I began Saturday with breakfast and then whilst waiting around after, I began on some more washing with just a few items to clean since my last wash. We were heading to Webuye to have a quick look around, maybe grab something to eat and a dip in a swimming pool if we were lucky. We also had the idea in mind to visit the waterfalls that Webuye had to offer as we had heard lots of stories of how beautiful they are and Matthew also thought it would be a nice place that the other Gap students could visit. Finishing my washing I waited around for Matthew and Dennis to be ready to leave but whilst waiting other tasks became more important so we had to postpone our journey for an hour or so.
After Matthew purchased some credit for Solomon and sent him the credit to his phone in Nairobi, we set off at around 11.30 for about an hour journey in a Matatu to Webuye. We were dropped off in town by Patice in the Mission Landrover. We changed Matatu’s at Kamukuywe and arrived in Webuye around 1pm. The weather could change at anytime so we decided we would head straight to the Villa Park Hotel where there was a restaurant and the swimming pool we may have our little paddle in.
Arriving at Villa Park Hotel we found ourselves a nice spot by the pool. The pool was crystal blue and it was hardly believable that we were still in Kenya. It really seemed like something you would find in Spain or somewhere warm that tourists would often visit, not somewhere that has all the associations with poverty. We sat occasionally hopping out from underneath our shaded umbrella to catch a little sun and after about an hour of relaxing decided to order some food. Matthew and I both got a sandwich and chips. Matthew had beef whilst I had chicken and Dennis had something a little more traditional and tucked in to chapatti, Kuku along with a few small portions of veg.
After a couple of hours of relaxing and talking, we decided to pay for our food and head back towards the junction to catch a Matatu home. By now it was approaching 4pm and we weren’t too confident about the idea of searching for the falls, especially with the sky not looking too appealing, so we jumped in the Matatu where Matthew and I were seated in the front with full vision out of the windshield. Switching Matatu’s again in Kamukuywe I found myself crammed in the back towards the front with my feet just above the engine. My feet were boiling and at one point I remember thinking I wouldn’t be surprised is the soles of my sneakers melted a little. Back at the guesthouse we sat relaxing and waiting for our dinner. We had it slightly early this evening to help Rose out as she was standing in for Helen who was sick with Malaria and then after spent the rest of the evening in the lounge watching Jaws.
We were up early for breakfast Sunday and set off to meet Ken at 8.15am as we were going with him to visit his father’s house. We set off and walked to the junction by the D.O’s office where we met him and his daughter Tracy with their bibles in hand. We travelled to Kiminini a place in Kitale where Kens father lives and this particular morning we were going to attend an English service in that town. During the service we were introduced as visitors where Matthew and I spoke introducing ourselves. It seemed to be over in no time and then we left, walking back to the road meeting very many people along the way who were heading to the church for the Swahili service. After spending quite some time greeting and talking with passers by, we finally managed to meet with Ken’s father Francis where he took us to have a look around his book shop.
Francis ran a small book shop on the front of one of the streets that branches out from the main road. He showed us some of his stock and also showed us a project that a member of staff was working on whilst she was waiting for customers to come in and make a purchase. She was doing some embroidery designing a pattern on to a pink piece of cloth which was going to be used as a cushion. We spent a little time here until finally leaving Francis to attend his service and a meeting where he would later find and talk with us again at his home.We set off on a long walk to the car that we were going to use to get to the house. We walked along a long street and stopped off at a shop for Ken to grab a container for some petrol and we also had the chance to grab a soda whilst we waited. Tracy’s little legs were getting tired also, so Tracy, Matthew and I sat on a bench looking out onto the road drinking out of our glass bottles. We were then reunited with Ken as he returned on a Boda-Boda with some petrol and then we set off for another long walk to the car with the sun beaming down on our necks.
We arrived at the Pathfinder Academy where the car was based and this place was the compound for another volunteer organisation in Kenya. It occupied several well constructed houses which were kitted out perfectly with nice comfortable looking beds and animal designs such as Zebras on the walls. We took a look around as we waited for the car. Matthew asked questions with the guy who was in charge about how they advertised and acquired volunteers and got some insight into how the whole programme was run. After some time, once the car was filled with juice, we all jumped into the car and set off towards the gates to embark on our journey. 
The car was a little jumpy at first, that is until it cut out on us completely. We had just made it out of the gates where it finally died and wanted to move no more. After several restarts and a little bit of worrying from Matthew and I because the car was rolling backwards and there was no door handles from the inside, we realised that we were going no where in this vehicle so the best thing to do was to push it back into the compound and leave it there for some one to come another time and repair it. We pushed as Ken steered the car back through the painted gates and were fortunately then offered a lift by the guy in charge at the Academy. We jumped into his newer more sophisticated vehicle where he took us along the typical uneven roads dropping us just before Ken’s father’s house.
We weren’t at the house long before food was served. Rice, Kuku and Chapatti were served on a small knee high table and we all sat on the different lilac covered sofas that filled the room. Chickens roamed the house whilst we ate and one even left us a little present in the middle of the floor which was later mopped up and cleaned. I once again got to have a gizzard as it was tradition for the guests to have this part of the bird. It would be rude not to accept it so I chewed through the tough meat along with the other foods on offer.
After lunch Ken and his brother took us on a tour of the farm as their father was not back from his meeting yet. The farm was pretty large and had so many views that I just had to capture with my camera. We walked down towards the river which was based at the lower end of the farm as the sun began to gradually get lower as it reached around 4pm. Along our way to the river we passed a house that was based on the land for one of the workers and his family to live in. I think there were 8 people living in the house and it wasn’t much bigger than 4 x 6 meters. Walking on past the house we came to a section where Ken’s brother had been previously baking bricks. He’d had to postpone this project for a while due to rains in past days but he had made some good progress with lots of bricks stacked and covered by a plastic sheet. 
After walking a slightly longer way to the river, avoiding a the more boggier areas as Matthew and I were still wearing our good footwear from church, we came in contact with an elderly man who was in the process of fishing. He had caught a few fish and still planned to spend more of the afternoon with his home made rod and worm for bait. Once we had seen the river that separated two Provinces, Western and Rift Valley, we headed back to the house where hopefully we would find Francis so we could spend some time with him like we had originally planned. 
We made it back passing some children collecting water from the well. Francis was back already tucking in to his late lunch so we sat down across and around him discussing some of the projects he runs along side having the book shop business. This guy is intelligent and had some great ideas and business plans. He used to work for the mission but not he has just recently began a scheme which see him employed to inform and teach people how to manage both their finances and time. He agreed that there was a big problem with time management here in Kenya and felt that he had the ability to offer this service to the public and improve their lives just by teaching them these better skills. We had a few laughs and discussing about how he could do with some more staff to make his project more sustainable but unfortunately had to leave as it was getting late and Francis also had to attend another evening meeting.
We left around 5.30pm and walked with Francis to his meeting where we would wait for Ken and Tracy to catch up with us. We were introduced to the five members that were already there at the meeting and once reunited with Ken and Tracy, walked up a more even road than the one we came on, to the town. Around half way on our journey we were passed by three Boda-Boda’s who we tagged down and asked for a lift. We each jumped on the back of a bike, with Tracy sat on Ken’s knee, and made it back to the town for the Matatu in just less than 10 minutes.
At the junction just on from the bus stage, we paid the Boda-Boda’s. One of the Boda-Boda left without returning Ken some change and cycled off to blend in with the rest of the Boda-Boda pack that wait on the junction corner. Ken had to return some glass bottles we had used during dinner to a shop just along the road, so he left us with Tracy whilst he nipped on. Matthew and I walked on to just before the bus stage holding Tracy’s hand as we were close to the road. We waited for a little time until Ken came and we jumped on to a bus. This bus was bigger than a Matatu and had almost 50 seats. There was a television playing a Nigerian film at the front of the bus as the bus drove back and got us home for around 7pm.We were late and Mark was waiting around as he had prepared us dinner. After lunch I was pretty much stuffed, but as time had passed I was hungry again and was satisfied with the chapatti and beans that we were given.
After apologising to Mark numerous times as it was not dark and he would be walking home, we sat in the lounge and watched some TV and relaxed. I got a phone call from the folks who had just got back from holiday and it was nice to hear they had got home safely. I heard about some of the funny stories that had happened over the past few weeks both at home in England and in Spain, and then later after speaking to them went to sleep to wind down from the long busy weekend.
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