Windows and porridge ...

So once the man with the welding equipment had managed to obtain the necessary square sectioned metal rods, and had also been delayed due to power cuts, we had nine windows made, and ready to be installed.  This work went along at the same time as we continued to sieve sand ...still with one and a half shovels, remember ... the half being a shovel with the handle broken, so it was only about 18" long, instead of full length !  

We continued to fetch and carry, sieve sand, mix cement, make 'plaster' almost the whole time we were in Kisumu ... except for the few occasions when we made concrete for a doorstep ... almost the same recipe as the plaster or mortar, but with the addition of gravel ... which we scraped out from the holes in the road outside the site, which we had a few days before filled with the stones we sieved out of the sand !   

We formulated a motto:-  'If a job is worth doing, its worth doing twice, or even three times' !     This applied to most jobs ... the gravel; moving the scaffolding poles and planks onto the roof ...and then down again; and then to the sand !   Yes, we sieved some of it twice ... because the plasterers needed finer sand for the finishing coat of 'rough cast' plaster for the ceilings ! 

Gill and I sieve the sand for the second time through a fine mesh ...

... and Frederick uses the twice sieved sand in a 'rough cast' mix for the ceilings.  

Note the somewhat flimsy scaffolding he is bouncing around on !

Another job we did frequently, though mostly in the afternoons, was to make 'porridge' ... this was a top coat of liquid plaster made with water, cement powder and lime ... horrible stuff; we wore goggles and face masks to mix the fine lime powder until it got wet and didn't fly up into our faces. It was amazing that the plasterers could make this liquid top coat stick to the walls, but it gave a very nice smooth surface, ready for painting one day.

Finished walls and textured ceiling ready for paint,

and the metal windows in place.

The outside of the building, brickwork rendered and the windows installed

and just awaiting the arrival of the metal doors for the front of the workshop.

Compare this with the photo of the building as it was when we arrived !

Lots of my friends, family and people in the village where I live, and even friends in other countries, made generous donations to the project; I had originally said it would go towards buying bricks for the second storey, but as the project changed we had to spend the money differently.

So, my dear friends, you have paid for nine large burglar proof metal windows, three internal wooden door frames, (Paul will make the wooden doors later), two large metal outer doors, maybe 60 or 80 bags of cement, many bags of lime, a hose, tons and tons and tons of river sand, wire mesh for making the sieve we sweated over every day, string for holding the scaffolding together, water, electric conduiting and associated bits, one or two odd tools like trowels and a hammer, some six inch nails and other things like delivery costs.

Nigel spent time going through the accounts with Paul, (watched by the children living near the site !) ... Paul is meticulous down to the last nail, and then went with him to the suppliers and paid the bills. The men who worked on the site, Stephen in charge, Meshak, Frederick, George and Mbom were also paid ... I don't know exactly how much, but wages in Kenya are VERY low ... even for skilled workmen.  

I think I have forgotten to mention that the boys who will use the site are orphans who are either struggling to support siblings or have nowhere to live except the streets.   We were delighted to learn that one of the site workmen had himself been an orphaned street boy; he had been trained at Pandipieri Mission in the building trade, and was now a very skilled workman, married and with a child of his own !   So very satisfying when you can see the result of just a little help given to the needy. 

Now our group of four have to raise a little more money to get the project actually working ... until the first group of teenagers have been trained to a standard where they can generate an income by making and selling, for e.g. school desks, there will be costs. Paul will have to buy a few more tools ... we took a lot of my fathers carpentry tools with us, but more are needed. There will be wood needed for the boys to learn on. Annual costs will be the Kenya version of Council Tax on the site; and there will also be modest costs for water and electricity. None of these costs are anything like what we would expect in UK, so the amounts we have to raise are very modest ... a few hundred ££ only ... nothing compared with the initial amounts we raised to take out with us. I personally feel that I can raise money through the inevitable coffee mornings, village soup lunches and charging for giving talks to organisations like the WI !!

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

After about a week of slogging on the site, we decided we just couldn't cope with the short hose-pipe that had appeared, consisting of several pieces of garden hose and water piping, joined together with sticky tape, which leaked and dripped along its length into bowls we used to catch the drips ... and we splashed out about £25 and BOUGHT a brand new hose !   Joy, oh joy ... to us and to the workmen.   No more carrying buckets of water !

I was particularly glad, for once some of the plastering had been done, it was the task of Gill and I to throw water at the ceilings and walls, to keep the plaster damp so it dried out more slowly than the heat allowed. Of course, throwing water at the ceiling using the bucket and an old plastic container meant most of it dropped all over us, rather than soaking into the plaster !

But once we had a hose, we could squirt the ceilings and walls ... and each other when the thumb over the end slipped !   However, the low and varying water pressure meant the water that was supposed to go upwards to the ceilings, invariably ran back down our arms and after half an hour of damping down, we were soaked to the skin !   BUT ... in that heat, it was pure pleasure to get soaked twice a day with cold water !   Until we did more sand sifting, when of course the sand stuck to our wet clothes and itched and rubbed ...

(One of Gills pictures)

One afternoon we went to visit the man who was making the windows; these were to be metal opening windows, but with burglar proofing also ... an internal framework of welded square sectioned metal.   Metal workers know about things like arc-eye, and that sparks can burn ... so we weren't really surprised to find the welders using sun-glasses to protect their eyes, while they welded wearing flip-flops on their feet !   

The man who was making the windows for the workshop

Health and safety is a nightmare in Africa ... the scaffolding used on site being very shakey; it had old nails sticking out of the planks, and the whole lot was supported by gum poles and string ... it collapsed at least once, and I was on hand with a camera on one occasion just as it did ! Luckily, no-one was hurt; after lots of laughter and some swearing, the workmen just put it back together.

One day there was no mains water at all ... so we had to buy some from one of the men who delivered water on a hand-cart around the neighbourhood.    I was a little worried about his containers ...

(Gills photo)

'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.