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