'Beautiful People' ...

Lucy, absolutely speechless with delight at receiving the laptop

 my son and his fiance found for her.

Felista Atieno ... the lady who danced for my children and me when we visited in 1997.  

Such a lovely, graceful face on a beautiful elderly lady !

Frederick ...

... and Stephen, two of our workmen.

The laughing banana seller in Kibuye Market

Eric, or 'Mbom' as the other workmen called him.  

 He was general dogsbody, at everyones beck and call ... and he had malaria quite badly too.

Maasai night watchmen, gathering for their afternoon gossip.  

They seem to have given up the traditional red clothing.

Josephine (on the left), the teacher of Lilian (on the right),

who worked for us doing washing and cooking.

A blind lady who seemed to live at Pandipieri Mission ...

Two wheel-barrows, a bucket, a small brush and one and a half shovels ...

... were all the tools on the site when we started our part of the project.

Our remit HAD been to put the second storey and the roof on the workshop building; when we arrived and saw this ...

... we decided after discussion and a few hasty texts and emails back to HQ in England, that it would make more sense, as there was a limited amount of money and only four of us, to try and complete what was already there ... i.e. get the inside walls and ceilings plastered, the outside rendered, door frames made and fitted, windows ordered from the welders and fitted, etc.   Then the building as it was could start to be used by the orphan boys who wanted to train as carpenters.   The upper room and roof could be done by another group at another time.  

First job was to get those bricks moved from outside the door over to one side of the site.   There were by our calculations, about 4,500 of them, and each one weighed about 3 kg !   The maths defeats me, but I think thats over 13 metric tons of bricks ... or am I wrong ?   We moved them one by one or two by two if we were feeling strong; sometimes we formed a chain gang and tossed them one person to the next and at other times just two of us moved them ... pick up a couple of bricks, walk to the new stack, put them down, walk back ... do it all over again, for what seemed like days !    Eventually we had the doorway clear and a new stack of bricks at the side of the site ... and in clearing the bricks we found many frogs and lizards and beetles hiding within the stack !

                                           
Then the daily task of Sieving Sand began !   The sand for the work came from the local river, and was full of stones and grass and leaves, so it all had to be sieved.   At this point our tools were added to in the shape of three, yes three metal basins, called 'kariah's', which meant we could take it in turns to fill one with sand, a second person carry it to the workshop door, the third carry it in and dump it in the sieve, and the fourth one of us scrape the sand through the mesh of the sieve !    We sieved sand for about two hours every morning until we had a huge mound of it, enough for the workmen to use that day to make the 'plaster' for the walls ... a mix of sand and cement, made sloppy and flicked onto the walls (lots falling off !) and then rubbed smooth. 

Did I say that after sieving the sand, we were the labourers who mixed the cement powder into the sand, and then adding bucket after bucket of water, turned it over and over by hand (one and a half shovels, remember ?) ... until it was mixed ?   Oh boy !   I think a large proportion of the liquid added to the cement was mzungu sweat !

Sieving sand ... and more sand ... and a Sahara of sand ... 

We usually took about half or three-quarters of an hour off for lunch ... and the chance to sit down in the shade and ease aching muscles.  I strongly suspect the African workmen thought we were wimps; they didnt stop work from 8 a.m. until 5.30 p.m. ... whereas we finished for the day by 3.  I think we would have ended up in hospital if we hadn't had a lunch break and stopped work early.   Did I say we were doing all this hard physical work in temperatures of over 90 F ??   In high humidity ?

Our after lunch tasks were easier; the two men - Nigel and Dan - mixed more 'plaster' while Gill and I often sat with the women who lived around the site and chatted and bounced their babies on our knees, until it was time for us to go and do some washing up of the wheel-barrows and the bowls, ready for next morning.   Sweeping up was also an afternoon task ... with the one small brush, made of stiff grasses ! 

Flicking the dirt towards the door with the one small brush !

(More to follow ...)

Comic Relief ... Kibera

By some miracle I managed to iPlayer this Comic Relief programme this morning, about how Angela Rippon and others managed to live in Kibera for a few days.   Kibera is one of the largest slums in Kenya ... in the whole of Africa.  I have never been there, only seen it from a distance.

But while we were in Kenya, living in the comparative luxury of a somewhat basic apartment by British standards ... (we had been expecting and were prepared for much worse !) we often saw very poor housing, knee deep rubbish everywhere, and smelt the smells ...

... well, I don't know what to think ... its all a question of 'wants' and 'needs' ... which I'll discuss another day.   I got to thinking about the lives we lead here in the UK while I was queueing in the bank the other day, and looked across the road to the National Trust shop, with its windows full of this and that ... none of which was one of lifes necessities ... it was all 'wants' ...



Here are some pictures of the shanty town areas of Kisumu ... and we didn't see the worst. People were always cheerful and seemed to be coping wonderfully with poverty, a lack of running water, no electricity ... and yet ...

I tried to avoid taking pictures of people with their houses; it struck me as intrusive enough to be taking secret pictures of their homes ...

The laundry is always spotless ... how do they manage it ?



Home at last ...

We all arrived home safely, very tired after our long bus journey to Nairobi, where we had booked into a posh hotel, and then a day in the national park, following by the long flight home ... and then ...

... I got ill !


Just what I didn't need ... I'd been fine all the while in Kenya, and in the last few hours there, caught a foul intestinal bug !   Moral ... NEVER assume hotel tap water is safe to drink ... it obviously wasn't.  I was so ill, I couldn't keep down the anti-malarials I was supposed to be still taking, that I went to the hospital to ask for a malaria test, plus meningitis, as I also had terrific back ache, a blinding headache that paracetamol wouldn't touch, and was photo-phobic ...

They removed several tubes of blood, tested EVERYTHING, put some liquid into me, and told me to return for further blood tests etc the following day, and subsequently a third today.

I think the conclusion is that I picked up some sort of viral dysentery in Nairobi, which I had kept in check for two days with Imodium ... and which finally let rip !   I haven't felt so ill for years ... but today, have felt like eating at last, even if its a strange combination of salad, mayonaisse and chocolate ! 

~ ~ ~ ~

So now I want to write some 'reports' on what we achieved; my impressions of the Kenya of 2011 as apposed to 1968 when I first went there to live ... and to add a selection (you'll be pleased to hear its only going to be 'a selection' as I took over 1500 photos and several videos !) ... a selection of my favourite photos.

Here are the first ... I suppose you could call this selection 'Beautiful Children' ...

One of the several 'Michele Obama's' we met !

Children wanted so much to 'help' on the site, but because of nails everywhere,

we had to stop them

Pretty in pink !

First solid food for this little boy ... sucking on a mango !

Our sun glasses looked better on the children than they did on us !

African mothers carry their babies on their backs ... so the duck was too !

Having some fun for a change from work !

This last few days has been very busy; we are getting invitations to go here and there, visit peoples homes, and do a bit of sight seeing … as well as the work continuing.

Work-wise, the workshop is almost completed .. we are just waiting for the doors to arrive to go on the front of the building, and for the electrician fundi to bring the junction boxes; all the windows are in and the ceilings have all been plastered and 'textured'. Internal doors are going to be made by Paul later. Walls are plastered, and the outside of the building has been rendered.

This last Sunday was particularly full. We went to church in the morning …. St Josephs Catholic Church.  The congregation wears their best clothes, and one lady was absolutely gorgeous … she had a long orange and red dress on, with a massive head-dress of the same material; she shimmied down the aisle and looked magnificent. Small children are quiet and very well-behaved; I can't see children at home sitting so quietly through an hours service. We are objects of great interest in the church, where there are only about ten white people in total. People come up and shake our hands, and say 'How are you ?' The usual answer to this is 'I'm fine' ! Even as we walk along the roads, children call out to us:- 'Wazungu … how are you ?' If we greet children they always answer 'I'm fine' !!

After church, we walked to the bus station, where we caught the Acacia bus to Yala, about 30 miles out of town, and a little beyond Maseno, where I once lived. There we met one of Pauls friends, and walked with him to the station to await the one and only train … three times a week. The train was about an hour later than expected, but this is Africa ! It rattled and squeaked its way into the station, which was a waiting room and no platform. You just walk up to the track (which people use as a footpath anyway) and climb up the vertical rungs onto the train.

What a train ! It was already half full of people who had boarded nearer to the Uganda border, plus their bulging sacks of produce … sacks and sacks of avacado's, green vegetables, oranges, stems of bananas, clay pots, and other things too. Everyone was happy and chatted, and showed us their babies. Several groups of women had brought sacks of a green vegetable I didn't recognise, and tipped it all out onto the floor, and then proceeded to tie it into bunches, ready for sale in Kisumu or even Nairobi markets. The floor of the train was covered in banana peel, vegetable leaves, mango peel and stones, and other rubbish.

When the train stopped at halts or stations, dozens of people came and sold their wares on the train, and offered produce outside the windows, catching the shillings as people tossed them out into the waiting hands. More banana peel ! At one station, a lady boarded with several sacks of pots, all packed with banana leaves, and one massive pot. Nigel and Dan helped haul aboard the sacks; the loo was stacked high with bundles and sacks. Children running along the track shouted and waved as the train passed … and we often heard fading shouts of 'Wazungu !'

It was a wonderful two hour journey, full of colour, laughter, and sheer fun ! And all for 105 Kenya shillings … about 90p in UK !

Another evening, we took a boat out on Lake Victoria from Kiboko Point (Hippo Point) with Paul and Lucy and their family. The lake was quite rough as it was windy, and the boat tossed around. But the owner was very skilful at ploughing through the thick band of water hyacinths into open water, and took us around to Dunga, the fishing village, where we could see the fishing boats, people folding nets, washing themselves in the lake, and masses of birds in the reeds and on the rocks. Two massive canoes were loaded with charcoal from Uganda, which reminded us that the lake is still a route from Uganda into Kenya. We didn't see any hippos, for it was just too rough for them to surface, so had to content ourselves with the distant views of them we had a couple of weeks ago.

Time for us here is fast running out; our final day on the site is Wednesday, when we dont expect to work, but we are organising a little party with doughnuts and soda's for the workmen ! Thursday morning we leave Kisumu on a bus for Nairobi, stay in a hotel for the night, then early on Friday we hope to be able to visit the national park for a game drive before we leave for the airport later to fly home !

A typical day ...

This is a quickie from the Cyber Caff !

I thought I'd relate a typical day of volunteers from England working on a building site on the Equator !


Up at 6 a.m. ... the muzzein from the nearby mosque called the faithful to prayer at 5 ... and acts as our alarm clock.   First up makes tea ... black, as we cant get milk ... and puts on the porridge to cook.  This we eat with sugar and chopped fruit ... today it was pineapple.

Showers, anti-malarials, boil lots more water to cool while we are out, and then down the stairs of the apartment block by 8 to greet Morris, our tuk-tuk driver, who is licensed to carry three passengers ... but 'always room for one more' in Kenya.   Morris drives us to the site; about a mile and a half ... we could walk, but its already getting hot, so we ride ... 100 K. shillings a day for the tuk-tuk ... about 85p.

The local workmen are already on site; they greet us individually with a three way African hand-shake.  They are Stephen, in charge, Meshak and George, the plasterers, and Eric (or Bom as he is known) who is the dogsbody. 

First job is always seiving sand, which comes from the river, so always has stones in it.  When we have done a huge heap, Dan and Nigel (my companions) start to mix the plaster mix with Eric ... hard work, shovelling and mixing the sand and cement dry, and then heavy work when water is added.  Gill and I usually are given the job of spraying the walls and ceilings already plastered, to keep them damp, so they dry out slowly.   We have to do this with a hose which we bought for the site ... previously we did it by throwing water with a cup from a bucket !   Of course, spraying above your head has the inevitable result of soaking us to the skin ... quite pleasant in this heat ... but when we have finished, its back to more seiving, and the dust and grit sticks to us, and it isn't long before our hair is standing up stiff and sticky with all the dust.   Filling my hat with water and then plonking it on my head is very pleasant !

We have a water stop at about 10 ... we need it !   Half a litre of water and a banana keeps us going for another couple of hours.  We take it in turns to seive the sand, or carry it in the to seive from the heaps outside.  By noon, when we stop again, we are filthy, aching, stinking !  We just have to have a break for lunch ... peanut butter sandwiches on dry bread, and more water, with fruit.   A banana selling lady comes round, and we buy 10 for 40 sh. ... about 30p.   She usually throws in one or two free ones.

The African workmen don't stop at all ... they think we are wimps I suspect !   After lunch, its more of the same; wall wetting, and sometimes making 'porridge' .. a whiter plaster for the top layer of plaster on the walls ... this involves mixing water, lime and cement powder in a wheelbarrow until Bom says its thick enough.   Health and safety on the site is non existant ... planks and poles everywhere with an array of nails sticking out of them; loose head on the one hammer; lumps and bumps everywhere to trip us up; and the tools ... there are 2 wheelbarrows, two shovels, one jembe, three coriah's (metal bowls used for carrying cement, sand, whatever) and an assortment of trowels.  We bought a hose to make filling the barrel of water easier.  Otherwise the one bucket had to do the job.   Nails when needed are prised out of old scaffold planks and banged straight.

After lunch, Gill and I often get an opportunity to sit with the women living next to the site, and we observe their lives with interest.   We bounce babies, and play with the toddlers and the older children when they get home from school.

Work (for us) stops at 3 when Morris comes to pick us up; I wrote a description of our journey the other day.  We strip off after Lilian (the maid !) greets us, and have blissful cold showers, and then some more black tea. 

An hour at the Cyber Caff on some days, (cold drinks available !) then back for supper.  We read for a short time, and are often in bed by 8.30, and certainly by nine !  My bed was full of ants last night, so I had to strip off the net and the sheet, and clear them out before I could get in !   By the time we go to bed, the breeze has stilled, and its hot and humid; we lie there gently sweating.  I listen to my iPod.   But by morning, its much cooler, and I have got under the sheet ... until woken by the muzzein again !

Update #6

We have found my friend Josephs home and some of his family ! (See his photo at the side)

We went with our friend Paul in a borrowed car to firstly Maseno, on the escarpment to the west of town, and appreciated the cooler weather at the higher altitude. The Equator sign was a big draw for my colleagues … and many photos were taken !

Then into Maseno School, where we used to live in the 1970's, and where daughter #1 lived as a baby and toddler. The school is very much the same, but now has 1200 boys. The house we lived in has been divided, and the school librarian lives in half. Our drive has gone, but the jacaranda outside is still there. I remember #1daughter sitting under it, sucking thumb, clutching teddy and watching the ants on the path ! 'Going home' was obviously somewhat emotional for me, but it was good to see the school is thriving and winning awards for international rugby and basketball. The sports field we created is looking good.

After Maseno, we drove on to Ng'iya, which was Joseph's home. We stopped in the market and made some enquiries; a man called James Ogutu came up to us and said he knew how to get to Joseph's home, so the three of us in the back of the car squeezed up, and he got in (always room for one more in a Kenyan vehicle !) He guided us through the market and along a deeply rutted road between banana plantations and shamba's, until Paul managed to hit a bump ! We stopped and got out, and out of nowhere appeared a man I knew from years ago; it was Richard Ogutu (no relation to James) … it was good to see him ! He shook my hand and we hugged, and smiles all around … he walked with us into Josephs compound, which to my eyes looked very run down and almost abandoned. There was no-one there, not even a chicken wandering around. Josephs house has gone, but I suppose that was to be expected … the Luo demolish a man's house when he dies. We heard that his #1 wife, Margaret was now living with her parents family in Ng'iya market. Josephs mothers house was partially collapsed, but the grave of Joseph and his brother Churchill were there, next to their mothers house on the left hand side.

There being no-one to see, we returned to the road, and found the car wouldn't engage gears ! Oh dear ! Marooned 40 miles from Kisumu down a steep and deeply rutted red road. But this being Africa, people appeared, and a man knew a man in the market who was a mechanic. So Paul hitched a lift with him on his motor bike, and we hung around and waited, chatting to the bare foot children, and having our hair stroked, and white arms felt … and an hour or so passed pleasantly enough. The mechanic and Paul returned, three on a motor bike (always room for one more) and started work on the gears.

Then there was a shout … and up the road came three women … I recognised Margaret, Josephs first wife, and her companion, the lady with no teeth who danced for us all those years ago ! I ran down the road towards them, and they ran towards me, and we had shrieks and laughter and hand shakes and hugs ! They had heard (jungle drums !) that we were there stuck on the road, and had hurried along to see us. The strangeness of travelling from Wales, and then going to somewhere in the African bush, and meeting several people I once knew, with no prior arrangements to meet them, wasn't lost on me. I think it would have been strange if Stanley HADN'T found Livingstone in the wilds of Africa !  And the serendipity of not finding them at home, and then the car breaking down to give them time to find us !  Some things are meant to be ...

It was good to see Margaret again, and especially Felista, the toothless lady, who was now around 70+. Margaret had grown into a mature woman, yet I was disappointed when within five minutes she had asked me for 1,000 shillings … and later changed her mind and asked for 5,000. It soured the lovely reunion somewhat, especially as I had taken her an enormous bag of groceries as a gift … tea, sugar, rice, biscuits, etc. My concern after Joseph had died was that his sons may have ended up on the streets, but all are well; they have poor jobs or no jobs, but they have food, decent clothes, somewhere to live, and food enough, so I'm happy they are OK. I feel I don't need to be concerned any more. That part of my life is now somehow closed.

The car being repaired (500 Kenya shillings … about £4) … we sent Paul to drive it very carefully up the rutted road, and followed on foot, with Felista and I holding hands as we went … she was chattering to me in Luo, and I to her in English, and we got on like a house on fire. More hugs and laughter, and we departed … I know I won't ever see them again, but that's OK. My friends, my Luo family are OK.

Update from Kenya, #5

This is to be a quickie, as I'm typing it in the cyber caff, and the shillings are ticking over !

Since my last entry, we have had a half day off from work, and went to visit two local schools.   The first was at Alara, a primary school near Kiboswa, more or less right on the Equator, and the other was at Dago Kakori, where we visited a secondary school.

Here are some of the pics from those visits:-

Childrens desks are pretty rough

A class of sixty four children, many sitting five to a desk



Then we visited an art centre at Pandipieri, where capable boys, orphans or ex street dwellers, are being taught artistic skills by the Mill Hill Fathers, and their work is outstanding ... many have left and gone into small businesses of their own making clay figures or painting pictures which they sell.

Some of the students art work

Then we were invited to stay for lunch !  Father Hans Bergman is in the centre.

 

Update from Kenya #4

We go to work each morning at 8 and return each day between 3 and 4, using a tuk-tuk, which is a three passenger 3 wheeled vehicle built on a Piaggio scooter base. Three passengers ? But we are four … ahh ! But this is Kenya where there is 'always room for one more' !

I'll try and paint a word picture of our return journey in the afternoons when there is marginally less traffic that at 8.

We leave the site; drive along a VERY rough and stony track between several houses; they are mostly built of poles, then plastered with clay lumps, with one window, and usually a wooden door. Corrugated iron roof. Most of daily life takes place outside … the children are washed there, and so are the clothes and the dishes. The houses next to the site are endlessly fascinating, and we watch what is going on … just as the owners watch us !

The track leads to the main Nairobi road, and we bump up over the edge of the tarmac opposite a Coptic church (Ethiopian). There is a rough dirt track each side of the tarmac road, along which is an endless stream of people walking or riding bicycles. After the Coptic church we pass several road side 'shops' … tiny shacks made of corrugated iron, selling tea bags (singly), sugar, soap, charcoal. Lorries roar past our tuk-tuk, and we in turn pass boda-boda's … bicycles out for hire where the passenger sits on a padded seat behind the pedaller. Some of the bikes have bright seats with fringes; others are more basic. The men who cycle passengers must have strong calf muscles, for some of the passengers are large, and often there are two on the back seat.

After the dukas (little shops) we pass the 'garden centre' … in reality trees and plants for sale by the road side, all planted in old plastic supermarket bags, and lovingly cared for and in good condition. Where the water comes from, I know not.

More tin shacks, more people, more shimmering dust, and a heat haze … the temperature is over 90 F …

Next we pass a stagnant pond, filled with children swimming, cows drinking, people washing their bikes and motor bikes in it … and people filling water carriers with the thick brown 'soup', probably to drink if not to cook with.

We are now getting nearer in to town, and on our right is Mega City ! Garages, and a massive Nakumatt … supermarket … 'If you want it, we have it' … well, they didn't have WD40 oil which we wanted for the dreadful squeaky doors in the apartment ! Boda-bodas and tuk-tuks wait outside to pick up fares.

Next on the left, various schools and churches (several of which we have passed on the way already), and then the football field … rough, and with a thin covering of semi-dead grass. Kids are running around, some bare-foot, kicking a ball.

On our right, saddest of all, is one of the town rubbish dumps. Its is surrounded by a tall corrugated iron fence, with big gates which are usually open. We can see the mounds of burning rubbish; the air is filled with the stench … and children are climbing all over the heaps, scavenging, presumably for food …

Then an open area where there are always several cars parked with men leaning against them … we have wondered if they are dealers, but it may just be a place to park and show off your car !

We turn off onto another rutted, bumpy, dusty dirt track, through several very poor houses and shacks, and turn off again by the Cyber Caff … yes, a modern three storey building with an internet cafe on the ground floor ! Dirt, dust, tin shacks, rubbish everywhere … and the internet ! Such are the contrasts of Africa.

And then back to this apartment block, which is one of several around here, and many more are being built. This area on the edge of town, 40 years ago when I was first here, was just dry bush and scrub country …

Erecting scaffolding - rough poles support even rougher planks

Every piece of wood on site has nails sticking out !

Workman at work on scaffolding, with wheelbarrow of cement plaster on the shakey scaffolding,

and note the plaster bag over-shoes !

3rd instalment from Kenya

Sunday 6th February.


We've completed our first weeks work on the site. What have we achieved ?


Well, we have moved hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of bricks ! They had originally last year been stacked in front of the doorway, (when the ground floor of the building was completed) but needed moving now before the new doors arrive for fitting. Each brick weighs about 6 to 7 lbs, and is roughly 3” x 6” x 9” … I say roughly, because there are no two bricks alike. They are all fired in stacks of wood, so some are very soft and crumble, and others which must have been in the hottest part of the fire, are vitrified, and almost glass like.


We stand in a line, the four of us, picking up, tossing the brick to the next person, bend down, pick up another … the person at the end of the line makes the new stack .... and so on, for about an hour at a time. Then we stop for five minutes for a water and banana break, which makes the African plasterers laugh ! We are just weak, soft wazungu to them … whereas they work hard from 8 until about 4 each day, no breaks at all, no water, no lunch stop.


When we are not tossing bricks we are shovelling or sifting sand in order not to waste a heap of sand which has got mixed up with stones … the lack of tools makes it laborious, for one person shovels sand into a koria, a battered metal bowl, and carries it to the door, where another of us takes it, carries it over to the sieve, and the last person rubs it through the mesh … and we change over every now and then, for shovelling sand outside is hot work. All our jobs are filthy, hard, and dusty; we come home at 3 each day exhausted, and collapse into the showers … after a very welcome cup of tea. We find we are drinking about two gallons of water between the four of us each day, which has to be boiled or treated with tablets.


Saturday was a very welcome change to routine. We worked on site until 11, then got the tuk-tuk back home for a quick shower and lunch. Next we were collected by Paul who took us to the place where the windows and doors are being made. They are metal, for security, with weld-mesh welded on … and that's another health and safety nightmare ! The welders use ordinary sun-glasses to protect their eyes, and are welding wearing just flip-flops on their feet.

Next we went out to Dunga, down by the lake, to visit the orphanage, started by an amazing fiesty 73 year old Christian lady, who about 15 years ago, got 'called' to sell up everything in Norfolk, and move out to Kenya to start the orphanage. Its now a registered charity, and has about 200 children from babies to young adults living there and attending the orphanage school. Read about it here …

www.covenant-home.org


I had heard about it because one of my old friends from years ago in Kenya, who now lives in Thailand, and who sponsored me to come here, has been sponsoring an orphaned girl called Lucy in the school. She is now 17, and a confident, well rounded young lady. She is hoping to become a doctor … maybe …


Later on Saturday we went down to Hippo Point to see the sunset over the lake, and watch the hippos. Another day we are going to go out in a canoe to get closer to them. Paul and Lucy joined us for drinks in the open air bar, and it was all very pleasant and relaxing ! I could get used to this !


Sunday ... I went to church again on the back of the Yamaha !  All these new to me vehicles I'm using ... a motor bike, the tuk-tuk's, and the boda-boda ... seat on the back of a bicycle !   After church (the lady with the firey hippo on her head wasn't there ...) I went back to the flat ... the others had had a lie in ... we went for a walk in the mid-day sun to the Kisumu Museum.  I just can't adequately describe the heat ... its totally exhausting; just no let up, even at night.  The two coolest hours of the day are at about 5 to 6 a.m.; once dawn has come, it's rapidly much hotter, and by 1 or 2 in the afternoon, you just can't move without the sweat running down, and eyes screwed up against the glare.  Even the Kenyans find it hot !

I called in at the Cyber Caff, and met a delightful elderly Luo, one of a previous generation who had had their six lower front teeth removed as was the custom, some say to enable feeding if they get tetanus.  His name is Boaz, and he had been at college in Loughborough ... I'm going to have another chat to him another day.

Today, Monday, WE FINISHED SHIFTING THE BRICKS !!!!!     Alleluhia !

2nd instalment from Kenya

Second episode … 1st and 2nd February, 2011

Our second day on the building site. Lots more clearing up and cleaning of the rooms in the building. It consists of three rooms, plus a large L shaped central room, with a huge double door (gap) left, I suppose so that there is space to bring in wood. The inside walls are just bare red brick, with holes left for wiring to go in later.

We carried out loads of rubbish, and made a fire outside, then set to work shovelling out dropped plaster and broken bricks, and finally (which took hours !) swept all the floors, using traditional African short stiff grass brushes. Back breaking work, and very dusty, especially as the wind got up. Frequently damping down helped a little. We attract quite a few observers while we work like coolies !

Once the floors were clean, we started sieving sand, as being left outside for several months, it had grown weeds, and had many stones mixed in. The plasterers were going to use the sand in the morning, so we had to have some ready for them.

The local children have started to come and chat, and we made sand castles in the sifted sand. There are twins, Millicent and Carol, who took a fancy to 18 year old Dan, or was it his sun-glasses ? Gill has taken a fancy to a six month old little boy, Fidel, who is fascinated by her white face. However, there is another little girl who is frightened of us, and obviously quite unwell. Her mother says she had malaria at Christmas, but I wonder if she has HIV ?

Wednesday was the day the plasterers came; Frederick, Stephen, Meshak and Eric. They make 'plaster' using sand and cement, which they make very sloppy and just flick on to the ceiling. The scaffolding they make is just poles with ropes holding on a framework, with rough old, nailey planks laid on top. It looked most unsafe, but obviously wasn't.

Gill and I mostly sieved sand … again, all day; while Nigel and Dan were mixing 'plaster' and carrying water, and fetching more bags of cement from the local shop. They borrowed a bike to fetch the cement to the site; no delivery here ! All the tools used are very rough and inadequate. A few decent spades would make a lot of difference, as would a second wheel-barrow. We were using the local metal bowls to carry sand in, and the sieved out stones out. Back-breaking, and for seven hours … I've never worked so hard in my life. By two, Gill and I had had enough, and went to sit with the local women in the shade, and talked about their children and families. I must take my photos tomorrow to show them snow in England !

Dan and I dropped off the tuk-tuk on the way home to visit the cyber cafe, where a chilled Fanta was very welcome, and we did our emails and I updated the first instalment of this blog ! I see daughter #1 had made a comment on it ! After, as we walked back to the apartment, we talked about the astonishing amounts of rubbish there is everywhere; mostly plastic bags and bottles, as well as rags and old shoes. What is the answer ? It was never like this forty years ago … no plastic, and any paper rubbish, bottles and tins were re-used. The only rubbish then was bio-degradeable cabbage leaves and fruit stones.

Surprise when we got in ! BEDS !! David, the African owner of this apartment who is here intermittently, has found us beds ! It means we can now sleep above the level of the sugar ants, which tickle …

Lilian had done our laundry and the shopping, and was making us a very welcome meal; its a good idea to employ her, for I don't think any of us could be capable of cooking as we were so tired.

End of second instalment !!

My first blog from Kenya ...ignore the automatic dates.

31st January, 2011

Here we are in Kisumu ! It is hot and humid, but WONDERFUL to be back !


We have been warmly greeted by Paul and Lucy and their family; Paul being the carpenter who has started off the PALUOC project to build this workshop and train teenagers to be carpenters. We had expected some rough living for a month, and had been warned that there was no electricity or water in the house, but when we arrived, we were brought to a second floor apartment, WITH electricity and water ! One of Pauls friends is sharing it with us. There are two hi-type loo's, two showers, a small kitchen, two bedrooms and a sitting room, all with barred windows to keep out possible intruders. There were several ladies in the kitchen cooking a welcoming meal for us, and Paul and Lucy, and some of their African friends also came to meet us. The little Luo I can offer them impressed no end ! We have a Maasai night watchman to look after us while we sleep … the Maasai are very obvious in Kisumu nowadays, but they weren't when I lived here. Many of them have jobs as watchmen … and few would argue with a Maasai ! They have given up (at least here) wearing the red blankets; royal blue and purple seem to be in fashion now.


Yesterday was a Sunday, so Paul invited me to go to church; the others on the team declined. Paul is Roman Catholic and so he came to collect me to take me there to his church. Big shock … but fun … he arrived on a Yamaha motor bike and with a helmet for me. I had seen out of our window several ladies going to church, in their finery, so I'd put on a full length Kenyan kitenge dress I'd brought with me, and I think I was very under-dressed ! On the motor bike, I had to hitch it up round my lily white thighs in order to get on the back of the bike. I wasn't sure if it was OK to clasp him round his waist, but hey ! nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I did !


The service was in English, led by a Dutch priest … but nothing like mass in England ! A procession with dancers, drumming, music, singing … and a lady with what at first looked like a ceramic hippo on her head, belching out smoke ! It turned out that she was the one who carried in the fire for the incense … on her head … in a ceramic hippo !! The words of the service were very familiar, except for all the hand clapping and dancing, oo-loolating, and drumming … The offertery (money) goes into baskets in the central aisle, and is carried to the altar by several women. I exchanged the peace with dozens who all stretched forward to grasp my hand and said 'Welcome' … and at that point I suddenly realised that many of the people present had HIV/AIDS, for they were thin, with grey gaunt faces … but lovely smiles and laughter. What is the name of my blog … but Luo Laughter. I can hear as I type this a group of men chatting outside and laughing and laughing, and slapping each others hands ! What was so good at the service was that I was able to take communion there … me, an Anglican, welcomed by the Catholic church with the bread ! (They don't use wine).


Then to Kibuye market, which is the largest in Kenya. What can I say ? Dirty, full of dust and rubbish, heaving with women with vegetables and fruit to sell; old clothes; children running around bare foot in all the muck along narrow alley-ways between the buildings and stalls; people shouting 'Wazungu' as we passed (white men !) … and the smells … sewage; sweet; spicey; human bodies … rotting fruit and cabbage leaves on the ground … I can't think what a quagmire Kibuye must become in the rains. We bought a pineapple, a paw-paw, bananas and some lemons … for under £1, and some flip-flops for me.


Back to the flat after, for lunch and then after a rest, we went on a tuk-tuk to see the work site, which is a smaller plot than I had thought, but a bigger half finished building than I thought. Our anticipated brick laying to build the second floor probably isn't going to happen by us … instead we will be installing windows and doors, and plastering, and clearing the site. This makes sense, for the building once lockable, can be used by teenagers to start learning their trade. So, dear people who sponsored me, I hope cement plaster and iron grids on the windows, plus shutters, will be a suitable substitute.


Then after the site visit, we walked to Paul and Lucy's house to meet her family and have yet another enormous supper, with bean stew, chappati's, mixed vegetables … and home made passion fruit juice. Lucy was ecstatic over the laptop; she wanted to use it straight away, and we showed her how to do some things on it.


Then back to the apartment on a tuk-tuk, and so to bed.

~~~~~~~~


This morning, the muzzein at the nearby mosque started at 4.30, reciting long passages from the Koran … the mosque is quite near. We hear the call to prayer several times a day.



We walked up to the main road this morning to meet a tuk-tuk who was going to take us to the site each day, driven by Morris ! We have decided because of the extreme heat and the high humidity, to use tuk-tuk's rather than walking each day and reaching the site unable to work while we recover ! It costs 100 K shillings, about 80 pence, to go 3 kilometres, and for the four of us, very little really. And in a tuk-tuk, you can see the people along the way without them seeing you !



Once on site, we started clearing the building of the tumbled heap of scaffold poles and shuttering so that it was clean for the plasterers who are coming on Wednesday. Scaffold poles in Kenya are wooden poles, not metal, but six hours of getting the poles up onto the roof for storage was back breaking work in the heat. We took it in turns to be on the roof, stacking, or on the ground lifting poles up to the person on the roof. The tuk-tuk back to the apartment was a welcome site.

~~~~~~~~~

More to come when I can get access to the internet again at the cyber cafe !

I'll see if I can add pictures next time ...


(WHAT ?? Daughter #1 has added a comment ... click on Comment for the previous post to read it !)

D-Day ... departure day !

So ... all packed, prepared (we hope !), well innoculated, ready for the off ...


Goodbye my friends and family; YOU have made this possible with your generous donations towards the project, so for YOU  I will do my very best in Kisumu.  

I'll try and keep in contact ... but it may not be possible; however, I shall be keeping a diary, and can relate the whole story when I get back !  

My love and hugs to you all ...


Erokomano, gi oriti ahinya !  Nyasaye ber !  

Packing ... AGAIN !

A friend suggested I got one of those spring balance things to weigh my bags with, as another friends bathroom scales just wouldn't do the job ... so I went down to town at 8.30 and got one in the hardware shop, for £3 !  

So one bag was over-weight, and the other several kg under ... so MORE repacking !  

Now I just have to run round the house making gestures with the vacuum cleaner, water my plants, and tidy up.   My good next-door neighbour is feeding my cats and generally looking after everything.  She's a gem !

I might even have time to relax with a video this evening ... what shall it be ?   'Out of Africa' is perhaps most suitable !    Though considering where we are going, maybe 'Slum Dog Millionaire' might be a better choice ...

Friends

I've had friends calling me, emailing me, visiting me and chatting on a online forum I belong to ... all day !   I had no idea I was so popular.   But people are so kind, and wish me and the team well.  

One friend sent this, which brought a little tear ...

It's a marvellous thing that you are doing and even if it makes a difference to only one life it will be worth it. It is bound to be hard not only physically but also emotionally, but I'm sure that your strength and faith will carry you through the experience.


I've packed ... (several times !) ... had a hair cut ... done the ironing ... got photos of the family to take with me ... as a friend says, 'only two more sleeps' ... then we set off !

Kenyan national pride

The flag of Kenya is broad stripes of black, red and green, separated by narrow white bands, and with crossed spears and a Maasai shield in the centre.   Its very symbolic of the country and its independence struggle in the 1950's.

Black represents the majority of the people; red, the blood shed in the freedom fight, and also the colour of the soil of Kenya; and green for the fertile land.   White is the colour of peace.  The shield and spears represent Kenyas determination to defend the country against outside aggression or internal turmoil. 

I learned about this when my children where at school there !   We also had to sing the national anthem every week at their school ... standing with our hand on our heart, facing the flag.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2RRLLaq2VM8&feature=player_embedded

These are the words ...

“Oh God of all creation
Bless this our land and nation
Justice be our shield and defender
May we dwell in unity
Peace and liberty
Plenty be found within our borders."

... or in Swahili ...

“Ee Mungu nguvu yetu
Ilete baraka kwetu
Haki iwe ngao na mlinzi
Natukae na undugu
Amani na uhuru
Raha tupate na ustawi."

If you want to check things while I'm gone ...

This is where to find out what our weather will be like.  

http://news.bbc.co.uk/weather/forecast/796



We heard last night that we ARE being met in Nairobi, and that we have a basic house to live in ... no electricity.   Nothing said about if it has a nearby water supply.   We'll soon find out ...

Good job I packed my two little wind-up lights.   Wind-up technology has made such a difference to the third world ... wind-up radios, lights, phone chargers ...   Our group leader is taking two solar lights and a solar shower ... should be useful !

Today I'm off to the dentist, and also to get loads of photos of my family, and also of my 'son' Josephs family, to see if its possible to trace them when I get to Kisumu. 

The anti-malarials I'm now taking don't seem to have any side effects, which is good. 

Nyasaye ber !

Oh and I'm also going to visit a young lady of 17 that an old Kenyan friend of mine, now living in Thailand, is sponsoring.   What a small world we live in !

The project so far

This photo is of the state that we think we will find the carpentry building in when we get there ...

... and this is Paul, a carpenter, who started the project in Kenya.

We have been warned that these projects often change during their building, so we are prepared for that !   It has occured to us that if the building doesn't have doors and windows yet, it might be better for us to get those made and put in place, so that the downstairs can start to be used; the roof and an upstairs could go on in another project later this year.

Its getting nearer !

I've spent a few hours today doing all those little fiddley things which you think are going to take minutes ... but don't !

Like photo-copying my passport and visa and medical/innoculation certificates and CRB certificate and driving licence.

Like making a list of peoples emails and phone numbers.

Like making a new strap for my under clothes money wallet.

Like finalising my will ... well, it struck me as a sensible thing to do.

Like registering with the FCO so they know where we will be ... just in case.

Etc. etc. etc !    It all takes time.


I wasted half an hour looking for my glasses ... I finally found them in the loft !   I'd been up there earlier looking for something to make the wallet strap with ...


I keep checking on the weather for Kisumu ... there seems to have been a few weeks of extra rains after the end of the rainy season, but that now seems to be coming to an end.   Humidity is dropping (right hand column), and the days are getting hotter !

Tomorrow or Saturday I start the anti-malarials ... that'll make it suddenly seem that this IS for REAL !!

A phone call

The daughter of a friend called me today; she had worked in Kisumu a few years ago on a fortnights charity placement via her university.   So I was able to talk to her about her experience.   Its was the street children which affected her too.  She went out several nights to a sort of 'soup' kitchen, which gives food to the children.  She said there were probably none over twelve years old, and all high as kites on glue.  

Such a tragedy; children are the future of any country, and for so many to be living like this, with HIV/AIDS, no education, no families, and living and dying on the streets ... such a tragedy. 

I have struggled and thought about how third world countries could tackle the problems of street children ... and I have found no answer ...

We can but pray ... and is that enough ??

Catching up

Its been nearly a week since I blogged !    I think I upset myself, dreaming about and thinking about the 'feral' children.   But its something that has to be faced, both mentally and in actuality when we get to Kenya.

What's happened this last week ?

Well, I held my 'austerity' lunch for the village elder statesmen/women !   We had spicey parsnip soup, and cock-a-leekie, with delicious home-made bread provided by my #3 daughter ... I have to confess to having a disaster with the bread the night before ... I baked two dozen cannon balls and two large bricks ... the (newly bought) yeast was dead !

We had a final meeting at HQ ... and I received the medical /first aid kit we have to take with us for our own use.   We have enough drugs to start up a small hospital !   Anti-biotics, pills for constipation, pills for diarrhoea, anti-septics, syringes and needles, IV kit, malaria testing kit ... as well as all the usual first aid stuff.    All this I have divided into four so that we can each carry some of it; in the event of a bag being lost, we haven't lost the whole kit.    We have also shared out the carpentry tools I'm taking, and the clothes and bra's !   I hope I don't have to see young D. explaining why he is carrying assorted bra's at the customs ! 

I've now reached virually £2,500 in fund-raising, which is over my target, so thats good ... and I repeat my heart-felt thanks to all my friends here in UK and around the world who have helped in this way.  The dollars, the yen, the baht, the euro ... all have been converted into £££. 

Now I'm trying to decide what books to carry with me to read.   Big decision ... should I take old favourites, or new ? 

Jesus wept; we learn about 'feral' children ...

This is a terrible phrase describing children of which I learned the meaning at our last group session on Sunday.   We met with two of the organisers of HATW, and were discussing street children.  In Kisumu (and I expect other cities all over the world where children live on the streets) there are really two groups of street children.     There are those who come from extremely poor families where the children are encouraged onto the streets to beg ...  yet DO have somewhere to go back to at night, where there is some sort of inadequate family life.

Then there are the 'feral' children.   I could weep at such a word ... yet it describes what these totally homeless, family-less, love-less children are.   And they have to survive however they can; they are effectively the rats of the human population ... they live on the rubbish dumps, in doorways, in drain culverts ... I could weep.   I can't say any more ... its too upsetting to even think of any child, any children having to live like this. 


So the teenagers we will be working with and for whom the workshop will be for, are the first category of street children ... those who DO have some sort of family.    These are the street kids for whom there IS some hope if they can find work to support themselves and their families.  

We are being encouraged to go and meet the children of the night who have no homes, who steal, beg, eat rotting food, sniff glue ... I will find it very hard to do so ... and what can we do for them ?  Nothing ...

One gleam of light is that workers from Pandipieri Mission do go on patrol and bring any girls they find into the mission, to see if they can be helped or put back with support into their families rather than drift into prostitution and pregnancy.   But the hardened glue sniffers, like alcoholics here, have to WANT to change their lives before anything can be done for them.   Many if not all of them are orphans, many are HIV positive.   The mission cannot force them into accepting help; as with alcoholics they have to make the decision and come into the mission themselves. 


Please read more about the mission here ...

http://www.hopeforafricanchildren.org/New/Country%20Programs/kenya_orgs_pandipieri.html

I've got there ! THANK YOU FRIENDS !

Today we have our last general meeting at HQ ... and we have to present our 'papers' (NOT, we are told, to be long or of MA standard !) on a project we researched.  I've done one on Health Care and Services in Kenya.

BUT ... I'm most excited by the fact that I have reached my target sum for fund raising !   £2250 was required ... and I still have some money promised from friends abroad and in this country, and there's the austerity lunch I'm doing on Tuesday.   Any more money that comes in will be put to very good use ... more bricks, some more nails ... it all helps !

I've had money from friends all over the UK, and Australia, Canada, USA, Greece, Singapore, Japan ... friends are so supportive of what I'm doing, and I feel very strongly that their support will be with me as I work at whatever I have to do in Kenya. 

I've also been donated or have found for myself ... carpentry tools (my fathers from the 1920's !); a laptop, which my son is 'cleaning up' and re-installing suitable programmes; numerous bra's of various shapes, colours and sizes ! ... childrens clothes and books, and a few other odds and ends which I can give to people in Kenya.

Its all coming together !    And less than 20 days to D-Day !

Thoughts ...

January 4th (Happy New Year, blog readers !) ... so its 24 days until D-Day ... departure day.


I've been reading some more about Pandipieri on the internet.    If you go to Google maps, and try and find it, you won't ... but if you can locate Kisumu, then Pandipieri which houses 300,000 poor people is the scattering of little spots around the eastern boundary of the city, near the rubbish dumps and sewage works.   The irony of the position of the site of the town isn't lost on me !  Rubbish ... and sewage ...

In 1977 a young Catholic missionary founded the Pandipieri Catholic Centre.   Their core philosophy is based on three principles. First, solutions to existing problems must come from within the community; they should not be imported from outside. Secondly, if you want to be part of a solution, you must be part of the community. And thirdly, resources used must also come from within the community.     Although a community of Christians established the Centre, the beneficiaries of the projects include people of all faiths.


So going as a group of well-meaning Brits, are we going to be able to follow the philosophy of the centre ?    Well, the solution to the problem of street living boys is to start to teach them trades; Paul the carpenter who has begun the project of the workshop comes from the town, so yes, the solution is being generated within the town.  
If we want to be part of the solution ... well, we WILL be living in the town, so we will be part of the community.  
And thirdly ... resources from within ... this is harder; we are supplying the money for this project, as well as some of the work, but the main resources are the African workmen, and they come from within the community.

So yes, we will be fulfilling the centre's philosophy !   I'm wondering if a mere month is enough ... shouldn't we be there for six months ??