SEASONS

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!!!