at any time of their choosing (flights not included, but accommodation is). My car shall now be named, hence forth: RON.... and for those wondering why, well my car is a burgundy colour, a little bit big and clumsy in driving and well is basically a legend... just like Ron Burgundy from the film ANCHOR MAN, one of my fav films of all time. So well done Claire (and amy), congratulations.... and well for me thats it, again too much to say in this blog, there have been many more adventures, so for now all I can say is “Thats all from me, I’m Kieren Barnes, you stay classy San Diego”.

THE CITY THAT JUST KEEPS GROWING

2009-10-12T08:36:00.000-07:00

STORIES – For the last week I have been chatting with Mary and Samuel about the children staying here at Cheryls. In my office I have some photos on the wall of some of the kids. Each time Mary popped in the office last week we would chat about some of the kids I know. Each one had a story. Each story was in many ways hard to believe. When you see the child today it is hard to imagine that they went through such trauma and yet are so happy now. That is Cheryls Childrens Home story. Broken lives being cared for and healed. The stories of the children who actually live here are often about physical, sexual abuse from the home, parents who have died from AIDS, violence or just extreme poverty. There are some children who have seen their parents killed in political violence, some who have had one parent kill the other, some who have lost both parents and ended up with a grandmother who would beat the children badly. These are not happy stories, but they are real. It disappoints me when some organisations are against children’s homes. Most of these kids have been abused and suffered traumatic experiences, their homes are unsafe places. Here they are protected, cared for and given a future. The majority of children here are in foster care and many of these have also experienced horrific stories, but for them fortunately they have a guardian who can take care of them and through Cheryls they can be supported. The aim is always for a child, where possible, to be in a regular household, but for some that can’t be the case. For those kids that have been rejected, those kids are welcomed here with open arms and are part of this large family. This last week what struck me were the stories, so many...

DIRT – The quest for land seems to be the hot priority for many people in Nairobi. The city is bursting at the seems, flats popping up everywhere and as each new development goes up the question ‘where does the water come from to service the flats?’ seems to be ignored... just keep building building building. At one time people probably thought the streets of London were paved with gold, it seems that many feel Nairobi is paved with some precious jewel also. The truth is the streets are paved with dirt, the lack of rain is crippling the city and its just getting worse. The football pitch the kids play on for some of their matches just up the road is now pretty much sand. The Masaai bring in their cattle to the city centre to find anywhere for their skinny, dying cows. The other day on the way to work I had just passed Death Junction and moved to the next busy crossing, it was rush hour, and there a herder was driving is cattle across the dirt covered walk ways. A cow stumbles into the middle of the cross roads and for just a brief moment the cow becomes the priority for getting through the traffic, hey it even stopped a Matatu driver! As the city grows water will just become a bigger and bigger issue. In the UK we talk about the weather all the time, how it will be this day, it rains too much, we are cold. Here all the talk is about rain, when will it come. The word is that this year there will be an El Nino (spelling???), which means seriously heavy rains. Sounds good, but the truth is if it does come many people will drown in flash floods. It will be both a blessing and a curse. The dirt is so dry the water will just run over the top, clearing everything in its path. The trees have gone, no-one is planning for the future. But for now at least my clothes, my car, my computer, my bag, my skin... all covered in dirt (and I think there must be about 50 kgs of dirt in my lungs).

RALLY FOR ANY LADIES? – Ok so I have mentioned I keep meeting interesting people, this week I met a lady at David’s retirement village. She was hilarious and absolutely brilliant. A muzungu (white) lady, had broken hips and struggling to walk, but a wicked send of humour. We had sundowners (well basically drinks when the sun goes down, which is always between 6 – 7pm every day). Afterwards David pushed her back to her chalet in the wheelchair and she asked me to accompany them. She invited us in and their on the wall were 2 massive collages of pictures of this lady through the years driving rally cars around Africa. It was incredible, each picture obviously had a long story behind it, but clearly she was very brave and courageous. Thankfully her mind is still sharp, she seems to be quite cheeky and we had a very fun evening, but the last thing I would have guessed her to have been was a rally driver.

ROAD TRIPS – My biggest task here in Kenya is to help buy some land to build a secondary school, technical college, guest house, farming facilities, income generating projects and much more! So land is expensive.... too expensive. Last week we did a couple of road trips to see some areas. The first was on the other side of the Ngong hills, about 20kms from Cheryls. The last 8kms though are dirt track and take a while (was fun to do a bit of off roading in the 4x4). Its basically on the other side of the hills and well what can I say... there is nothing there. It was just masses and masses of land as far as the eye can see. A few little huts were dotted around here and there, but this was virgin land... and there was plenty of it. Interesting, too isolated maybe, good water supply, when will the road be tarmac’d??? Lots of questions. We met a masaai/kikuyu who was selling the land. He stood ther, must have been in his 50’s at least, worn trousers, walking stick, old jacket and this was his land to sell. He will make a fortune from it when he does sell and I just wondered what he would do with the money, will he actually even use it? A comparison would be for me to become a billionaire overnight. Interesting. But land is of extreme value and everyone wants it. The other road trip was out to Athi river, Kitengela and Kiserian. We were gone for about 6 hours.... it was a long road trip, but we did some research saw the areas. The crazy thing for a lot of the time we were driving past empty land... most of it bought though in small packets such as an acre, half an acre, quater of an acre. But what amazed me was there was nothing there!!!!! And the land is worth £10,000 an acre. The roads are being improved and everyone expects the land to be used, so they are buying it all up, but not doing anything with it, but thats just pushing the price up. Will the bubble burst? I don’t know, and in many ways I doubt it. But it means for us buying land is going to be a huge challenge. People think Africa is cheap... have they ever come to Nairobi?

WHAT NAME – So quite a few people have put in names for my car, some very good ones, some totally obscure???? But basically I’ll give you 1 more week and then I will announce the winner. So keep sending in your entries... sounds like I am going to give a prize out, but that might be tricky....hmmmm if you win I’ll give you a free tour of Nairobi in the big 4x4. So send them in, and winner announced next week.

THE MAMA’s – Just before coming to Kenya, me and some chums went to see Coldplay at Hampden park. Coldplay are my favourite band and it was a special night to say goodbye to some good friends who were with me. As we left we commented on how that will be the last time for a long time before I see such acts and go to a gig like that. Well in fact it was a really long time... a whole 4 weeks! This year Nairobi was the proud host of the MTV Africa Music Awards (MAMA’s). I had seen bill boards around the place advertising it and a friend of mine suggested we tried to get tickets. They were quite cheap for what it was, only about £18 (which for a gig is extremely cheap). I doubted there would be any left, but eventually we found one of the outlets were they were selling and we went. So we went to the MAMA’s on Saturday night. I tried my best to dress up and look cool.... I failed... but Clare who I was with looked glamorous as did many of the other people their. The night was full of the who’s who of Nairobi, but mainly Kenyans, which was great to see. It was an awesome night and I just couldn’t believe we were there. It was in a sports indoor arena, probably the only one of its kind in East Africa. We saw Wyclef Jean present and perform, Akon and a whole load of fantastic African artists. So if you have MTV, have look for it on MTV Bass channel I think and see if you can spot us. I think now I can safely say though, it will be long time before I go to another major gig....

LILIAN – On Saturday morning, praise the lord it was a public holiday. The roads were quiet. Mary and I headed down the Mombasa road, past Athi river to a place called Lukenya. We were going to Lukenya Girls High school for their annual prayer service for the Form 4’s who are about to take their finals. Lilian is about to take hers. She is 18, one of 4 children taken in to Cheryls after her father died and just before her mum sadly passed away. They were living in extremely bad conditions, in a room without any beds. Lilian has recently finished being head girl and is hoping to do nursing next year. She wants to serve and help others in Kenya. She is confident, funny and intelligent. She was so pleased to see us, she had no clue I was coming. The service last 4 hours.... i did struggle at times in the heat but made it through. As we sat there I saw all the different parents coming in with their familes to support the girls and in a way it only dawned on me then, we were their for Lilian, we were her support, we were her parents. Although I had not seen Lillian since our 2004 trip with church she remembered me and i felt honoured to be their to support her. I was the only Muzungu and well a lot of heads turned when we arrived, but for Mary, Lillian and me that didn’t matter. It was a great day, she showed us round the school, had some lunch and then we left. I will go and pick her up from school in November when she is finished. It was a very small gesture on my part, but a very special moment and a real privilege to be there.

LEARNING THE NOISES – So yesterday was a very sad day. I moved into my new house. I am thrilled to be able to use David’s dads house as my new home, it has some spare rooms which is great for guests and volunteers, it has some furniture which has made things much easier, David and Juliet have already got bills sorted etc for me to pay, its been amazing....BUT... I think all 3 of us have been enjoying spending time with each other these last few weeks, and I think we all felt a little sad when they left yesterday afternoon and I was then alone in the house. We were so sad about it that they are coming round for dinner tomorrow night and I’m going there on Wednesday night!!! LOL. But the house is good. Last night I locked up the house and went to my new bed. To be honest i hadn’t really unpacked so it was all a little strange, especially suddenly feeling alone. As the night went on I heard all the sounds of living back in the middle of a city, dogs barking, kids yelling, dogs screaming, cars, people talking, dogs really yelling and the strange noises of this beautiful old house. In many ways this house displays where the city is heading. Its on about 1 acre of land. At the back at the bottom of the garden there are some large apartment blocks, over looking the house, all around buildings are starting to come down, new apartments rising, WATER???? ANYONE???? ANSWERS???? One day this house which has been here for at least half a century will be gone. In a way the new apartments are a sign of economic growth, the creation of a larger middle class, which is great.... but the resources of the city are limited, at some point there will be no more water, no more electricity, and there is still a great deal of poverty, resulting in crime. I lock so many doors in the house, infact this will soon become a nightly routine. The house over the road, belonging to Mo was robbed the other week while she was in South Africa. Crime is on the up. But for now, I will have the fortunate opportunity of spending time in the last days of this house, before it too will be knocked down and flats, or offices built. This is now home.

PHOTOS – Lillian and THE MAMA’s posted below, check them out:

PHOTOS

2009-10-12T08:22:00.000-07:00

THE WORK STARTS HERE

2009-10-05T08:37:00.001-07:00

HEIGH HO, HEIGH HO, HEIGH HO – so I’ve started work, one week done, chalk it off. I finally made my way to Cheryls on Monday morning, through the busy traffic to start my new job and new career really! Everyone has been so welcoming and arms were open wide ready to receive me. As with any new job, I think you always spend your first few days not really sure what to do, aware that all those around you have busy agenda’s for the day and you’re not wanting to become an extra burden. I spent most of the week chatting with Samuel, starting to meet some of the staff and start to add more pieces to my already part built jigsaw understanding of Cheryls. I am also getting used to a totally different working environment. I now have an office of my own, as opposed to working in an open plan office with at least 2 others. It takes a bit of getting used to, but at times the space is nice, but at times I leave the door open just to hear the other sounds from the home. Its weird in many ways we don’t see the kids much at the top end, they are all busy doing school, so during lunch breaks I have wondered down to see some of them and the rest of the staff. Earlier in the week they were shy, would always say hi, but there was always an element of curiosity in each of their eyes. Today though I headed down and they were busy helping move the teachers into their new staff room and many of them were chatting with me and little Pauline was being nice an cheeky which was FAB! Its taken a week, but I have realised I need to just jump straight in, don’t wait for work to come, everyone is so busy already, just go out there and get it, help out, roll up the sleeves and start singing, HEIGH HO, HEIGH HO....

BULL – This week, much of my time has been getting my wheels sorted for cruising on the city streets of Nairobi.... hmmmm... I say cruising I actually mean, crawling along the city streets of Nairobi as I make my long journey to work each day now in my new car. Ok for the girls the all important answer to the question you will ask: ITS RED, and for the boys the all important answer to your question: ITS A NISSAN TERRANO. Its a big thing with a massive BULL BAR on the front. I think I have managed somehow to pick up a bargain (although it has come with a few beaurocratic headaches, but more on that later). It has had low mileage and for the price I was figuring it must have something wrong with it, but its just had service and its all running smooth, so great! So on the one hand I’m sad I have join the masses of big fat muzungu 4x4 drivers..... sorry thats not right, I mean big fat 4x4 muzungu drivers (muzungu meaning white man). We move round the city streets, locked up in our big machines, windows up, doors lock, valuables hidden, driving from one place to the next, to the next, never getting out to walk oh yeah and checking we have locked our doors every 5 minutes. It makes me sad and often I find myself laughing at them until I suddenly remember I’ve become a fully fledged, signed up, bought the Tshirt member of the club. As much as I mock them and realise I’m one of them, I know actually in many ways its necessary. The BULL has taught me this week who ever has the big car with the big BULL rules the road. Since driving the TERRANO (oh yeah I need a name for her, my new car, she is burgundy red and is big and has a shiny bull bar, and well yes needs a name, any suggestions???? Facebook, or text etc....) anyways where was I? Hmmmm... oh yes, since driving her I have managed to get my way through traffic much easier. So although I have joined a club of which I am ashamed, I know it’s the right thing and I’m just that bit safer.

WINDOWS – So a quick word on driving. As the week had progressed I have become more comfortable driving in Nairobi (touch wood). As the traffic wizzes past at a junction I’m getting better at spotting the windows of opportunity to pull out. In the UK at a junction when you pull out you must make sure that there is a MASSIVE window of opportunity, you must never make someone else have to slow down etc. Ok so in Nairobi the windows pretty much don’t exist, if you wait as if you were in the UK in rush hour you would not move for about 1 hour (no exaggeration). Here you make your window.... or at least find the smallest, slightest, tiniest gap and then you go, if the other person has to slow down, so be it, if they have to stop (because you have forced them to) so be it, its the rule of the road, well actually there don’t seem to be many rules on the roads here. So at crossroads, there is no right of way, no first person there goes etc etc you just go when the window comes or when you make it come. The problem now is I’m spotting the windows and getting frustrated at other drivers infront of me who don’t take them.... road rage, the universal road language of the world!

CECIL – Once again I’ve had an interesting week of meeting new folks. One of the most interesting evenings was after watching a presentation of a trip to Mongolia at David’s work we went to the club they are members of, for dinner with a lady called Robyn. Her father is Eric Cecil, an incredible gentleman who is living in the retirement village where David works. He has had such an amazing history and really you have to read the book about him, yes that’s right he has biography written about him, not sure what its called, I’ll get a copy, but google his name and you will find it. We sat and had dinner with Robyn and her stories were fantastic and then we quizzed her about her own life which was also intriguing. Such a nice lady, such a fantastic family, I felt once again blessed by such an unusual night out. I know this is pretty rubbish blog entry as I have really told you nothing about it.... but seriously get the book and you will see!

SIBERIA – ok as I’ve just been talking about books its time I told you about what I am currently reading.... yes thats right for those of you who know me really well you will remember I don’t tend to read much... well I’m reading loads here, mainly because this book is awesome. “Cycling Home from Siberia” by ROB LILWALL. I went to uni with Rob, we were in a ceilidh band and he is just an awesome guy I have had the privilege of knowing. Sadly in post uni life I didn’t stay in touch much, but before I left the UK I had an email about his new book. You think I’m brave, well Rob went to Siberia with his bike and cycled home taking a number of years to do so. His book has just been published, you can get it from Amazon, Waterstones etc etc and it is FAB! I can’t put it down as the old cliché goes. I recommend this book to all, one of the best, fun and most interesting books I’ve read in ages. David and Juliet often find me chuckling to myself as I read another story of his incredible adventure!

SEEING RED – at some point in moving to Kenya I knew I would hit some red tape and Kenyan beaurocracy and on Friday it happened. I have to get a PIN number to buy things like cars, its all to do with tax registration etc, dull dull dull, so just let me skip some details that will bore you. So we went to get the PIN from a government building, he then said we had to finish getting it online... rats....off to find a internet cafe, wend to the building next door which had tiny little offices that help you get the PIN online, takes too long so we say we will come back. Back to the gov building to sort drivers licence (after 3 months my UK one won;t be valid). Filled in the paperwork, queued, find out need my residency permit first. Back to the other building to get the PIN, Got the PIN and head back to the gov building and queue to get my car registered over to me (still need a name for the car!!!). Guy behind the counter looks at the copy of the documents and with a big red pen puts a line through the copy of the ID card of the previous owner. “ITS A FAKE” he says boldly and sits back in his chair. WHAT!!!!!! I ask, I don’t understand, why do you think its a fake (we can barely hear each other through the glass). “This typing is wrong” he says pointing to her name. “Why do you think its fake?” i ask feeling totally confused and a little bit worried! He just points to the card and says its a fake. I question some more, I just don’t understand and eventually he says he will now keep the documents and not give them back. WWWWHHHHHHHAAAAAATTTTTTT!!!!! We push a bit more until he says we should talk to a supervisor. We head to another desk with a seriously confused look on my face and carrying 2 buckets of sweat in my hands.... I’m getting angry, upset and hot!!! RED RED RED RED! I see them talking in the back and eventually another guy comes through. “Hi, how are you today?” he says in a calm and welcoming voice. “I’m very well (am i????). How are you?”. “Good” he says. “Now here is the problem” he starts, as he points to the photocopy of the ID. “The name on the ID doesn’t match the name on the logbook. AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH cher ching (thats the sound of the penny that proceeded to drop). The car belongs to Johns wife and of course the log book is in her maiden name and the ID card is newer in her married name. Now I get it!!!! Why didn’t the first guy just say that???? Hmmmmm problem, they now live in Canada? The nice gentlemen says “Look its no problem, just get them to see a lawyer, sign an avadavat and then send it over, that will do. Still a little tricky but at least we have a solution. Red tape...I think there will be more to come, just the tip of the iceberg.

PLUGGING THE DAM – I’ve discovered that living here will, in some ways, present more a of challenge than I first thought. On Thursday last week, when we were at The Club having dinner, I sat with my fillet steak on the table (courtesy of Robyn who was taking us out for dinner!!) with tears welling up in my eyes. That day I had started to learn more about the current needs at Cheryls. I felt like I had been hit by a train, emotions brewing all day. A girl called Deborah came to the office. She has finished secondary school and is trying to sort her next step. The oldest of 3, her father left when she was 7 years old, her mother can’t cope and provide so Cheryls has been supporting her. She is now 19 years old, the whole family live in a 1 room type thing in Kibera. She has done well at school and wants to do nursing at uni and hopefully transfer to do medicine and be a doctor. We talked about it all, perhaps she could get a scholarship to the UK or USA but the chances are slim? We talked about fee costs for a local uni, it may cost about £1,000 a year and that would pay for uni costs. As I sat eating my steak and really enjoying the time with Robyn and hearing about her father, in the back of my mind I felt incredibly guilty and upset. £1,000 per year, that’s nothing in the grand scheme of things, that money could help Deborah fulfil her dream, it would transform her life, her family’s life and would provide Kenya with another fully qualified female nurse or doctor serving the community. I am living in this Muzungu world, with a good car, good house, nice clothes, a rich lifestyle compared to most of the people I am surrounded by and working with. Yes I know I need the security (its part of the curse of the colour of my skin) and I need space and some comfort in order to do my job, but the guilt started to set in that day. How can I get this money for her and get her to uni? But it doesn’t stop there, we are short of money for food, because of the drought there is no spare food and very few donations of food. The electricity bills have risen by 45% even though its rationed 2 or 3 times a week, some of the school fees have not been paid, some overseas donors have not been able to fulfil commitments because of the world economy, the exchange rates have made it harder, some kids may get sent home from school, teachers and staff salaries have not been paid at Cheryls and the list goes on. For the first time I felt just part of the burden that Samuel has been carrying for many many years. I came home from work that day with a heavy heart and just wondering what to do. I could picture myself standing infront of a dam wall which has leaks, almost like a cartoon drawing. I put a finger in one hole to block it up, another appears so I put a finger in that one. Its not long before I have a finger in 10 ten holes and at the same time there is a pile of bricks laying at the side just waiting to build a fresh new dam wall that is permanent and strong and won’t have any holes. Where do I start? There are ways we can make sure our funding is continual and regular and we starting to put in plans on how to do that, I believe its possible, but getting there? With all those holes needing filling up? That’s the task I face, its the challenge I will meet each day and my conscience will indeed take a regular battering, and rightly so, I must be challenged, but i must too be sensible. I ate my fillet steak, it tasted perfect but I remembered my basic lunch at Cheryls. I live in 2 worlds. I will always live in 2 worlds. But when I can, I must bring them together, that is MY role, that’s my purpose here. Its a privilege, its a challenge and for all you blog readers out there: I can’t do it on my own, I only have 10 fingers! I need help plugging the holes and I need some people to come and build the new dam wall. Who’s with me?

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

2009-09-29T06:52:00.000-07:00

Thank you for the very quick and MASSIVE response to the request below... Im very pleased to say we managed to get the full funding for this little trip. So thanks to everyone for making it happen!! It would have been so sad for the kids to have had to have the day off for the show but not been able to go! So big Thank YOU!!!

For regular blog news just scroll down a bit and you will find it!

URGENT REQUEST

2009-09-29T03:45:00.000-07:00

On Friday 2nd October all the primary schools in Nairobi have the day off, the reason for this is that there is a national trade and agricultural show at the showground in Nairobi and all the primary kids in Naiorbi go if they can afford it. The show ground is literally just around the corner, 10 mins walk of the childrens home and in the past they sometimes have been able to go if someone donates the money. The cost per child is about £1, which is not very much. To take all the children who are resident in the home and some staff to look after them it would cost £80 to take them to the show. I am putting up this post to see if anyone would like to donate the cost of the show to make it possible for the kids on Friday to go. If you would be willing to cover the cost please email me ASAP: kjbkenya@hotmail.co.uk and we can arrange payment etc.
thanks for reading this.

Kieren

WEEK ONE

2009-09-26T05:19:00.000-07:00

IN YOUR OWN TIME – After the dramas of arriving here on Sunday and the extraordinary cremation of David’s dad, this week has mainly been a time of adjusting and preparing myself for the work ahead at Cheryls. I popped in on Monday to say hi to Samuel and see what the plan was, hoping that I would infact be given chance to rest after the long journey and also busy time leading up to the move. David and Juliet had encouraged me not to start work until the following week. I wasn’t sure about this, but I did know in my heart some time off would be good. The temptation is to rush in and get cracking, but actually I’m going to be here for a long time, and as the great leader Bill Hybels has said, ‘Pace yourself for the long haul’. Good advice! So a brief catch up with Samuel and we agreed I would start on Monday. This also has given me chance to focus on housing, car, etc etc etc. I managed to have a quick look around Cheryls though, see the progress on the current building work, and also this gave Juliet a chance to see the project. Need some office furniture for my office (hmmmmm that will be wierd my own little room, with no other colleagues around to have some banter with).

HOME SWEET HOME – The plan originally was for me to look at some houses on the Monday, but throughout the busy weekend David had to start thinking about what to do with his father’s house, now he had passed away. In many ways this decision seems to have happened all so fast, and I wasn;t sure if he would really want to go ahead with it, but as the week as progressed I think we have all come to realise how amazing God’s timing is and right this decision is. So the plan is I will move into David’s dad’s house which is near the Ya Ya centre for those who know Nairobi. Not too far from Cheryls, bit more in the city, but shouldn’t be too bad. For those who have eaten at the Italian restaurant OSTERIA, its literally just round the corner. David will eventually sell the house in the next 6 – 12 months, but at least this get me started. There is another guest cottage on the plot, so I will have neighbours and there is all the security staff etc needed. The house needs some work done to it, so the painters etc are in over the next 7 – 10 days working on it and hopefully I can move in then. The house has 3 bedrooms, so housing volunteers will not be a problem, there is a garden and i can use a lot of the furniture already there, just need to pick up a few new items such as cooker, double bed and fridge. David and Juliet have been stars by moving so fast on this, but they are happy, they will have a friend staying there which means they can come round any time, this house has been in David’s family for I think well over 40 years. It is fantastic how this has worked out.

DODGEMS – Wow, driving in Nairobi is CRAZZZZZY! This has been the thing I have been most nervous about. But the other night Juliet asked me to drive, which was great, she was forcing me to get on the saddle and just have a go. It is difficult and there are some seriously tricky places to drive, joining the main highway is a pure adrenaline rush in itself, who needs drugs or extreme sports, just drive in Nairobi!! The other great bit I have to drive through is ‘Death Junction’, you can figure out for yourself why its called that. It is just a small cross roads, but basically its everyman for himself. The good news is I should hopefully collect a car soon, at the start of the week which I purchased from a Canadian couple who have left Kenya. The car is a Nissan terrano, it has low mileage for its age, which is why David has suggested it. I have never bought a car before that I haven;t even seen. I’ll use it for a bit and see how it goes, it maybe that after a while I trade it in and pick up something else, but at least it gets me started. Really hope its reliable!!!

HOW MANY COUNTRIES? – The great thing about David and Juliet is that they know lots of people, and this week has been particularly busy for them seeing friends etc, especially talking about David’s dad etc. I have met so many people, almost every night and it has been both great and strange. I have realised living in Nairobi I will be mixing almost across the full range of society, from the poorest in the slums, to hard working Kenyans, to middle class Kenyans, to NGO workers and volunteers, to middle class muzungu’s (Whites) to the embassy workers and rich muzungu’s. Its strange, we went to an Ethopian restaurant the other night, a whole new experience in itself (raw mince beef?) and there I was sat next to a guy called Mario who is the security advisor for Save the Children, he goes into the hell holes and checks out if it safe to send people, places like Somalia, Darfur etc... “I work in about 22 countries at the moment” and then across the table the Australian girl pipes up “well I work currently in 32 countries, but currently I’m covering all of Africa until we fill the other staff position”. Hmmmmmmmm. This girl works at the Australian embassy, but as there are only 2 in Africa, she covers a big area. So the comparisons start between the two and eventually the question is asked that I am now expecting and dreading: “Kieren, what do you do?”. Small fries.....

CONNECTIONS – Coming to work at Cheryls I always expected I would be targeting help from overseas, what didn’t occur to me was that I would end up being connected with significant and rich muzungus in Nairobi. Almost every person I have met this week is very interested in Cheryls and wants to get involved in some way, whether its bringing a group of teenagers from the ISK school to do some voluntary work, or people having friends from overseas pop over and help, or a, Ethopian Womens Charity group doing a fundraiser for us to help out as well as getting help from the local German school (that was David’s hairdress, yes thats right and Ethopian lady married to a German). It has been fantastic. So as my ‘week off’ progessed I actually managed to do some significant work and make connections. Trust is a big factor when it comes to charity work, there are many scams, many dodgy projects, and I now realise that simply the colour of my skin brings some credibility to Cheryls, which in many ways is totally wrong, but lets use it and make the most of it!

PEACE – It has been a hectic and stressful week, particularly for David and Juliet. It has been great to be able to support David through this difficult time, but I know I have found it draining at times and I know he has. Having to tell everyone, repeat the same story over and over again, recounting the cremation and reminiscing. We cleared out David’s house on Thursday and that was hard. So this weekend we have all come up to Naivasha for a rest. Its about 2 hours from Nairobi and we are staying in David and Juliets friends house. It is like a mansion!!!! Beautiful. As we arrived last night we sat on the verandah and watched the giraffes, dick dicks, hippos, impalas all in the garden area and drinking out of the water hole just a few feet away. It was perfect after a vusy week. This morning we walked down to the lake at 6:30am, the colours were amazing and we saw plenty of flamingos and Zebras. I think we all needed this time and it is so precious. You really appreciate how fortunate we are to be in such an amazing place. BUT the work starts on Monday and as I try to relax today I am aware of what lies ahead. I do feel anxious at times, nervous, full of questions. How will I fit in with the staff, what will my working week look like, where do I start there is so much to do, will I manage to battle my way across from David and Juliets house on the other side of town without coming a cropper at Death junction.....hmmmmm, relax.... relax.....

Interrupting Life and Death

2009-09-22T06:11:00.000-07:00

There is a phrase that I have often heard and used myself in fact on a number of occasions. Its goes like this “My eyes were too big for my stomach”. This is the usual thing said after you have ordered too much food at a restaurant, or in my case cooked a big curry and put far too much on my plate I have struggled to finish it. Well on Friday night I came up with a new phrase which is quite similar: “My eyes were too big for my suitcases”. On Friday I spent the day sorting through my stuff trying to work out what to take with me to Kenya, placing each item in my parents bedroom, helping me to separate things out a bit, and well lets just say that pile got bigger and bigger and bigger. Finally at about 10pm when I got chance to actually start filling my luggage with all these things I soon began to realise a new pile was going to form just outside my parents bedroom. This pile being the ‘Just not enough space for’ pile.

Over the last few weeks I have been travelling around the UK, saying hi and goodbye to friends and family, trying to pick up various bits and pieces I will need for my work in Kenya and still finishing off work from church in Edinburgh. It has been a busy time, and the stress just caught up to me too much on Friday, with a pounding headache and sick feeling as I struggled to fit everything in my bag and as I began to anticipate what lay ahead.

So Saturday a long drive to London…still no residency permit, no house, no car, but hey I had a plane ticket and lots of people praying for me! The last time I sat in Heathrow I had a large group of teenagers with me I was taking to Kenya on a trip, that was only 2 months ago. This time I sat alone realising this time I was leaving and it was going to be a long time before I would be coming back. It is strange how the mind works. I have been waiting for about 12 months to take up this role in Kenya and it has really been a long goodbye to everyone over the last 6 months. However it has only really hit me ion the brief few seconds of hugging someone goodbye, that recognition that yes, this truly is it. Each time everything always felt normal visiting folks, until that embrace and it was like a sudden wave of emotion would hit me and I would struggle to force out any words in fear of balling my eyes out. In these moments I finally understood why this was going to be hard. It has been exciting and awesome preparing for this and I really felt ready. People would comment how brave they thought I was and how hard it must be. I would laugh it off and just thing it was normal, this was the plan, this has always been the plan in some way, this is right, doesn’t feel that hard. Well I have discovered, no its not hard, not until you actually have to say goodbye.

So long flight, usual gig, plane food, a movie, lights out and the pointless attempt at trying to get a few hours sleep. Hmmmmmm, no chance of sleep! So earphones in and some music to help me relax, Wagner at about 40,000 feet, AWESOME!

Landing in Nairobi, my heart started to pound more and more, actually that’s not quite true I think the pounding actually begun about an hour before we landed! With no residency permit yet I was relying on getting into Kenya on a 3 month short term visa. This is what you can get at the airport, but there is always the chance they could say no, especially if it conflicted with the residency application. I had filled in my forms already, got off the plane and stood in the queue. It was busy. The girl behind my desk looked in a bad mood, as other passport control officials would greet the visitors with a ‘good morning’ or a ‘how are you’ my girl just looked tired, grumpy and said nothing to no-one. This wasn’t looking good as often these things come down to the mood of the person on the day. All I could hope for was that her mind was on something else or that she was just too busy to care. I think in the end it was the latter. She barely looked at my forms, stamped everything and there I was, finally after all that stress, officially in Kenya (for at least 3 months anyway).

How can I keep this brief? The first day was incredible, and well if you getting bored already at this point all I can suggest is hang in there because this first day has to be the strangest day in my entire life, and there is no exaggeration there!

The plan was to stay with my friends David and Juliet. I have known them for many years and David was to pick me up at the airport. However on the previous day I had found out his father was seriously ill in hospital and it wasn’t looking good. So David arrange for a driver to pick me up. Francis was not at the airport, so texted David and he let me know Francis was going to be late. We met up and I asked how David and his father were, Francis did not know. We drove through Nairobi right to the other side, got to the house and there was no-one there. David’s father had died literally at the same time the wheels of my plane were touching down in Nairobi. It was so sad and David and Juliet spent a few hours at the hospital dealing with paperwork etc.

While waiting for them, I unpacked a couple of things, had some breakfast and then they returned home. It was strange, I had such excitement for being in Kenya but sorrow overtook these feelings and it was hard for all of us really to know how to react and feel. I was worried about being in the way or another burden on David and Juliet, but they are such generous people and even in a time of real tragedy they welcomed me with open arms and helped me feel at home.

The day went on, David was making arrangements on the phone for the cremation etc. A Hindu friend of his was going to help organise it and David had been thinking for quite a while that a Hindu style cremation would be just the right thing for his dad. As it turned out his friend wanted it to be done straight away, literally that day!!! So we had lunch, I showered and smartened up and we headed to the hospital to pick up his dad.

I have been to funerals before but I have never seen a dead body and I have always wondered how I would react if I ever did. Things were very rough and ready and I had to help David in the morgue collect his father onto this tray, he was wrapped up in a sheet, but this was pulled away so that David could be reassured we were taking the right person. I was amazed at how strong David was and how natural it all seemed. We wheeled the body out to a specially designed van and slide the tray in the back. We then climbed in and sat around David’s dad as we journeyed through the Nairobi streets, bumping around laughing, chatting and feeling sorrow all at the same time.

We arrived at the Hindu temple and I soon began to realise that the cremation was going to be open, not behind a curtain hidden away, but so that we could all watch. It was a quite place, nothing special in many ways, just a few tin sheds that were very tall and supported by the old railway tracks that many of the Asians would have been using to lay the railroad through Africa earlier in the last century. This sheds were very old. There were 3 iron platforms in one shed and one of these had firewood and shavings underneath and on top. The body was placed on it and David’s dad then had large pieces of wood placed around his body very carefully and over the top. You could still see is body in the shroud through the wood but he was really covered all round. At this point the tradition is to pour Ghee over the body, which is an ingredient or kind of butter fat that is used in Indian style cooking. Each of us in turn took the large ladle and poured some over the body and wood. David chose some music to play on a CD player, some choral music. He bravely said a few words and then friends followed, with Gladys reading from the bible and then some of the carers who had been looking after David’s dad in the last few months sang a song in Swahili. It was all so beautiful and special.

At this point David and one of the helpers was shown how to light the fire and they did so. It quickly took off and we moved further back as the flames grew higher. We stood in silence watching as the body was cremated right before out eyes. We moved round the corner a bit as the heat became too intense and then eventually came back to David’s house for some food. It had been a long day. I needed some sleep, having been awake for about 36 hours. After a nap I got up and found that it was just Juliet, David and myself left in the house. We reflected on the day and how it all went. For the Kenyan staff they had been more surprised by the cremation than me, for in Kenya everyone is buried, no one is cremated, at least I was used to the concept.

We talked for a while, about the funeral, how it had all happened so fast, what a crazy day it had been but also talked about my future and living here in Kenya. Although I had felt I could have just been in the way during this difficult day, Juliet has said on a number of times it had been good I was around, to help distract a bit from what was going on. On reflection myself I think she was right.

There is so much more to say, and really I must talk about the last couple of days and news about whats happening here in Kenya, the job, house car etc, but really after such an eventful first day, the only important thing is that I was very blessed to have been part of a remarkable occasion, with such a generous and loving couple and witnessing a son work so hard to do the right thing for his father in his last few days. I am sure there will be many more new experiences in the future, maybe not like this one, but I was truly blessed to witness such a beautiful ceremony.

I’ll update more in a couple of days, but I think for now that’s it. In the future the messages won’t be this long, but in some ways I feel I needed to write this down and share what happened.

Welcome!!!

2009-08-26T04:55:00.000-07:00

Hey folks

Welcome to my blog! I'm still here in Harrogate getting things set up for the big move to Kenya. I have decided one way of keeping in touch with folks in the UK and around the world is to have a blog. Once in Kenya I will hopefully update this blog weekly to keep you posted on all the news and activities. I will do my best to upload pictures and videos when I get a good connection. So please do add this blog address to your list of bookmarks in your browser so you can keep an eye out for new blog postings. Please also feel free to send messages and comments.

Thanks for your support!

Kieren