We spent the next week at King's school with Milka. Here we talked, again, to all the classes and answered their many and bizarre questions. It's a really good school with lots of facilities and strong support from the church. Then on the Friday we set out to Nairobi centre to get our minibus to the Masai Mara. After a few complications with park fees we set off with some new friends - 3 Swedes, a Swiss and 2 English girls (also in the care of Fred).
The camp was ideal; we were in tents but with proper beds and a bathroom. It was a really nice balance of camping and hotel. The food was great too. We had an amazing time at the Mara, we saw LOADS of lions, wildebeest and vultures. Also saw elegant giraffes and magnificent elephants. It was a wonderful experience and so exhilarating to stand in the car looking at a 360 of such an ancient and timeless land. Saturday was George's birthday, and after some Cadbury Crunch and before sunrise we went for an all day game drive. As the sun was rising we came across about 10 lions all eating their kills. We managed to get a glimpse of a cheetah chasing a gazelle too. Hippos, crocs and greedy tour guides. It was a brilliant day, topped off with a lovely birthday cake Jess sneaked in. We were joined by Walter - our poole-playing, Masai friend - which was a real treat. Plenty of pictures and a wonderful 19th birthday!
On the Monday we were meant to go to Kibera but there was a mix up so we ended up sorting out our stuff, and Jess packed ready for her departure on Wednesday. The Tuesday we went to Kibera so Jess could say her goodbyes, and then we went into town to grab a delicious lunch and pick up some last minute gifts.
Nice and early Jess said her goodbyes and we drove to the airport where she departed after her 2 and 1/2 months. Excited to get back to running water and her family we hugged goodbye. That day I wasn't feeling well so instead of going to Kibera I stayed home and sorted out the player profiles on the laptop that Fred had managed to borrow from a friend. The next day Milka and Steve asked if I would accompany them to a funeral of a relative. I said I would and it was easier for them too because we could use the car rather than them have to risk their lives on matatus. This was an interesting experience. The ceremony was very informal and loud. They talk and celebrate life in a different way from us; I couldn't quite put my finger on how though. One slight shock for me was when I got my picture taken with the coffin!! Milka invited me to get a "snap" and when I looked down I saw that the coffin was in front I had a slight moment of "oh dear god, what do I do?! smile?!" I took to looking around awkwardly instead. Very strange. As I say, it was interesting though - even if I didn't understand a word of the eulogy.
I said goodbye to the girls on Friday in Kibera, and typed up some of their exam papers that they were going to take. Then on Saturday Milka took me to the 2nd hand market where I was able to eat roasted maize and buy a few very cheap clothes! Then Sunday I was treated to a day out with Rose, Milka's youngest daughter. It was sooo much. She took me to her place of work, and then we walked to the park in Nairobi and sat, watching the scrawny horses carry flapping kids around the path, and whole families asleep on the grass. Finally we walked to a couple of the clubs and had a drink and A LOT of dancing. It was amazing fun; I've never seen people move like that! And it wasn't anything like England because a) the boys dance and can and b) there are no presumptions when you dance with someone...it's just that; a dance. I loved it. At one point the DJ shouted out over the music to me "We've got a brown skin with us in the club" - possibly the biggest dance compliment I've ever got! :)
Monday was spent at Milka's eldest, Tabitha's, nursery school., where I read lots of stories and helped them write number 4's the right way around. Nap time was a bit of a kafuffle, 50 kids in a tiny room will always be noisy and stressful. They called me "teacher friend" though which I thought was delightful.
On Tuesday I packed, bought my Tuskers and picked up a 700 bob (6 quid) tailor-made dress that Milka convinced me I needed - which is lovely. Had a wonderful last meal of my favourite; green grams and chapatti, then tried to sleep...unsuccessfully!The next day Fred picked us all up and we went to the airport together. Milka and Steve are good people, the best. They really feel like my Kenyan family. So it was a slightly teary goodbye, but at the same time I've never experienced such excitement to get home!
Kenya hasn't been amazing all the time, but the experience has been an adventure that I am 100% glad that I did. I probably speak for Jess as well when I say that it has been awful, inspiring, hilarious, terrifying and eye-opening. I'd recommend travel to anyone because you really cannot understand a place unless you spend time there understanding it. Sporting Chance International projects are helping people and are being administered successfully in each of the places. We've met good people and bad people and have come to the conclusion that Kenya isn't in terrible trouble, simply 200 years behind. Which isn't a bad thing, it's just progression. The government is crap but the people as a whole are welcoming, kind and good. A lot needs sorting, but I think it will happen in time; especially if Kenyans themselves start getting more involved with their own communities.
The first thing I did when I got home was to get a glass of water from the tap and drink it. I then walked barefoot on carpet and marvelled at the smooth road outside. I could flush the loo without having to worry about there being enough water for me to fill the cistern up manually, and I could be sarcastic without having to explain I wasn't being mean!
It's been a good safari (journey), thank you for sharing it with us. xxxx
Sunday, 19 July 2009
Monday, 29 June 2009
Mombasa and back to Nairobi
Hello, hope you're well. Here's the next installment!
So we spent two lovely relaxing weeks in Mombasa - sunshine, beaches and shopping. Also made a few potential contacts for SCI if it chooses to branch out there, as well as some lovely new friends! We had one funny evening when we were directed to a good local seafood restaurant, but were unprepared for the high prices - luckily we had brought much more money than we thought we needed, but even then we were 4 shillings short! And that was just having a starter and pudding!
Last Wednesday we boarded the bus again and made our way back to our 'HQ', Nairobi. The bus journey ended up being 10 hours long which was rather exhausting, but we eventually made it and were greeted by Fred, Isaac and Mike. After one nights' rest at Fred's house (which just feels like home now!) we started at Kibera on the Thursday. Spent loads of time chatting with the girls who had so so many questions on almost all topics you could imagine, from boys to the economy. The KGSA girls are just some of the most lovely girls ever, and we had great fun with them. The school seems to be more like a big family than anything else. All the teachers at KGSA are volunteers and the school runs every day of the week- it's so admirable all that they do and they're such a happy, enthusiatic group. We were told the average staff age is 25!
On the Friday we had the opportunity to take a walk around Kibera, accompanied by 2 of the staff, Jared and Victor. Really interesting to see what it's really like for ourselves, without having to see it through the eyes of the media. What surprised us is that we felt so much safer than we ever thought we would there. Obviously there are many problems and dangers, but walking around with the two guys there was absolutely zero hostility to us; everyone seemed pretty friendly if anything. We also popped into Victor's house and then Jared's house where we ate home grown sugar cane and watched a 4 year episode of Neighbours on the TV! But it's just so different to anything we've exerienced before, walking round the slum. Rubbish, waste and general dirt line the streets and there are filthy ditches of water everywhere. Even so, the smell of home made chips and bbq-ing maize usually fills the air and there seems to be such a strong community spirit, more so than anywhere else we've been.Our maths skills were put to shame on the Saturday when we were sent to help the F1 girls. (GCSE equivalent) They ended up pretty much doing it all themselves; we were only really useful as subjects for ahirdressing! They adore playing with our hair; combing, styling... What really struck us is how positive all the girls are ,no matter of their situation. And they have incredible ambition - we spoke to budding cardiolgists, actresses, economists.. When we joined the F3 girls fro lunch one day they were all hard at work as they ate - in their lunch break! So admirable. And it's so nice chatting to them as many are around our age anyway. Also on Satruday we headed to the Kibera soccer pitch as there were any 5 aside matches taking place, including some games that KGSA were competing in. It must be so difficult to play on the slippy, dusty pitch but they all played so well. We had one dodgy moment when the girls beckonmed us over to see a dance off that some cute young boys were doing - amazing bum wiggling! But after a little while we were pulled away and told to return to the pitch side - apparently some people had been planning to steal from us. Quite a wake up call. We went to Kiki's house on the Saturday night for Chinese and movie which was lovely. On Sunday we had the opportunity to see the SCI teams training in Umoja. Steve, who we're living with now in Umoja, is the main coach. We interviewed all the players and are going to make player profiles for all of them. Lovely group of boys who are obviously so so passionate about football. The only shame is that only one of them said he wanted to play for a Kenyan team - all the others were English or Spanish teams! But it was brilliant to see the charity's work in action.
We're thoroughly enjoying our time so far in Nairobi.
Speak soon Jess and George xxxxx
So we spent two lovely relaxing weeks in Mombasa - sunshine, beaches and shopping. Also made a few potential contacts for SCI if it chooses to branch out there, as well as some lovely new friends! We had one funny evening when we were directed to a good local seafood restaurant, but were unprepared for the high prices - luckily we had brought much more money than we thought we needed, but even then we were 4 shillings short! And that was just having a starter and pudding!
Last Wednesday we boarded the bus again and made our way back to our 'HQ', Nairobi. The bus journey ended up being 10 hours long which was rather exhausting, but we eventually made it and were greeted by Fred, Isaac and Mike. After one nights' rest at Fred's house (which just feels like home now!) we started at Kibera on the Thursday. Spent loads of time chatting with the girls who had so so many questions on almost all topics you could imagine, from boys to the economy. The KGSA girls are just some of the most lovely girls ever, and we had great fun with them. The school seems to be more like a big family than anything else. All the teachers at KGSA are volunteers and the school runs every day of the week- it's so admirable all that they do and they're such a happy, enthusiatic group. We were told the average staff age is 25!
On the Friday we had the opportunity to take a walk around Kibera, accompanied by 2 of the staff, Jared and Victor. Really interesting to see what it's really like for ourselves, without having to see it through the eyes of the media. What surprised us is that we felt so much safer than we ever thought we would there. Obviously there are many problems and dangers, but walking around with the two guys there was absolutely zero hostility to us; everyone seemed pretty friendly if anything. We also popped into Victor's house and then Jared's house where we ate home grown sugar cane and watched a 4 year episode of Neighbours on the TV! But it's just so different to anything we've exerienced before, walking round the slum. Rubbish, waste and general dirt line the streets and there are filthy ditches of water everywhere. Even so, the smell of home made chips and bbq-ing maize usually fills the air and there seems to be such a strong community spirit, more so than anywhere else we've been.Our maths skills were put to shame on the Saturday when we were sent to help the F1 girls. (GCSE equivalent) They ended up pretty much doing it all themselves; we were only really useful as subjects for ahirdressing! They adore playing with our hair; combing, styling... What really struck us is how positive all the girls are ,no matter of their situation. And they have incredible ambition - we spoke to budding cardiolgists, actresses, economists.. When we joined the F3 girls fro lunch one day they were all hard at work as they ate - in their lunch break! So admirable. And it's so nice chatting to them as many are around our age anyway. Also on Satruday we headed to the Kibera soccer pitch as there were any 5 aside matches taking place, including some games that KGSA were competing in. It must be so difficult to play on the slippy, dusty pitch but they all played so well. We had one dodgy moment when the girls beckonmed us over to see a dance off that some cute young boys were doing - amazing bum wiggling! But after a little while we were pulled away and told to return to the pitch side - apparently some people had been planning to steal from us. Quite a wake up call. We went to Kiki's house on the Saturday night for Chinese and movie which was lovely. On Sunday we had the opportunity to see the SCI teams training in Umoja. Steve, who we're living with now in Umoja, is the main coach. We interviewed all the players and are going to make player profiles for all of them. Lovely group of boys who are obviously so so passionate about football. The only shame is that only one of them said he wanted to play for a Kenyan team - all the others were English or Spanish teams! But it was brilliant to see the charity's work in action.
We're thoroughly enjoying our time so far in Nairobi.
Speak soon Jess and George xxxxx
Saturday, 13 June 2009
Goodbye Mumias - Hello Mombasa
The final week at Mumias was spent doing the same sort of thing - feeding centre, coaching and - when there was power - computer data input. The coaching was great fun and we took sometime to explain the rules and draw out a pitch - thinking about sending out some England matches on DVD to them so they can see it in action. Also did some defending with the girls and they took to it like fish to water - there's so much talent there!
One evening we had dinner with the mayor, which was very nice. It was quite funny when the waiter came to take our orders"What would you like to order?""What is there?""Chicken and rice""umm...errr...chicken and rice please!" Brilliant :]The Mayor is a really nice guy who told us how he enjoyed England, singing Alan's praises for his hosting skills!
On our last day we had little tour around the local villages and met some of the people that SAIPEH are helping. We went around with 2 other people from the UK who work for a charity called The Chello Foundation; they do scholarships for children and were inquiring how they might help work in unison with SAIPEH. Linet cooked us all our favourite foods for our leaving meal...we mean ALL our favourite foods. There were "Irish potatoes" (deep-fried whole spuds), chipati, pilau and chicken. Yes people, we are getting fat. We said our goodbyes (and we shall really miss the new friends we've made) and got on our coach for a thrilling 8 hour journey to Nairobi.
Fred met us at the station and we went back to his to rest until the next evening when we would get another coach to Mombasa. The journey took a lot longer than anticipated because the coach kept running to a standstill, also the driver was some sort of maniacal, raging idiot. Anyway, it was relatively painfree and we arrived bright and early at 6.30am, having left at 9pm! We were met by a member of the Mombasa police force, as Justin kindly asked a friend for a favour, and taken to our hostel...Oh here the story begins!
It was much further out than we thought and to get to the beach you had to go through a whole rural village of mud huts...then when we arrived a loud sign proclaimed "closed until 10th July"!!!! Oh dear. The owner was around though and said we could stay if we wanted, they were just revamping and the bar wasn't open. Needless to say we were slightly downcast at our hopes of a few weeks relaxing. The beach was rocky and dirty and the area was secluded. I'm sure it's lovely in high season but right now we wanted to meet some new young people and read on a white, sandy beach. Thus, we called in our knight in shining armour, Fred, and asked whether he knew of any other places or had any friends that would. He rose to the challenge immediately and a friend of his, and a member of SCI - Samuel - trekked his way to the hostel and picked us up. We really had no words to thank him, and couldn't begin to explain how relived we were. He took us to another friends house, Esther, where we were so warmly greeted we wanted to cry. We had a bed (after 48 hours of no sleep), food (after 24 without food), and hope for the next day (after 12 of despair).
The next day Esther’s niece, Charity, took us for a walk along the beach whilst we waited to hear news of any potential places. Amazingly our host came through with a place that would be about the same as the previous hostel, but with lots more. We expected a shabby room and a hole in the ground but got a bedroom, kitchen, living room, balcony and bathroom with running water! We are currently loving Mombasa and everyday making new contacts and friends. The beach is lovely. The food is good. Not much else to ask for really. The area has a few SOS schools which we're going to have a look at in the next few weeks, just to check out whether there is anything that SCI can offer that they don't have. After all this place is so happy I'm sure a bit of sport and support would be greatly received. So, so far so good. Mombasa is such a lovely place. We've also been given more Kenyan names! Jess is Bwibo Sabasaba - which means one who was first seduced by a white man(!) and George's is Bwibo Oronda - which means beautiful one with big legs(!!) ha-ha charming! At least that's what we were told they meant!!
Any ho, can't wait to see you all
Kwaheri
One evening we had dinner with the mayor, which was very nice. It was quite funny when the waiter came to take our orders"What would you like to order?""What is there?""Chicken and rice""umm...errr...chicken and rice please!" Brilliant :]The Mayor is a really nice guy who told us how he enjoyed England, singing Alan's praises for his hosting skills!
On our last day we had little tour around the local villages and met some of the people that SAIPEH are helping. We went around with 2 other people from the UK who work for a charity called The Chello Foundation; they do scholarships for children and were inquiring how they might help work in unison with SAIPEH. Linet cooked us all our favourite foods for our leaving meal...we mean ALL our favourite foods. There were "Irish potatoes" (deep-fried whole spuds), chipati, pilau and chicken. Yes people, we are getting fat. We said our goodbyes (and we shall really miss the new friends we've made) and got on our coach for a thrilling 8 hour journey to Nairobi.
Fred met us at the station and we went back to his to rest until the next evening when we would get another coach to Mombasa. The journey took a lot longer than anticipated because the coach kept running to a standstill, also the driver was some sort of maniacal, raging idiot. Anyway, it was relatively painfree and we arrived bright and early at 6.30am, having left at 9pm! We were met by a member of the Mombasa police force, as Justin kindly asked a friend for a favour, and taken to our hostel...Oh here the story begins!
It was much further out than we thought and to get to the beach you had to go through a whole rural village of mud huts...then when we arrived a loud sign proclaimed "closed until 10th July"!!!! Oh dear. The owner was around though and said we could stay if we wanted, they were just revamping and the bar wasn't open. Needless to say we were slightly downcast at our hopes of a few weeks relaxing. The beach was rocky and dirty and the area was secluded. I'm sure it's lovely in high season but right now we wanted to meet some new young people and read on a white, sandy beach. Thus, we called in our knight in shining armour, Fred, and asked whether he knew of any other places or had any friends that would. He rose to the challenge immediately and a friend of his, and a member of SCI - Samuel - trekked his way to the hostel and picked us up. We really had no words to thank him, and couldn't begin to explain how relived we were. He took us to another friends house, Esther, where we were so warmly greeted we wanted to cry. We had a bed (after 48 hours of no sleep), food (after 24 without food), and hope for the next day (after 12 of despair).
The next day Esther’s niece, Charity, took us for a walk along the beach whilst we waited to hear news of any potential places. Amazingly our host came through with a place that would be about the same as the previous hostel, but with lots more. We expected a shabby room and a hole in the ground but got a bedroom, kitchen, living room, balcony and bathroom with running water! We are currently loving Mombasa and everyday making new contacts and friends. The beach is lovely. The food is good. Not much else to ask for really. The area has a few SOS schools which we're going to have a look at in the next few weeks, just to check out whether there is anything that SCI can offer that they don't have. After all this place is so happy I'm sure a bit of sport and support would be greatly received. So, so far so good. Mombasa is such a lovely place. We've also been given more Kenyan names! Jess is Bwibo Sabasaba - which means one who was first seduced by a white man(!) and George's is Bwibo Oronda - which means beautiful one with big legs(!!) ha-ha charming! At least that's what we were told they meant!!
Any ho, can't wait to see you all
Kwaheri
Sunday, 31 May 2009
Mumias Week 1
After our last blog on Saturday, we met Mike for a few hours for a beer and to watch the rugby 7s on TV, which was enjoyable after 3 weeks of football football, football!
The time came on Sunday to receive our Kenyan names from the ladies at the feeding centre, and also to be treated to a performance by the orphans there - this involved much enthusiastic singing, dancing and even poetry recitals! George is now 'Nanzala' which means “the season of hunger” and Jess now has the name 'Nyarotso' meaning “hope for the future”. It was a really lovely afternoon, although we were slightly embarrassed when made to get up and join the dancing!
On Monday we helped with some data entry and again at the feeding centre, before heading (on motorbike) to Shitoto Girls for an hours' lacrosse coaching in the afternoon. It was interesting to see how they didn't quite pick it up as fast as the Bumini Girls; it was slightly more hard work!
We were able to meet and greet some of the football teams involved in the SCI league on Tuesday, as we visited them doing their community work (pothole filling), which is compulsory for membership of the league. They're a really nice bunch of guys, although were a bit overly keen to have their photograph taken with us! It was an interesting journey back to the Shianda SAIPEH office, as George was driving the motorbike with me and another man on the back! In the afternoon we headed to Bulindo Secondary School, where lacrosse was introduced by Storm last year. It was so encouraging to see how the sports department have been so keenly keeping the sport going. They've taken the trouble to get the rules off the internet etc. Also, the girls apparently have been practising almost every evening, and all really enjoy it. In fact, when we left them after the session they all stayed behind to carry on practising!!
Wednesday involved a visit to the feeding centre, but the day was dominated by a visit by the Mumias DC, so everyone was very excited by that! Unfortunately for us, even though it was very nice to meet her, we had to listen to hours of speeches in Swahili - not the most exciting thing when you don’t speak the language!
We were met in Shianda by Victor, Fred’s cousin, on Thursday morning where he showed us his home. We're staying in a genuine mud hut with very rustic toilets and shower room! Certainly not what we're used to back in England! It was a day trip for the nursery school that he helps to run, so we accompanied them all to Kakamega to visit the annual West Kenya Agricultural Show. The kids seemed to enjoy it although Victor said it was not as exciting as usual - slightly more factual and educational than entertaining and fun stands! But we did meet a really funny/strange Herbal Doctor man who claimed to have found a herb that cures HIV. Needless to say, we found it difficult not to laugh at this, especially when he showed us the letter he'd sent to the government in which he referred to "HIB/AIDS". George said, "Isn't it HIV?!" He also showed us an article which claimed that World Aid organisations have been infecting Africans with HIV so that they could be seen to be curing them. Not very convincing and we shortly thanked him and left.
Today, Friday, we were able to return to the nursery and help out a bit, saying hi to the children again. Later today we're going to St Mary’s School to teach lacrosse; it will be interesting to see how it compares to Bulindo and St Marys has also had lacrosse introduced previously.
Goodbye for now!
Jess and George xxx
The time came on Sunday to receive our Kenyan names from the ladies at the feeding centre, and also to be treated to a performance by the orphans there - this involved much enthusiastic singing, dancing and even poetry recitals! George is now 'Nanzala' which means “the season of hunger” and Jess now has the name 'Nyarotso' meaning “hope for the future”. It was a really lovely afternoon, although we were slightly embarrassed when made to get up and join the dancing!
On Monday we helped with some data entry and again at the feeding centre, before heading (on motorbike) to Shitoto Girls for an hours' lacrosse coaching in the afternoon. It was interesting to see how they didn't quite pick it up as fast as the Bumini Girls; it was slightly more hard work!
We were able to meet and greet some of the football teams involved in the SCI league on Tuesday, as we visited them doing their community work (pothole filling), which is compulsory for membership of the league. They're a really nice bunch of guys, although were a bit overly keen to have their photograph taken with us! It was an interesting journey back to the Shianda SAIPEH office, as George was driving the motorbike with me and another man on the back! In the afternoon we headed to Bulindo Secondary School, where lacrosse was introduced by Storm last year. It was so encouraging to see how the sports department have been so keenly keeping the sport going. They've taken the trouble to get the rules off the internet etc. Also, the girls apparently have been practising almost every evening, and all really enjoy it. In fact, when we left them after the session they all stayed behind to carry on practising!!
Wednesday involved a visit to the feeding centre, but the day was dominated by a visit by the Mumias DC, so everyone was very excited by that! Unfortunately for us, even though it was very nice to meet her, we had to listen to hours of speeches in Swahili - not the most exciting thing when you don’t speak the language!
We were met in Shianda by Victor, Fred’s cousin, on Thursday morning where he showed us his home. We're staying in a genuine mud hut with very rustic toilets and shower room! Certainly not what we're used to back in England! It was a day trip for the nursery school that he helps to run, so we accompanied them all to Kakamega to visit the annual West Kenya Agricultural Show. The kids seemed to enjoy it although Victor said it was not as exciting as usual - slightly more factual and educational than entertaining and fun stands! But we did meet a really funny/strange Herbal Doctor man who claimed to have found a herb that cures HIV. Needless to say, we found it difficult not to laugh at this, especially when he showed us the letter he'd sent to the government in which he referred to "HIB/AIDS". George said, "Isn't it HIV?!" He also showed us an article which claimed that World Aid organisations have been infecting Africans with HIV so that they could be seen to be curing them. Not very convincing and we shortly thanked him and left.
Today, Friday, we were able to return to the nursery and help out a bit, saying hi to the children again. Later today we're going to St Mary’s School to teach lacrosse; it will be interesting to see how it compares to Bulindo and St Marys has also had lacrosse introduced previously.
Goodbye for now!
Jess and George xxx
Safari Park and SAIPEH
Last full day at Fran's was filled with a mini adveture safari into the local park. We off-roaded for a bit, needless to say a few wrong turns were took, but finally made it down to the edge of the lake where hundreds and hundreds of flamingoes were chilling. They are such beautiful creatures and we felt privileged to be able to see them in the wild. The sun was shining, the trees gave us shade so we hopped out and stayed a while just staring at the site...flamingoes, pink lake, sleeping warrior crater in the background - we have pictures! We drove around the other side over a battlefield of volcanic rock and on turning a corning we got a very...full frontal surprise. The Masaai were washing both clothing ans skin in the hot springs. Fran's cries of, "Oh dear, he's very naked." kept us amused. We left and drove up to a new safari lodge that was in the process of being built. No one was around, the houses were half done but beautiful. It seemed a sad place because it showed so much potential. We caught our first glimpse of wild baboons and zebras (which George got excited about in a moment of her inner tourist bursting out). We had to eat lunch in the car for fear of buffalo then headed into Nakuru for a lovely Chinese.
Fran lives in a beautiful place surrounded by a pletherer of things to do. She is admirably involved in her community, so much so we couldn't walk down a dusty track without her knowing at least one person to chat to! For Fran - Thank you, thank you, thank you, for having us, we had a lovely time. See you soon hopefully.
Our 7 hour journey from Nakuru wasn't as bad as we had anticipated. It went quickly and smoothly and we arrived on time! shock horror!! We're sure that it wasn't wholey safe to be traveling at such speeds, on a mountain face with a 50 foot drop on one side - but it was thrilling, which is always good for the heart. Justin greeted us warmly into his home and we met his wife Linet, Violet and their children (all of whom we terrified, obviously). They'd set up a bedroom for us with 2 beds and an en suite. Living the high life! The power was in black out stage for now though so we whipped out the wind-up torches and ate by lantern!
Monday was introductions (and plenty of Kenya-style waiting) to the SAIPEH offices and what they do. Mainly they work on AIDS and HIV awareness and have loads of projects helping orphans, people who generally need help feeding themselves and also a brilliant scheme where by dairy cows and goats are donated to deserving families. In the mornings, everyday, we are meant to be teaching computer skills and helping with the data logging of projects running locally, however this week the power has been more often than not off, so a good chunk of our books have been devoured. But at the feeding programme or Day Care Centre, we were welcomed so warmly and all our efforts recieved with such excitment this made up for it. The 10 women who run it are so lovely and funny that we felt welcome immediately. We arrived by motorbike (George carrying Jess on the back! long story...can't wait to tell it! :P ) and that made them whoop and laugh for a good 10 minutes - they were so pleased to see women astride a bike, ezpecially white ones!
So far we have milked a cow, ground maize, picked beans and leaves, used a shamba in farming, swept and mopped in the typical double over fashion, and washed clothes by hand. We also help dish out the grub to the 20 odd children who rely on the programme to survive.
Lacrosse-wise. We have already introduced it to one school, St Therese Bumini, and met with the head of another. It was so much fun showing them lacrosse for the first time. They really enjoyed it and begged us to stay even though rain was seriously threatening to wipe away the field! We had to move location from the big field because there was no room to move as the ENTIRE rowdy school came out to watch. The girls picked it up so quickly and we can't wait to teach them more skills and get them playing a game. We're hoping to have a small tournament with the 4 schools we'll be teaching at the end of our stay. The bikes have been awesome fun. It's a joy to impart lax skills and we have pictures of us dressed up in kangas and headscarves!
We're enjoying our evenings sat in the kitchen helping preparing the family meals, and this morning we cooked pancakes for all, which they said they enjoyed...but of course they would - good or not! Tomorrow we're recieving full Kenyan names, because they want us to be fully part of their community, and we're told there'll be dancing...oh dear god!
Fran lives in a beautiful place surrounded by a pletherer of things to do. She is admirably involved in her community, so much so we couldn't walk down a dusty track without her knowing at least one person to chat to! For Fran - Thank you, thank you, thank you, for having us, we had a lovely time. See you soon hopefully.
Our 7 hour journey from Nakuru wasn't as bad as we had anticipated. It went quickly and smoothly and we arrived on time! shock horror!! We're sure that it wasn't wholey safe to be traveling at such speeds, on a mountain face with a 50 foot drop on one side - but it was thrilling, which is always good for the heart. Justin greeted us warmly into his home and we met his wife Linet, Violet and their children (all of whom we terrified, obviously). They'd set up a bedroom for us with 2 beds and an en suite. Living the high life! The power was in black out stage for now though so we whipped out the wind-up torches and ate by lantern!
Monday was introductions (and plenty of Kenya-style waiting) to the SAIPEH offices and what they do. Mainly they work on AIDS and HIV awareness and have loads of projects helping orphans, people who generally need help feeding themselves and also a brilliant scheme where by dairy cows and goats are donated to deserving families. In the mornings, everyday, we are meant to be teaching computer skills and helping with the data logging of projects running locally, however this week the power has been more often than not off, so a good chunk of our books have been devoured. But at the feeding programme or Day Care Centre, we were welcomed so warmly and all our efforts recieved with such excitment this made up for it. The 10 women who run it are so lovely and funny that we felt welcome immediately. We arrived by motorbike (George carrying Jess on the back! long story...can't wait to tell it! :P ) and that made them whoop and laugh for a good 10 minutes - they were so pleased to see women astride a bike, ezpecially white ones!
So far we have milked a cow, ground maize, picked beans and leaves, used a shamba in farming, swept and mopped in the typical double over fashion, and washed clothes by hand. We also help dish out the grub to the 20 odd children who rely on the programme to survive.
Lacrosse-wise. We have already introduced it to one school, St Therese Bumini, and met with the head of another. It was so much fun showing them lacrosse for the first time. They really enjoyed it and begged us to stay even though rain was seriously threatening to wipe away the field! We had to move location from the big field because there was no room to move as the ENTIRE rowdy school came out to watch. The girls picked it up so quickly and we can't wait to teach them more skills and get them playing a game. We're hoping to have a small tournament with the 4 schools we'll be teaching at the end of our stay. The bikes have been awesome fun. It's a joy to impart lax skills and we have pictures of us dressed up in kangas and headscarves!
We're enjoying our evenings sat in the kitchen helping preparing the family meals, and this morning we cooked pancakes for all, which they said they enjoyed...but of course they would - good or not! Tomorrow we're recieving full Kenyan names, because they want us to be fully part of their community, and we're told there'll be dancing...oh dear god!
Saturday, 16 May 2009
More Thoughts and Experiences
Monday to Wednesday we spent at the Kiungururia Primary School. There we had full on nursery time - very cute. Our main job was to play with the children, which included games such as racing, football, skipping, grandmother's footsteps, hide and seek. What was particularly endearing was how they congratulated each other and received praise through song. When congratulated, they would place their hands on their hips, wiggle and chant "Thank you, thank you children, I love you too!", followed by a bow. We were impressed by the energy and creativity of the teacher and how she used so few resources to create such fun. At the school, the headmistress warned us that often classes were difficult to teach due to the fact that many of them would not have eaten breakfast. This was quite a shock, as the statement was delivered in such a matter-of-fact way.
On Wednesday mid-morning, we headed down the dusty track to the local feeding programme which caters for around 60 children from that same school. Many of them are orphans, living with other family members and whom, without this initiative, would not have any lunch at all. We helped the ladies there sort out the rice and beans - this involved going through them by hand and picking out the bad bits - a painstakingly slow process! We also helped serving the food, and it was lovely to see how grateful the children really are. We then were invited to have our own bowl of beans and maize, and a cup of millet porridge. The latter, George had to slyly change over cups as it made her want to gag! The porridge was made in a small, tin room where the intense woodsmoke stung your eyes, and which contributed to the "tobacco" taste of the porridge.
Thursday began with a matatu ride to Gilgil with Moses the caretaker. We were then presented with three motorbikes and three expectant riders. George said "Oh. You want us to get on?" And off we went, it was actually really fun! At Saidia, the orphanage, we were warmly received and given a tour of the home. However, when we were introduced to the babies, our concentration was distracted and we literally spent about 2 hours holding a baby each and planning how to escape with them. All the children have such sad stories, but the home is such a wonderful place for them now to be living in. For example, George's baby was left on a road and Jess' in a church. We couldn't resist another visit on Friday, where we had the opportunity to meet Jill, an 80 year old woman who was one of the key founders of the organisation. She's a white, straight-talking, Kenyan who you wouldn't want to mess with. Respect for her was immediate. So far, we've really enjoyed seeing the variety of standards of education offered; we were also introduced to the nursery and its children at the home. We particularly enjoyed teaching them the hokey kokey and having our hair played with! Jill took us along to the feeding program in the Gilgil slums. This was an eye opener. On the drive through we saw human faeces everywhere, working prostitutes a mere door away and a severe lack of any sort of quality of life. Our spirits, however, were lifted somewhat when we were shown the children feeding centre there - a really safe environment ofering food and education to the local kids. As a little aside, something we have noticed is the fact that, for many, our skin colour = wealth, and the mentality that it's rightfully theirs. It's frustrating, as we see that there are major problems, often due to the government, but at the same time we're here to give our time to help. But what we consider to be good, human values, are totally lost here, on many people. Saying this, we've met a huge number of good, honest people, many of whom haven't had the best start in life. Mumias on Sunday, watch this space.... Kwaheri! George and Jess xx
On Wednesday mid-morning, we headed down the dusty track to the local feeding programme which caters for around 60 children from that same school. Many of them are orphans, living with other family members and whom, without this initiative, would not have any lunch at all. We helped the ladies there sort out the rice and beans - this involved going through them by hand and picking out the bad bits - a painstakingly slow process! We also helped serving the food, and it was lovely to see how grateful the children really are. We then were invited to have our own bowl of beans and maize, and a cup of millet porridge. The latter, George had to slyly change over cups as it made her want to gag! The porridge was made in a small, tin room where the intense woodsmoke stung your eyes, and which contributed to the "tobacco" taste of the porridge.
Thursday began with a matatu ride to Gilgil with Moses the caretaker. We were then presented with three motorbikes and three expectant riders. George said "Oh. You want us to get on?" And off we went, it was actually really fun! At Saidia, the orphanage, we were warmly received and given a tour of the home. However, when we were introduced to the babies, our concentration was distracted and we literally spent about 2 hours holding a baby each and planning how to escape with them. All the children have such sad stories, but the home is such a wonderful place for them now to be living in. For example, George's baby was left on a road and Jess' in a church. We couldn't resist another visit on Friday, where we had the opportunity to meet Jill, an 80 year old woman who was one of the key founders of the organisation. She's a white, straight-talking, Kenyan who you wouldn't want to mess with. Respect for her was immediate. So far, we've really enjoyed seeing the variety of standards of education offered; we were also introduced to the nursery and its children at the home. We particularly enjoyed teaching them the hokey kokey and having our hair played with! Jill took us along to the feeding program in the Gilgil slums. This was an eye opener. On the drive through we saw human faeces everywhere, working prostitutes a mere door away and a severe lack of any sort of quality of life. Our spirits, however, were lifted somewhat when we were shown the children feeding centre there - a really safe environment ofering food and education to the local kids. As a little aside, something we have noticed is the fact that, for many, our skin colour = wealth, and the mentality that it's rightfully theirs. It's frustrating, as we see that there are major problems, often due to the government, but at the same time we're here to give our time to help. But what we consider to be good, human values, are totally lost here, on many people. Saying this, we've met a huge number of good, honest people, many of whom haven't had the best start in life. Mumias on Sunday, watch this space.... Kwaheri! George and Jess xx
Saturday, 9 May 2009
Kariandusi Primary School and an AIDS Orphanage
Hello! Sorry it's been a while, keep getting postponed! so here's instalment no. 3
Follow this link for more photos:
http://www.sportingchanceinternational.org.uk/Gallery%20files/Nakuru1.html
The teachers were all lovely and after a chat with the friendly head master we found out that the school held more than 450 students and 17 teachers...only 11 of which were employed by the government, the rest were former students or are funded by the parents. The government policy is that there should be no more than 50 students in a classroom, but if that was the case in this school a good majority would simply be standing outside! The teachers do such an admirable job though, and they are all so passionate and driven about improving the system; especially the head, he has plans for a tree nursery, making more classrooms, getting the kids reading every day and opening the library to them. It's just so hard when all the government do at the moment is pay for the equipment; paper, pens, text books. Some schools are still teaching under trees!
Tricky to prioritise we're sure you understand. We were set to work drawing and colouring in posters for the classrooms - we've never coloured in this many maps EVER! But they were really happy with them so for most of the week we have been comissioned various works of art, at times we felt like signing them! We taught our lessons which we had been given to prepare, George had science and Jess had maths. We both think that our teaching may need a tad of fine-tuning.
One day we took in our cameras and we've never seen such a comotion over trying to get into a picture...we're used to people running away or hiding their faces! And they giggle...every picture we showed them of themselves they just laughed and laughed. One of the break times we went into the playground and tried chatting to a couple of girls but before long we were surrounded on all sides as if we had something interesting to show! In the end we decided to channel the energy into the largest game of "duck, duck, goose!" that the world has ever beheld. When I say that I let some of them win...those kids are fast, plus they're used to the gradient...well that's our excuse!!
Follow this link for more photos:
http://www.sportingchanceinternational.org.uk/Gallery%20files/Nakuru1.html
To get to the school that we were going to be working in for the next week we had to go on, what we can only refer to as, a hike! Across the high speed highway at risk of our lives then up the other side of the volcanic mountain. We saw the red gates and flashes of red jumpers before we saw the school. the gate was huge, but didn't fully open as the ground hadn't been levelled yet! Our first glimpse of the "playground" was a bit of a shock, it has also not been levelled off so the kids were playing a very skilled game of football, and others were running up and down the hill like crazy people! It's a huge space and these children were covering it in seconds...now we know why Kenya is renowned for its runners!
The teachers were all lovely and after a chat with the friendly head master we found out that the school held more than 450 students and 17 teachers...only 11 of which were employed by the government, the rest were former students or are funded by the parents. The government policy is that there should be no more than 50 students in a classroom, but if that was the case in this school a good majority would simply be standing outside! The teachers do such an admirable job though, and they are all so passionate and driven about improving the system; especially the head, he has plans for a tree nursery, making more classrooms, getting the kids reading every day and opening the library to them. It's just so hard when all the government do at the moment is pay for the equipment; paper, pens, text books. Some schools are still teaching under trees!Tricky to prioritise we're sure you understand. We were set to work drawing and colouring in posters for the classrooms - we've never coloured in this many maps EVER! But they were really happy with them so for most of the week we have been comissioned various works of art, at times we felt like signing them! We taught our lessons which we had been given to prepare, George had science and Jess had maths. We both think that our teaching may need a tad of fine-tuning.One day we took in our cameras and we've never seen such a comotion over trying to get into a picture...we're used to people running away or hiding their faces! And they giggle...every picture we showed them of themselves they just laughed and laughed. One of the break times we went into the playground and tried chatting to a couple of girls but before long we were surrounded on all sides as if we had something interesting to show! In the end we decided to channel the energy into the largest game of "duck, duck, goose!" that the world has ever beheld. When I say that I let some of them win...those kids are fast, plus they're used to the gradient...well that's our excuse!!Next week we're painting the classrooms, but today we're not going in...we have to attend a sports awards evening and make an effort - we've already got so used to not looking presentable! But we managed to squeeze in a visit to the hospital and aids orphanage which are funded by the catholic church. They're very clean and well run. The hospital is private so people have to pay for everything, even a consultation. The aids orphanage is a fantastic environment. It's heartbreaking that children no older than one have such problems this early in life, it's not fair. But if it has to happen then St Therese House of Hope is a warm and supportive environment to be. Good facilities and good routines. The lovely nun that showed us around was smiley and engrossed in the project. So far it's a eye-opening and fascinating experience.
Kwaheri x
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