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!
Thursday, 24 June 2010
Monday, 24 May 2010
SAUSAGES, GUNS AND RETREATS
SAUSAGES – So we have just had the rainy season... the LONG rains. Although it seems to have lasted longer than normal I think and also been more rain than normal. One of the strange things you sometimes get when it rains is sausage flies. Its weird, you never see them any other time, and it doesn’t happen every time it rains, it must just be when the conditions are right. Anyways it starts to rain, then you hear a fluttering sound, looking up at any light which is turned on (oh by the way it only tends to happen in the evening) you begin to see a few sausage flies flapping about by the light, then a few more, then a few more. When they enter a room looking for a light they flap everywhere. They have long white wings and so are easy to spot. Sometimes they are flapping around you and you have to keep brushing them off. In just a few minutes they seem to be everywhere. Once driving back from the hospital I saw them on every lamp post, its like a swarm. Where do they come from??? Where do they go after the rain? Its the strangest thing. I saw them years back when I lived in Zimbabwe. We were having a party at someone’s house, it began to rain and they all turned up, flying everywhere. Pretty soon the house was full of them, all dying on the floor (they don’t last long). The host was picking them up and putting in a bowl. She went to the kitchen, took the wings off and started to fry them. So a long with the crisps and snacks at the party, there in a few bowls dotted around the house were fried sausage flies. One night a few weeks ago, we had a movie night at the kids home, the flies turned up just before we began the movie and before the kids had dinner. Some of the young ones love it when they come because they have fun trying to catch them. They collect them in a pot and start plucking wings, a competition to see who can get the most. One of the wee girls, does this and doesn’t even bother cooking, she is happy to just start eating them, raw, still riggling around! Living in Nairobi you can feel very westernised in many ways, but its times like that when you are reminded where you really are, a lot of these kids have come originally from up country and this kind of activitiy would be normal, a treat even... hmmmmm think I prefer chocolate as my kind of treat!
YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE – A very sad thing happened the other day, just on Friday. Both Samuel and I left work a little early, at about 4pm. I was heading across town to David and Juliets, he was heading to pick up his girls from school. After he got them, (up in a small place called Kiberia, not to be confused with Kibera) he was leaving the school and another car bumped into him, deliberately. Everyone from the village and the school kids flocked around to see what had happened. Any car accident always draws a crowd, I mean come on... free entertainment! The guys got out of the other car shouting to everyone to go away, and of course they ignored that request. Samuel was waiting to talk with them about what had happened, when the main guy took a gun out of his pocket and fired some shots in the air, before pointing the gun at Samuel. At this point everyone scattered. They took his wallet (which he had just been to the bank with to get some money for his family and also money for building materials for the new classrooms being built), they took his wedding ring, phone, pushed him to the ground demanding his laptop. As they went into the boot for the laptop (which also had all the cheque books) he managed to escape running away knowing that he could be killed, although the girls were trapped in the car (and unlikely to get hurt but you never know). He waited a few minutes in a villagers house, before going around at the side and seeing their car had been gone. Terrified about what had happened to the girls he raced back to see they were ok. When he was telling me what happened on Saturday, he said he was watched movies like this, but on Friday it was like living in a movie. It must have only been 4:30pm in the afternoon, broad daylight!!! He was lucky to be alive, many people are killed over such petty things. He was very shaken up and you can’t imagine how the girls felt. Its horrific. Again these are stories we hear happening to others, then suddenly the reality hits when it happens to someone you know so well. Everyone was shaken at Cheryls. It seems so unfair, someone who sacrifices so much for others, and yet suffers such injustice. But at the end of the day we are all grateful he is still alive and unhurt. He was very shaken over the weekend, but I am so impressed by his strength, he is pressing on, coming to work today with a smile on his face.
DEAL OR NO DEAL – So the latest on the old land issue. We have gone into a deal with the land owner, an old mzee, a tycoon, who certainly has plenty of cash! He has agreed a price with us that we are happy with. He gave us 60 days to do our surveys and then if all is fine we can begin the real deal! I can’t believe we have finally got to this point, it is so exciting! For me there will be 3 important days this year. The first is when we find a piece of land and begin the process of purchasing. The second will be when we sign the formal agreement and pay the intial deposit, and the third and probably most important day will be when we have payed the balance and the land belongs to Cheryls Childrens Home! Our future will secured! So day one has arrived, we have reached that mile stone, I wanted to crack open champagne, even though I don’t drink, but we were being cautiously optimistic, we still have a long way to go to get to day 3. So we have engaged lawyers who are doing the surveys, checking everything out. So far we have raised about £70,000 and to reach the full amount we need to raise a further £50,000. According to the deadline now in place it looks like we will need the full amount by September. Not long now to go, but we are pressing forward. This will be the biggest milestone of the whole project. Many people want to help raise money to build a school and the other projects, but buying the land is the hardest stage, lets be honest it’s not exciting buying a piece of land for most people, also maybe some have doubts it can be done, but without the land there is no future for us beyond what we are currently doing. Even then at any point the Kenya Railway Authority could demand their land back and we would be homeless. This land we want to buy is our future, another £50,000 and we are there, the clock is ticking. You can download the updated building project proposal, which has all the latest details and new details from: www.box.net/shared/01ldis939k
RUNAWAY TO THE HILLS – Sometimes life here can be from the sublime to the ridiculous. It’s been a while since I have been to the Muthaiga club (a very old colonial private members club, I think the one in Out of Africa). I can only go if invited by David and Juliet, occasionally we go swimming there, or have afternoon tea. It’s a small treat from David and Juliet I really love. It’s where Kenya SOCIETY like to hang out. We often laugh at how on earth David and Juliet were invited to be members, but even so they are there! Sometimes the club runs a special event, and one thing that I think happens every year or certainly regularly is “Beating the Retreat”. I was a little confused about what this was all about, but said yes to the invite. I pitched up from work, trying to look reasonably smart in my £3 white Tesco shirt and Marks and Spencers trousers... am sure no-one would really know! Juliet and I sat and had some tea and cakes as the others arrived. Slowly by slowly Society turned up along with the KTB’s (the Khaki Trouser Brigade, of which I am a fully fledged member, my regular uniform for work) and we headed out to the lawn. Although the club is international and is increasing the number of Kenyan members, this event was predominantly white, and mostly British. We had our drinks, caught up with some friends, and it was nice to see I was getting to know more people... not Society people, but the middle class whites, teachers etc. Eventually the beating of the retreat began. In processed a small group of pipers and drummers in their green camouflage. We sat for about 25mins in the failing light, as the small band piped through various tunes including highland cathedral etc. At one point 2 off the group did some highland dancing to the tunes, which did look a bit odd in their camo army uniforms and not in highland dress, I did wonder who plucked the short straw in having to dance. Eventually it came to an end, the head piper marched forward to some old chap in a panama hat, said a few words and they then processed out. In Kenya there is a large British army contingent, partly as an aftermath to colonialism and the good ties between Kenya and the UK and also because the northern parts of Kenya make great training ground in preparation for Afganistan. Now I presume, the beating of retreat is done when an army group is heading home, or heading off to wherever their next destination is, possibly Afganistan. So its a traditional thing. It was the oddest experience in many ways, 300 expats and old colonials sat drinking pims and various drinks as these army boys carried out the old ritual. Although I don’t truely belong in such places as the Muthaiga club, and if I was around it long enough I would begin to despise it possibly (or maybe not its kind of nice...) but I do love these brief encounters and experiences, and a taste of the old colonial history. How many times has the beating of the retreat happened at Muthaiga, how many dignitaries and members of high society have sat and witnessed the same thing. It’s kind of fun, kind of surreal, and a bit of a laugh, and for a brief moment transports my mind from the daily struggles and pressures from Cheryls, to focus on something different and see a whole different side to life in Africa. If only Society knew who I really was... I chuckle inside myself as I hob nob with the rich and... well rich.
3 FUNERALS AND NO WEDDING – Imagine I have been here in Kenya for about 8 months, I know a few people, not many but a few. The strangest thing happened the other week. In the space of about 10 days 3 people I know died. I didn’t know some of them that well, but in the space of 10 days, out of the limited number of people I have come across, 3 die in 10 days. The first to go was Mo’s mother, a lady called Tinka. I haven’t seen her since our youth trip in 2004, but I remember long ago, back in 1995 I was spending a Christmas in Nairobi while on my gap year in Zimbabwe. I was staying in the guest cottage next to the house I am living in, with Mike and Gerry. Tinka lived opposite, and on Christmas day invited all the waifs and strays in Nairobi, people who had no-where else to go on Christmas day. She was a lovely, fun, slightly crazy lady, but I will never forget how she opened up her house for so many people. She has been in a nursing home recently and her daughter Mo was living opposite me. Sadly she passed away. Following this a guy I met before Christmas last year committed suicide, an old school friend of David. I only met him once but you could clearly tell he had serious problems. He hadn’t worked since school, was on various medications, but nothing helping. He had tried to commit suicide once before but failed. David is one of the few people left who spent time with him. We would often talk about it and he would beat himself up that he doesn’t do more for the guy and his brother (also with mental health problems), but in reality David was the only person left in Nairobi who would even bother to give them the time of day. Eventually it obviously got too much for the guy and he killed himself. He lived just down the road from me. Finally the third and the saddest one for me is that Geoff has passed away. I met Geoff and Dorothy back in 1995 when Mike and Gerry took me to Geoff and Dorothys house in Naivasha for new years day (I think a tradition for Mike and Gerry). We were the only guests, I had never met them before but they knew Mike and Gerry were bringing this young lad with them from Zimbabwe. They welcomed me into their home and as Christmas presents were passed between the 2 couples I was shocked and humbled to be given some Christmas presents from Geoff and Doroty. Having never met them, they still wanted to welcome me and give me some Christmas greetings. I have never forgotten that, and probably never will all my life. I have never met anyone like them. They were missionaries here for most of their life, doctors serving the poor. Even into their 90’s they were still providing medical to the local community from their house. When I brought youth groups from the UK in 2004 and 2007 I took them to meet Geoff and Dorothy, a little worried a bunch of teenagers would overwhelm them but they welcomed us all in and I think Geoff particularly liked chatting about the education system with the youngsters, I was just praying in the corner everyone would behave and remember their manners (I needn’t have worried, they were always great teenagers). We only spent a couple of hours there in 2007, but when I visited Kenya for 10 days in 2008 I had coffee again with Geoff and Dorothy and David. As we went back to Davids house Geoff phoned him, he was desperate to send a message to me. Both him and Dorothy wanted to say thank you, because 7 months earlier when we had visited with the teenagers, 2 of the leaders had done the washing up for them, they had wanted to say thank you! I couldn’t believe that they had remembered something like that, they didn’t even have to say thank you, but again I was humbled. The last time I saw Geoff was October last year, we were up in Naivasha with David and Juliet and Claire. David and I popped down to see them, but Dorothy was asleep, we saw Geoff walking around the garden, still in his shirt, sweater, formal shorts and long socks, enjoying the birds and flowers. We chatted for a while and caught up. They have a guest cottage there I have been meaning to use for a while, but never got organised enough. I was even going to use it the other week, but it didn’t happen. Dorothy is very old and frail, deaf and blind and relied heavily on Geoff, we all thought she would go first, but sadly Geoff fell in the shower the other week, he went into Nairobi Hospital, he took quite a bump to his head. David managed to see him, both him and Dorothy were there, a week or so later he passed away (in fact it happened during the night of the Beating of the Retreat, we had just been talking about them over dinner). He was muched loved by so many people in Kenya, it was a privilege to know him and have a few moments of my life with him, I regret I didn’t organise myself to spend more time with them. His memorial is on Friday, I won’t be able to make it, but I will be thinking of him on that day, and if any of the young people are reading this who met him, i hope you can spend just a brief moment thinking of him on Friday.
THE NEW TIGER – Having watched the Constant Gardner and seeing there was a golf course right by the Kibera slum, I thought I would never play golf here, its like in England where Golf is usually for the well off (unlike Scotland where everyone plays). However I discovered there are other courses and David wanted to play and was probably as bad as me. So when I came back from the UK in March I brought my clubs over. After many cancellations we finally had a round on a course called Vet Labs, which is part of a university. It’s not the poshest course but its still nice. The kind of informal golf course I like. Of course here you don’t carry your bag, a caddy does it for you (a source of employment and only costs £2). I loved playing golf with my best friend Mark back in Edinburgh, just the 2 of us out at melvilles, slicing, hooking and occasionally striking the ball well, in and amongst the trees, not taking it too seriously but competiting a little with each other, thats the golf I play. This time there were 4 of us in the group (including a 12 year old who I knew was going to be better than me!), plus the 4 caddys. Hmm too much of a crowd for my liking, and having not played in nearly a year the pressure got to me. Thats my biggest weakness, I phsyc myself out, rush, try and hit the ball as hard as I can, and any golfer knows that’s all completely wrong. It was strange because it had been really wet weather all week, and despite the warmth, it was wet and drizzly and like playing back home. I totally managed to embarrass myself by rubbish play, but we made it round, and thankfully the 12 year old didn’t laugh at me too much. My first strike I topped it, and it kind of dribbled off the tee not going anywhere (hmmmm good start infront of the club house). Alice, the 12 year olds mum, just said casually “thats what you call an air shot” trying to lighten the mood and help me relax, and the 12 year old quickly piped up “no mum, thats what you call a DUFF”, Alice all embarrassed now by her cheeky son. But it was all cool, i didn’t even hear them, and actually I wouldn’t mind, he was right it was a duff. We laughed the whole way round, sweated in the heat and altitude and despite some stress on my part it was a bit of fun. David and I both agreed, it was embarrassing, but we need to play more often, get some practice in and its good fitness! So hopefully tomorrow we will hit the course again, hoping to do a little better next time. OK not Tiger woods yet, but getting there (golf wise).
SACK – I had the toughest day a week or so ago. I had a friend visiting from Uganda on her way back to the UK. I was waiting at home to go the airport to pick her up in the morning when I got a call from Samuel. “The teachers are on strike”. I rushed in, emptied my bank account almost, I knew it was about money. I came in to find some of the teachers in Samuels office, I had 30 mins before I needed to leave for the airport. Its a very long story, but in brief this is what happened... until we can get most of the kids sponsored we will struggle to pay for all our running costs. Our priority is the kids, they must get fed and also get their education, which usually means it’s the staff that go without being paid. This is the hardest bit of my job, as Samuel and I discuss how to spend the little resources we have its when we see its the teachers and staff who must suffer. We talk about it a lot with them, we understand their difficulties, and its often people like Samuel and the other core staff who go the longest without being paid, the teachers tend to be the first to be paid because we don’t want to lose them. We know that if we can dramatically increase the child sponsorship we can pay everyone every month, its hard asking someone to work when we can’t pay, knowing they have their own families to provide for, food to buy, rent to pay. If someone is in real trouble we always give them something, and when they are not paid there is always a record kept. We know one day we will generate enough monthly income and will also pay everyone what they are owed. We talk about it at almost every meeting. But the sad thing is a few teachers wanted to cause problems. Samuel offered to meet with them, sat and discussed it and gave chance for them to talk more, ask questions, but everyone left agreed with the situation. It then transpired that they decided to sit in their classrooms not teaching, and then on the Friday had a strike by sitting in the staff room refusing to teach. Samuel invited them in again to discuss, they refused, he went down to see them, they refused to talk. I came into work that Friday, they didn’t talk. We discussed it and had to find what money we could to pay them all they were due. The Head teacher was furious with them, 2 other teachers refused to strike and carried on teaching. As in the UK there are strict laws about industrial action, you are obviously meant to negotiate as long as possible, and then striking is last choice, and if you do strike you are required to give formal notice. The first we heard of it was when the kids came to the head teacher asking why is no-one teaching us. This was the worst thing. Although we have no problem staff coming to ask for money, we totally understand, but these teachers had made a big mistake, by not talking it through with us, and then punishing the kids with an illegal strike. We discovered that some had not been teaching properly since the Easter holidays. For us the kids come first, and to punish them because the teachers were unhappy was wrong. We had no choice but to let all these teachers go, their attitude was all wrong. We can understand if someone needs to leave and find a new job that will pay every month, we would wish them well, but to punish the kids like that and treat them that way was wrong. Thankfully money had come in on the Friday, which we would have used to buy food, and pay schools fees for the high school kids from last term and a little bit this term, some also would have gone to the staff, but now all that money has had to go to the 7 teachers. We now face a difficult couple of months ahead, and the risk that some of these kids will be sent home from High School because the fees have not been paid. The teachers left us not even apologising for the strike. One teacher came back immediately to apoligise, infact during the strike he continued to mark books, but realised he should have stood up to the others, he had been a recent appointment so we understood he was afraid to resist. He acknowledged how wrong the others had been and wanted to give back some of the money we had given him. We decided to welcome him back to us and he is back teaching. Over the weekend Rose, our head teacher began recruiting, and by Tuesday we had a full compliment of staff again. We discussed with all new staff the situation, that money is tight at the moment, but the kids must come first, that our future building project is to make sure our future is secure and money for that can’t be used for the day to day stuff (something we had explained time and again to the old teachers, but they didn’t care about the future, just about today), that the only real way to secure paying staff is to increase child sponsorship, which guarantees food for the kids and salaries for the staff. They all agree and see what we are trying to do here. We are so pleased with the character of the new teachers and already the school is vibrant and we are moving forward. The old teachers have tried to spread horrible rumours to parents, trying to persuade the community kids who come here to leave us. But thankfully the parents trust us and see what we are trying to do. The old teachers went to the labour office to try and sue us for more money, but the labour office has investigated and seen what the teachers have done, and shown them where they have gone wrong. Its been a horrible time, and horrible that we had to do this. It has been really stressful and hard to have broken a relationship now we these adults. I’m sad they have left so bitter and still trying to cause problems. We won’t get dragged into anything with them now, we will just focus on carrying on with our work, we believe we will stand strong and all the other staff see the work we are doing and stand with us. Its been the hardest time. BUT this week has been positive, the new teachers are great and although we still face tough times ahead this whole experience has brought the rest of the staff together and a greater sense of unity. I desperately want us to reach a much higher number of sponsors, so that as each month comes we can pay the staff what they are due for working so hard, we can pay for food, we can pay our electricity bill, pay for water, pay for our kids in high school, we can truely provide for all these kids. We have 144 kids not sponsored, thats our target, thats what we need to aim for and fast! This has been an epic week, and maybe hard to understand from an outside perspective, but I believe Samuel and I have been professional, we have discussed everything with the head teacher and acted as a team, the labour office have confirmed we have done nothing wrong. It’s time to put the past behind us and move forward with a new team, confident in the future before us.
If you know of anyone who would like to sponsor a child you can download a form from: www.box.net/shared/o96v6386is
YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE – A very sad thing happened the other day, just on Friday. Both Samuel and I left work a little early, at about 4pm. I was heading across town to David and Juliets, he was heading to pick up his girls from school. After he got them, (up in a small place called Kiberia, not to be confused with Kibera) he was leaving the school and another car bumped into him, deliberately. Everyone from the village and the school kids flocked around to see what had happened. Any car accident always draws a crowd, I mean come on... free entertainment! The guys got out of the other car shouting to everyone to go away, and of course they ignored that request. Samuel was waiting to talk with them about what had happened, when the main guy took a gun out of his pocket and fired some shots in the air, before pointing the gun at Samuel. At this point everyone scattered. They took his wallet (which he had just been to the bank with to get some money for his family and also money for building materials for the new classrooms being built), they took his wedding ring, phone, pushed him to the ground demanding his laptop. As they went into the boot for the laptop (which also had all the cheque books) he managed to escape running away knowing that he could be killed, although the girls were trapped in the car (and unlikely to get hurt but you never know). He waited a few minutes in a villagers house, before going around at the side and seeing their car had been gone. Terrified about what had happened to the girls he raced back to see they were ok. When he was telling me what happened on Saturday, he said he was watched movies like this, but on Friday it was like living in a movie. It must have only been 4:30pm in the afternoon, broad daylight!!! He was lucky to be alive, many people are killed over such petty things. He was very shaken up and you can’t imagine how the girls felt. Its horrific. Again these are stories we hear happening to others, then suddenly the reality hits when it happens to someone you know so well. Everyone was shaken at Cheryls. It seems so unfair, someone who sacrifices so much for others, and yet suffers such injustice. But at the end of the day we are all grateful he is still alive and unhurt. He was very shaken over the weekend, but I am so impressed by his strength, he is pressing on, coming to work today with a smile on his face.
DEAL OR NO DEAL – So the latest on the old land issue. We have gone into a deal with the land owner, an old mzee, a tycoon, who certainly has plenty of cash! He has agreed a price with us that we are happy with. He gave us 60 days to do our surveys and then if all is fine we can begin the real deal! I can’t believe we have finally got to this point, it is so exciting! For me there will be 3 important days this year. The first is when we find a piece of land and begin the process of purchasing. The second will be when we sign the formal agreement and pay the intial deposit, and the third and probably most important day will be when we have payed the balance and the land belongs to Cheryls Childrens Home! Our future will secured! So day one has arrived, we have reached that mile stone, I wanted to crack open champagne, even though I don’t drink, but we were being cautiously optimistic, we still have a long way to go to get to day 3. So we have engaged lawyers who are doing the surveys, checking everything out. So far we have raised about £70,000 and to reach the full amount we need to raise a further £50,000. According to the deadline now in place it looks like we will need the full amount by September. Not long now to go, but we are pressing forward. This will be the biggest milestone of the whole project. Many people want to help raise money to build a school and the other projects, but buying the land is the hardest stage, lets be honest it’s not exciting buying a piece of land for most people, also maybe some have doubts it can be done, but without the land there is no future for us beyond what we are currently doing. Even then at any point the Kenya Railway Authority could demand their land back and we would be homeless. This land we want to buy is our future, another £50,000 and we are there, the clock is ticking. You can download the updated building project proposal, which has all the latest details and new details from: www.box.net/shared/01ldis939k
RUNAWAY TO THE HILLS – Sometimes life here can be from the sublime to the ridiculous. It’s been a while since I have been to the Muthaiga club (a very old colonial private members club, I think the one in Out of Africa). I can only go if invited by David and Juliet, occasionally we go swimming there, or have afternoon tea. It’s a small treat from David and Juliet I really love. It’s where Kenya SOCIETY like to hang out. We often laugh at how on earth David and Juliet were invited to be members, but even so they are there! Sometimes the club runs a special event, and one thing that I think happens every year or certainly regularly is “Beating the Retreat”. I was a little confused about what this was all about, but said yes to the invite. I pitched up from work, trying to look reasonably smart in my £3 white Tesco shirt and Marks and Spencers trousers... am sure no-one would really know! Juliet and I sat and had some tea and cakes as the others arrived. Slowly by slowly Society turned up along with the KTB’s (the Khaki Trouser Brigade, of which I am a fully fledged member, my regular uniform for work) and we headed out to the lawn. Although the club is international and is increasing the number of Kenyan members, this event was predominantly white, and mostly British. We had our drinks, caught up with some friends, and it was nice to see I was getting to know more people... not Society people, but the middle class whites, teachers etc. Eventually the beating of the retreat began. In processed a small group of pipers and drummers in their green camouflage. We sat for about 25mins in the failing light, as the small band piped through various tunes including highland cathedral etc. At one point 2 off the group did some highland dancing to the tunes, which did look a bit odd in their camo army uniforms and not in highland dress, I did wonder who plucked the short straw in having to dance. Eventually it came to an end, the head piper marched forward to some old chap in a panama hat, said a few words and they then processed out. In Kenya there is a large British army contingent, partly as an aftermath to colonialism and the good ties between Kenya and the UK and also because the northern parts of Kenya make great training ground in preparation for Afganistan. Now I presume, the beating of retreat is done when an army group is heading home, or heading off to wherever their next destination is, possibly Afganistan. So its a traditional thing. It was the oddest experience in many ways, 300 expats and old colonials sat drinking pims and various drinks as these army boys carried out the old ritual. Although I don’t truely belong in such places as the Muthaiga club, and if I was around it long enough I would begin to despise it possibly (or maybe not its kind of nice...) but I do love these brief encounters and experiences, and a taste of the old colonial history. How many times has the beating of the retreat happened at Muthaiga, how many dignitaries and members of high society have sat and witnessed the same thing. It’s kind of fun, kind of surreal, and a bit of a laugh, and for a brief moment transports my mind from the daily struggles and pressures from Cheryls, to focus on something different and see a whole different side to life in Africa. If only Society knew who I really was... I chuckle inside myself as I hob nob with the rich and... well rich.
3 FUNERALS AND NO WEDDING – Imagine I have been here in Kenya for about 8 months, I know a few people, not many but a few. The strangest thing happened the other week. In the space of about 10 days 3 people I know died. I didn’t know some of them that well, but in the space of 10 days, out of the limited number of people I have come across, 3 die in 10 days. The first to go was Mo’s mother, a lady called Tinka. I haven’t seen her since our youth trip in 2004, but I remember long ago, back in 1995 I was spending a Christmas in Nairobi while on my gap year in Zimbabwe. I was staying in the guest cottage next to the house I am living in, with Mike and Gerry. Tinka lived opposite, and on Christmas day invited all the waifs and strays in Nairobi, people who had no-where else to go on Christmas day. She was a lovely, fun, slightly crazy lady, but I will never forget how she opened up her house for so many people. She has been in a nursing home recently and her daughter Mo was living opposite me. Sadly she passed away. Following this a guy I met before Christmas last year committed suicide, an old school friend of David. I only met him once but you could clearly tell he had serious problems. He hadn’t worked since school, was on various medications, but nothing helping. He had tried to commit suicide once before but failed. David is one of the few people left who spent time with him. We would often talk about it and he would beat himself up that he doesn’t do more for the guy and his brother (also with mental health problems), but in reality David was the only person left in Nairobi who would even bother to give them the time of day. Eventually it obviously got too much for the guy and he killed himself. He lived just down the road from me. Finally the third and the saddest one for me is that Geoff has passed away. I met Geoff and Dorothy back in 1995 when Mike and Gerry took me to Geoff and Dorothys house in Naivasha for new years day (I think a tradition for Mike and Gerry). We were the only guests, I had never met them before but they knew Mike and Gerry were bringing this young lad with them from Zimbabwe. They welcomed me into their home and as Christmas presents were passed between the 2 couples I was shocked and humbled to be given some Christmas presents from Geoff and Doroty. Having never met them, they still wanted to welcome me and give me some Christmas greetings. I have never forgotten that, and probably never will all my life. I have never met anyone like them. They were missionaries here for most of their life, doctors serving the poor. Even into their 90’s they were still providing medical to the local community from their house. When I brought youth groups from the UK in 2004 and 2007 I took them to meet Geoff and Dorothy, a little worried a bunch of teenagers would overwhelm them but they welcomed us all in and I think Geoff particularly liked chatting about the education system with the youngsters, I was just praying in the corner everyone would behave and remember their manners (I needn’t have worried, they were always great teenagers). We only spent a couple of hours there in 2007, but when I visited Kenya for 10 days in 2008 I had coffee again with Geoff and Dorothy and David. As we went back to Davids house Geoff phoned him, he was desperate to send a message to me. Both him and Dorothy wanted to say thank you, because 7 months earlier when we had visited with the teenagers, 2 of the leaders had done the washing up for them, they had wanted to say thank you! I couldn’t believe that they had remembered something like that, they didn’t even have to say thank you, but again I was humbled. The last time I saw Geoff was October last year, we were up in Naivasha with David and Juliet and Claire. David and I popped down to see them, but Dorothy was asleep, we saw Geoff walking around the garden, still in his shirt, sweater, formal shorts and long socks, enjoying the birds and flowers. We chatted for a while and caught up. They have a guest cottage there I have been meaning to use for a while, but never got organised enough. I was even going to use it the other week, but it didn’t happen. Dorothy is very old and frail, deaf and blind and relied heavily on Geoff, we all thought she would go first, but sadly Geoff fell in the shower the other week, he went into Nairobi Hospital, he took quite a bump to his head. David managed to see him, both him and Dorothy were there, a week or so later he passed away (in fact it happened during the night of the Beating of the Retreat, we had just been talking about them over dinner). He was muched loved by so many people in Kenya, it was a privilege to know him and have a few moments of my life with him, I regret I didn’t organise myself to spend more time with them. His memorial is on Friday, I won’t be able to make it, but I will be thinking of him on that day, and if any of the young people are reading this who met him, i hope you can spend just a brief moment thinking of him on Friday.
THE NEW TIGER – Having watched the Constant Gardner and seeing there was a golf course right by the Kibera slum, I thought I would never play golf here, its like in England where Golf is usually for the well off (unlike Scotland where everyone plays). However I discovered there are other courses and David wanted to play and was probably as bad as me. So when I came back from the UK in March I brought my clubs over. After many cancellations we finally had a round on a course called Vet Labs, which is part of a university. It’s not the poshest course but its still nice. The kind of informal golf course I like. Of course here you don’t carry your bag, a caddy does it for you (a source of employment and only costs £2). I loved playing golf with my best friend Mark back in Edinburgh, just the 2 of us out at melvilles, slicing, hooking and occasionally striking the ball well, in and amongst the trees, not taking it too seriously but competiting a little with each other, thats the golf I play. This time there were 4 of us in the group (including a 12 year old who I knew was going to be better than me!), plus the 4 caddys. Hmm too much of a crowd for my liking, and having not played in nearly a year the pressure got to me. Thats my biggest weakness, I phsyc myself out, rush, try and hit the ball as hard as I can, and any golfer knows that’s all completely wrong. It was strange because it had been really wet weather all week, and despite the warmth, it was wet and drizzly and like playing back home. I totally managed to embarrass myself by rubbish play, but we made it round, and thankfully the 12 year old didn’t laugh at me too much. My first strike I topped it, and it kind of dribbled off the tee not going anywhere (hmmmm good start infront of the club house). Alice, the 12 year olds mum, just said casually “thats what you call an air shot” trying to lighten the mood and help me relax, and the 12 year old quickly piped up “no mum, thats what you call a DUFF”, Alice all embarrassed now by her cheeky son. But it was all cool, i didn’t even hear them, and actually I wouldn’t mind, he was right it was a duff. We laughed the whole way round, sweated in the heat and altitude and despite some stress on my part it was a bit of fun. David and I both agreed, it was embarrassing, but we need to play more often, get some practice in and its good fitness! So hopefully tomorrow we will hit the course again, hoping to do a little better next time. OK not Tiger woods yet, but getting there (golf wise).
SACK – I had the toughest day a week or so ago. I had a friend visiting from Uganda on her way back to the UK. I was waiting at home to go the airport to pick her up in the morning when I got a call from Samuel. “The teachers are on strike”. I rushed in, emptied my bank account almost, I knew it was about money. I came in to find some of the teachers in Samuels office, I had 30 mins before I needed to leave for the airport. Its a very long story, but in brief this is what happened... until we can get most of the kids sponsored we will struggle to pay for all our running costs. Our priority is the kids, they must get fed and also get their education, which usually means it’s the staff that go without being paid. This is the hardest bit of my job, as Samuel and I discuss how to spend the little resources we have its when we see its the teachers and staff who must suffer. We talk about it a lot with them, we understand their difficulties, and its often people like Samuel and the other core staff who go the longest without being paid, the teachers tend to be the first to be paid because we don’t want to lose them. We know that if we can dramatically increase the child sponsorship we can pay everyone every month, its hard asking someone to work when we can’t pay, knowing they have their own families to provide for, food to buy, rent to pay. If someone is in real trouble we always give them something, and when they are not paid there is always a record kept. We know one day we will generate enough monthly income and will also pay everyone what they are owed. We talk about it at almost every meeting. But the sad thing is a few teachers wanted to cause problems. Samuel offered to meet with them, sat and discussed it and gave chance for them to talk more, ask questions, but everyone left agreed with the situation. It then transpired that they decided to sit in their classrooms not teaching, and then on the Friday had a strike by sitting in the staff room refusing to teach. Samuel invited them in again to discuss, they refused, he went down to see them, they refused to talk. I came into work that Friday, they didn’t talk. We discussed it and had to find what money we could to pay them all they were due. The Head teacher was furious with them, 2 other teachers refused to strike and carried on teaching. As in the UK there are strict laws about industrial action, you are obviously meant to negotiate as long as possible, and then striking is last choice, and if you do strike you are required to give formal notice. The first we heard of it was when the kids came to the head teacher asking why is no-one teaching us. This was the worst thing. Although we have no problem staff coming to ask for money, we totally understand, but these teachers had made a big mistake, by not talking it through with us, and then punishing the kids with an illegal strike. We discovered that some had not been teaching properly since the Easter holidays. For us the kids come first, and to punish them because the teachers were unhappy was wrong. We had no choice but to let all these teachers go, their attitude was all wrong. We can understand if someone needs to leave and find a new job that will pay every month, we would wish them well, but to punish the kids like that and treat them that way was wrong. Thankfully money had come in on the Friday, which we would have used to buy food, and pay schools fees for the high school kids from last term and a little bit this term, some also would have gone to the staff, but now all that money has had to go to the 7 teachers. We now face a difficult couple of months ahead, and the risk that some of these kids will be sent home from High School because the fees have not been paid. The teachers left us not even apologising for the strike. One teacher came back immediately to apoligise, infact during the strike he continued to mark books, but realised he should have stood up to the others, he had been a recent appointment so we understood he was afraid to resist. He acknowledged how wrong the others had been and wanted to give back some of the money we had given him. We decided to welcome him back to us and he is back teaching. Over the weekend Rose, our head teacher began recruiting, and by Tuesday we had a full compliment of staff again. We discussed with all new staff the situation, that money is tight at the moment, but the kids must come first, that our future building project is to make sure our future is secure and money for that can’t be used for the day to day stuff (something we had explained time and again to the old teachers, but they didn’t care about the future, just about today), that the only real way to secure paying staff is to increase child sponsorship, which guarantees food for the kids and salaries for the staff. They all agree and see what we are trying to do here. We are so pleased with the character of the new teachers and already the school is vibrant and we are moving forward. The old teachers have tried to spread horrible rumours to parents, trying to persuade the community kids who come here to leave us. But thankfully the parents trust us and see what we are trying to do. The old teachers went to the labour office to try and sue us for more money, but the labour office has investigated and seen what the teachers have done, and shown them where they have gone wrong. Its been a horrible time, and horrible that we had to do this. It has been really stressful and hard to have broken a relationship now we these adults. I’m sad they have left so bitter and still trying to cause problems. We won’t get dragged into anything with them now, we will just focus on carrying on with our work, we believe we will stand strong and all the other staff see the work we are doing and stand with us. Its been the hardest time. BUT this week has been positive, the new teachers are great and although we still face tough times ahead this whole experience has brought the rest of the staff together and a greater sense of unity. I desperately want us to reach a much higher number of sponsors, so that as each month comes we can pay the staff what they are due for working so hard, we can pay for food, we can pay our electricity bill, pay for water, pay for our kids in high school, we can truely provide for all these kids. We have 144 kids not sponsored, thats our target, thats what we need to aim for and fast! This has been an epic week, and maybe hard to understand from an outside perspective, but I believe Samuel and I have been professional, we have discussed everything with the head teacher and acted as a team, the labour office have confirmed we have done nothing wrong. It’s time to put the past behind us and move forward with a new team, confident in the future before us.
If you know of anyone who would like to sponsor a child you can download a form from: www.box.net/shared/o96v6386is
Tuesday, 27 April 2010
SAFARI - A JOURNEY
HIT THE ROAD – So a couple of weeks ago I finally got chance to take my first official holiday since being in Kenya. There are sooooo many places to explore and discover in Kenya and in a way I want to see them all as fast as I can, i have no patience, but living here is not about going on constant holidays, so I need to wait until opportunities arise and funds allow. Unfortunately as I am still waiting for a residency permit I have to pay tourist rates, which totally sucks as they are sooooo high compared to resident rates, but in time it will come. So myself, David and Juliet hit the Mombasa road south down to Tsavo West and then moving on to Tsavo East. Tsavo is the biggest national park in Africa (possibly the world, I’m not sure). Tsavo has always been a favourite of mine, it is vast and spellbounding, everytime I go my breath is taken away, and then you study the map and realise that we only ever really drive round a tiny part of it. Because of its size you don’t always see many animals, and for those just visiting on holiday and wanting to see the big 5, its probably not worth coming to Tsavo because you are most likely to be disappointed, but if you appreciate a stunning landscape, rapidly changing scenery and the feeling of truely being in the wild, this is the place to be. We stayed at a tented camp (quite luxurious – I managed to sneak residency rates here which was great, just had to pay tourist rate to enter the park). Our tents overlooked some hippos pools, where the hippos resided all day, splashing around, and cooling off in the water. Crocodiles also inhabited the pool, and on the last day I had a baby one just under the wooden structure on which my tent was placed. At night time we had to be escorted to the main bit with the restaurant as the hippos move from the pool and head out for their night time feasting. On the way back on the last night as my Askari walked me to my tent we spotted a Python slowly moving across the path just to go under my tent structure. In all the time I have ever spent in Africa I think this is the only situation I have come across a random snake in the wild, I have seen others, but not like this. Thankfully it was just a young one at 1.2metres long. It was white with dark brown markings. He was on the hunt and moving slowly. I knew that he wouldn’t be too interested in my tent as he looked hungry and was looking for food. Later on we spotted him again going past my tent and heading off to the bush. It was so cool really feeling like you are in the wild, with so much wildlife around you. We spent 3 days there, doing game drives, enjoying the scenery and relaxing in the swimming pool (which cooled us down from the 40 degree heat). I love Tsavo, and will always be a special place to me.
ORPHANS OF A DIFFERENT KIND – One of the most popular tourist things to do in Nairobi is visit Daphney Sheldricks Elephant orphanage where they rescue baby elephants and bring them up to go back into the wild. Now if you sponsor or foster one of these elephants you can book to stay at Ithumba in Tsavo East. Tsavo East is not as popular as Tsavo West, especially in the nothern part. Partly because the area is so dense with bush you can hardly see anything so its not a place for game drives etc. Well David and Juliet and 2 other friends Tim and Shellen, sponsor elephants, so we all booked at Ithumba for the second part of our short holiday. If Tsavo West was in the wild, this place is even more so. There are no other lodges, camps and tourists in the area, it was just us, the elephant part and the Kenya Wildlife Services headquarters. It was awesome. A very bumpy 2 hour drive off the main road, passing through tiny villages, listening to some great tunes on Ron’s stereo and waving to the kids who love spotting Mzungu’s (white people) and constantly wondering, have we made a wrong turn, the deeper we go the further it will be if we are lost. But we made it to the camp, it has only 3 tents and a large open structure which has comfy chairs, dining tables and lamu style beds for relaxing during the day. Its self catering but also not that basic so you do feel a little bit of pampering. When you book you book the whole camp, so we had it all to our selves. So 4kms down the road is where the young elephants are. Once they are old enough Sheldricks moves the elephants down from Nairobi to this camp and start the re-introduction to the wild process. There were 8 elephants when we were there, 6 older ones and 2 younger ones (one of which was quite sick and had a heart problem, also my favourite). We would wake at 5:30am drive to the ele’s and feed them with milk at 6am, which was cool. Come back and eat breakfast and sleep, then at 11am we would meet the ele’s out at a small pool. After their breakfast they head out into the wild for feeding on branches etc and go with a couple of carers, so they always arrive at the pool at 11am, where we feed them with more milk. Sometimes the ex orphans turn up as well just to say hi which is very cool. On both days they came, but that was a little scary because these ones were like 10 – 12 years old, so very big and slightly wild now, but the carers make sure us tourists are fine. The ele’s eat, swim and then move on. Then we go back and crash, laze around, have lunch, sleep, melt in the 40+degree heat and then at 5pm go back for the last feed, as the elephants come back to their camp. It was an awesome experience, sometimes tiring, but feeding the elephants out in the wild by the pool was the best bit. On the last day loads of the ex orphans came along with a totally wild elephant, I wasn;t too worried, until the head carer quietly said...”hmm maybe you should get behind that tree”... so the 5 of us cowered behind this pathetically tiny tree from this giant elephant who wasn’t too pleased to see us. But he calmed down and we all carried on. It is so different being out in the wild, on foot, not inside your vehicle, the feeling is soooo much different and special, you are not protected by some large metal machine, but standing there, exposed to whatever wildlife is around. The adrenaline, the connection with nature is fantastic and I love it. The great thing also was to see that 2 of the older elephants had decided to spend the night out with the ex orphans, the young ele’s can move into the wild whenever they want, they tend to go away for 1 night, then come back and then go for longer etc until they finally leave, it was great to see the re-introduction actually happening before our eyes. (See photos below this post)
THATS HOW IT FEELS - After the 3 days Ithumba we did our last feeding of the elephants and I felt a real sadness as we drove away. I tended to feed the sick elephant and in such a short space and time I felt quite attached. But I also reflected driving away how similar this situation is to Cheryls and our volunteers. I felt really attached to these young elephants after only 3 days, thinking that feeding them each day I had built some connection, but in truth it was more in my head than in the elephants. The carers don’t really want the elephants to get too used to people so they cope better in the wild, but you feel you do, but in reality you don’t. The elephant comes to you because you have a milk bottle in your hand, and the carer is near by so he trusts its ok. He soon leaves when the bottle is empty. I left on the last night wanting to matter to these elephants and feel significant to them, but actually thats because I wanted to feel significant and important, the truth is it’s the carers that really matter and who are important, they work incredibly hard, in harsh conditions and for long hours and weeks. They dedicate their lives to these elephants. They are the important ones and they are the ones who really gain the respect and love from the elephants. As I left I suddenly felt a comparison to volunteers I manage at Cheryls. We have a mixture of volunteers who come to us, some are fantastic, some are maybe a little hard work. But most people come with a desire to help and support us, but I know that feeling, that desire to feel significant and to matter to someone (or something) that needs help. I think this is totally natural and normal, but i guess the truth is the same here, its the staff that really matter, they are the ones who work so incredibly hard, sometimes not getting paid, sometimes being taken for granted, but they are making the long term and significant impact on these kids, just like the carers of the elephants. The sad thing is sometimes they get unnoticed by volunteers and visitors, and volunteers can occasionally come with an attitude of its them (the volunteer) thats making the impact and can change the kids lives. Don’t get me wrong, having volunteers is fantastic and a really important resource we need at Cheryls, so if you are thinking of volunteering please do come and visit, you are totally welcome and I want you to come. But what i hope visitors know and understand is that we have an awesome bunch of dedicated and hard working staff who love these kids and sacrifice a lot for them, they are here through the drought and through the rain, they are the ones making the difference. The great thing about being a volunteer at Cheryls and with the Elephants is that you get a chance to catch a glimpse of this, and in a small way support those staff who are working so hard. That can be a real priveledge and awesome opportunity. I guess at the end of the day volunteering is about sacrificing time and resources to help others in whatever way is necessary, but probably more dominantly a time to learn and experience how others are living and working, being educated, and thats awesome. For me at Ithumba, it was useful to experience that side of volunteering again (which I haven;t done for a long time) a reminder of the feelings of a volunteer, the importance of a volunteer but also knowing where the true significance and importance is, the staff. Oh and I definitely want to go back and volunteer there again!
SSSSHHHH IT’S QUIET – The school holidays are a great time, over Easter they last about 4 weeks, and we are now in the final week of hols. The majority of the residents go and stay with some relatives for a few weeks, which is great because it connects them with where they have come from and extended family. Usually these relatives can’t cope with the kids long term but can take them for a few weeks in the holidays. Most relatives are good at looking after them, but sometimes kids are here because they were abused by relatives after the parents dies. Thats why we still have about 20 kids left here, those who have been abandoned and those where relatives homes are unsafe. The place is quiet, it means the staff are given a bit of a break, the financial pressures for the this month are just a little less, because we need less food and less water etc. We run movie nights every weekend during the hols for those who remain and we have had some good times. I enjoy catching up with the high school kids and finding out how their terms have been, hearing all their stories and trying to get them all equipped for the term ahead. I think the holiday times are my favourite times, its quieter, you can spend more quality time with a smaller number of kids and I love seeing the high school ones and seeing them grow and mature, discussing jobs, careers and about their views on politics and life in Kenya. It is often sat watching a movie on movie night, with a small child sitting on your lap and seeing how happy everyone is just with a soda and a movie, that I realise I love my job, i love what I do and can’t imagine being anywhere else. Of course its stressful, frustrating and sometimes I can just despair, but the truth is what I’m doing is great and right now I don’t want to do anything else!
MZUNGU MADNESS – So over the last few weeks or months should I say, we have been checking out land for our building project. We having been popping up to Naivasha a few times to check out various places and we think we have found the perfect spot. It fits all our criteria, and myself, Samuel and Mike one of our board of directors all fell in love with it the first time we visited. Its also cheaper than the land we were looking at before Christmas. We still need to do surveys and more research but its looking good. We were quoted a price by the agents and then last week we finally met the owner. An older guy, a bit of a local tycoon. We entered his office, did the obligatory greetings, but to my surprise and joy he said, lets just get right to it, we all know why were are here. This is unusual., normally the conversation has to go around the houses before you finally get down to what you are supposed to be talking about. The sad thing though was he started on the price and he jumped from the price originally quoted, to almost double. I was so frustrated and disappointed, I could tell he had seen us, knew that a Mzungu was involved and probably thought he could try and get more money from us. I was annoyed and felt we have just wasted the last few months looking at this land. He kept waffling and I just thought whats the point of hanging round here, there is no way we were going to pay that much. But deep down I knew it was all a game. He was testing us, to see if we would pay more. I dug my heels in, knowing that at the end of the day the control is in our hands, we didn;t have to buy his land, there is always more land out there. Agents and owners always try and scare you into buying, this land is amazing (which it actually is) this land can go for a higher price, this land can be easily sold to someone else... etc. But the truth is, its just like negotiating in the markets, if you seem keen and start increasing the price you offer, the owner knows he has got you. I looked disinterested in the question, stated the original price is what we can pay thats it, if he doesn;t want it we will look elsewhere. He pressed the conversation on further, just saying we needed to add a little more. Eventually we left, myself feeling frustrated the deal had taken this course. We said we would go away and think about it and talk, he would do the same. As we left he whispered to the agent the price he would sell for which was a little extra on top of the original price, nowhere near what he was fishing for 30 mins earlier. He was obviously testing us and realised there was no dice, this Mzungu wasn’t going to roll over and just pay up. We came back to Nairobi and discussed it, my advice was to hold firm at the original price, believing that in the end he will sell. If he doesn’t we will discuss paying slightly more, because the land is good and probably worth it, but for now we are standing firm, and latest I have heard is that he will sell at the original price but wants a little extra for some fixtures and fittings on the land such as a water tank and small house, but I can appreciate that and believe that’s fair enough, so we will have to negotiate a price on those things or an addition per acre. This happens though, people see a Mzungu involved in the deal and try and squeeze more money, but I’m not interested in that, this is money donated by people from around the world, we need the best price we can get and this Mzungu ain’t just going to roll over and pay double!
IT’S STARTED – One of the things I have been working on this last few months is the sponsorship programme, it is now up and running in the UK through our charity there, CWK but also worldwide as it has been for a number of years. Our aim is to get at least 100 new sponsors by September. So we have got 4 new ones this month, its a start, but we have a long way to go. I can’t express how much of a difference the sponsorship programme will make to Cheryls and also just my working life on a personal note. If we can get 100 new sponsors we will have a regular income and that will take a massive pressure off us. At the moment we have nothing in the bank, but next week will have to equip the high school kids to go back to school, get all their shopping, pay their school fees, and on top of that get ready for our own primary school to be up and running. We need to pay salaries for this month, buy water, pay the electricity bill and cover all the general running costs. Money that is donated comes in at different times, and not always when its needed. Having children sponsored means money comes in regularly, each month and we know when its coming and how much, which means we can plan ahead and have that confidence it will be there. This is why we need 100 new sponsors. If you are reading this and you know of someone who might like to sponsor a child can you point them to this web page: http://www.box.net/shared/o96v6386is it has a child sponsorship form which you can download, print off and send to the CWK guys, it has all the information. If you are from somewhere else in the world other than the UK just email me directly and I can get an international form to you: kjbkenya@hotmail.co.uk I really want us to reach 100 by September. Each new sponsor brings smiles to the staff here, even by the 4 new ones we are encouraged, because we feel we are being supported and know there are people out their standing with us working with these children. Oh and a small request if you have or know someone who has already filled in a form but not quite got round to posting it off yet, please do so as soon as possible, the sooner it is up and running the better. Thank you soooooo much for helping with this, blog readers, lets spread the word and find 100!
DOWNWARD PRESSURE – So last blog entry I had loads of medical issues. Well the good news is that my face is back to normal (well as normal as it can be), both sides are working fine which is great, so I don’t have this stupid half face grin when I smile. Also the blood pressure is dropping back to normal and staying that way without the medication which is fantastic. I still need to keep an eye on it, but its good news. The numb foot is still there and occasional back pain but its gradually getting better, but will need more work from the physio etc. So all in all, blood pressure is dropping and I’m relieved!! I can enjoy the rest of the Easter holidays, before the craziness sets in again next week. In June, July and August I am going to have a huge number of volunteers coming and staying at the house, which is awesome but it will be a busy time too, the future looks busy, but good.
ORPHANS OF A DIFFERENT KIND – One of the most popular tourist things to do in Nairobi is visit Daphney Sheldricks Elephant orphanage where they rescue baby elephants and bring them up to go back into the wild. Now if you sponsor or foster one of these elephants you can book to stay at Ithumba in Tsavo East. Tsavo East is not as popular as Tsavo West, especially in the nothern part. Partly because the area is so dense with bush you can hardly see anything so its not a place for game drives etc. Well David and Juliet and 2 other friends Tim and Shellen, sponsor elephants, so we all booked at Ithumba for the second part of our short holiday. If Tsavo West was in the wild, this place is even more so. There are no other lodges, camps and tourists in the area, it was just us, the elephant part and the Kenya Wildlife Services headquarters. It was awesome. A very bumpy 2 hour drive off the main road, passing through tiny villages, listening to some great tunes on Ron’s stereo and waving to the kids who love spotting Mzungu’s (white people) and constantly wondering, have we made a wrong turn, the deeper we go the further it will be if we are lost. But we made it to the camp, it has only 3 tents and a large open structure which has comfy chairs, dining tables and lamu style beds for relaxing during the day. Its self catering but also not that basic so you do feel a little bit of pampering. When you book you book the whole camp, so we had it all to our selves. So 4kms down the road is where the young elephants are. Once they are old enough Sheldricks moves the elephants down from Nairobi to this camp and start the re-introduction to the wild process. There were 8 elephants when we were there, 6 older ones and 2 younger ones (one of which was quite sick and had a heart problem, also my favourite). We would wake at 5:30am drive to the ele’s and feed them with milk at 6am, which was cool. Come back and eat breakfast and sleep, then at 11am we would meet the ele’s out at a small pool. After their breakfast they head out into the wild for feeding on branches etc and go with a couple of carers, so they always arrive at the pool at 11am, where we feed them with more milk. Sometimes the ex orphans turn up as well just to say hi which is very cool. On both days they came, but that was a little scary because these ones were like 10 – 12 years old, so very big and slightly wild now, but the carers make sure us tourists are fine. The ele’s eat, swim and then move on. Then we go back and crash, laze around, have lunch, sleep, melt in the 40+degree heat and then at 5pm go back for the last feed, as the elephants come back to their camp. It was an awesome experience, sometimes tiring, but feeding the elephants out in the wild by the pool was the best bit. On the last day loads of the ex orphans came along with a totally wild elephant, I wasn;t too worried, until the head carer quietly said...”hmm maybe you should get behind that tree”... so the 5 of us cowered behind this pathetically tiny tree from this giant elephant who wasn’t too pleased to see us. But he calmed down and we all carried on. It is so different being out in the wild, on foot, not inside your vehicle, the feeling is soooo much different and special, you are not protected by some large metal machine, but standing there, exposed to whatever wildlife is around. The adrenaline, the connection with nature is fantastic and I love it. The great thing also was to see that 2 of the older elephants had decided to spend the night out with the ex orphans, the young ele’s can move into the wild whenever they want, they tend to go away for 1 night, then come back and then go for longer etc until they finally leave, it was great to see the re-introduction actually happening before our eyes. (See photos below this post)
THATS HOW IT FEELS - After the 3 days Ithumba we did our last feeding of the elephants and I felt a real sadness as we drove away. I tended to feed the sick elephant and in such a short space and time I felt quite attached. But I also reflected driving away how similar this situation is to Cheryls and our volunteers. I felt really attached to these young elephants after only 3 days, thinking that feeding them each day I had built some connection, but in truth it was more in my head than in the elephants. The carers don’t really want the elephants to get too used to people so they cope better in the wild, but you feel you do, but in reality you don’t. The elephant comes to you because you have a milk bottle in your hand, and the carer is near by so he trusts its ok. He soon leaves when the bottle is empty. I left on the last night wanting to matter to these elephants and feel significant to them, but actually thats because I wanted to feel significant and important, the truth is it’s the carers that really matter and who are important, they work incredibly hard, in harsh conditions and for long hours and weeks. They dedicate their lives to these elephants. They are the important ones and they are the ones who really gain the respect and love from the elephants. As I left I suddenly felt a comparison to volunteers I manage at Cheryls. We have a mixture of volunteers who come to us, some are fantastic, some are maybe a little hard work. But most people come with a desire to help and support us, but I know that feeling, that desire to feel significant and to matter to someone (or something) that needs help. I think this is totally natural and normal, but i guess the truth is the same here, its the staff that really matter, they are the ones who work so incredibly hard, sometimes not getting paid, sometimes being taken for granted, but they are making the long term and significant impact on these kids, just like the carers of the elephants. The sad thing is sometimes they get unnoticed by volunteers and visitors, and volunteers can occasionally come with an attitude of its them (the volunteer) thats making the impact and can change the kids lives. Don’t get me wrong, having volunteers is fantastic and a really important resource we need at Cheryls, so if you are thinking of volunteering please do come and visit, you are totally welcome and I want you to come. But what i hope visitors know and understand is that we have an awesome bunch of dedicated and hard working staff who love these kids and sacrifice a lot for them, they are here through the drought and through the rain, they are the ones making the difference. The great thing about being a volunteer at Cheryls and with the Elephants is that you get a chance to catch a glimpse of this, and in a small way support those staff who are working so hard. That can be a real priveledge and awesome opportunity. I guess at the end of the day volunteering is about sacrificing time and resources to help others in whatever way is necessary, but probably more dominantly a time to learn and experience how others are living and working, being educated, and thats awesome. For me at Ithumba, it was useful to experience that side of volunteering again (which I haven;t done for a long time) a reminder of the feelings of a volunteer, the importance of a volunteer but also knowing where the true significance and importance is, the staff. Oh and I definitely want to go back and volunteer there again!
SSSSHHHH IT’S QUIET – The school holidays are a great time, over Easter they last about 4 weeks, and we are now in the final week of hols. The majority of the residents go and stay with some relatives for a few weeks, which is great because it connects them with where they have come from and extended family. Usually these relatives can’t cope with the kids long term but can take them for a few weeks in the holidays. Most relatives are good at looking after them, but sometimes kids are here because they were abused by relatives after the parents dies. Thats why we still have about 20 kids left here, those who have been abandoned and those where relatives homes are unsafe. The place is quiet, it means the staff are given a bit of a break, the financial pressures for the this month are just a little less, because we need less food and less water etc. We run movie nights every weekend during the hols for those who remain and we have had some good times. I enjoy catching up with the high school kids and finding out how their terms have been, hearing all their stories and trying to get them all equipped for the term ahead. I think the holiday times are my favourite times, its quieter, you can spend more quality time with a smaller number of kids and I love seeing the high school ones and seeing them grow and mature, discussing jobs, careers and about their views on politics and life in Kenya. It is often sat watching a movie on movie night, with a small child sitting on your lap and seeing how happy everyone is just with a soda and a movie, that I realise I love my job, i love what I do and can’t imagine being anywhere else. Of course its stressful, frustrating and sometimes I can just despair, but the truth is what I’m doing is great and right now I don’t want to do anything else!
MZUNGU MADNESS – So over the last few weeks or months should I say, we have been checking out land for our building project. We having been popping up to Naivasha a few times to check out various places and we think we have found the perfect spot. It fits all our criteria, and myself, Samuel and Mike one of our board of directors all fell in love with it the first time we visited. Its also cheaper than the land we were looking at before Christmas. We still need to do surveys and more research but its looking good. We were quoted a price by the agents and then last week we finally met the owner. An older guy, a bit of a local tycoon. We entered his office, did the obligatory greetings, but to my surprise and joy he said, lets just get right to it, we all know why were are here. This is unusual., normally the conversation has to go around the houses before you finally get down to what you are supposed to be talking about. The sad thing though was he started on the price and he jumped from the price originally quoted, to almost double. I was so frustrated and disappointed, I could tell he had seen us, knew that a Mzungu was involved and probably thought he could try and get more money from us. I was annoyed and felt we have just wasted the last few months looking at this land. He kept waffling and I just thought whats the point of hanging round here, there is no way we were going to pay that much. But deep down I knew it was all a game. He was testing us, to see if we would pay more. I dug my heels in, knowing that at the end of the day the control is in our hands, we didn;t have to buy his land, there is always more land out there. Agents and owners always try and scare you into buying, this land is amazing (which it actually is) this land can go for a higher price, this land can be easily sold to someone else... etc. But the truth is, its just like negotiating in the markets, if you seem keen and start increasing the price you offer, the owner knows he has got you. I looked disinterested in the question, stated the original price is what we can pay thats it, if he doesn;t want it we will look elsewhere. He pressed the conversation on further, just saying we needed to add a little more. Eventually we left, myself feeling frustrated the deal had taken this course. We said we would go away and think about it and talk, he would do the same. As we left he whispered to the agent the price he would sell for which was a little extra on top of the original price, nowhere near what he was fishing for 30 mins earlier. He was obviously testing us and realised there was no dice, this Mzungu wasn’t going to roll over and just pay up. We came back to Nairobi and discussed it, my advice was to hold firm at the original price, believing that in the end he will sell. If he doesn’t we will discuss paying slightly more, because the land is good and probably worth it, but for now we are standing firm, and latest I have heard is that he will sell at the original price but wants a little extra for some fixtures and fittings on the land such as a water tank and small house, but I can appreciate that and believe that’s fair enough, so we will have to negotiate a price on those things or an addition per acre. This happens though, people see a Mzungu involved in the deal and try and squeeze more money, but I’m not interested in that, this is money donated by people from around the world, we need the best price we can get and this Mzungu ain’t just going to roll over and pay double!
IT’S STARTED – One of the things I have been working on this last few months is the sponsorship programme, it is now up and running in the UK through our charity there, CWK but also worldwide as it has been for a number of years. Our aim is to get at least 100 new sponsors by September. So we have got 4 new ones this month, its a start, but we have a long way to go. I can’t express how much of a difference the sponsorship programme will make to Cheryls and also just my working life on a personal note. If we can get 100 new sponsors we will have a regular income and that will take a massive pressure off us. At the moment we have nothing in the bank, but next week will have to equip the high school kids to go back to school, get all their shopping, pay their school fees, and on top of that get ready for our own primary school to be up and running. We need to pay salaries for this month, buy water, pay the electricity bill and cover all the general running costs. Money that is donated comes in at different times, and not always when its needed. Having children sponsored means money comes in regularly, each month and we know when its coming and how much, which means we can plan ahead and have that confidence it will be there. This is why we need 100 new sponsors. If you are reading this and you know of someone who might like to sponsor a child can you point them to this web page: http://www.box.net/shared/o96v6386is it has a child sponsorship form which you can download, print off and send to the CWK guys, it has all the information. If you are from somewhere else in the world other than the UK just email me directly and I can get an international form to you: kjbkenya@hotmail.co.uk I really want us to reach 100 by September. Each new sponsor brings smiles to the staff here, even by the 4 new ones we are encouraged, because we feel we are being supported and know there are people out their standing with us working with these children. Oh and a small request if you have or know someone who has already filled in a form but not quite got round to posting it off yet, please do so as soon as possible, the sooner it is up and running the better. Thank you soooooo much for helping with this, blog readers, lets spread the word and find 100!
DOWNWARD PRESSURE – So last blog entry I had loads of medical issues. Well the good news is that my face is back to normal (well as normal as it can be), both sides are working fine which is great, so I don’t have this stupid half face grin when I smile. Also the blood pressure is dropping back to normal and staying that way without the medication which is fantastic. I still need to keep an eye on it, but its good news. The numb foot is still there and occasional back pain but its gradually getting better, but will need more work from the physio etc. So all in all, blood pressure is dropping and I’m relieved!! I can enjoy the rest of the Easter holidays, before the craziness sets in again next week. In June, July and August I am going to have a huge number of volunteers coming and staying at the house, which is awesome but it will be a busy time too, the future looks busy, but good.
Tuesday, 6 April 2010
BACK IN AFRICA
NOT NORMAL ANY MORE – So its been a while since I put up a blog post but that is mainly because I took a trip to the UK in March for about 3 weeks. It was great to go home, see friends and have meetings with various folks. Really nice to have a change of scenery and also enjoy a bit of cold weather (ok so I enjoyed it for about 20 minutes and then after that I was freezing cold and had a real chill in my bones, it took me about 4 days to get used to it!). It was a very busy time and I had loads and loads of meetings which seemed to go well. Some folks thought it was a holiday, but it really wasn’t, the plan was to come back and meet with the trustees and do some networking. I think my veins were running with coffee and tea by the end of the 3 weeks! The funny thing about coming back was that the UK didn’t feel normal, it felt strange. I had only been in Kenya 5 months, so I thought I would just slip back into UK life really easily. But that wasn’t the case, everything felt different, going to a cash machine felt strange getting british pounds, so many white people walking around, everything being clean and shiny, driving at night time and not worrying, walking everywhere (my legs were killing after the first time I walked round Edinburgh!). I was rushing from church and headed down this road, in the distance I saw blue flashing lights and police. I immediately stopped the car and was about to turn round, because my instinct said, best avoid the police to avoid risk of being stopped and having to pay a bribe, but then I remembered I was in the UK and the Police were not going to stop me and were certainly not going to take my money. It was funny, I just automatically stopped, but after I realised my stupidity I set off again, happily going past the police without a care in the world! Things in the UK are just not normal any more, Kenya has become the norm! I had not even thought about Reverse Culture Shock, of coming home.
FAMILY – returning to Kenya and my home was also a bit strange. In my house Peter (the boy with cancer), James (an older boy looking after him) and also Samantha (a volunteer looking after both of them) had been staying while I was in the UK. I was returning to my house, but it was full of people now in their own habits and routines, and I had to adjust my own routines of living there to fit in with them. It took a while to catch up and get used to it, but we soon fell into a groove. It was kind of strange because we were a little family unit and it was my job to provide, so suddenly I had not just to plan dinner for myself but for all the rest too, suddenly I was the Daddy and they all looked to me for provision and guidance. Very strange feeling. I know that Peter has been bored though at the house so recently we have moved him back to the childrens home for a week, he seems much stronger and its more fun there, so until next chemo he is staying at Cheryls, where he is very happy to be back. It also gives me and Samantha a bit more quiet and space, which is usually needed after a long day!!!!
FUNNY FACE – back in the UK, a week before I left I managed to injure my back again, although this time the pain wasn’t in the back it was in my leg, and was seriously painful. I went to see a physio who said it was related to my back, and gave me some exercises to do. My biggest worry though was the plane journey back... 8.5 hours stuck on a tiny seat on a plane. The amazing thing was I seemed to manage ok, and my leg for the time on the plane really didn;t cause too much problem, I was amazed and relieved. I’m still seeing a physio back in Kenya, at least 3 times a week, but its slowly improving which is good news. Then the other day we were out doing some research at a market for a new venture some of the volunteers, I ate a meal which had some peanuts in (i didn’t know at the time) and I had the worst reaction ever, I’ve never been that bad but it wasn’t fun, thankfully it wasn’t full on throat closing and dieing, but it wasn’t pleasant. But then a very funny thing happened. My face went funny. The muscles on one side stopped working, and I couldn’t eat properly, smile properly, drink properly. It was a bit scary as all that rushed through my mind was mini-stroke. I went to the docs on the Sunday, she wanted to do some tests for diabetes, high cholesterol, and it seems I have high blood pressure. That night I was sooooo worried, what if I had diabetes or worse problems. I went for the tests the next day and sat in the docs waiting room for the results. Thank goodness blood sugars and cholesterol were fine, but still had a little high blood pressure which the doc will monitor. The face was still not right and she said hopefully it will just heal. A number of people have mentioned Bells Palsy, which I reckon is what it is. Thankfully this week it seems to be improving, slowly so hopefully in a week or so I won;t have such a funny face any more (at least just the normal funny for me!).
No.2 – So the other evening I had some volunteers at the house and we desperately need Tortillas, an essential ingredient to the whole Fajitas making process. So me and Elspeth jumped in the car and zoomed off to Ya Ya before the supermarket closed. Thankfully they had some in stock, so we jumped back in the car and headed home. We started turning left onto Chaka road, as most of the traffic heads on straight, the road widens for those turning left. There was a lot of traffic and it was not moving on the road going forward, no problem for us we are turning left. I indicated and started moving into the wider left part of the road, when just at that point the bus in front also started moving left... no indicator, and as this is not a bus route I assume he is just moving out of the way of a car infront, also he must see that I am in that lane moving left. He continues to turn, I continue to turn left when I begin to realise he is not moving out of the way of a car he has decided to go down Chaka road and I think he doesn’t see me!!!!! I slam on the brakes (I mean I;m only going 5 miles an hour anyways), but I realise its too late, I bang on the horn but he is oblivious (not checking his mirrors) and the bus turns in front of my car with the side of the bus hitting and scrapping the front right hand corner of Big Ron, there is a load noise, my car (Big Ron) is shaking as the bus driver finally realises what he has done and brakes to stop. The bus conducter lady looks out of the bus and sees what has happened, there is a worried face on her as she sees my car! I’, no worried we will have to wait for police, deal with insurers etc... sucks!!! Especially as we are 300 metres from my house! I get out and check the damage to Ron, thankfully the Bull Bar has taken most of the hit, with Blue paint on it and a small chip of metal taken out, other than that Ron is fine. I look at the bus, the bull bar has put a decent size hole i the side and the paint is scraped all down it for about a metre. Some of the passengers on the bus start to try and get off knowing that it could take hours to get this sorted, but the conducter emplores them to stay on as she looks at me to see my reaction. I look at Ron, he seems fine, apart from a little bull bar bruising, I look up at her, shrug my shoulders and raise my hands as if to say lets no bother going down this process, she takes the hint, signals the bus driver, I get back in the car and we all move on! In many ways I am relieved we don;t have to go down the whole insurance process, I know I was clearly in the right and the bus conducter was probably more worried about what this rich muzungu would do now the bus has damaged his car. But in the grand scheme of things Big Ron was fine, so what was the point. The incredible thing though is this: 3 days early I was leaving cheryls and James stopped my car and pointed to the bull bar. It was hanging off, underneath the metal work had come apart and it was hanging on by its Bull Bar fingertips (I had been on a rough roads recently and also the kids regularly cimb on Ron and particularly the bull bar). So we limped along to a local welder in the slum and for £7 he fixed it, and reinforced it, showing what a rubbish job had been done in the first place. Now if this hadn;t happened, and I hadn’t got it fixed then when the bus hit me the bull bar would have just come off and the car would have been majorly damaged!!! It was unbelievable the timing. So what seemed like a pain to fix the bull bar actually saved me from a much greater problem a few days later! This was Kenya car crash No.2
HALF WAY AND THE 100 – being in the Uk was great to do some promotional work for Cheryls but while I was away Samuel had been working on some things, particularly on the finances. He wrote a budget for this year and he worked out with our predicted income (which is not always a guarantee) we are expecting half of what we need to come in for the year. This was pretty scary when you read the figures. But its also useful to know the details and see why and how we come up short every month. One of the things we want to do in the coming months is improving administration and as our organisation grows we now have an accountant working with us full time which will help us be much better prepared and access information much easier and quicker. Despite the scary stats of seeing how we are only predicted to get in half of what we need, I quickly worked out on a calculator that if we could get 100 new sponsors for kids we could almost cover our shortfall. This gave me and Samuel both hope, it should bee achievable and it will make a massive difference, so our goal is to get 100 sponsors in the next few months!! Samuel was quite stressed while I was away, both of us feel the burden of carrying this project, and when things are tight when you go home at night its even harder, but knowing that there is a way out of this is amazing!!!! It makes such a difference, it gives us hope, that even though we may be short, if we can galvanise enough people to sponsor kids the future will be easier for both of us and we can focus on the bigger picture and the building project. Just need to find 100 people first!
NO EGGS – So the weekend just passed was Easter and like in the UK the Friday and Monday are public holidays. Its funny though it seems although church is on Sunday etc and thats the officially big day, Kenyans seem to make more of the Monday. We don;t buy meat often for the kids, its expensive, but we do on special occasions, so we bought meat for Good Friday and then I assumed we would get it for the Sunday, but nooooooo its for Monday. How strange??? But thats cool, thats how they roll here. Also I looked and looked but no Easter Eggs anywhere to be found. Its funny, Nairobi is becoming more and more westernised and Christmas did have some of the usual commercial stuff, trees, presents etc but Easter, no eggs! It will be interesting if this changes over the years (although could be because the chocolate might melt??).
HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW – So again while I was in UK, Peter still continued with his chemo and treatment, but also he had a CT scan. I came back to see an incredible thing. ON the original scan the tumour was huge and very clear but now on this new scan it can be hardly seen, there is a fuzzy line round part of his skull, but apart from that its normal. Its unbelievable, he has had less than half his original treatment plan and the improvement is astounding. So whats next? As there was never a concrete diagnosis we have to be careful now to try and make sure every bit goes and its not going to grow back. Peter will now receive chemo once every 3 weeks for about 8 months. This means time wise its going to take a while, but from our point of view it spreads things out a bit. So I guess its about 10 – 12 more treatments, Im not actually sure yet, assuming nothing goes wrong. He will need more tests and scans in the future to see the progress but its good to finally be on a steady plan (I think). We are next in this weekend for treatment. We have enough money for about another 2 treatments but after that we run out, so will need to raise more money soon for Peter so we can sure to provide for the rest of his treatment and also cover any unexpected issues such as infections. The great thing is he is feeling good, not had any problems in the last few weeks which is great and he seems strong. I’m so pleased with how its going now and to see such a dramatic change is awesome. I am sooo grateful to everyone for the support and prayers, it was really reassuring being the UK to hear how everyone cares for Peter and want to see him get well, that encourages me and keeps me going!!! Hopefully the tumour will continue to disappear!
FAMILY – returning to Kenya and my home was also a bit strange. In my house Peter (the boy with cancer), James (an older boy looking after him) and also Samantha (a volunteer looking after both of them) had been staying while I was in the UK. I was returning to my house, but it was full of people now in their own habits and routines, and I had to adjust my own routines of living there to fit in with them. It took a while to catch up and get used to it, but we soon fell into a groove. It was kind of strange because we were a little family unit and it was my job to provide, so suddenly I had not just to plan dinner for myself but for all the rest too, suddenly I was the Daddy and they all looked to me for provision and guidance. Very strange feeling. I know that Peter has been bored though at the house so recently we have moved him back to the childrens home for a week, he seems much stronger and its more fun there, so until next chemo he is staying at Cheryls, where he is very happy to be back. It also gives me and Samantha a bit more quiet and space, which is usually needed after a long day!!!!
FUNNY FACE – back in the UK, a week before I left I managed to injure my back again, although this time the pain wasn’t in the back it was in my leg, and was seriously painful. I went to see a physio who said it was related to my back, and gave me some exercises to do. My biggest worry though was the plane journey back... 8.5 hours stuck on a tiny seat on a plane. The amazing thing was I seemed to manage ok, and my leg for the time on the plane really didn;t cause too much problem, I was amazed and relieved. I’m still seeing a physio back in Kenya, at least 3 times a week, but its slowly improving which is good news. Then the other day we were out doing some research at a market for a new venture some of the volunteers, I ate a meal which had some peanuts in (i didn’t know at the time) and I had the worst reaction ever, I’ve never been that bad but it wasn’t fun, thankfully it wasn’t full on throat closing and dieing, but it wasn’t pleasant. But then a very funny thing happened. My face went funny. The muscles on one side stopped working, and I couldn’t eat properly, smile properly, drink properly. It was a bit scary as all that rushed through my mind was mini-stroke. I went to the docs on the Sunday, she wanted to do some tests for diabetes, high cholesterol, and it seems I have high blood pressure. That night I was sooooo worried, what if I had diabetes or worse problems. I went for the tests the next day and sat in the docs waiting room for the results. Thank goodness blood sugars and cholesterol were fine, but still had a little high blood pressure which the doc will monitor. The face was still not right and she said hopefully it will just heal. A number of people have mentioned Bells Palsy, which I reckon is what it is. Thankfully this week it seems to be improving, slowly so hopefully in a week or so I won;t have such a funny face any more (at least just the normal funny for me!).
No.2 – So the other evening I had some volunteers at the house and we desperately need Tortillas, an essential ingredient to the whole Fajitas making process. So me and Elspeth jumped in the car and zoomed off to Ya Ya before the supermarket closed. Thankfully they had some in stock, so we jumped back in the car and headed home. We started turning left onto Chaka road, as most of the traffic heads on straight, the road widens for those turning left. There was a lot of traffic and it was not moving on the road going forward, no problem for us we are turning left. I indicated and started moving into the wider left part of the road, when just at that point the bus in front also started moving left... no indicator, and as this is not a bus route I assume he is just moving out of the way of a car infront, also he must see that I am in that lane moving left. He continues to turn, I continue to turn left when I begin to realise he is not moving out of the way of a car he has decided to go down Chaka road and I think he doesn’t see me!!!!! I slam on the brakes (I mean I;m only going 5 miles an hour anyways), but I realise its too late, I bang on the horn but he is oblivious (not checking his mirrors) and the bus turns in front of my car with the side of the bus hitting and scrapping the front right hand corner of Big Ron, there is a load noise, my car (Big Ron) is shaking as the bus driver finally realises what he has done and brakes to stop. The bus conducter lady looks out of the bus and sees what has happened, there is a worried face on her as she sees my car! I’, no worried we will have to wait for police, deal with insurers etc... sucks!!! Especially as we are 300 metres from my house! I get out and check the damage to Ron, thankfully the Bull Bar has taken most of the hit, with Blue paint on it and a small chip of metal taken out, other than that Ron is fine. I look at the bus, the bull bar has put a decent size hole i the side and the paint is scraped all down it for about a metre. Some of the passengers on the bus start to try and get off knowing that it could take hours to get this sorted, but the conducter emplores them to stay on as she looks at me to see my reaction. I look at Ron, he seems fine, apart from a little bull bar bruising, I look up at her, shrug my shoulders and raise my hands as if to say lets no bother going down this process, she takes the hint, signals the bus driver, I get back in the car and we all move on! In many ways I am relieved we don;t have to go down the whole insurance process, I know I was clearly in the right and the bus conducter was probably more worried about what this rich muzungu would do now the bus has damaged his car. But in the grand scheme of things Big Ron was fine, so what was the point. The incredible thing though is this: 3 days early I was leaving cheryls and James stopped my car and pointed to the bull bar. It was hanging off, underneath the metal work had come apart and it was hanging on by its Bull Bar fingertips (I had been on a rough roads recently and also the kids regularly cimb on Ron and particularly the bull bar). So we limped along to a local welder in the slum and for £7 he fixed it, and reinforced it, showing what a rubbish job had been done in the first place. Now if this hadn;t happened, and I hadn’t got it fixed then when the bus hit me the bull bar would have just come off and the car would have been majorly damaged!!! It was unbelievable the timing. So what seemed like a pain to fix the bull bar actually saved me from a much greater problem a few days later! This was Kenya car crash No.2
HALF WAY AND THE 100 – being in the Uk was great to do some promotional work for Cheryls but while I was away Samuel had been working on some things, particularly on the finances. He wrote a budget for this year and he worked out with our predicted income (which is not always a guarantee) we are expecting half of what we need to come in for the year. This was pretty scary when you read the figures. But its also useful to know the details and see why and how we come up short every month. One of the things we want to do in the coming months is improving administration and as our organisation grows we now have an accountant working with us full time which will help us be much better prepared and access information much easier and quicker. Despite the scary stats of seeing how we are only predicted to get in half of what we need, I quickly worked out on a calculator that if we could get 100 new sponsors for kids we could almost cover our shortfall. This gave me and Samuel both hope, it should bee achievable and it will make a massive difference, so our goal is to get 100 sponsors in the next few months!! Samuel was quite stressed while I was away, both of us feel the burden of carrying this project, and when things are tight when you go home at night its even harder, but knowing that there is a way out of this is amazing!!!! It makes such a difference, it gives us hope, that even though we may be short, if we can galvanise enough people to sponsor kids the future will be easier for both of us and we can focus on the bigger picture and the building project. Just need to find 100 people first!
NO EGGS – So the weekend just passed was Easter and like in the UK the Friday and Monday are public holidays. Its funny though it seems although church is on Sunday etc and thats the officially big day, Kenyans seem to make more of the Monday. We don;t buy meat often for the kids, its expensive, but we do on special occasions, so we bought meat for Good Friday and then I assumed we would get it for the Sunday, but nooooooo its for Monday. How strange??? But thats cool, thats how they roll here. Also I looked and looked but no Easter Eggs anywhere to be found. Its funny, Nairobi is becoming more and more westernised and Christmas did have some of the usual commercial stuff, trees, presents etc but Easter, no eggs! It will be interesting if this changes over the years (although could be because the chocolate might melt??).
HERE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW – So again while I was in UK, Peter still continued with his chemo and treatment, but also he had a CT scan. I came back to see an incredible thing. ON the original scan the tumour was huge and very clear but now on this new scan it can be hardly seen, there is a fuzzy line round part of his skull, but apart from that its normal. Its unbelievable, he has had less than half his original treatment plan and the improvement is astounding. So whats next? As there was never a concrete diagnosis we have to be careful now to try and make sure every bit goes and its not going to grow back. Peter will now receive chemo once every 3 weeks for about 8 months. This means time wise its going to take a while, but from our point of view it spreads things out a bit. So I guess its about 10 – 12 more treatments, Im not actually sure yet, assuming nothing goes wrong. He will need more tests and scans in the future to see the progress but its good to finally be on a steady plan (I think). We are next in this weekend for treatment. We have enough money for about another 2 treatments but after that we run out, so will need to raise more money soon for Peter so we can sure to provide for the rest of his treatment and also cover any unexpected issues such as infections. The great thing is he is feeling good, not had any problems in the last few weeks which is great and he seems strong. I’m so pleased with how its going now and to see such a dramatic change is awesome. I am sooo grateful to everyone for the support and prayers, it was really reassuring being the UK to hear how everyone cares for Peter and want to see him get well, that encourages me and keeps me going!!! Hopefully the tumour will continue to disappear!
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