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!
Thursday, 20 January 2011
Tuesday, 28 December 2010
CHRISTMAS EVE
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.
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.
Friday, 27 August 2010
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!!!
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!!!
Friday, 23 July 2010
A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL
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...
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...
Thursday, 24 June 2010
VUVUZELLA'S REACH KENYA
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!
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!
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