Leaving the promised land.

We had one last day in Nairobi, so time to play the tourist. Linda dragged me along to the see the baby elephants and then to some shops. It's nice and warm here, the sun is shinning. It was warm enough for Linda to go swimming, and she even found someone to speak to in the pool.

So we have given away on this trip

90 Books

29 toothbrushes

1 necklace

Over 450 pens

100 crayons

6 bowls

6 spoons

Yo-yo

2 balls

28 rubbers

13 pencil sharpeners

6 pairs flip flops

6 children's t-shirt

28 notebooks

4 Frisbees

1 teddy

2 socks

3 school skirts

2 trousers

6 banners

5 films

Over 450 pencils

7 cameras

2 watches

Sunday school leaflets

4 bags

26 dresses

5 blankets

2 baby jumpers

2 cardigans

19 baby hat

2 cardigan and bootees

6 cardigan and hats 

7 baby set 

17 clown glove puppets

5 teddy glove puppets

Baby jumper and trousers

94 knitting needles

5 knitted baby tops

2 laptop computers

32 Soaps

Where is Moses when I need him?

Our friend James promised us that that we would see Mount Kenya from our room. On Saturday I got up early, excited, but I could not see it was covered with cloud. We went to the Mount Kenya Safari Club to be nearer, but the mountain was still covered with clouds. James is a local Minister so I asked him, if Moses can part the Red Sea, why can’t you   part the clouds so I can see Mount Kenya?  

We went to the safari club, having become temporary members for a fee. This was  the only day we didn’t t have any commitments, so we were free to relax, enjoy the scenery and there were even  some animals for Linda to look at. The Equator runs through the middle of the club, so I stood in the northern hemisphere and spoke to my wife in the southern.  There is also free wi-fi so I was  happy to sit and look at the scenery and use my IPad. The only downside, it was  the first day of our trip where there has not been any sun.

It has been so busy I have not had time to update the blog, at all. The trip as usual, has been action packed, new doors have been opened and new friends  made.

Linda has been to prison, visiting not staying, I hasten to add, at least she had a captive audience to listen to her . It all started on Sunday at church when she met two chaplains from the prison ministry and they invited her to visit the women's prison in Kericho, which had 70 inmates and 10 children. In fact, three more women were so keen to meet here, they booked in on the day she went!  She turned up and met the female officers in charge and had to fill out some forms and be checked out. They then went into the prison and she could see some women singing and the chaplain said they were having a service. Linda asked (she is so naive sometimes) "who is the guest speaker," the reply "you are". She then had to deliver a 40 minute talk to the captive audience, they couldn't even leave.

She had bought some gifts for the women and the children, which she distributed and the ended up in the craft hut to see the items that some of the inmates make. She then saw some knitting machines, she started talking about them, showing the women how to use them, and even fixed one that was broken, they were pleased. The chaplains had to drag her away from the prison, otherwise she would have still been there.

The lectures at the college have gone well, I started with 10 students and finished with 18! The topic was leadership and I had some good lecturers assisting me; Richard Branson, Bill Hybels, Nelson Mandela, Harold Schultz, Colin Powell and Bill Gates to name a few, plus we had Steve Jobs and Sir Winston Churchill pop back from their graves to assist.  The secretarial students jointed the class and actually the female students were better than their male counterparts on the written assignments. However, the male students caught up on the practical exam.

The hotel was renovating our usual room, so we are in the main house. Linda had a nice cold shower, when she forgot to switch the water heater on! I could have told her – but I didn’t just – just listened to her say how cold it was J The food has been rice, rice and rice, whether we are at the hotel, the college or visiting friends.

We went to see Stanley, who is our sort of adopted African son. He has now a baby called Abel (or Obama 2 as I nicknamed him). He is waiting for the electricity to come.  In preparation for this he has put in  power sockets, light sockets and even a light,.  He just has to wait for the electricity to be connected,. It was going to be by Sunday when we met him, but when I checked on Sunday it had still not arrived. The family were glad to see us, and he took us to his local school in Laliat. It was raining, so the children stood in the rain, while we spoke to them, we kept it short (although we were ok in the dry).  We saw Stanley’s shop. I tried to give him some business advice, I have watched all the series of The Apprentice so I know what I am talking about, and I kept asking what sells (I didn’t need to do the Alan Sugar voice as he would not have known who he was!). He said it was sugar, so I said that is what you buy and sell. He was talking about getting other products, but my advice was to sell what people will buy, it’s no good sitting in a shop looking pretty. This is the one village shop in the middle of a very poor rural area, they will buy the basics only.

Today I was speaking at Nyeri Cathedral, it was packed out, even had people sitting outside as there were no seats left inside, this is normal they told me, not just because I was preaching. The only thing was it was the 0800 English service, why do all the churches have the English services so early, don’t they know in England we don’t start till at least 1030. It was an early start and there was no electricity  in Nyeri, so we both washed in the cold water, brr. There was also no time for breakfast, it might be worth learning Kiswahili just so I can preach at the later service and have a lie in ( or use Google translate for my sermon).

On the way to Nyeri we called in at Thompson Falls for a cup of coffee and saw the water cascading down the rocks. Linda wanted to have a closer look, so she had to pay to get in, I just watched from a distance.

We are now back at The Stanley in Nairobi, air conditioning and HOT water! It was about three hours from Nyeri. There is now a six lane superhighway between Thika and Nairobi, the only problem is there are no bridges so they have pedestrian crossings every couple of miles and large bumps in the road to slow you down.

We need to check in on line tonight  so I can’t go to bed till just before midnight, burning the candle at both ends, some things  never change! There are some pictures here

Moses heads towards the Promised Land

We have landed safely in Kenya and are ensconced in warm Kericho. We
were meant to stay overnight at a travelodge on Wednesday night near Terminal 5 but as I had been working so many hours I had not had the time to pack or finish the preparation for the lectures. As we had a flexible room we were able to cancel it. The bonus was I got to watch the football and see The Blues win with a brilliant heading from Moses from a Mata corner in the 94th minute.

The downside was we had to get up at 0400 to leave for the airport by 0500! Linda was not too pleased with this early start, as she is not a morning person. The roads were not too bad and we arrived at the car park around 0630 and then booked in. We are going business, courtesy of our BA miles. This means we can take 3 bags each and use the business lounge. We had 4 bags full of gifts to give away and a bag each of clothes. The lounge was good as we had free food, coffee and could sit and wait in comfort for the plane to be ready for boarding.

The plane was leaving about 1030 and it was left on time, I think, I had fallen asleep by then. Linda woke me up when the food came round. I ate some food and then went back to sleep. I slept for a couple of hours and then did some work. I planned one of the sermons for Sunday. Before we landed there was more food, sandwiches and scone with cream, plus more coffee. We landed about 2130 (Kenya is 3 hours ahead of UK).

Passport control was quite quick and our bags were in the first batch. We are stopped at customs and asked what was in our bags - where do I start! He looked in one of the bags and started talking about you had to pay taxes even on gifts. However, he saw the items and said we could go, Linda did give him a pen, which was probably all he wanted.

We were staying at The Stanley as usual and booked in, we had a nice room for the night and fell asleep quite quickly. On Friday we had breakfast and then went out into Nairobi as I needed to get SIM cards for the mobile, Iphone, IPad and dongle. We went to a couple of places and they did not have SIM cards, so ended up at another place, which did. It was very busy, probably because everyone was coming here as no other shops had any SIM cards. In Kenya everyone has a mobile phone, they have no bread on the table, but have a mobile. We met a man who was a refugee and wanted some rice for his family, so we took him to the food store and bought some. It is better to put some food on the table then give them money to potentially waste. Although the rice was probably more expensive then any money I might have given!

Once we were sorted out, it was back to the hotel to finish the packing and then leave with our driver. We have a new driver called David, who speaks good English. The only problem is we will now have to direct him to all the places we need to go to as he will not know the way.

We left Nairobi around 11am and it was a fairly pleasant run. Linda was desperate for a tea so we had to stop at Navaisha for a cuppa. There is a nice shop that does latte so I had one, the last one for the next week. After that it was onwards to Kericho through Nakuru, Mau Summit and then the B1. Unfortunately they are doing roadworks on the B1 so it takes ages as at some places it is single tracks. There is also a 25km diversion which takes about an hour as it is very bumpy and Linda was so pleased about this! I did the journey route on google maps, it was not very accurate

We arrived at the hotel around 6pm, we cannot have our normal room in the annexe as it is being renovated, therefore we are in the main house. We do have a balcony which we can sit on and watch the people or the grass, it is quite noisy as well. It is smaller than the other one so we have to keep moving our stuff around.

We have some dinner around 2000 and then it is an an early night.

On Saturday we were going to visit our friend Samuel and his church at Bware as I am giving some lectures on leadership. We had to leave around 0800 which meant being up at 0700. It is about 90 minutes journey and the roads are not too bad. The problem was we missed the turning and ended up in the next town. So we had to turn around and drive back again, the village is not shown on google maps. We arrived and it was time for breakfast with them, which as Chapati and bread, with tea. Linda, of cours
e, doesn't like the local tea, so she gets out her Tesco tea bags to use. I did point out they were probably the same, grown here and just labelled Tesco!

As usual with Kenya people turn up when then can and we start about 1130. There is some singing and then the Sunday school do some singing and this lasts about an hour before I start the two sessions on leadership. This lasts till about 1430 and then there is some more singing. We have lunch which is excellent' there is fish, beef, chicken, rice, potatoes and vegetables. Linda goes for the rice and potatoes, whereas I have the fish with my rice. It is very nice, all prepared on a small stove outside. Samuel's wife has done a great job and she is also the Sunday school leader. I have a chat with Samuel, it is great to see one of my ex-students in the mission field and doing a great job. He is very grateful for the support from Eastwood Evangelical Church. We had to give three old ladies a lift along the road' which meant there was no room in the back for Linda, but fortunately there was room in the boot! It is a hatchback in case you had visions of Linda in the boot of a car!

We left about 1600 and then had the trip back to Kericho, it was now pouring with rain, thunder and lightening, this made for an interesting trip. We got back and there was no power as the electricity had gone off - time for a nap I think.

On Sunday I was speaking at both services the 0800 and 0930 which seemed a good idea on email, but not so good when the alarm went off at 0700. Linda needed her beauty sleep so she had a lie in, can't say I saw any difference later on! I had my breakfast alone and in peace, and then walked to the church. Linda turned up just as I was finishing the sermon (first one)! She did stay for the second sermon. The service was very packed with singing, some very energetic exercises and four babies were dedicated.

After this we went into town for some lunch at the Sunshine hotel. I had a nice piece of fish, but Linda didn't like it as it still had its head on and she said it was looking at her. I did tell the fish not to look at her, but it ignored me, so I cut his head off and hid it under a napkin. It tasted very nice.

Linda then wanted to go and visit the Tea Hotel to see if there were any changes since we had last visited there. It had changed slightly , although still appears old fashioned. We sat on the patio as the sun was out and had a cup of tea, well I had coffee. The coffee was not up to Starbucks standards. Perhaps when I retire I will bring Starbucks to Kenya!

Linda then went and spoke to the men with their ornaments out the front, they remembered her from previous visits, and were trying to persuade her to buy some things, they didn't have to try very hard! She had some presents now for people at home

It was a nice warm afternoon so we can back and sat on the balcony and relaxed, today is the only day we do not have a full agenda. Our friend Joseph popped by and we had tea with him.

We were there

I was there, watching the rowers at Eton Dorney in the cold early morning. It had seemed a good idea to go to the rowing and a 9.30am start time seemed fine.  However, when I worked it out that we would need to get up at 5am it did not seem such a good idea, but Er Indoors wanted to go. So we had tickets, in fact the park and ride tickets were more expensive than entry tickets. We had learnt the food was expensive from our previous olympic visit, so we made some sandwiches, got some reduced Team GB paper plates from Sainsburys and took our own lunch. 

On Thursday we had been to the Olympic Park, we did not have tickets for the sporting events, just to get in and look round. Our entry was from 10:00 to 15:00 so we got the train from Rayleigh to Stratford and arrived in good time. We had a wander around, visited the shop, saw Macdonalds, Linda had a tea and then wandered around some more. We sat at Park Live and watched some judo and then saw Claire Balding LIVE really exciting :)

It was starting to get busy as more people turned up, and so we decided to exit and go to the Westfield shopping centre, big mistake. Linda decided she wanted some more crocs, she already has numerous pairs, but these were a different type, although they all go on your feet. So we ended up looking at shoes, did I like this colour, no what about that colour, or does this colour suit me, the answer of course is always yes.

After that she then saw Marks and Spencer, another big mistake for me, she now wanted a coat to go with her new shoes, aren't I lucky, I get to stand outside for 30 minutes and then when she has selected the items, I get to pay.  After this she was tired with shopping, so decided we could go home, guess who gets to carry the bags!

The good news at Eton Dorey there are no shops, not even a hint of them. It is just water and grass. We left home about 0545 and fortunately the roads were quite clear, so we got to the park and ride, just of the A4 near Slough around 07.15.  Linda, having drunk too much tea before we left needs to spend a penny, so instead of getting on the bus, I am waiting for her. We get the bus and it's about a 30 minutes drive to the Venue, then you have to be searched and then it's about a mile walk to where all the action is. We found a table and chairs near the water, about 500m from the start line and sat there, well Linda did, I was dispatched to get the tea. I would have had a bacon sandwich but I could not find anywhere selling them, the food is rather generic and the same at all sites whatever the time of day.

Linda was out with her camera and taking pictures, it was only 0830. We saw several races, although it was very cold. We cheered the GB team on to win their heat. It all finished about midday, and then back to the bus, the car and home. We got back just after 2pm. At least we could say we were there

Being there

The sermon the other week was on the importance of bring there, to enjoy the atmosphere, to see the main event and to meet the Man. We had not planned to go to the Olympics, in fact Linda hates sports and so I never ever considered it. However, she has now got into it, watching the Olympics on the tele, when she is at home, I would say whilst doing the ironing, but that would not be correct! So she wanted to go, but tickets at this late stage are very difficult to get, nigh on impossible, but I delivered! It took many evening on the Internet, applying for various sports and not getting far.

Actually we have been watching the beach volleyball on the tv, mainly the women's as it is on late at night, nothing to do with the kit theŷ wear (or don't) and actually started to follow some of the matches and teams. We got to understand the game, the three hits, a spike, a dig and the scoring system. 

Then at the weekend I managed to get tickets for the semi finals of the beach volleyball. We did see the Olympic park as we went past on the train. 

It was also at Horse Guard Parade which meant it was a different venue that we couldn't visit afterwards. So we had tickets for Tuesday evening from 2100 to midnight, which was ok as we had to work during the day and then take the train just after 5pm to London. The weather looked doggy, so I said to Linda take an umbrella, but did she listen to me - no, did we get wet - yes.

With the Olympics being in Britain they had to make sure you queued for everything, we could have got a gold medal in making people queue. We had to queue for an hour to collect our tickets, and then queue to get in the complex, queue for food, queue for coffee and then finally get your seats. A lot of queuing! And to make it more fun we have to do it in the open, so when it rains everyone gets wet - so funny - not.

And then so we can rip people off we don't let them bring drinks or food in  so we can charge £8.50 for fish and chips and £2.50 for tea. it makes Starbucks look cheap!  However, the fish and chips were very nice. Linda was looking after the money and then whilst we are queuing decides to disappear so I only have enough for her food, and then she appears saying oh I was just taking some pictures.

It was warm but wet. We had excellent seats the second row back, just behind the court, so we could see everything. It was very exciting watching the women first, Brazil and USA and it went to three games, lasting over an hour, value for money, unfortunately it rained for all of the time and it was heavy rain and so I got very wet, and so did Linda, did I not say bring an umbrella, did she listen, no. The couple in front of us had an umbrella which did affect Linda's view and dripped on us. The game was really exciting, a shame Brazil didn't win instead of the Yanks, but there's 4 years time in Brazil on a real beach with real sun.

The men's game was exciting Holland v Germany and by now it had stopped raining, so it was enjoyable.  The Germans won in two sets and then went on to win the final as well.

It finished about 23.30 and after that it was a rush to get out, get a bus and the train home. The last train  was 0120 after that a long walk! however, we got one about 0015 so was home by one, that's the good news, bad news we're both on earlies! 

However, it was great evening and we can say we were there.

Free Starbucks

What a result, Chelsea beating Napoli, no even better free Starbucks. Linda was going stir crazy, she wanted to get out from the four walls, and also we needed to use some petrol up or it will be driving around the car park time. We decided to go to Limassol, it was a bit like Clacton, downmarket. We had a walk around and then found Starbucks, free wi-fi latte's were free between 1200 and 1600,we arrived about 1300.

We have had a restful time, the food is good, although a couple of nights has been a buffet which was not so good. Linda preferred the four course menu. I have introduced her to racquet ball which has been good exercise, we have played for two days and then some light gym work. I am not allowed to say who won all the games but the surname began with W!

We checked in for our flights online although as usual it's is delayed due to fog in England. It's amazing that a little deviation in the weather and it all slows down. The weather has been warm here, although it rained yesterday, but we can't complain. As it was raining we could not go to our favourite restaurant by the sea, so we had to have cappuccino at the hotel (twice the price!). The IPad 3 is on sale from tomorrow so I have been keeping up with the reviews.

Today normal service has been resumed, it is sunny, slightly windy but we can sit and enjoy cappuccino at our favourite restaurant and listen to the sound of the sea.

Chelsea into the next round of Champions league and the could even meet a team from Cyprus.


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A warm break

We have been back from Kenya about three weeks, but I have been so busy I have not had a day off work since we landed, so I needed to use some leave up before the end of the financial year. So we decided to have a few days away and managed to get a bargain trip to Cyprus. Linda doesn't like travelling cattle class any more, so I had to look for a deal that included business. I mean if the plane crashes into a mountain it doesn't matter which class your travelling you all end up in first!

However, she wanted some winter sun and there was a good deal to Cyprus, which had a nice hotel with only 59 rooms, in fact they are not rooms, this hotel only has suites. This suited Linda's lifestyle as she can now tell everyone about her suite. It's not just any suite but an executive one, with a big bed, lounge area, separate bathroom, which has a bath AND a shower. There is a balcony for her to sit on and read her book (the same one she has been reading since December). Outside is a swimming pool, although its not quite warm enough to swim in, but you can swim in the indoor pool. There is a gym, squash courts, tennis courts and several restaurants. We had booked just for breakfast, but when we arrived they said we had been upgraded to half board, which is a good result as dinner is about £25 each! It's a five course menu everyday so we need the gym.

Linda could have gone to pilates today, but preferred to sit by the pool, I am not sure what it is, but I am told its nothing to do with pirate chasing! As we were travelling club class, we used the business lounge at Heathrow. We were going from T3 which is not as good as T5, although there were bacon rolls which filled a hole. We had left home at 4am as the plane left at 0820 and was a 4 1/2 hour flight. We were so tired that we slept some of the way, after making sure we had the food. The plane was very full mainly of old people, Cyprus is 2 hours ahead of UK time.

We had hired a small car, the island is not that big and there are only two motorways and I need to make some austerity measures somewhere. It's a bit of a con as you have to return the car empty of fuel, the other option is to return it full, but then there is an admin fee. However, as the island is quite small you are unlikely to use up a full tank, perhaps I will just drive it around the car park a few times before I return it. The drive was just over an hour from the airport to Pissouri where the hotel was, Linda managed to chat most of the way, as she had now woken up, I just drove. It was an easy drive and there are not many cars on the road, so no traffic jams.

The hotel, as I have described is very pleasant, it is by the sea and you can hear the waves bounding against the rocks. There is a small village within walking distance and it has several coffee shops, including one on the front overlooking the sea, which Linda likes. We come all this way from Southend and end up sitting looking at the beach and the sea, could have just gone to The Arches.

Today, we went to Paphos, Linda wanted to have a look round, just like the Apostle Paul in Acts 'they travelled through the whole island until they came to Paphos'. It's about 45 mins drive from where are, although we took the scenic route along the mountain roads. We had a look round, not much different from Southend seafront, although the hotels are better and they speak Greek. However, unlike the Apostle Paul, we did find a Starbucks, just in time to get a latte before the drive back.

We have been sitting by the pool and relaxing, Linda did think by today I would have been bored and wanted to get out and do things, but I am fine, might be something to do with the free wireless internet I can use with my Ipad2. I can sit by the pool surfing!

It's very overcast today and the waiter said it was sand from the Sahara in the air, but it would clear and rain tomorrow. That's a long way for sand to come, perhaps it doesn't like the hot weather there.

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Bye Bye Kenya (for now)

On our final day in Kenya,  it is very hot again, the sun is shining. In the morning we had breakfast and then a meeting with Alice who works with improving the educational access for teenage girls in Lake Baringo area, her organisation is Hosali Have Mercy. Linda has been in contact with her and we were able to release our final bag of dresses and pens. We have three bags now, one now contains just our dirty washing – very nice if they want to search it at the airport!

Linda then went out with the driver to the Giraffe sanctuary and the Kazuri bead factory, fatal that I didn’t go with her as it meant she spent some money and took loads of pictures! You can see some photos here of Giraffes and Tortoises (as she found some of them as well!)

I stayed at the hotel as I had work to do and sat in the shade using the computer.

So this trip we have given away

37 theological books, 40 Knitting needles, 20 knitted hats, 15 tennis balls, 2 tents, 50 dresses, 6 films, 24 batteries, 46 erasers, 24 sharpeners,  9 ruler, 366 pens, 1175 pencils,  10 T shirt, 1 watch, 8 book marks, 32 toothbrushes, 1 bible, 2 calendars, 3 notebooks, a laptop, a printer, 16 bracelets, 5 necklaces, 2 rucksacks, Craft material, travel iron,  12 knitted teddies, Baby jumper, 3 McDonald's set with paper, glue etc, 1 mirror, 1 yo yo, 1 harmonica, 1 pair of shoes,  10 children's toys, 1 material bags, 3 make up bags, 5 cones of wall, 2 CDs, cricket bat, football, 5 pencil cases,  6 knitted puppets, 9 flannels , 5 soaps, 5 pairs socks, 3 ladies tops, 50 photos, pair flip flops, 2 tins of biscuits and a few other bits and pieces

It has been an interesting holiday J

Hot Water - a luxury!

We have arrived back in Nairobi and the Stanley Hotel has hot water, which you would expect from a 5 star premises.  At Nyeri and Kericho the water had been tepid, at best or very cold as Linda found out when the electricity went off half way through a shower!  So to have a hot shower is a luxury.  As the weather has been quite hot, it has not even too bad having warm showers to cool down, but not the best thing to wake up to.

The food has not been too bad; bread and egg for breakfast, rice and beans for lunch, fish and rice for tea. We are getting acclimatised to rice, sometimes you even got meat with it at the college, although daren't ask what it is, Linda would not eat it, preferring marmite on her rice.

Wednesday was a busy day, we were up early, I was off to the college and Linda was going to visit a school at Ngererit, which is run by the principal's wife.  She was also going to visit the baby orphanage opposite too. I was at the college teaching. When the driver picked her up, she was surprised to see Philip in the car, however he was ill and had to go hospital in Litein, which is near, she thought I had sent him to go with her, but I knew nothing about it.  He had tooth ache, which turned out to be a root canal, Linda had this last year so she was able to tell him all about the pain, really comforting.  She dropped him off at the hospital, and went to visit the school which  now has 194 children from age 2 to 9 years. They were all dressed smartly, and Linda visited every class, weren't the children lucky, she told that what she did, how she liked the donkeys. One of the younger children burst into tears when Linda walked in the room, understandable, I burst into tears every time she comes home!  She interrogated the children, and they remembered her from her last visit, once seen ever forgotten.

Next stop was the orphanage, where there are 51 babies and the youngest was 4 weeks old, having been abandoned in a market, Linda was allowed to hold her, she was too young to cry and know the difference between her and the Mazungu. The other children didn't run away this time. Linda gave them some knitted hats from the church, although I am not sure why they need hats when it is the mid 30's but Linda tells me it is because the babies feel the cold.  Then she went back to the hospital to collect Phillip, but she could not find him, he was not answering his mobile phone, and no one knew where he was. Eventually she found him, and he had had root canal treatment, but it seems he had malaria as well.  He was given medication and told to come back in 2 weeks to have the work finished. Linda gave him a lecture that he was to take the tablets, he was to follow the instructions and was to come back in 2 weeks, the poor student was nearly in tears. Linda had asked the doctor and dentist to make sure the tablets Philip had been given were compatible. The doctor said she was quite forceful with Philip, she replied she had to be, and in her job she was used to dealing with such people, when he found out what she did, he decided to make no further comment (probably scared of her as well).

Linda then came back to college, having missed dinner, she was not amused.  Fortunately, there was some rice left over so she did not starve. She sent Phillip to bed with precise instructions (you wouldn't think he was in his mid 20's). After I had finished class for the afternoon, we were going to visit Stanley and his new wife Jennifer, they got married in December. He was one of my students who I taught from year 1 right until his graduation last March.  We have visited his place a couple of times. On route, we called in at Betty's  orphanage which has 21children aged three to five years. They were holding the knitted toys and playing with them when we arrived, and didn't run away this time. I had a little game of football with them, which was going well till I fell over, but fortunately, didn't injure myself. It was a

good game I kicked the ball and they ran and got it for me to kick it again of them. It was hard work in the heat.

We then left and made our way to Stanley's - it is on about 10 miles but the roads are bad, in fact very bad, and it took about an hour to get there. They had been waiting for us, and we were introduced to the new wife, and she had prepared dinner for us.  I did have an invite for the wedding, but it only came a few days beforehand so I had not been able to attend. The pictures looked good, evidently she cost 6 cows, which is not cheap, the best I ever got offered for Linda was a camel (and that was about 10 years ago, probably just get the hump now)!  Linda had bought the a tent as a wedding present, they we going cheap in Tesco and whatever reasons she thought it was a good idea, I suppose as they live in a mud hut, a tent would be a good alternative. They seemed pleased with it. We had some food, potatoes, chapatti, meat and followed by a cup of tea. The only problem they didn't have any tea so it was called a cup of tea, but was really water and milk. However, Linda came to the rescue with her tea bags!  We then had a walk around the estate, Stanley showed me where he is going to plant the seeds, when the rains come. We waved to Obama's people, but they didn't wave back (Obama's relations live in the next valley).

We were meant to go and visit someone else but we had run out of time, as it was another hour back to Kericho and was getting dark. Kemal, our driver, keeps asking me how far and so I look it on the iPAD2 and give him the distance.  It's good even the minor roads are recorded on the map, although not much more detail.  We arrived back in town about 7pm and then it was checking what things we had left to give away and preparing for the exam tomorrow. We did manage to make dinner, but it was around midnight before we finally got to bed.

Thursday morning was a rush, as we were both leaving at the same time together (first time this week), so we had to be up early to have time to shower and breakfast so we could leave at 8am. We just about made it. The students were doing their exam today and the exercise was they had to teach a lesson for 20 mins.  I had given them subjects and different age groups ranging from school children to adults. They had to take in consideration the way people learn and ensure they used the tools I had taught them. They all did well, some surprised me, Philip number 2, who last time I took a course could hardly speak English and was very shy, spoke good English and came out of his shell. I t was satisfying to see some of the ways they approached teaching, using different methods rather than just lecturing from the front.  Linda was going the marking and giving feedback.  They all said they had learnt from the week and liked the practical exam as it a good method to demonstrate learning.

We had given the college a laptop computer which I had built from 2 broken ones and they were very happy, The college only has 4 computers and it is the most popular course, so another one will assist them greatly. They have to do their work in shifts at the moment to accommodate the number of students.

We were going to visit Samuel in the afternoon and he lived about 90 minutes away, although on the plus side the roads were good for this journey. His church is Bware AIC.  We had to cross the mountains to get to the other side, to Luo territory. We finally arrived about 3pm and dinner was served, I think they had killed the fatted calf (or chicken in this case) as there was plenty of meat. There was also Ugali, which pleased Linda no end, as she doesn’t  like this, but I do. She had to make do with rice.

After this was went to the church next door and did our bit for Her Majesty’s diamond celebrations by sitting through several performances by the children’s group.  We sat as the guests of honour and waved, clapped and smiled. The children were very good with the singing and it was enjoyable. I then had to say a few words, introduced Linda who said a few more and then I preached telling the parable of the good Samaritan to the children and adults.  It was translated by a local pastor and he even got into it by following my actions.

After the service, the congregation wanted some pictures taken, so Linda obliged and had them standing in height order and took several pictures. We were then invited for a cup of tea, which was nice, apart from there was no tea in the flasks and Linda’s tea bags were in the car, so we drank water and milk. It is still hot today, but it had started to rain, which the people were grateful for as they need rain to soften the ground to plant the crops. Although the Pastor’s house had holes in the roof, so fortunately it didn’t rain too hard, otherwise another cold shower.

It was then a drive back to Kericho, dropping several people on route who needed a lift. It was really good to see Samuel and actually see someone who I had trained at college, graduate and have his own pastorate.  It has not been easy as initially the church rejected him, not wanting a pastor, but he has persevered and they now accepted him.  He and his wife have started a small school as well as leading the church. Despite the hardships of Kenyan life he has persevered as a pastor and is a lesson to us all.

After dinner we had to pack our cases, we are down to four bags (from six) and one  is full of dresses and pens to give away in Nairobi to an organisation that helps girls continue their education in a village near Eldoret.

On Friday we left Kericho at 8am and it was a six hour  journey to Nairobi.  I did have a nice pair of black shoes, but the guard didn’t have any, so now he has a nice pair of black shoes courtesy of Linda, and I don’t. She even gave him my polish to make sure they stay black.  Linda has asked me to point out that she also gave away three of her tops. We had to come a different way because of the bad road, which mean the journey was longer. A local pastor wanted a lift so he took up the spare seat. We did stop for 30 minutes and Linda saw a shop so was straight inside buying some Massai material she wanted.  We booked into the hotel and went to our room and put the tap on -  hot water  a luxury!

There are some more photos here.

Still hot and no sign of any snow!

It is even hotter in Kericho, some days above 30 degrees, it got so hot that the projector overheated and switched itself off.  On Sunday, I was speaking at the National Kenyan Police College and the initial email said it was a 7am service. However, that had changed by the time we arrived, and we didn’t have to be there till 7.30 for an 8.30 service and there was now one not two services. We had to be there early for breakfast in the senior officers’ mess.  The only downside was that we had to pack the cases the night before and then get up at 6am to shower and dress and re-load the car to leave at 7am – but I am on holiday Linda remarked.  As we are now down by one bag, I had to less to carry down the stairs.  We had given James a bag with about 20 books, hundreds of pencils, clothes  and other bits of pieces for him to distribute. Last time the items we had left had been taken to an isolate Massai village and given to the children, who were really grateful.

There was a new programme about teachers in Eastern Kenya and it was fascinating. The teachers walk 10 miles a day to the school, they have no books, the children often don’t have any pencils or books to write anything down, but they still come to class. The teachers have to teach three classes at once, all in different rooms, walking between them all the time, must keep you fit!  I won’t mention the toilets or lack of them!

We arrived at the Police College and went to the Senior Officers mess, which has the heads of animals all around the walls. They have been left on the walls since the British vacated 60 years ago.  Breakfast was a sausage, fruit, potatoes and vegetables with a boiled egg. It was certainly an interesting combination to have. Tea was plentiful so Linda was happy.  We also met up with some old friends at the college.

The church service started at 9am and was meant to finish at 1130am.  I was given 30 minutes to preach (and took 32 mins 23 seconds as the minister recorded it) but didn’t start till 1115 – so it ended late. You would have thought police officers would have turned up on time, but no they wandered in during the service at all different times. There were some new recruits there that had just finished the theoretical training and were going out to various police stations to do the practical sessions. I was able to include words of advice during my sermon, which was on Exodus 20, The Ten Commandments.

It was quite a charismatic and energetic service, with lots of dancing, clapping and leaping about, you would not need to go to the gym for a couple of days after that service. It was remarked on the English being reserved and not quite as energetic as the Africans and a lack of constant clapping. It was difficult when you don’t understand the songs.

After the service finished, I chatted to some of the recruits and some had never met a white man (or woman) before, which is quite interesting, now they have met me – they are probably hope they never meet another one!  We were back to the mess for dinner, Linda even tried a piece of chicken!  And then it was a few photo’s before we left for Kericho.

It was going to be a long drive, but the road has deteriorated even more and it was very bumpy and I mean bumpy, you could probably create it as a fair ground ride. We reached Nakuru after 3 hours, which is about 100 miles. We crossed the Equator several times, probably because they are not sure where it is and if they have a shop in different places they can make more money from the tourists – apart from us as we didn’t stop (been there, done that).

At Nakuru we stopped for drink and a leg stretch. It was back on the road to Molo and the road to Kericho. They are improving the road so it was a in a state of disrepair and very bumpy. They have also put a diversion on through a country road, but of course that is not tarmacked etc. It took about 2 1/2  hours to do 40 miles, it also got dark which made it even more difficult.  We finally arrived at the hotel in Kericho at 1930 – totally exhausted and the car had a puncture.

We had our normal room and settled down for dinner, Linda had rice and I had fish with rice. We were hungry by now so devoured it quickly.  I then had to prepare for  teaching the course Religious Education at the Sitotwet college the next day, so it was gone midnight before I got to bed.

On Monday we had breakfast at 0730 and left for the college, just after 8am. It has not changed much, the students started off with about 10, but there were 20 by the end of the day. It had been half term the week before so they were still travelling back on the Monday, even though the course started at 0830 – this is Africa. It is hot here, sometimes hitting the mid 30’s, nice when you are on the beach, but not when you are teaching, especially when the projector overheats in the middle of a powerpoint presentation.  So it is back to the old fashioned chalk and board.   Linda went to visit Betty at the Orphanage and gave some knitted toys, knitted puppets pencils and tennis balls to them. The knitted toys and puppets had been knitted by some our older members at church.  We had dinner at the college, rice and beans and I continued lecturing in the afternoon, however, it was so hot and  humid and they were tired (and so was I) so we finished at 1500. We came back to the hotel, and I had a short catnap (well a couple of hours) before continuing my preparation and finally getting to bed just before midnight. It is quite hot even at night but you need to keep the windows closed for safety issues and mozzies.

On Tuesday I went to the college and continued the studies. It was hot again today, but we struggled through.  Linda went shopping during the morning and saw a women waiting for the matutu with a small baby, so she jumped the queue and gave the women a knitted hat, the lady was very surprised!   A young lad was walking along the street and she felt sorry for him so she gave him a pen, he took and ran off, probably scared of the mazungu.  Linda was doing this afternoons lesson and teaching them how to make cards and the different materials that you could use. It was well attended as some of the secretarial and computer students turned up as well.  After college ended we went into town and had tea with Pastor Mutai and caught up with him.  Linda had also visited a few of our other friends, so the bags are slowly going down.  At 1700 we were at the AIC Church as I was speaking at the evening meeting, which started on time although most people didn’t turn up till about 1730. It went well, although they thought I was coming last week, so some had turned up a week early!

In the evening it was back to the hotel, to start preparing for tomorrows lessons and of course rice and fish for dinner.You can see some photos here

Nyeri- Hot, 25 degrees and rising

We left home about 4.30pm on Tuesday afternoon as I am not allowed to say who I was waiting for.  The roads were not that busy, must be all the cold weather.  We arrived at the travelodge approx 6pm.  Last time we came here we couldn't find a parking space, but this time there was plenty of parking but it was very cold, in fact Linda's teeth were chattering very quickly.  We have six bags, although only two are ours the rest are full of books, pens, dresses, cameras and other bits.  As we are travelling business we can have six bags and they can weigh a maximum of 32kg, a couple are near the limit.  We booked in at Travelodge and then we decided to have dinner.  The meal I had  was chilli beef on a rib with noodles, and Linda had fish and chips. It was very nice, although the noodles with the chilli source was quite hot.  We went back to the room and did some work on the Internet as there was nothing to watch on the television.  We had to be up at 5.30 so we went to bed early, although the bed was terrible so we didn't sleep very well. 

We got up at 5.30am and then dropped the car off at the car park and then went to the terminal building.  We are flying business, thanks to an upgrade using our Avios miles, so we could use the lounge and enjoy free Internet and more importantly bacon rolls!  We had three hours before our flight so plenty of time to get stuck in, before boarding.  I did have a bowl of fruit to counter the impact of the bacon, so I feel healthy now. We did our emails, Linda played on farmville and we just relaxed.  The plane was leaving from C55 so we had to take the train, which was working this time.  There was a Starbucks outside the gate, so as I had my tumbler with me, it was rude not to take advantage of this and have a last decent coffee to drink on the plane.

We were one of the last to board and find our seats. The plane left about 45 minutes late, evidently there was a plane behind us that could not move. The flight was a bit bumpy in places, Linda was fast asleep. The food was good and plentiful. We landed about 10pm (7pm UK time) and were off the plane quick, and first at passport patrol. There was no queue this time and they were not even fingerprinting or photographing people, probably because they want to go home.  We had to wait for the luggage, it wasn't too long and then we cleared customs and Kemal our driver was waiting for us.  We loaded up the vehicle and then drove off to The Stanley, it was now gone eleven.  It is rather warm here, no sign of any snow!  So warm we needed the air conditioning on in the room.  I used the Internet, it was free, and Linda went back to sleep.

On Thursday we got up about 8.30am, we have a slight touch of jetlag but not too bad. We had to do some shopping before we left for Nyeri.  First stop was Safaricom, as it was 10 months since our last visit we needed to get some new sim cards, especially for the iPAD!  Then it was time for breakfast Linda had pancakes with a latte and I had a bacon and guacamole omelet with  cappuccino .  After this, there was some shopping to do, before wandering back to the hotel. Linda did find it strange that one person bought a re-cycle friendly bag and then put it in a plastic carrier to take it home.

We left Nairobi about midday, it is very warm here and sunny which pleases Linda. The journey was about 3 hours and we stopped at Karatina for a coffee.  There was a sign for a Starbucks hotel – which was not a real one – I would know being an expert in these areas.  They did not even do latte’s so I had to do with a back coffee, no muffins, only samosa.  Linda had left her tea bags in the car, so she had coffee as well but with alot of milk.  She is the only person I know that bring tea bags back to the country they were made in – rather than buying some here.

We were staying at the same apartment as we were last time.  We settled in and then James arrived and we went out to have a drink.  He has now officially retired so has spare time.  He is a member of the Nyeri Golf club (although he doesn’t play golf – yet – slight problem with a lack of clubs).  We had a drink, although it takes five minutes for Linda to order as she is very particular with the way she wants her tea made, I  just have it as it comes.

James has bought some land and he is building a nice house on it, even has a room for me when I visit!  Its coming on well and should be finished in a couple of months.  There are nice views of the countryside – and only 10 minutes from town.

In the evening we went to James and Grace’s house for dinner, it was very nice, although they were concerned that Linda didn’t eat much, no problems for me. We had a nice time chatting and keeping their granddaughter amused (she is five).  Although once she has seen iPAD2 she was well away and I had trouble getting it back.

Linda was tired so she went to bed early, but I was wide awake so I caught up on some work for next week.

On Friday Linda went out with Grace to the Aberdare’s elephant hunting.  I am staying behind as I have work to do – prepare for next week at college, sermons for Sunday and tomorrows youth seminar.  It means I get a day of peace and quiet!  Also I am not into all  this wild animal watching – seen one – seen them all.  They were out all day and didn’t see one elephant!  Plenty of warthogs, buffalo and butterflies, but no elephants.  They saw elephant dung, but that was the closest they got!  She returned at 6pm and was exhausted. Linda also called in at the Golf Club on her way back, and sat in the same seat Her Majesty did when she visited in 1983.  James and Grace were coming over for dinner and we had fish and rice. Linda just had boiled eggs and rice.  Then it was an early night.

On Saturday breakfast was at 0830 hours and was eggs and sausages, there is electricity today which is better than yesterday.  Linda had boiled eggs and cereal.  We left at 0930 to go to the Church in Nyeri to do the youth seminar, but no one turned up so we went to Nyeri golf club for a cup of tea, I have been there several times but never seen anyone actually play golf.  We stayed and chatted and then went back to the church just after midday and some of the youth had turned up- a bit late.  So I did a 2 hour seminar on leadership.  Linda then did some card making with them. They were rather shy and did not interact very well, but seemed to enjoy it.

We were hungry by now, but there was no time to eat as James wanted us to visit his pastors fraternity a few miles away.  We dropped Grace off at the shop and made our way towards the location.  There were 6 couples plus a single male at the meeting, all squashed into a small room, however we arrived just as lunch was being served, rice, beans, small pieces of meat followed by a cup of tea.  We then did some introduction and I gave a 10 minute talk on leadership and answered some questions. It was now after five.  The weather has been hot today, although not in the UK according to the comments on Facebook. Trying to explain minus twelve to people here is difficult, they think 20 degrees is cold, and tonight there were several people with coats on. We got back to our room about six o’clock, had a little rest before we went out for dinner with James and Grace, at the Golf Club (still no-one playing – but it was dark).  We had a nice dinner, Linda had vegetable samosa and chips, I had beef with chapatti.  It was nice and then it was back to the room, to pack as we have to leave at 7am to go to the National Police college as I am speaking there in the morning . The time has changed several times, it did start off that we had to be there at 0630 for a 0700 service – but that has changed (Linda is pleased) and now there is just one service – starting about 0800 African time.

There are some photos here