I'm home again

The three flights (Kisumu to Nairobi, Nairobi to Amsterdam, and then Amsterdam to Heathrow) all worked OK, although the change over at Amsterdam was very tight.   I cannot praise KLM too highly for the stewardess on flight #2 who took the trouble to check which gate I had to aim for at Schipol for my last flight (50 minutes only time between landing and leaving again).   But I got to Heathrow on time, wizzed through passports and picked up my bags (which had been automatically dealt with from Kisumu) and was in plenty of time for my bus home .... indeed, I changed the ticket for an earlier bus.   I was collected at Chepstow by daughter #3 and the children, which was lovely.

My first night home, I slept for 11 hours; last night for ten .... so I think I've more or less caught up.   

Lots more to write about, but not today.

Its good to be home .......... but sad to leave good friends in Kenya.

Day 20, continued

Kapok !    Its a kapok seed pod.   I had thought that kapok only grew near the coast, at a lower altitude, but I found one here along the road that I hadn't noticed before, until it started to drop its seeds.   We camped under one once at the coast, and the kids had a whale of a time, throwing the pods at trees to release great clouds of kapok fluff .... and that's when we discovered daughter #2 was asthmatic .... the fine fluff caused her to wheeze and cough.

I walked to town this morning to go to the ATM to get some cash .... only to find I hadn't taken my bank card with me .... grrr !   So I'll have to go again tomorrow; I want some cash to leave here to pay for Sylvanus and his ulcerated leg treatment.   But he has agreed to go to the Pandipieri clinic, and Sr.Bernadette will ensure he gets treated.

I made the mistake of looking up tropical ulcers on Google .... and clicked on 'images' .... I wish I hadn't.

Paul came by to say goodbye, and I gave him this book for the workshop to help the boys taking the advanced technical exams later in the year.  

Several other friends who have just realised I'm leaving have come by to say goodbye, which is lovely.   Even Fr. Alois came round to the front door with his car to pick me up to take me to the airport .... 24 hours early !!!    This caused great hilarity among the staff !   I don't think he'll live it down.

I've notice that the bit of lake I can see from here had a green margin this morning, of the water hyacinth.   By this time, its gone again .... so the floating masses are shifting, with the wind.   (I almost said tides !! )

This is interesting .... 

If it can be used to make paper and thus bio-degradeable bags, it would help solve two problems in one.   But ....

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Very odd .... both flowers are on the same bush

and my favourite again ....

I know what it is .... but do you ?

Day 20 .... 21st March, 2017

Seen on the ground on my morning walk ....

                                                             ... answer later .....

More shoes !

Day 19, continued .... 

My eldest daughter was born just a few hundred yards away from where I'm staying; and like most/some fond Mothers, I kept (and still have 40 something years later !) her first pair of shoes !!

So I was delighted to see Bonaventures little one year old nephew, Christian, wearing an almost identical pair !!

Bonaventures house ....

Day 19;   20th March, 2017

I seem to have missed yesterday; no matter, but today I got to the workshop early in order to go and see Bonaventures home, and also the little workshop Evans (previous trainee) has set up at his home under a tree !   Alas .... Evans was working away from home today, but we went on a tuk-tuk to Bonaventures home.

Simple poles and mud construction, with a tin roof.  Two small 'rooms' inside (actually a curtain across the middle with his bed hidden).  

He is justifiably proud of it; he's earned the money for the materials, and has made simple furniture to go inside it.   I suggested the next thing might be a wife, but that doubled him up with embarrassment .... if Africans can blush, he blushed !

His parents live in the same compound .... 

Sister-in-law with baby Christian; Bonaventure; his Mum, and Dad Sylvanus, and ....

His Mum made us African tea, and I had taken along a bag of 'nibbles' .... nuts and dried fruits.    

It wasn't until we lined up for the photo, I noticed his Dad has a very swollen foot, and an enormous tropical ulcer on his left leg .... which was uncovered and attracting flies.    Look away if squeamish ... 

Sylvanus is a catechist at the local RC church; I'll ask Sr Bernadette if he could be treated at the Pandipieri clinic .... and if its a case of a few shillings, well then ..... 

Golden shoes

DAY  17,   Saturday 18th March, 2017

The children at the workshop are delightful; they love having their photos taken, and looking at the blurry images of themselves on the rather scratched screen on my camera.

I went there especially today, as I had hoped to see Millie, the girl I've been helping for a few years .... whose twin sister tragically died on the new road.   I'd got her a dress, and some pencils and a few other bits and bobs, but I didn't know that Standard 8 has Saturday school, and she wasn't at home, so I left everything for her with her mother, Mary.

But the other children, younger than her, were there .... and some toddlers.

                   

 

I usually get prints done of children for their parents, which I will do early next week; I may have to give them to Paul to pass on to the parents if I run out of time.

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Coming back to town on a tuk-tuk, we had to stop for a fill up with fuel .... and in the absence of a funnel, what do you do ?    Obvious !    You roll a 50 shilling note into a tube and use that !   

Plastic bags

Day 16  ---   Friday 17th March, 2017

TERRIFIC thunder, lightning and rain storms last evening, and on and off throughout the night.   The rain brought out the flying termites, for their discarded wings were on all the paths around the house.   I remember when I lived at Maseno half a lifetime ago, how small boys (adults too !) would rush out and collect the now flightless termites, and dry roast them. I tried just one once; it was crunchy and oily, not much taste, but a treat for children no doubt.

This news item brought joy ....

I have often mentioned on my blog about the ever increasing rubbish dump of smouldering plastic, waste food and other rubbish, right next to the biggest supermarket and shopping mall in town.     There is rubbish all along the road sides, 95% plastic bags and bottles.   Glass bottles have a small deposit on them, so are never thrown away, but so much stuff here is sold in plastic bags .... even milk, and the plastic is in the ground and ditches for ever.   Or lying around to choke the guts of cows and other animals who eat them.

When we lived here many years ago, food was wrapped in paper bags, or in newspaper, which could then be re-used or burned.   Glass bottles and empty tins were recycled.   There was NO rubbish lying around anywhere.   Now, I'm sorry to have to say it, Kenya is drowning in plastic rubbish.   It is no longer clean and beautiful.

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Today I've been in the house, stuck to the laptop writing reports.   It had to be done and I've been putting it off ....

Another one of these ...

Each sunset is different ....

A gloriosa day !! (And happy weavers)

We had a storm last night, and some rain .... the smell of rain on dry, dusty African soil is just intoxicating ... love it !

But the rain brought forth flowers I've been watching and waiting for .... I saw several Gloriosa lily plants in the garden here, with their leaves that end in tendrils, as they are really a climber .... and they had buds, just sitting waiting for the rain .... and this morning, there are flowers !!

First the green buds, almost invisible ... 

.... and then the glorious flowers, of slightly different shades on different plants

I think they are just about my favourite African flowers …. as well as the purple flowers on Jacaranda trees.

And I've found out why there are so often a pair of Bronze mannikins flying around the outside of my balcony; I've spotted a nest tucked high up in a corner. What a pity I wont be here to see the product of their industry. And mentioning birds, today as I walked to town, the noisy chatty of weaver birds made me stop and watch them busily weaving their nests. An African man saw me watching them, and paused to say “If creatures such as these can be so happy, why can't we ?”

Visiting Mama Pat in Mamboleo

Day 14 ..... Wednesday, 15th March, 2017

Pat is the lady I've mentioned several times over the years on this blog.   

My first meeting with her is here ....     http://luolaughter.blogspot.co.ke/2011/03/visit-to-covenant-orphanageschool-at.html

I always try and see her every visit, if only to enjoy her wonderful thick Norfolk accent !   She is now almost 80, and plans to continue here, despite no longer running the school, but still supporting some of her 'children'.

Last year she was living in a flat in Dunga, a fishing village along the lake shore, but she was continually being invaded by her 'children' wanting money, food, which she could no longer supply, so she's now renting a more inaccessible but new flat out at Mamboleo, on the Kakamega road, and keeps an eye on a few of her 'children' now adults, who help her and each other with money, etc.   

I'd been told by Patrick, the gardener here, that someone called Martin was going to collect me and take me there.   Hmm !    I wasn't sure about a man I didn't know taking me in a strange car to somewhere I didn't know .... so I phoned Pat first; she laughed and said it was fine, but probably a wise move !   Martin turned up today, with a tuk-tuk ... I thought we would go in a car, but not so !    The road from the centre of Kisumu for about a mile is OK-ish, but after that .... APPALLING, especially in a tuk-tuk driven by a maniac !   The road to Kakamega is like the one past the workshop a few years back; being remade by the Chinese, and at the moment all pot holes, broken old tarmac, heaps of rubble, rocks and mud.   AND manic drivers on piki-piki, tuk-tuks, lorries, and sprinkled with people and cows. I'm so shaken up, I feel a session with an osteopath might be in order !

Anyway, we found Pats new block of gated, secure flats, and very nice they are too.   Pat came down and met me, and apologised ... she thought Martin had gone to fetch me in her car !

Because Mamboleo is uphill from Kisumu, its a bit cooler, and her 4th floor  balcony catches all the breezes, which was very pleasant.   She has wonderful views from up there.    I remember that area from about 45 years ago .... all bush, trees, shamba's and the occasional 'mud' hut house.    Now its being rapidly developed, with the new road, and blocks of flats and shops being built.  

Pats view in one direction ....

... and looking back towards Kisumu in the other direction.  The centre of Kisumu with the new Nakumatt and university sky-scrapers can just been seen on the sky-line to the left.


The journey back to Mill Hill was a little more comfortable, as we went in Pats car, but .... oh, the road !   

Shopping for ear defenders !

Day 13 ....  Tuesday 14th March, 2017

At last, having got prices from Paul, and the OK from the HATW office in Wales, we have finally bought some safety gear for the trainees !   (And ordered new overalls).   I went on a tuk-tuk to the workshop, and had a long chat to Paul about individual students .... and I was able to say how nice it is that the workshop is getting tidied up !    Maybe the angry memsahib act last week made an impression !    Stephen J is still a bit scruffy; his overalls were torn and in need of a wash, which when he saw me looking at them, he immediately stripped off and went to wash them.   There is a local lady who will mend them for him for next to nothing.

Also, Paul has told the boys that if they clear out the two stores of masses of off-cuts of wood, they can sell it and keep the money.   So they brought a tuk-tuk along and loaded it up .... goodness know what they are going to do with it, but someone somewhere will buy it for firewood !

Then Paul and I went into town and bought the safety gear .... ear-muffs, safety goggles, dust masks.    Its only taken about five days here (and ten minutes in the UK !) to achieve a result !   (But then, this is Africa !)  Now I mustn't forget what I've done with the receipts .... 

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Seen from a tuk=tuk ..... (or scenes from a tuk-tuk ... )

Cows eating plastic rubbish ....

A local lady and a piki-piki driver waiting for a customer.

Only seven passengers in a three seater tuk-tuk .... 

but in Africa, there is ALWAYS room for one more !

Road side 'shop' selling 'bics', Tippex, C.D's, drinks bottles; 

 .... and a lovely blonde mzungu dolly in a bright pink toy car !

And mentioning cows, as I did above, yesterday I saw a young calf wandering along a street; it pee-d, and then turned round and drank some of it !!   

Yellow billed storks

Yesterday, I was sitting on the balcony, when I looked up, and saw about 200 large birds flying overhead, from the lake, which is to the west of where I was, and they were flying roughly east. I wonder where to ?   Maybe one of the Rift Valley lakes, or perhaps north towards Lake Turkana (L. Rudolph in the old days !)

Of course, I grabbed my binoculars and forgot the camera, but I am almost certain they were yellow billed storks, sometimes called wood ibis (which they aren't).   Google is a great help, in the absence of a bird book !

This is one of my late father-in-laws photographs from the 1960's, which just happened to be on a memory stick I have with me !   I think that's an Egyptian goose in the background.

Toothpaste !

Day 12 ..... 13th March, 2017

Because of the high temperatures here, it only took me one teeth cleaning session to realise that normally fairly thick toothpaste that needs a squeeze to get it out of the tube in the U.K., doesn't apply in Kisumu !   Instead, here, I have to unscrew the cap with the tube upright, and then tilt it over the toothbrush, where the toothpaste flows out, like thin cream !   

There, you wanted to know that, didn't you ?!

My favourite tipple - REAL mango juice, thick enough to stand the straw up in !

And someone asked me how I get my laundry dry .... answer .... peg it up on the louvres and it dries in half an hour !

Trying to get something simple, like a quote for the cost of ear defenders, etc., is NOT as easy as you might think.    I need to know costs, so I can get the purchase (and the money) authorised by the HATW in UK.    Its taken me since about last Thursday to finally get a figure, and 20 minutes on email to get the purchase O.K'd from Wales !   

It reminds me of something one of our office staff told me about emailing her particular charity in Wamba to ask the cost of mattresses (presumably for the school she supports).   The answer came back "It is very hot here and we have no rain".    I love my African friends dearly, but sometimes ...... 

A disturbed night

Day 11 .... 12th March 2017

You don't want to hear about my frequent trips to the loo during the night, but suffice to say, I'm taking Dioralyte powders and Imodium !    They seem to be working, but consequently I've done nothing much at all today except sit and read several copies of 'The Tablet' (not a journal for pharmacists) which had many interesting articles about politics, book reviews, obits ... one on Rabbi Lionel Blue whom I used to listen to regularly on the BBC 'Thought for the Day' and another on Una Kroll, whom I knew when she lived in Monmouth.

So, just one or two photos ... geckos are almost impossible to photograph as they only appear after dark, and never stay still.   They mostly hide behind my curtains, but of course they aren't there when I actually look for one !

                     Rachel off to visit friends ...

                                              ... and one gecko that stopped moving for two seconds

Being domesticated.

Day 10,  Sat. 11th March

I had nothing planned for today, and nowhere I needed to go, so I swept my room thoroughly, changed the sheets, cleaned the en suite and generally tidied up.   Now I can't find anything .....

After my brief session as a domestic goddess, I spent a couple of hours helping Fr. Hans sorting and labelling his books, some of which he is sending to a college in Nairobi, and some he is taking back to Holland.   

Then we sat and had a long conversation about all sorts of things, mostly about the history and origins of the Luo.   I lent him the book I bought the other day about the links between the Dholuo language and Egypt.   

He's an intelligent man with whom one can sit and discuss ideas; like my friends Kim and James used to be.   RIP both of them.

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A few photo's  ... 

                                        ... makes a change from watching the Cremastogaster ants !!

A local fat tailed sheep grazing by the main road.

Garden flowers

Lunch at The Flies !!

Day 9 .... continued.       Friday 10th March.

Lunch with Paul and Melchezideck:-   'The Flies' are what is known locally as a set of very rough and ready eateries.   That area of Kisumu by the lake was once the slaughter-house area, hence flies !   The 'cafes' (for want of a better word) are corrugated iron and rough wood buildings along the lake shore, mostly with earth floors and open fires for cooking.    As we approached in a tuk-tuk, girls rushed out of each one, waving frantically and trying to draw us in with their charms (dread to think what goes on there at night !).   Paul chose one, and we went in, and were shown the fish available .... big tilapia (ngege in Dholuo) which were to be roasted on mesh grills over the open fires.   They were about 12-14 inches long, and we ordered three with vegetables and kuon (maize meal cooked into a solid white lump).   

Because of this .... 

.... there was no lake visible, just acres and acres of semi-dead water hyacinth ...

So when the cooked fish arrived, I could feel my stomach gasp.   We had our hands washed, and then ate with our hands.   I managed a quarter of my fish, and a small quantity of kuon .... Paul and Melchi finished up mine !    About £3.50 each (which included fizzy drinks).

Chairs

Day 9 .... 10th March, 2016

The workshop boys, or at least one or two of the more experienced ones, have been making chairs .... 

Not yet finished, but I thought quite nice, with the open work design on the backs.

My parcel !

Day 8:    9th March, 2017

Yesterday, I was stopped at the gate as I was going out, by Raph, the gate-keeper.   He had a large parcel for me.   Before I left UK, I had arranged with the publisher, to get some back copies of 'Old Africa' magazine sent to me here, as it would be MUCH cheaper to buy them in Kenya, than have them sent home by post, and they arrived via a courier.   

So now I have a mass of interesting stories and history about Kenya to read, and they will use a little of the room taken up with the baby clothes and ladies bra's that were in my luggage coming out.   

I was watching a glossy blue starling this afternoon.  One of the house staff had left a floor mop (the old-fashioned sort, with a stringy head) hanging under the water-tank (which is on a high platform) to dry, and the starling was perched on it pulling out the strands of the mop, and flying off with them.   Baby starlings will be raised among the smell of floor soap and disinfectant !  

Today I have had several ladies of the staff in my room, stripping off and trying on bra's amidst lots of giggling and shrieks !   I've given them two each, the rest will go to Pandipieri to be distributed for a few bob each to needy ladies; then the money raised is used to buy drugs for the medical centre there.   

At the workshop, I had another session with Paul and Melchi about budgets and keeping records.  I had also decided I ought to give the trainees a bit of a blasting about their general scruffiness and the fact that they weren't keeping the workshop tidy, both of which are giving a bad impression to potential customers.   My Dholuo was totally inadequate for this, so I had Melchi to translate for me, while Paul was out getting cold drinks for the whole group.   Whether it will be taken notice of, I have no idea, but I thought coming from an ancient memsahib who had actually built, with her own fair hands, some of the workshop, might have an effect !     We'll see ..........

I've been here a week

Day 7 - 8th March, 2017

Walked into town to find somewhere to print photos ... I had taken photo's of various people at Nyalenda while we were played schoelbak on Sunday, so I thought they might like photos of themselves !    I took them there at lunch-time when I went with Hans to the weekly Bible group.

Had a wander round the back streets and their market stalls, and found this, a perfect example of bad taste in home decor ... gaudy cushions and string lamp shades; and tall vases in black, lime green, orange and giraffe patterned !   (Now which ones shall I choose to take home to my family ... ?)

I almost caused a man to collapse off a ladder today; he was perched up uncoiling razor wire and attaching it to the existing wire around the Banki kuu ya Kenya (Kenya Central Bank).   I stopped for a chat, and he agreed it was nasty stuff.   I then asked him if there was extra wire needed so the President could keep his money safely inside ?    He laughed so much the ladder wobbled !   Africans do wonderful full body laughs, clapping their hands and shaking with amusement !

I also went to the University of Maseno book-store again ........ 

                                                                       .... only four books this time ... 

One looks particularly interesting, (top left) linking the Luo language with ancient Egypt.   It backs up what I've thought for decades, that the Luo people didn't suddenly materialise in the Sudan and Uganda five hundred years ago from nowhere, and then into western Kenya .... but that they must have been the 'black people with frizzy hair' mentioned in Heroditus and Josephus as being present in Egypt at the time of the Pharoahs.   Now this author has found many links with the Luo language and Egyptian words .... I look forward to reading it !   

And some more flowers ....