Blog #19

If you read my last blog you will probably be able to predict possibly how this weekend’s instalment will unfold. For the last couple of days I haven’t been at my best and slowly but surely I am now recovering. It’s nothing serious and nothing I can’t handle, but it’s definitely something you don’t wish upon yourself and certainly something you want to avoid catching again. I'm not sure how it happened and I guess there could be a number of causes, but all I am just assuming is that I have had an intake of some dodgy water somewhere along the way.

I woke up Saturday feeling quite a lot better and I definitely had some of my appetite back. Hungry from the lack of eating over the previous days I coated my stomach with cornflakes and Mandazi with jam. Matthew set off to Kitale to do a few jobs and I had planned to spend the day hanging with Dennis and the lads, along with other things of my own, that’s if they would let me of course. I spent some of the morning trying to refresh myself, showering and cleaning myself up. I was soon called on by Dennis and Mike to see what I was up to. I met with them outside the Simba and today the sun was especially hot. Walking around I was glad to be better. Mike left us to go home for some food but he was soon replaced by Edgar, his brother. We then head into town for a mid Saturday morning stroll.

Just as the three of us got into town I had an elderly lady come up to me speaking Swahili holding out her hand. I immediately thought she was requesting money from me so I walked on by ignoring her as I had been advised to. She came closer and she moved in to shake my hand. I felt guilty at first for assuming she only wanted money but as soon as I let go she began begging. I told her I didn’t have anything and I seriously didn’t have a penny on me. My hands were in my pockets to avoid her trying to go in them incase she tried. My keys were in my hand and I can only assume she heard them. I removed them from my pocket to prove they were keys and I had nothing but just had to continue walking at a much faster pace to get the message through and lose her.

Not even a minute later just after I got to the other side of the road, a man wearing a red base ball cap said something to me in Bukusu, a tribal language. He had his hand out to shake with me, so I shook his hand out of politeness. Once again I was then asked for money as he said “Give me twenty shillings”, slackening his grip but not fully letting go of my hand. I again told him I had no money and began to walk off. He was much younger than the lady and he began to follow, continuing to ask for money. I said “Pole sana”, which means “very sorry” but he wasn’t satisfied and began shouting. We continued walking as he followed for a short distance. I began to get mad, I didn’t particularly enjoy being harassed and neither did Dennis. To reinforce the fact that the man wasn’t getting anything from a “white man”, his words not mine, Dennis turned around and told him to leave us. He was soon gone and left somewhere in his dream world. I'm pretty sure he was a drunk and it wasn’t even noon.

After town we left Edgar by his house and Dennis and I returned back to the compound. It was soon time for my lunch so I left Dennis to do his own thing for a while whilst I went to eat. I began doing my washing once I had done eating. I needed to get this done as I had numerous boxer shorts and socks that needed some attention and the sun was warm and it seemed like the best opportunity. I began scrubbing and hanging the clothing on the line and was soon met by Mike who had returned after his lunch.

Leaving the clothes to dry on the line we went to the Cyber where we met Hilary, one of the guys along the way. At the cyber there was no power. On our journey the electricity must have cut out, so there were no computers working and with no key for the server room there would be no Internet when the power did return. It had begun raining heavily but luckily we were under shelter sat on chairs on the outside of the Cyber centre. Two white faces appeared through the gates of the office compound and these were two girls who were in Kenya with another charity, Rescue Steps. They were very disappointed, not just because there was no power but because they were absolutely drenched in rain from the heavy rainfall along their walk and Boda-Boda ride to the Cyber. They sat with us for a while chatting and they told me they were from “Up North” with a similar accent and way of speaking to me. Their names were Ellie and Ally, and Ellie was a nursery nurse with the ability to come out here 6 weeks. For Ellie it wasn’t her first time to this part of Kenya, she had been before and had seen Matthew and Mike when she was here two years previous. After spending some time finding out things about each other, they left to head back home to their accommodation which was how they described “not as luxurious as ours”.

Soon shortly we went back towards the house. Along the way we decided to go to the farm where the rest of the tomato planting could continue. For the past few days Dennis along with the Fundi’s had been filling the selected areas of the farm with the tomato plants. He popped home to change his footwear whilst the other lads and I made our way over to the farm. Meeting the Fundi’s there they began their hard work, evenly distributing the plants. I stood watching with Hilary discussing the Secondary school system over here in Kenya. I'm not being funny but if you think High schools in England are tough, there is no chance you would survive the standards and dedication they require here. Hilary and Mike told me how Secondary schools here are mostly boarding schools and how intense their working day is. They are up at 5am to what seems like almost continuous studying until around 4pm. They may then be allowed a couple of hours for game time and dinner, but then straight back to class for 6.30pm until 10pm. They are so disciplined and any slight slip up or lateness can result in being punished whether it be kaned or suspended for two weeks. They work so hard and they know so many languages. Hilary said to me, “Can you speak French?” I said “I was taught it in school but I can’t really remember much more than Bonjoir and Merci”, I felt pretty stupid. These guys are so smart and they work so hard and learn everything and it frustrates me that good people like these don’t get the lucky breaks that they deserve.

They asked me to describe a little about the school system in England and asked what happens to uncooperative students. I felt ashamed to say that students who don’t cooperate in class are rewarded by being taken on trips and activities just to keep them from disrupting. These guys are top guys and I couldn’t ask for better friends to have made while I have been here. I'm proud to have met them and I hope they don’t mind my company either. Aside from the work of setting up this new scheme which will hopefully help and give other good kids like these guys a better chance of a future, its days like today that really give me the feel and appreciate the fact that I’ve had the privilege and chance to come and live out and experience Africa.

Stood around talking to the lads saw me getting attacked by flies and I was getting pretty sick of being harassed today. After getting a hat and spraying on some repellent I returned back for the last hour’s worth of farming. My trousers and shoes were the muddiest they have ever been, even worse than when we did the mudding of the house. My underwear hanging on the line wouldn’t have dried either as the rain from the afternoon had mashed everything up.

Towards 6.30pm we headed back as it was reaching dinner serving time at the guesthouse. With no sign of Matthew I gave him a call to see how far he was. He was on his way back so I ate alone and got Helen to save him some chapatti and beans. The rest of the evening was spent in the Simba with Matthew.

Sometime during the night I woke up to the worst stomach grumbling sounds ever. It was more uncomfortable at first and made me start to question if I was going to be ill again. Maybe this worrying kept me up I don’t know, I tried sleeping but it just wasn’t happening and I kept drifting off but then waking up to a sickly feeling. It soon got 5am and I knew I was up in two hours anyway. As my stomach was making sounds like 40 lions having a roaring contest, I decided I would get up as I felt wide awake as it was.

So After breakfast I stayed in my room for a while hoping that the food I had just eaten wouldn’t disagree with me. I was fine and felt to be making a quick recovery, so I decided I would go see what Matthew was doing. I met him at the gates of the compound as he was just making his way back from the office, it would soon be time for lunch anyways so I just hung around with him and Dennis at the Simba until then.

After lunch we decided to take that trip back to the office. I hadn’t been in for a while with being sick so I wanted to check some emails and post some blog’s work out some other stuff online. We spend a little time at the office and then returned back to the guesthouse as Matthew was tired and wanted to sleep. Back at the guesthouse Matthew went to his room. It was still warm and I fancied a walk, so I went to find Dennis at the family house. He wasn’t there but I spoke to two of the girls from the house, Joy and Bithian, and they asked if they could join me for the walk. So the three of us took a walk down to the farm, me wearing my sandals as my trainers were still caked in mud, to see how the tomatoes were doing from their previous days planting. We also had a look at the house that Roel and Marianne are having built. It has come along more and more every day. Our walk didn’t last a so long but it was nice to walk round and be out in the fresh air Africa had to offer, rather than cooped up alone in my room.

Leaving the girls to go back into the house, I met with Dennis who was outside the Simba. We went into the guesthouse lounge and put the TV on for a while to see what was showing on a Sunday afternoon in Kenya. We watched an old episode of Wife Swap, the only really decent thing that was showing in English, and it was quite entertaining to see the way each family was reacting to their new homes. We were soon joined by Matthew who had just woken from a nice nap and come to see what we were up to.

After dinner we sat and cut some threads of cotton whilst watching some films. We watched the end of Oceans Twelve, and then as it was still early we started to watch another until the power cut out on us. It had been a long past week and with no power it was getting pretty difficult to see. I was pretty much fully recovered now but I knew that a good night sleep wouldn’t do me any harm, so I went to bed early using my torch to straighten out my bed cover and unfold my mosquito net.

Thanks for the concern over the past couple of days guys, it’s been nice to know you are looking out for me. I've been blessed with many friends here in Africa and it’s proven that I have a lot of good ones back home too.

Thank you and God Bless x