BACK IN AFRICA

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!