On Sunday I was up early at 0630 and went for a run, I am allowed to run here providing I do not run far. Kericho is at 7000 feet and on a hill, so when you start it's all downhill, but when you need to come back it is all up hill, which was challenging. I can see why the runners come to Kenya to do altitude training, it is difficult. I fitted in a 3.5 mile run, within a reasonable time, the steep hill was over a mile going up. I was back in time for breakfast, after a shower. It was quite chilly when I first went out, so as not to disturb Linda I had to get dressed in the dark, so had been wearing my shorts inside out!
I was preaching at church today, both service so had to be there for around 0830 to start preaching at 9. The first service is the English one, the second is in Swahili and has a better attendance, the church was in fact full. I preached for 30 mins at the first one and 45 mins at the second, both on the first book of John, although different chapters.
After church we went out for lunch with Pastor Chumo and had fish with chapati, it was very nice. We then spent the rest of the day preparing for college tomorrow. In the evening Linda actually went for a run with me, we ran a mile in total, she was knackered. Dinner was fish and rice, we are back into eating rice at every meal.
On Monday I was awake early, but there was not time for a run. I am not allowed to run in the dark and as the sun does not rise till after 0630 there is not time to run before breakfast as we leave for the college at 8am. It was good to be back at the college and to meet some old friends and make some new ones. They did recognise me, but they don't probably see many white faces. I was teaching leadership and soon settled into the rhythm. We have power today which is always good news when you need to play videos and show PowerPoint.
At break it was tea and bread, although I didn't eat any bread and then back to class. I am trying to get them to work in groups and for the females to take some of the lead, which is challenging. I have 30 students in the class, about 1/3 are female and they seem to be listening.
Dinner was rice, peas and beans, no meat today. I had an afternoon session, before we finished at 3pm. We had to go back to town today to collect some photocopying and buy some items. There is no electricity in Kericho today and it is raining.
We came back to the hotel and decided to go for a run, Linda came as well. The Manager of the hotel suggested a route, which turned out to be very hilly, Linda was not impressed. We ended up at Moi Gardens which is a nice green area to run round, one lap is a ¼ of a mile. I did several laps, Linda did some as well. As it is an enclosed space we could both run at our own pace and check each other was safe. It is quite difficult to run at this altitude, I am not sure how Mo Farah does it, but then perhaps when I get back I too can run a half marathon in 59 minutes!
We got back to the hotel and still no electricity, which meant cold showers. After dinner, which was fish again, then we did some preparation for tomorrow.
Tuesday was a busy day. I was teaching all morning at the college, but today we had small pieces of meat with the dinner, it was rice again for a change. Linda had wandered off during the morning to see a friend of ours and visit the local orphanage.
After dinner we were going to visit our friend Stanley who lives in a nearby village, down a bumpy unmade road. It took about 45 minutes to get there. He was pleased to see us, introduced us to his family, showed us his house and the new storage shed he had built. Last time we were here he had put the sockets in and was waiting for the electricity, good news, it has arrived and he has power. We had a cup of tea with him.
We then went to visit his shop and the local secondary school. There we did a talk to the students followed by a question and answer session. They asked some challenging questions, but any difficult ones I let Linda answer! We did not finish there till after 5pm and it was another 45 minute drive back to Kericho on unmade, bumpy roads. We arrived back and visited the shops and finally got back to the hotel just before 7pm. It is now getting dark so I was not allowed to go for a run!
We had our dinner of fish and then sorted some of our bags out, they are getting smaller all the time.