Blog #12

Eye spy with my little eye, something beginning with PITCH BLACK! Yeah that’s right, the power has gone again so I’m sat here typing out my blog with the laptop running on its battery with only the light from the screen lighting up the whole room. The electricity has been on and off all day and the lights have been flickering a little this evening so hopefully the power will be back on soon so I can continue this blog which is definitely going to be a long one for this week.

So Monday morning I woke up after having what was a better sleep for me after I had been previously getting up about 4 or 5 times during the nights over the weekend. I made my way to the office and sat down for a little while before we were due to go out into the community and take a look at the current conditions of a very needy lady’s house in Kamukuywe. I sat down at my desk and put in the new batteries I had purchased for my camera. I switched on the camera and the screen which displays the picture you have captured or are about to take was completely white. This should have had the image of whatever I was pointing the lens at, but it didn’t appear to be showing anything. Immediately I was beginning to think it was broken and that I would have to add it to the list along with the other important things that have broken on me during my stay here. In anger and frustration I slammed the camera on the desk and to my amazement the white cleared and a picture formed, so I now know how to fix my camera if this ever happens again.


So long overdue at 11.15am we set off to have a look at the house the lady we were going to build a new one for was living in. We all crammed into the Mission Landrover where there were 3 in the front and about 6 in the back and I’m pretty sure I was coping with cramp for most of the duration of the journey. We arrived to where Joyce, the lady, was previously living and saw that her home, if you can call it that, was a mud hut not much bigger than a standard size garden shed. It had holes in both the walls and roof, which you could comfortably place your head through and clearly see what was happening outside. Recently she had moved into her neighbour’s kitchen where she was now sleeping on the floor with just a bag used to carry maze as her blanket. Even in this kitchen there were gaps for the rain to get in. It wasn’t much of an upgrade to her living conditions and she certainly desperately needed somewhere new to stay. So after we had a look around her current living arrangements and had a small talk to some of the community, we took a walk down to her son’s house where beside it we were going to build the new house. We were followed by all the local school children who trailed closely behind us between the maze in their matching green school uniforms. We arrived and spent a couple of minutes looking around at the area in which would soon occupy a new mud house.


Before we made our way back to the offices we stopped off at the leader of this local fellowships’ house. We were treated with a delicious meal of Kuku, rice, which I am beginning to love by the way, and soup to give the rice more flavour. We also had some small finger bananas and some peanuts to finish off with before we said our thank yous and goodbyes and left for a quick visit of another local fellowship on the way back. We stopped here for a short time while we were introduced, but soon after me Matayo and Matthew were taken back to the office while some of the others stayed to give a longer talk.

When we returned to the guesthouse in the evening, for dinner we had Ughali prepared for us. There were 5 of us eating and with Matthew and Simon leaving in a couple of days they didn’t want to be able to say they left Africa without having Ughali. Kenyans don’t class it as having eaten if they haven’t had Ughali and it is what every true Kenyan eats when meal times arrive. We all had a nice healthy amount of Ughali along with meat and soup so we could all say we had a traditional African meal sometime along our stay here in Kenya. After our meal Edward kindly came around to sit with us a while and discuss our days. He spent around an hour with us then left where me Matayo and Matthew began playing cards and attempted to play Dominos.


Tuesday was just another standard day in the office for me where I stayed at my desk and tried to get through as much work as possible and amend and print any documents we had produced for Simon to take a look at later in the evening. Whilst I stayed in and worked on the project Matayo and Matthew had a few trips around some of the schools I had seen on my orientation, using both Buda-Buda’s and Matatu’s to complete their journeys. I had an attempt at printing towards the end of the day, when Matayo had returned and showed me where he had kept the CD we were using to save and transfer documents. I felt like I had never seen a computer so slow in my life. I placed the CD in the drive and it took what felt like hours to load. Then when the CD actually did load, the documents I wanted to print crashed. It was frustrating and by this time I wanted to make my way home and have some time to relax before dinner.

Without any success I left the office and went back to the compound where I gave my self a hair cut and had a cold shower. Half way through shaving my hair I got a phone call from Matayo asking if I still had the key to the office as he wanted to lock up and come home. I had, but I was covered in hair, so I told him to wait 5 minutes while I finished up what I was doing. I jumped on the bike and flew onto the office to give Matthew the key. I threw him a key and jumped straight back on the bike to come home as he was going to be a few more minutes putting things away and locking up. I arrived back at home to lock up my bike and make my way in to be seated for dinner when I realised I still had the keys for the office but no longer had my room keys and the key for my lock. Feeling a bit stupid and probably being cursed at by Matayo, I hopped back on the bike and again flew back onto the office to finally supply him with the correct key so he could return.

After dinner we were again visited by Edward for a short time and Matayo and I ran through some of the Transformation Kenya documents with Simon. We had some positive feedback and also suggestions how we could improve certain areas of the project.

Today was Wednesday and we were due to begin our experience of assisting the building of a traditional African mud house for the elderly lady we visited earlier in the week. We met in the office where we were kitted out with all our safety equipment needed for the project. Gum Boots, Blue overalls that resembled prison uniforms and gloves to protect our hands while we were mudding, carrying and moving things throughout the whole experience. Matayo had stocked up well with a large carrier bag and box containing water, food and other materials needed. All this along with ourselves was slung into the back of the Landrover and we made our way to the building site.

Just before we left the office, Matthew and I were called into the Tailoring workshop as they had some material in and they wondered if we would like some traditional African dress making. We both got measured up and left the tailor to make us our tops while we went out to do our days work.

On arrival we were greeted by the children of the son who was supplying the land for building and also some other people from the community. The family had already begun digging the holes in which would later be filled with wooden poles to support the overall building. Matayo left Matthew and me to get stuck in and left with the Mission Landrover to go purchase some other supplies such as timber, nails, hammers and corrugated iron. It was hands on from the word go, where Matthew and I each paired up with the two members of the family already planning out the building area and digging holes. I teamed up with the oldest son, Ando whilst Matthew worked with the Father, Elliot on the ground. We were a little worried at first as Matayo had left us alone with the pair and we were not sure if there was going to be a language barrier. Soon we realised that the Father spoke good enough English to communicate with the both of us, Ando understood most things and I could speak a little Swahili to move things on and tell him when he was doing a good job.


Ando started by using a metal pole to dig a hole and break up the soil which I then shifted using my hands with the gloves on that had been provided. I did the job of shifting the mud creating a deeper hole for about three holes while Ando beat the ground forcefully. We then swapped and it was my turn to do the beating. I didn’t realise how much hard work it was especially in the heat and having to apply so much force to break up enough mud to be moved. Eventually after a lot of force we had dug enough holes on a rectangle shape in which poles could be planted to make the two rooms and the frame of the house.

By this time we could do no more until Matayo and Khafwafwa (Pronounced Ah-fwa-fwa) had arrived back with the supplies we needed. We had already dug and placed the poles in place and had even collected sticks and branches together to make a home made ladder.

Around lunchtime the guys arrived on Buda-Buda’s with their supplies not far behind. The three of us stepped into the shade for a couple of minutes and ate our packed lunches and drank our juice. As soon as the wood and roofing arrived we got straight back to work helping the other members of the community who were taking part saw wood and make roof frames. The children from the local school had all come to see what we were up to and sat on the grass watching us doing our jobs. The fact that the hand saw we were using was blunt didn’t do us any favours as we had to cut timber to make frames. These frames needed to be nailed in place and I now remember why I never took Woodwork Technology for GCSE at school. I did my best and helped out, learned and got better at the joinery work I was involved in. By the end of it I could actually hit a nail on my first swing and it actually stayed in the wood I had intended it to.


We spent all afternoon making the frames and packing the poles into the mud to make them secure until the sun began to go down and the Landrover arrived. Simon had arrived to see the progression of the building and took some photos of what we had accomplished in the first day. We then made our way back to the offices to pack our equipment away and go home for dinner.

Back at the offices they were beginning to lock up and most of the Mission staff had gone home. We had the African tops we had created during the day handed to us in a black carrier bag which we separated when we got back to the guesthouse. We had been told that dinner was going to be over at the house tonight as it was Simon and Matthews last evening with us and the family had prepared a meal for us instead. So we showered and Matthew, Simon and I were dressed in our matching newly sewn traditional dress, looking pretty cool I must add. We made our way over to the house at around 7 where we sat talking then began eating. We shared some lovely food as always and one of the meats I was able to eat was Gizzard. It is tradition here in Kenya, so I’m told by Matayo, that visitors get the gizzard and I was told afterwards that gizzard was actually the heart, lungs, kidneys, all the chickens’ organs joined together by ligaments. During the evening I also got to have a little tinkle on the Piano. Dennis taught me a little bit of Shine Jesus Shine, a song I remember from Primary School that is in the Hymn books here and I had fun trying to learn the keys. We had to be up early the next day as we were setting off to continue with the building and were getting picked up at 7. I gave the family some sweets I had brought from back home as a thank you gift to share out which they did, and then we all went to our rooms to bed.

I was woken by my alarm at 6am and got up quickly to get ready as I wanted to try cram a bit of breakfast in over at the house before the Landrover came to get us at 7. I made sure I grabbed a Malaria tablet as I had forgotten to take my weekly Wednesday evening dose and I wasn’t up for delaying taking it. Before Matayo and I went into the family house to have some morning Chi and toast they had prepared for us and we said our goodbyes to Matthew and Simon as they were up early to see us off. We were soon picked up on time, where we set off picking Khafwafwa on the way.

We arrived at the house where there were 9 of us ready to help. Matayo and Khafwafwa left the site and headed into town to get some more supplies for today’s work. I was left to assist and watch as the other male members of the community levelled up the posts, nailed them in place and erected the roofing frames onto the top of the house. There were five frames which were placed on the top of the house each measured and positioned an equal distant apart. The guys and I had all helped and lifted the roof frames into place whilst 2 members clung to the top of the house and nailed them. This lasted most of the morning and as the sun began to get stronger, lifting and carrying began to get tiring.


Matayo and Khafwafwa had returned, however there was a slight delay for the supplies they had purchased to arrive. Bearing in mind if wood or iron is purchased there are no Transit vans or Lorries to transport the equipment, they are all carried on the back of Buda-Buda’s which must be hard work. The arrival of the supplies were two hours late but luckily we were able to be getting on with the constructing of the frames for the in and outside of the house. This involved cutting and placing thick tree branches along the walls of the house and nailing them all the way round with a distance of around a foot / 30 centimetres in height between each one. The branches were not always long enough to roach the whole way down one wall of the house, so sometimes it required two branches to fill the whole distance. These had to be held in place and nailed into the wooden poles that had already been placed the day previously. If you are beginning to get confused about exactly what I mean, take a look at the photos I have taken and posted and hopefully this will be clearer than my explanations.


So I had to hammer the nails into the tree branches then all the way into the wooden poles holding up the house. I'm not a hammering kind of guy so it took my a few attempts to once again hit the nail and keep it in the wood. I eventually got the hang of it and gave the nails a right beating. It was fun and we had a joke and a laugh as we worked around the house trying to complete it before the end of the day. We got quite a good way through working on the whole house when a few children from the local schools, who must have been friends of the family, began to nail and help saw wood. One advantage of having the children around was that they could climb onto the branches and hold and hammer them in the high places. I'm sure these children had done this before and it was really rewarding to see their enthusiasm as them helped.

After I broke a hammer trying to pull a nail out of some wood, we continued completing the inside and outside of the house with the branch frames. It was coming together and looked pretty neat and I was looking forward to seeing the end result. You would never build a house like this in England so just having the experience of seeing the house form was very satisfying in itself.

Towards the end of the working day it was time to begin fixing the iron to the roof of the house. This only required a few hands to help so Matayo and I sat back and watched as two guys helped lift the iron onto the roof and Khafwafwa nailed the iron to it. The children flocked around us and all wanted their pictures taken when they saw our cameras. I took a few and so did Matayo and we continued to make a few new friends as children arrived who we hadn’t seen before. Navie and Rego were two children who had been helping us for the past couple of days and were top little lads with lots of energy and enthusiasm. Between the three of us we mastered the routine of high five-ing each other and they also showed us how they can pose quite professionally for the camera. After the roofing had been finished the local Fellowship arrived for a prayer session on the land beside the building area and then later came around and prayed for the house. Once all was finished for the day we made our way home on Buda-Buda’s and a Matatu as all the Mission Landrover’s were in use.


In the evening we were very tired from the long and hard couple of days we had just had so we sat down and relaxed and watched a few episodes of Only Fools & Horses before we called it a night.

Friday I woke to bacon, chips and tomato that Jane had quite kindly requested the day previously. It was a good start and prepared for a little for more building which would start later today was we were setting off at 9.30am. Today there was no transport to take us to Kamukuywe so we had to make our way there carrying our equipment on a Matatu and Buda-Buda. We weren’t stopping for long today as there were only 2 doors and 2 windows to fit in place. I watched and assisted, helping hold and nail the windows and doors in place and this task was completed fairly quickly as we left and arrived back at the offices around 2pm.


One thing that Matayo and I both agree was very cool about the short few hours we spent with the doors and windows was the fact we had a radio playing and something very touching happened because of it. Matayo had his video camera and was taking footage of the nailing of the windows. As he was recording a song came on the radio and it was perfect for background music to the whole situation and just had the perfect sound and feel for our involvement. Maybe its one of those instances where you have to be there to experience the feeling we got from it, but as the song Fix You by Coldplay played and as we watched the construction taking place, it really sent a shiver down our spines and made us feel good.

We arrived back and there was no power. Matayo had to stay at the office for a while to write up some notes but as there was nothing I could do he suggested I went back and got some rest while there was no electricity to run my laptop. Back at home I had a little nap however was woken a couple of times by the singing of Rose, one of the assistants at the guesthouse. She was loud but I wasn’t having a great sleep anyway so I got up and lounged around for a while until dinner. After dinner we sat around in the dark with the power flickering on and off occasionally which leads me to where I began this blog.

Hopefully the power will come on soon but if not I’m pretty sure I can find alternative things to do with my time such as sleeping, because again I’ve got to be up early in the morning as I am travelling with Buko school to watch their entry in the district choir/dance competition.

Take Care x