As well as working for hours each day on the site, we had to have very necessary five minute breaks ... a 'banana stop' we called such breaks ... time for a long drink of tepid (boiled) water and a banana or a couple of sweets or some nuts. Time also for a visit to the site 'lo-type' loo ! During this short respite from sieving sand (did I mention before the absolute Sahara of sand we sieved ?!) ... we were able to stop and watch life going on around the site, where there were several nearby houses, some very basic, built of earth with a tin roof, and one or two modern brick and cement flats. Much of every day life was lived outdoors, as space inside was very limited. Dishes were washed outside, clothes too; and the little children had outdoor baths. Washing was hung to dry on the barbed wire surrounding the site, and it was possible to see the holes made by the barbs in some of the sheets and shirts ! People came and went all day, and we had some fun trying to work out who was who, which children belonged to which parents and the various relationships.
This was the site watchmans house; he was a carpenter, and his wife and son also lived in the tin house which must have been terrifically hot ... but the doors were always open. Luo women do most of their work on the ground, bent double in this posture; indeed I still dig my own garden with an African jembe, bent like this ! Goodness knows when my hips will give out !
One of the twins
This was a small primary school near to the site;
we think it was probably where the watchman's son went off to each day,
wearing his smart uniform.
Fetching water; usually done by women with a wheelbarrow or a donkey.
Bathtime for this little pot-bellied girl who lived next to the site, and who was terrified the whole time we were there if we spoke to her, or came near her. Our white faces were fascinating to most other children; they wanted to touch us and stroke our hair.
The view of a flowering flamboyant tree taken from the workshop roof. The big hoarding across the road is just visible ... these huge hoardings were something new in Kenya, and in my opinion, hideous and advertising quite inappropriate things !
The lady who came every day to the site to sell us bananas.
From the roof of the workshop ... local goats searching for banana skins to eat !
The site scaffolding planks and poles,
which Gill and I laboriously got up onto the roof for storage.
After the bath, time to try on Mummy's best yellow shoes !
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