Blog #30

I think I’m the only person in the world who can go to Africa which is a place associated with poverty and a great climate and come home fatter with less of a tan than I left with. It’s been an absolutely amazing experience and the effect it makes on my life has become even more obvious once I stepped foot back in this country and actually felt like I was back at home. It has been incredible and from being back week now, I really wish I was once again with the friends and people I have met over in Kenya. Don’t get me wrong, my family and friends here are awesome, it’s just, without sounding too dramatic, it does kind of feel as if some piece of me has been left behind.

Maybe I’m just feeling a little sorry for myself because my “time away” is now over and I have to return to normal life and continue with work and things as I did before I left. It’s quiet depressing to see how things have not changed much, yes roads and buildings have had some maintenance and some peoples lives have moved into maybe a new direction, but as for me, everything remains the way it was and because of that I’ve been even more inspired to make some changes in my life, even if they appear to be quite insignificant.

So the question is, how has it effected my life and what have I learnt from this 13 week experience. It’s not always been easy but compared to the lives many of the Kenyan people are living, mine has pretty much been a doddle. I was sheltered from most dangers and quite comfortable to say I was in a country that experienced poverty. I’m not ashamed to say that I lived well as I don’t think I could have stayed and hacked living in poor conditions for my three month period, but I am extremely happy with myself for taking this step and embarking on a journey that over a year ago I don’t think I would have even imagined doing.

I’ve realized that in my life I don’t necessarily need other people around me to allow me to complete something successfully but I do know that it is nice to have loving people around to encourage me and have the faith in myself to do it. I can do things on my own and that has been clarified for me, however I seriously do enjoy sharing my experiences with others so that my memories involve those who I also care a lot about. I took this opportunity as a way of testing the skills I have acquired in life so far and also to do some good and learn more about myself and others. I’m so glad that I was able to do this for myself and that I grabbed hold of it with both hands and did most of it alone without any really strong relationships already in place. It would be nice to maybe do something similar with friends in the future but as for now, I’m quite happy to say I did this one all by myself.

It became apparent to me that family is really important and in Kenya, families are much larger than the ones found back in the UK. Many families have four or more children and this is the case even if money, food and supplies are a struggle to get hold of. Love is everywhere and this love is shone onto us as visitors whenever we come in contact with the kind and generous Kenyan people. No matter how little they have they are always willing to show their appreciation for your company and do not hesitate in showering you with their love and gratefulness.

I feel very blessed to have had all the support and love that I did receive before, during and now that I have home safely in England. My time in Kenya saw me become friends with people who I was meeting for the first time and everyone made it very easy for me to feel part of this new crowd and make live happily. I received a lot of support from people back home in the emails online and with letters I collected through the post and it was so great to know I had lots of people routing for me back at home. I got calls from friends and the messages I did received were sometimes from people I really didn’t expect to take as much interest in me as they did. People I didn’t know that well were continuously praising me for my success and giving me that little more confidence and encouragement to stick it out to the best of my ability. I really have to say how grateful I am for all the friends and family that have been letting me know they have been praying for me and to all those who I have never met that showed interest and care in me, I am so thankful. I really cannot express how important and influential all the attention I received was but what I can say is that all this love really made my stay a lot more enjoyable and rewarding.

Coming back home leaving the compound in Kimilili, I had one last journey through the country and sat looking out of the window as morning broke and the sun rose up into the sky. In a matter of minutes the Kenyan morning mist and darkness had vanished and the sun was out shining and filling the sky with its radiant glow. It was beautiful and just what I needed for my final morning in Africa. So I made it successfully through all airports using the instructions Simon had kindly written out for me and embarked my journey into the air with a wide variety of films to watch and also the opportunity of some sleep if I wanted it. I spent some of the time thinking back over my time, sketching and also reading a card I had received from John and Emily just before the left for their continued adventure. I sat in my window seat reading through this jam packed two page card that was filled with memories and small stories from our times spent together. I’m a strong lover of quotes and it was really nice to see the way John had left me reference to a part of the Bible that just summed up my trip as a whole. Reading brought a tear to my eye and I did get emotional in places, but overall it was a great feeling and reinforced the fact that all the friendships I made were special and that even if I didn’t have them written own on paper, what I had done would be remembered for a life time.


All in all I had a blast and I did something that both I and the people who will be helped by it will remember forever. I have really learned and gained so much more from my time than I can ever write down in a blog or that I can ever express to someone who has asked me to describe my experience. I don’t think you can even fully prepare someone for Africa and I really do think it is one of those things where you actually have to be there and see it for yourself. Thinking back to the weeks before I was actually in Kenya, I remember people telling me that the whole experience would change my life. I never really knew what to expect from that comment and wasn’t sure whether I would change dramatically in the way I was or whether my personality would take a different direction. From being there and living with so many wonderful and passionate people, I now realise for myself what it means when someone says “Going to Africa will change your life”.

From a guy who was once described as the “city boy who once he got off the plane in Kisumu looked as though he wouldn’t last the whole three months”, I thank you once again for all the things we have shared and all the love and support you have given me. I hope you really enjoyed my blogs and even if I’m not the best writer in the whole world you got a lot from reading them. Thank you for paying so much attention to my journey in Africa and in my life as well. I’ve had a great time writing for you all and it has been a pleasure to be able to give you a piece of what I have been seeing across the world. Thank you to Matthew and the family I was with and also to the students who came and spent some time with me during and towards the end of my stay. I’ve had the best time and I wouldn’t change it for anything. God Bless all those out there working hard in Kenya and we should all keep praying and wishing them the best possible future. Ill look forward to seeing everyone in the future and I am also looking forward to meeting those of IcFEM I have not already met.

Thank you for all your efforts and I really do hope if you haven’t already, you get the same opportunity as me to go to Kenya, meet the people and have the best experience that will definitely, change your life forever.

God Bless once again xx Hebrews 13:8

Blog #29

It definitely feels weird to know that this time next week ill be at home doing who knows what, but know I won’t be here surrounded by all the lovely people and the so many friends I’ve made over the past three months. The time has just flown by and it doesn’t seem like that long ago that I was here on my first night, anxious on how the next 90 odd days were going to turn out. I know for sure this week is going to be an extremely emotional one and I reckon I'm going to be quite busy, here, there an everywhere, saying my goodbyes and see you soon. I know for sure that I would really like to come back here and once again see the people I have really grown to love. I never felt this bad about leaving England, but I guess I always knew I would return sometime soon. I remember sitting in the guesthouse lounge two weeks ago thinking how it was going to take forever for me to be close to my final day, but I was completely wrong and time is now ticking faster than that on Linford Christies watch.

I had been getting a bit behind with my blog recently and with this being my final week I was able to concentrate on this for most of Monday morning whilst the others spent their day in Dreamland and other places. After lunch I met with Antony where we head into town and hit the shops, searching for some food as tonight we were going to his place so that we could spend an evening eating together. Grabbing some green grams, rice and pepper we had almost collected our ingredients for tonight’s dinner. I then spent most of the afternoon in the office sitting talking with Caspar and Emma whilst continuing to work a little on my laptop.

Meeting Tony at 5, I quickly rode to the guesthouse to collect some extra clothes to keep me warm, as well as Dennis who was accompanying Tony and me. We rode along the muddy interior roads and shortly arrived at Tony’s house where we began to prepare dinner. I made my small contribution by washing up the pots and plates needed to use for our food in a small bucket with limited water, whilst the others organised themselves in the kitchen with the green grams and rice. We sat doing our various jobs as it began to get dark, with only a small gas lantern to brighten the room and also a radio playing some tunes from a national radio station. This whole evening’s activity reminded me slightly of camping, without being too disrespectful but with all of us pitching in for what was later a successful meal, it really felt comfortable and homely.

Once dinner was ready we called Festus and all sat together eating the well prepared meal we had knocked up in the last hour or so. It was delicious and we each had fair amounts to share. By now it was getting pitch black and it was probably best to head back home. At first we were a little hesitant whether we could manage with the bikes, but decided we could just about succeed and walked back pushing our bikes to the main muddy road using a very unreliable torch. Along the road home, Dennis had a slight unfortunate accident and fell off his bike. It was one of those moments where you really wanted to laugh as he too was laughing himself, however because he was wearing my relatively new jacket, I found it a little hard to find it fully amusing.

Back at the guesthouse the guys were just coming to the end of Cool Runnings so I joined them in the lounge and ironed a few items before bed.

Tuesday morning was pretty much even more chilled out and I had chance to catch up with more blogs and get them published. At lunch time I was seated in the guesthouse dining room with Ken and Valerie Jones who were staying for a few days as they were friends of Anne’s.

Back again at the guesthouse in the evening the guys began to watch Coach Carter on DVD so I stuck around for a little until going to bed before the end. It was quite unfortunate that the power cut off for a few seconds maybe five minutes before the film ended, because I heard the guys over in the lounge sigh as they had to reset the DVD player.

Wednesday morning found me sat in the last full morning devotion of my stay where all the devotion groups came together for one large message. I was blessed with the opportunity in giving a reading and was very wonderfully prayed for by John Wibbly as he, accompanied by Solomon, Matthew and Edward laid their hands on me. I was kneeling down as they spoke so many kind words about my stay and also as they wished me a safe and pleasant journey home and through life. I was quite touched by the care and love they presented me with and it made me feel good to know my stay had for every second been appreciated.

After spending a little time at the office I decided I should go back to the guesthouse and start packing as I knew Thursday could be my main day for saying goodbyes and I wanted to be prepared and ready so I could relax and take every final moment in. Most of my things were soon neatly stacked and pressed together with only a small number of remaining items, like my sleeping clothes left to pack. Before returning to the office after dinner I sat talking with the Dutch girls and Mark for a while, soaking my feet and absorbing the sun.

The guys wanted one final taste of the fine food that is from Kim’s Dishes so we dashed into town just making it under shelter before the rain came down. Tony, Matthew and I occupied one table whilst Dennis and some others took their seats else where in the packed out café. We waited around until the rain stopped which probably lasted around 40 minutes. The sky was from this time onwards gloomy and more or less stayed like this until it became dark.

This evening we had been invited to Elizabeth’s house for a meal and as we had not been able to make it there after weeks of invites, we though this was the last opportunity to visit so we took Patrick and the Mission landrover and headed to Buko. At the house we were served by the best food. Fried chicken, which I hadn’t eaten yet along my stay, and it was delicious, especially mixed with ketchup. We spent most of the evening chatting and the main subject of conversation was the wedding on Saturday that found one of Elizabeth’s sons the groom. It was getting late once again so we set off back in the landrover on the dark and empty roads.

Back in Kimilili we dropped off Patrick near his home and Dennis, who recently passed his test, got a treat and was able to drive the landrover safely back home

My final morning and everything that I did, I emphasised to the other guests that this was the last time I would do it. I had my last breakfast and my last morning devotion and I also had my last trip to the market in Kimilili town. We wandered round as the Dutch team got their tour and at the same time looked for two old bikes to use to make a wheelchair. They were successful in finding two ex boda-boda bicycles to use as parts for their project so they walked with them by they side from the market back to the guesthouse.

Back at the office I purchased some animal carvings and just after id packed away my two, Robert presented my with a giraffe carving as a goodbye gift from him. I was very happy with the gift and told him it was from one technician to another and that I would certainly take it to my work in England and have a part of Africa with my as I worked.

After lunch I took a trip to Marks house to see where he lived and have a little chat with him properly before I left. It was nice to see his small but comfortable home but unfortunately his wife and child were away so I didn’t get to meet them this time.

A week previously I spotted a key ring that said I LOVE AFRICA on it and I was really disappointed when I didn’t have the chance to make the purchase as it suited things so well. I spent some of the afternoon with Dennis going to the house of the man who makes them and without any luck left continuing to visit Helen, the other cook at the guesthouse.

In the late afternoon I managed to speak with Pamela, someone I worked along side with during the holiday club and she was going to attempt to track me a key ring down before I left. I gave her the money and off she went where she would get back to me later.

At the end of the day it was time to leave the office for the last time and at this stage it was also time to say my final goodbyes to Tony a dear friend I had made and had good memories with over my stay. I felt to get a bit emotional and it was quite hard to say goodbye and explain how much of a pleasure it was to have met him. I then walked back towards the guesthouse where I stopped off to see Mike and Edgar one last time before I left.

I made it home by the Simba where I was presented with my I LOVE AFRICA key ring and it made my day. It had been collected for me and just moments before was passed to Matthew to deliver it to me before I left. Tonight I would be eating over at the house for my final meal so I had to try and fit in as many things as I could do before I proceeded over to the house as it was now approaching 6pm. I went into the guesthouse lounge and met with a new lady from Holland who was with her husband and they were staying for a few days. Spending some time with the five I had been spending a lot of time with over the past couple of weeks, I sat them down and said thank you to them and wished them all good luck along their stay. It was kind of hard to imagine that this could be the last time I would see all of them if I wasn’t to visit them wherever they live round the world, but at the same time it made me feel good that I had positive things to say and that I had made some good friends.

Matthew and I took a trip to Mount Crest for one last soda and spent some time chilling and had a nosey at one of the guestrooms they had to offer. We soon made our way back in the dark where I was dreading eating over at the house as I knew it could get emotional.

At the house we all sat around in the dark as the power had just suddenly gone out on us. We had a couple of candles distributed around the room which gave off just enough light to see each other and the food we were eating. I ate some traditional food with a full table of people and then we all went to sit around the family seating area to talk and pray.

Everyone was so kind and had lots of nice things to say to me wishing me fare well. I also added with a little something I wanted to say and thanked everyone for their love and support over my three month stay. I really thought it would be emotional for me but once I was seated and begun speaking, everything just became calm and I was filled with happiness rather than sadness. It was sad to be leaving but I knew I could and should be glad to have made so many new friends and memories and not dwell on the fact it was now coming to an end. It was now time to leave the house for the final time and leave for the guesthouse to be up early in the morning.

Back at the guesthouse the guys had been waiting up for me to say that last minute goodbyes. They had spent most of their evening sitting in the dark eating previously prepared popcorn and wanted to get in a few words before I went to bed. They were all so nice and said their goodbyes with handshakes and hugs and then we all went our separate ways so that I could sleep and be up for 4am to leave with Hosea in the Taxi.

God Bless x

Blog #28

ATTENTION ALL READERS

Over the past couple of days I have uploaded a couple of blogs.
Check out my full week and also my final weekend.
I will possibly add something for my final few days and also when I'm home I will post a few more with a conclusion.


Asanti and see you soon x

Blog #27

Being my last weekend here in Kenya I decided to take the opportunity to spend some quality time with my new good friend Tony and do something that you definitely need to do if you come to Kenya. On Friday I would be returning straight home and with not having done much travelling throughout my trip, I thought it was necessary to jump on a Matatu to Kitale and go on a small Safari and see the animals. Admittedly the visit didn’t go according to plan, however it was successful and never the less an equally enjoyable experience.


Peeping though the window at 6.45am, I said a quick goodbye to John and Emily as they left with their bags in hand to get the bus to Kamukuywe.

After breakfast I waited around shortly and then left with Matthew, Emma and the four Dutch students in the same direction towards Dreamland. Along the muddy and very slippery roads I met Tony as he rode along on his bike almost ready for our journey to Kitale. I walked as he ventured along clogging his types with mud and we made our way to the office to get my bag which had my camera that I would definitely need for my day trip to see the animals.

At the office I found my bag locked away in the cyber office but fortunately Robert was not far behind almost reaching the compound to come and unlock. Grabbing my bag and camera and leaving my laptop, Tony and I set off walking to town to catch a Matatu.

The rain had been quite heavy over the past few days and especially the night before so the roads were very muddy and my trousers and trainers were caked in mud from only about half an hours walking so far. Making our way to where the bus stage is, we waited for a Matatu that was going in our direction and that wasn’t completely rammed with passengers. After some time of waiting we had no luck in finding a Matatu that could get us to Kitale comfortably. It was now approaching 11am and after a few more minutes of waiting we were saved by a car driven by someone Tony knew that was heading in the same direction. Jumping into the car paying slightly more for the convenience of using the car (100 shillings rather than 70), I sat in the middle at the back where we drove quite rapidly making our way to Kitale within the hour.

My first task whilst being in Kitale was to get some money from the bank so that I could treat Tony for his company, so we found the Barclays bank and checked in at the hole in the wall. It’s amazing to see the difference between the facilities available in each town. Kitale was much more developed than the town Kimilili was but compared with England it was still very far behind.

Once I had some cash in my pocket we found ourselves a nice reliable café and had a little breakfast before me embarked on our journey to Delta Cresent National Park. This park was famous for its wonderful wild life and I was looking forward to being able to see many types of animals such as Giraffes and Rhino’s.

Walking to find a taxi to take us to the National Park, I found myself feeling like a little child who forgot to use the toilet back at the café. It wasn’t hard to find somewhere to go as Tony spoke to an attendant at a petrol station who kindly gave us a key to the toilets available there. Once I had been we found ourselves a taxi at the much cheaper price of 500 shillings one way to the Park, rather than the 1200 and 1000 shillings we had been quoted from other drivers hanging around.

Making our way to the Park we travelled along a road where we found more holes than if we would have inspected a siv. The pot holes were huge and all filled with water from the rainfall the night before. Once again I felt a little like I was in a rap video, bouncing up and down as the front and back tyres dipped into the uneven surfaces that lay around us. After travelling what was no longer than 15 minutes we found ourselves faced with a road that was at least ten times worse than the poor one we had just come along, infact in the distance we saw a 30 odd seater bus only just making its way out of the mud. What could we do? Well, we had two options. One, we could continue on a lot further down the road with a slim chance of finding another road that was in a better condition and have to pay more, or two, head back to the town and find something else to do for the afternoon. After a little discussion we thought rather than wasting both time and money, our best bet was to head back to town where there was a museum that occupied different smaller animals that we could instead take a look at. On the way back to Kitale Moses, our taxi driver, told us about another place that was slightly similar to the Delta Cresent National Park which also had some animals and amusements that we could visit. Instead of visiting the museum we decided we would head 3km out of Kitale in the opposite direction and visit our second best option.

So 30 minutes later and 700 shillings poorer, we found ourselves at Kitale Nature Conservancy http://www.kitalenature.org/ . It had just begun to rain so we decided to sit down inside the restaurant area until it was dry. After maybe 10 minutes we decided to venture down the slipper steep slanted decking to find out the prices to look round at the animals. We asked the guy who was sat at reception, which was a wooden table underneath a small improvised marquee, where we found there were three different prices depending on what you were. If you were a Kenyan Citizen the entrance fee was 100 shillings, if you were a Resident you paid 500 shillings and if you were a Non-Citizen you had to pay what was 10 USD. The price for Tony was 100 shillings and after some explaining I was admitted as a Resident so both fee’s together came to 600 shillings. The prices were slightly high for anyone who wasn’t typical Kenyan but there was no way I was not going to look round having spending so much time and money so far coming here.

Paying and setting off on our mini adventure with our brochure in hand, the first animal we saw was a small Dear. We were then faced, as we walked further through a gap in the fence, with many deformed and disabled animals. We saw goats with only three legs, ducks with extra legs, a sheep with overly large testicles and the ugliest cow in the world. This cow must have been so depressed with four horns on its head tilted at weird angles with an extra eye on the side of his face. Just to top it all off the cow had a mouth that was overlapping and it really looked as if he had just had one too many rounds with Mike Tyson.

We continued on looking at the various animals that occupied the large scope of land and wandered round until we came across a small lake with a couple of boats for people to ride. One of the boats was already in use, so Tony and I decided to have a go, not forgetting to real the boat rules first. We both carefully climbed into the boat, Tony at the front and I towards the back and we both used the paddles provided to steer the boat to where we wanted it to go. We spent some time chatting and sailing around this small lake, once of twice crashing slowly into the sides. When we had done we tied the boat back in its place and headed back round to take a look at the Emus. There weren’t that many Emus around and with the ground surrounding their fenced in compound, it was hard to get very close. We stood a while waiting to see if they would do anything cool but they didn’t really do much apart from prance around splashing in the mud. Leaving them to continue with their fun, we walked down to the bridge which was unfortunately mostly out of bounds due to the overflowing river.

With no way of getting across the bridge we had to turn back and finish our tour with the Nature Trail and the Model Caves. The Nature Trail was equally as muddy as everywhere else if not worse and only had more Dears for us to see. The caves were well sculptured into rooms for children to play. They were decorated in a typical African style but were very dark with the lack of electricity. There was once particular section to educate children on Global Warming which was again well decorated and laid out.

We had spent just over an hour looking round and both mine and Tony’s feet were cake and soaked from the boggy areas along the expedition. Calling Moses, we were soon picked up and in a taxi back into the main part of Kitale to continue our afternoon with whatever else we planned to do. I really wanted to try Pizza but most of the places we asked didn’t seem to be serving them. Eventually after buying credit and calling Matthew to see if he knew anywhere, we settled for Chips and Sausage with some side salad and lots of hot chilli sauce.

Jumping in a Matatu we made our way back home to Kimilili. Once we arrived from our hour journey home, Tony took me to a typical African barber shop where I could have another experience of having my hair cut by a Kenyan. I was a little hesitant at first because I knew if they messed it up that I wouldn’t have much time to grow it back to a decent length, but never the less I sat through it as the barber shaved and styled my sideburns to a point. It was an experience and to say it was the first time the barber had cut a Mzungu’s hair, he did a pretty nice job. Once Tony had also had a nice trim I headed back to the guesthouse and made it there just in time for dinner.

The guys told me about their days as I sat trying to force my food down me, having eating only a couple of hours previously. We spent most of the evening just sitting and talking and soon went to bed after a long and well turned out day.

Sunday morning I woke up for breakfast slightly disappointed that we weren’t having sausage haha. We all got ready for church and set off walking to St James. Emma had received a lift from Anne and I saw them, along with the Dutch team on foot, out of the compound and up the muddy track. I was a little behind but soon as I caught up I saw the state that both Marlene and Ilken were left in after Anne had driven past them spraying mud accidentally onto their cream trousers and skirt.

Sitting through a service where Emma was warmly welcomed, I then began to leave with the Dutch to walk back to the guesthouse. Emma was sticking around as she was due to attend another service and just as I was leaving she delivered a message from Anne. Anne regularly lends us her service book and we had left it in the isle so I rushed back to collect it and give it to her. By the time I was ready to leave the others were already quite far ahead so I hung back and got a lift back with Anne in her car. Getting dropped off by the offices, I walked back in what looked like it was going to be a nice sunny day.

Back at the guesthouse the guys who stayed in the main guesthouse building found themselves locked out. I could fortunately get in my room, so I collected my last batch of washing together and began with some washing in the sun. They soon had a key and were outside with me cleaning their dirty clothes too. Washing today was a big social event and there wasn’t many spaces left on the lines once we had all hung out our things. We continued this up to lunch then all sat together in the dining room.

Slouching on the white plastic chairs on the balcony Caspar, Ilken and I played some cards whilst time passed in the afternoon. We decided we would all take a walk into town and maybe grab a bite to eat at Mount Crest and then towards 4pm head over to Kamusinga to watch a weekly football match that took place on the fields there. Mount Crest was very busy upstairs because of the football on TV, so we sat downstairs and ordered some soda and food. Marlene tried a Samosa, Ilken a Mandazi and I went all out and got chips, sausage and once again chilli sauce, I loved it.

Walking back we bumped into Mark, then headed to watch the football for a while. Talking with Tony’s younger brother, Festus, we noticed that the dark rain clouds were heading our way so we decided to, instead of hanging round, move quickly back to the guesthouse. We did manage to avoid the rain and got back very quickly and not long after our return we all together again with Emma coming back from her long day of services.

No power in the evening meant we were sat in the dark for dinner. We also continued over in the guesthouse sat around talking about various things in our lives. It was nice sat again in the candle light, but towards 9pm we were reunited with power. With nothing on television after numerous times of flicking through all six channels, we decided to go to bed with many of us tired from the lazy days.

4 days left x Stay tuned for maybe a few updates over the next few days. x

Blog #26

This week has been all about laughter and having a good time and I think it’s safe to say that Matthew, John, Emily and the four Dutch students have played a very large part in making so many valuable contributions to my last days in Kimilili. Caspar is just a complete legend with his antics and constant hilarious comments, which keeps me laughing for hours and the other three equally help in keeping the conversations flowing and amusing. John is just an overall awesome guy who inspires me so much with his commitment to his work and also his attitude and way of encouraging people. Emily is just as cool and I think I can honestly say that I couldn’t have chosen a better couple to have had around me along my experience here in Africa. I think I speak for everyone who has been blessed with their company over the past couple of weeks when I say they will be truly missed and that the place will definitely not be the same without them. I’m so glad I have made such amazing friends and I will look forward to seeing them soon sometime in the near future.

Monday morning was an opportunity for Matthew to fill in the Dutch students who hadn’t yet been briefed on the goings on in this part of Africa, so I stayed back at the guesthouse leaving Matthew to an empty office for his meeting. I spent most of the morning hanging around, washing and sitting until lunch time then returned to the office for some time in the afternoon. Today I was particularly tired so towards the end of the day I left the office slightly early and returned home for an afternoon nap before dinner.

Back at the house I heard the piano going so I nipped into the house so see who was producing the nice sounds. On entry I saw Naomi sat working the keys and asked her to teach me a little more than I already knew. We spent some time trying to master a short tune, where I played the main tune whilst Naomi added extra notes to flower it up a bit. It was fun and I think I can still remember how to play it so maybe if I get myself a nice keyboard when I get home, I may have the foundations to learn a little more. I tried sleeping after this but I couldn’t really get to sleep with my mind racing over lots of little irrelevant things. I got up to watch television but as I switched on the box, the power suddenly failed on me.

We had our first evening devotion with Tony this evening and he was very clear and sent us a message that was short, precise and it meant a lot to us for his company.

Tuesday morning there was no power and with my schedule beginning to get less busy I had the opportunity to join in with other things going on around the compound such as the Holiday Club. John was leading the morning session and at about 9am he found himself at the front of the hall faced with many children all wanting to be entertained whilst the other main leaders finished their early morning meetings. I wouldn’t exactly say I came to the rescue but I helped aid John as he so wonderfully taught the children a song with actions, which was written on the blackboard behind him. The theme for this Holiday Club was “Step by step with Jesus”, so he had decided to teach the children a couple of verses from the song “I want to walk with Jesus Christ”. John very professionally had made up some actions to the song which found them doing all kinds of hand movements to represents words such as “joy” and “complete control” and I had even helped suggest one or two, involving some moves that looked very similar to something you would find in a typical boy band video. Throughout the morning, until the hall was split into groups which were taken to different classrooms, I stuck around and stood at the front of the hall feeling a bit like a silly presenter on an early morning children’s television show. It was good fun and would have been even more rewarding if I wasn’t still feeling tired, but never the less John seemed grateful for my company and his first morning was successful.

I left John to teach some stories from the Bible and left to go back to the guesthouse to sleep as I felt that if I didn’t have some rest now I would probably go insane. I had a couple of hours rest until lunch and woke up feeling still very tired but soon recovered and felt a lot better.

After lunch I met with John who was at this time teaching the children some games that they could play on the open grass areas of the compound. The first game they learnt and played was “Stuck in the mud” which is like a very similar game to “Tag”, where once you are tagged by the appropriate person, you have to stand still until someone relieves you by crawling under your legs.

After some time of playing this they moved to another area and began to play the game “40 40”. This game basically had one seeker who would stand by the “safe point”, count to possibly 20 and then go looking for the rest the players who have previously hidden. If someone is spotted by the seeker then the seeker will run to the “safe point” tree and say “40, 40, I see you” and then the name of the person they have spotted. The children had a lot of fun with this and some were better than others at hiding. Some hid far away and never peeked out once, whilst others always hung close by and were constantly spotted. As a result of poor hiding places and maybe a lack of understand of the game, the quote of this particular day had to be “40, 40 I see you John”. One boy who was much older and bigger than the majority of children playing was called John and he was forever being spotted in his bright yellow shirt. The poor guy was nearly always first to be spotted but luckily he was saved from captivity with some saviours making it to the tree before the seeker and announcing “40, 40, save all”.

Leaving the area in which we played we spotted a large toad hopping around towards an old shed. As John nearly trod on it, I decided I would take a picture and then leave it to continue its mission to wherever it was that it was going.

Back round with the children before they left for the day, I thought I would join in with some of the children and allow them to assist me as I skipped. They had a long rope with one child holding one end and another at the alternate side, and I stood in the middle jumping when the time was right. Everyone knows that white men can’t jump, but on this occasion I was determine to be successful at my task. Jumping higher and higher every time to avoid the rope sweeping my feet, I soon found myself trying even harder to succeed and after a while slightly hurt my back.

Back at the guesthouse on the balcony, Caspar was in the early stages of having his hair shaved off using both scissors and a beard trimmer to get the correct length. I watched as his hair went from quite long to almost as short as mine and then later assisted to tidy his back and sides up, being the professional I am. The blue bucket he used to collect the falling hair had a tidy amount stored in it in which he picked a piece that he would send to his girlfriend back home in a letter. The little romantic looked pretty cool with his new look and I’m sure he would now be much more comfortable when the sun decides to show its face.

After Ughali for dinner we were joined by Tony for evening devotion and tonight he decided to bring two of his friends along. Lambert who I already knew and Sarah another lady from his group came to join in and sing and assist with the meeting. Lambert used the guitar and we sang a few songs and then Tony gave another one of his meaningful and well presented messages. As the meeting ended we lost our power so we sat around in the dark waiting for its return. I discussed a few things with Sarah where she told me her cousins who are now studying in the UK, attended the same church in Bradford as I have been attending. She told me how she enjoys singing and is involved in a group with Tony and Lambert and goes around with them spreading the word and using music and songs to encourage and entertain listeners. We soon broke into song and afterwards I took it upon myself to sing a few popular songs in which a few people joined in with. John strummed away on the guitar along to “As long as you love me” by the Backstreet Boys, “Flying without wings” by Westlife and also broke into “When you say nothing at all” by Ronan Keating. Lambert even involved himself in a little rendition of “Walking away” by Craig David, however as most of us didn’t know the words it wasn’t as successful as we would have liked. All in all this evening was great and it was lovely to sit around especially in the candle light singing and discussing many different topics. The guys eventually left from a lively session using a torch kindly lent by Merel.

The morning session for the Holiday Club on Wednesday again found me helping John with the actions and playing a few games of “Simon says” and “Heads shoulders, knees and toes”. The kids loved it and it was really nice to be involved enthusiastically with everyone. It’s very rewarding to see the children smiling as you are teaching them and the staff around watching were very impressed with the way things were unfolding with Johns teaching in the club.
After the morning session with John I skipped across to the office and did a little more work and wrote some blog. Not long passed and I was back with John assessing some drawings that the children had done to illustrate a story from the bible. We chose a winner whose piece was very detailed and had some good artistic skills and then sat discussing a few things. I spent the good part of an hour talking and walking with John back to the guesthouse for my lunch and it was really encouraging to be able to speak with someone who could appreciate what I had to say and who could respond in such a way that didn’t make me feel under educated and stupid. He is a top guy and once again I will miss his company but I'm sure there will be many more inspiring conversations to come.

After lunch I took an expedition down into town with Emily but not until we had first written out a list of ingredients we would need for our plan to prepare dinner. Emily and I had discussed that it would be a nice idea to show our appreciation to the staff that had worked so hard over the past weeks to ensure our stay was comfortable and that we were well catered for. We wanted to repay them and instead of them cooking a meal for us, we wanted to prepare something for them so that they could come along and eat with us. In town we first hit Risiki’s supermarket and got some ingredients for our meal. We had decided we were going to prepare a chicken curry, as we wanted to see how the Kuku was prepared and also wanted to have chapattis along side it to prove we could make them from the instructions Helen so kindly gave us. Grabbing curry powder, rice, flour and many more items we dashed around the supermarket and left for the small market at the junction where we collected our fruit and veg. Once we had got most of our items it was time to find the fun part of the whole process and collect two live kuku’s to take back to the guesthouse. We were sent back and forth to many different places as we asked where we could get Kuku. I think some people thought we wanted a meal so as a result we were directed to many restaurants and cafes. Eventually after finding a couple of places where they were trying to sell us the birds at a price associated with the colour of our skin, we found somewhere with reasonable prices that allowed us to have two Kuku’s put in a box for just short of 600 Shillings.

Back in the kitchen of the guesthouse where the time was now approaching 4pm, we realised we weren’t going to have time to prepare the meal today as initially planned. Instead of trying to rush and probably not being successful in completing it on time, we thought it would be best to just prepare a pudding this evening instead. Cutting up two loafs of bread into quarters and removing the crusts; we added this to some raisins and milk and made some bread and butter pudding. I put and left this in the oven just before dinner and Emily removed it at the right time for us to eat it during our devotion. We shared the pudding which I admittedly wasn’t too keen on at first, but everyone seemed to enjoy it and the tray it was served on was completely finished.

After morning devotion on Thursday morning with no Matthew as he had gone to collect new visitors in Kisumu, I came straight back to the guesthouse with Emily at 9am. This morning devotion was taken by Emily and was presented extremely well. She was so clear and her message was fresh and I think she did an amazing job of passing across the message that Jesus the same all over the world. Back at the guesthouse it was now time to prepare the Kuku which meant that we would have to kill them first where I was quite hesitant if I could actually do it.

Mark began with the first Kuku, leaving me to hold the remaining one upside down by its legs. He sat on the chair and demonstrated how the whole killing process should be done. Watching his every move, I was beginning to question even more if I could actually perform as it looked slightly gruesome and challenging. After the first bird was down, it was my turn to be seated and step up. Encouraged by the fact that Matthew had done this once before and I wanted to be equally as brave, I calmly placed one foot on the Kuku’s wings, one on it’s two legs and held onto it neck avoiding getting pecked by its beak. All of a sudden the whole task became even more real as I began plucking some feathers from his neck where I would begin sawing with the knife I had gripped in my other hand. Once the feathers were removed I began to cut and felt so mean but had to be strong and confident. Slightly overwhelmed and wanting to finish as quickly as possible, I mistakably cut all the way through the neck taking off the head which rolled under my seat on the floor. Shocked and with nothing left to hold I released the Kuku which started to move with blood squirting out. Mark shouted to stand on it to contain the blood so I placed my foot firmly onto its body. Soon it was over and they were both dead ad we could now begin to prepare them in a form that we could use for our curry.

Placing them in boiling water allowed us to remove the feathers from their body. Once they were stripped we started to remove their insides by taking off the back end and pulling out the organs with our hands. The first Kuku popped out a developed egg that unfortunately fell and smashed on the floor, but also had three other smaller eggs still left inside. We pulled out the smelly intestines that nearly made me sick and began cutting in appropriate places. We soon had a pan full of wings, legs and other parts to the Kuku that we left to later continue preparing.
After cleaning the kitchen of blood and guts, I head across to the office to see how John was getting on. At this point he was no where to be seen as he was very busy with his tasks, so I continued working in the office on some letters and things. It was soon lunch time and I arrived back to find that we were having a slightly different, more tradition meal for lunch and found mashed banana’s, chestnut sauce and cabbage all presented on our plates. We waited for some other guests to arrive but as they took longer than expected, we began to eat at the table with more places laid out than usual. The quote for this particular afternoon was “We could hide it in the plants but they aren’t real”, so I’ll leave it to you to decide whether we all enjoyed all of our meal.

Towards the end of our lunch we were joined by Anne, Solomon, some visitors and other people from the Mission where Emily and I helped Mark prepare and serve the newly arrived guests. The visitors were only stopping for the day as they had come to Kenya for a wedding at the weekend and were on their last days here in Africa.

I spent the afternoon kneading dough and separating and preparing chapatti. It took me a while but I got the whole process right at least and made some nice oily bases that would later be re-rolled and fried. Emily began mixing the Kuku with curry powder and other ingredients and left it to cook whilst she went for a walk. My afternoon was taken up mostly by the chapatti and I was successful in carrying them and placing them into the frying pan. I only made two square ones, which were intentional done and made some impressive round ones without any guidance by anyone.

This meal coincided nicely with it being the birthday of two of the Dutch students. Marlene was 21 and Ilken was 23 and the room in where we would eat was nicely decorated by Mark with some decorations provided by Caspar and Merel. There were balloons, heart shaped paper and small Holland flags pinned around the table and it looked very festively laid out. Unfortunately Matthew and Helen could not attend to see what we had done, however we did have the company of both Rose and Mark who made the evening a complete success. Even though we were sat with no power and only had the gas lamp lighting the room, it was nice to sit around talking and laughing whilst at the same time the birthday boy and girl received their presents.

After dinner once the lights came back on, I sat with the guys and girls from Holland in the guesthouse. Caspar and I decided to play the stick game Mikado and we couldn’t stop laughing whenever a mistake was made. I think we believed the game was pretty pointless and the fact that we weren’t very good made us laugh and almost cry even more. I have such a fun time and laugh just being in the presence of Caspar and he always knows how to get an entertaining atmosphere. I don’t exactly what makes him so funny but think it’s possibly a mix between what he says and the accent he says it in. We sat around waiting for possibly some new arrivals but were pretty sure that we would be in bed before they came back.

In the morning I woke up extra early to continue learning how to be more productive in the kitchen and assisted Mark making pancakes. I helped mix the dough and placed it in the pan to cook. I was preparing for new visitors this morning and was keen to do a good job. John, the newest arrival who is a professor here to teach many communities about agriculture, was the first be seated for breakfast. Emma, another new visitor, was still very tired so didn’t make it up for breakfast but never the less still had a good atmosphere with it being John and Emily’s final breakfast with us.

I walked with John and Emily quickly to morning devotion as it was their last one and they didn’t want to be too late. During the devotion the couple were prayed for and it was told that they would be dearly missed. It was quite emotionally really even though they had only been here a couple of weeks and I was beginning to worry how I would feel when it was finally my turn to come back.

Back at the guesthouse I found Merel and Caspar working on their analysis stage for their project. Their project whilst being here is to design and develop a wheelchair that will be suitable for the Kenyan conditions but most importantly had to be hand powered. They sketched up some designs and also began to write, in English, the problems with the current system. They asked me to check over their English and I suggested where changes needed to be made. Overall what they had written was very good and I'm pretty sure if I was in their position, even with training my Dutch wouldn’t be half as good.Soon after I was done chatting and helping Caspar and Merel, I left with Matthew and Dennis into town before proceeding to the office to look over a few notes. In town Dennis went to have his hair cut at an African barber shop just across from Risiki’s, where the shop occupied posters of famous black people with cool and crazy hair styles. It cost him 20 shillings to have a sharp shaven cut then he agreed to help me with my notes on the education system here in Kenya. At the office it was hard to keep focussed as the office I am based is in now beginning to become the same old and I'm way too familiar with my surroundings. Packing up my laptop I was about to leave when I was called into the main hall to set up a projector for a seminar that was just about to be held.

Back at the guesthouse I sat in the corner of the balcony with Dennis where he read over my previous notes and marked where changes needed to be made. We talked over how the system is and changed my notes to make a better account of exactly how the system works. Once I had finished I began to discuss a few of my notes with John.

At this time Emma had arrived from wandering around on day one of her stay and I had my first encounter with her. First impressions are that she is a nice, sweet, pretty girl that will definitely work well with the other guests along the three weeks of her stay. Today we had an extra lively lunch filling Matthew and the new arrivals in on the previous day about the killing of the chicken and the meal.

After lunch I sat with John and Emily on the balcony as they made phone calls trying to arrange some accommodation for their remaining days travelling. They managed to find somewhere and we had a laugh about what they could find when they got there. I soon left them to get on with their packing and left for the office to continue with some work.

At the office the power was on and off so it was quite hard to do anything on the computer. After some time I decided I would go for a ride on the bike maybe into town and then back again. On the way I bumped into Dennis who was on his way back from seeing his cousin off on a bus to visit some people and we decided to drop my bike off and take a walk into town for one last snack at Kim’s Dishes before he left for Kakamega on Monday. On the way we spotted the Dutch group sat outside Mount Crest having a drink waiting for another shop to draft up some details they needed for their project. Dennis and I had a nice chat at Kim’s and ate some good food then returned back to the guesthouse around 4pm.

Back at the guesthouse I sat talking with Caspar and Emma whilst the other committed Dutch students did some exercises using skipping ropes and also doing press ups. The girls were better than the boys and with Merel being a footballer, she was very determine to keep fit over her 11 weeks here in Kimilili.

This evening John and Emily were eating at the house so they hung around showing off their new attire as we tucked into our Friday dinner. Once we had finished all of us went and sat in the guesthouse talking before John and Emily left for the family house. They didn’t know what time they would be back from the house but we promised them we would stay up and talk with them when they returned, as they would be off early in the morning so none of us would have said a proper goodbye. We lounged around watching Extreme Makeover programmes on the television whilst waiting for the couple to return. Eventually after a couple of hours of eating and fellowship with the family they returned ready to say their goodbyes.

It was really sad to know that in the morning they would have left for their trip across Africa and that they would be no longer entertaining us with their company here at the guesthouse. They presented me with a card they had wrote which I am saving to read at a later date, maybe on the plane, and we hugged and wished each other a safe and enjoyable journey. There wasn’t very much to say apart from that they would be dearly missed and every second spent with them way appreciated, then we all departed our separate ways and left for bed.

I had mentioned I would get up in the morning early to see them off but they insisted otherwise. Maybe ill just wish them a quick farewell in the morning if I am successful in catching them.

1 week left x

Blog #25

So far along my stay I have had very many experiences that I feel privileged to have seen and that I will certainly remember forever. I have fellowshipped deep within the interior parts of the communities, I have been able to contribute and help build homes as well as peoples lives, I’ve been able to visit the homes of many of my new friends and their family in and around Kimilili, and this weekend saw me attend Leonard’s traditional Kenyan wedding and experience a ceremony very different to your typical English service.

So after breakfast I got kitted up with my white shirt, black tie and smart suit trousers and made my way with the girls from the house to Kimilili Boys high school where the ceremony was going to be held. This morning Matthew was off early with the role of recording the ceremony at both the Bride and Grooms homes and also some of the ceremony at Kimilili Boys. He had left looking very smart in a lilac shirt with matching tie and felt also very privileged to attend and also be asked to do the recording. I left around 10am with Bithian, Joy, Naomi, Merriam, Rebecca and Lena and walked up and along to the high school, trying to avoid the wet and muddy patches as a result of the heavy rains the day and night before. The house was now very full with the schools all breaking up for the students well deserved holiday, so there were a lot more new people around and walking on to the service was an opportunity to talk and find out a little about each new face.

We arrived at the high school to what seemed like too early. There was hardly anyone present with only the guys setting up the keyboard equipment and a few small dancers ready and waiting just below the stage. I stood around talking and taking pictures with the girls until finally more people began to arrive and fill the up the hall that occupied many dust, turquoise benches.




Once the people had been shown to their seats by the Ushers, I spotted Matthew outside with his cameras taking pictures of both the lines that were to march in the hall with both the Bride and Groom. The dancers and people in the lines were dressed very smart and had lots of decorations on them including glitter, ribbons and flashing badges. After sometime the lines began to enter the hall and in first was the Groom with his nine other members leading the way. Leonard’s line had the dancers at the front and towards the back were some young boys and men. Among the young boys was Chris, Solomon’s son, who was dressed up very well in a grey suit and tie. It took them about 20 minutes to make their way from the back of the hall to the front as they walked very slow dancing and making what was definitely a big entrance. Following this, once the line had made its way to the front and the people were seated, in came the Bride with her line all dressed in very pretty pink and brown suits with glitter in their hair. They made an even bigger entrance which found them not even get a quarter of their way in after what was a long but interesting 15 minutes.

Having missed lunch and the ceremony starting two hours late at just after 1pm, Matthew and I decided to nip out and get a quick bite to eat and soda, as our tummies were rumbling and our concentration was beginning to drop. We made our way to the end of the road which joins on to the high school and stopped off at Spring’s café which was becoming our new regular dining place.

Arriving back 10 minutes later after settling our stomachs and re-hydrating ourselves, the Bride’s line still hadn’t arrived to the front of the hall. Soon enough though, both the Bride and Groom were now stood on the stage and were in the process of performing their vows. This part was in English with the traditional vows being spoken and it was nice to see two people going through their promises as I hadn’t seen this in a long time. After leaving the hall for some fresh air and a break from the Swahili speeches, I got a phone call from my good friend Aaron who called up just to say Hey. Speaking to him for a short time I then found myself following a few people back from the service just before it finished. The sky looked like it was going to rain so we made our way back quickly to the guesthouse, stopping off at the cyber to pick up a few things such as a heavy guitar and case.

Back at the guesthouse after a short rest, Emily and I helped Helen once again make the chapattis for Saturday evening’s meal. Helen was very tolerant whilst we attempted to help make a good job of the meal and I'm sure tried her best to keep a smile on her face as we so poorly rolled the chapattis.

Following dinner we spent the evening acting stupid, playing King of the Jungle with the new arrivals from Holland’s as maybe a way of breaking the ice. We sat discussing similarities and differences between the UK and Holland and talked about the different accents and how they had connotations with difference classes, especially in the UK. One of the guys from Holland pointed out that the guys from Oxford spoke more elegantly, where as I spoke Irish. It was quite a fun and enjoyable evening and we all left for bed much more confident in how well we were going to get on over the next few weeks.

Sunday morning we all attended St James church where there was a lot more Mazungu’s present than usual. We took up most of three rows in the church and sat through what was most an inspiring and interesting service. Unfortunately at the end the church was taken over by a mad man who was clearly not part of the church, but saw it as an opportunity to get some money out of the generous people who had attended. He had brought some eggs and was acting pretty crazy trying to give everyone an egg and get money from them for it. He even began to use children as a method of seeking funds, getting them out to the front and giving them eggs and insisting that others paid for them. I’m sure many of us were getting worked up and frustrated by the fact he was so insistent in getting money out of us and that he was using children as a weapon also. John quite boldly gave out some money just to get rid of the children from the front and to stop using them in such an embarrassing and manipulating way.

Back at the ranch before lunch I began to do some washing out on the grass. It was soon lunch time and I had almost finished, so I left a few things to soak and came back to them after I had eaten. Towards the middle of the afternoon I began writing up my blog on the laptop but soon decided to head to the offices with Matthew, John and Emily, so that they could look up a few things on the internet to organise something for their remaining days in Kenya. We weren’t at the office long and then left for Springs Café to be treated by “JF” and Emily to Chai and a Mandazi.

Arriving back just before dinner I went across to the house where the Chelsea, Manchester game was on the television. I watched this for only a few minutes but still managed to get a few reminded feelings of being back at home. Back in the guesthouse after dinner John, Emily and I sat around watching the Pianist on the DVD player until the end of the evening. I received a call from my family during this, so spent about 20 minutes on the phone to them breaking away from the film.

It had been a nice weekend, seeing new things and getting to know the new visitors a little. I knew I didn’t have long left to stay with them but never the less was very interested to find out as much as I could in the little time I would have left at the guesthouse with them.

See you sooner x

Blog #24

These last few weeks have just flown by I’ll tell you that for free and I’ve now got only a couple of weeks left of my stay and then ill be back home resuming normal life my with family and friends in Halifax. So far it’s been an amazing experience and I tell you what, the arrival of new visitors is making it even better by the day. John and Emily have been awesome these past couple of weeks and it’s been really great to have them on board along side Matthew and the other people who have been around during my stay. Music has always been a passion of mine and it’s nice to have someone around who can play an instrument. We have been rocking out the tunes on an evening and I’ve also witnessed John leading worship in a way so that we can party like its 1999.

I woke up Monday morning and the power was very unpredictable. One minute the power would be on, the next it would be off, so the idea of having a shower was pretty much out of the window. I had breakfast with Matthew, John and Emily and then returned to my room extremely tired from a very poor nights sleep. I decided, as the power was now completely off, that I would go back to bed for a while to catch up on some sleep, so I crawled back under my cosy bed sheets and had a long sleep, waking up at 11.30am.

Waking up feely pretty much refreshed but extremely lazy, I got ready to finally start my day and head over to the guesthouse lounge and did some ironing. I stood watching some television whilst I ironed and waited for lunchtime to arrive. I had soon finished my two pairs of trousers and five T shirts and with only moments until I would be served lunch, I made my way to the kitchen area to speak to our brilliant chefs. The guys had not yet returned for lunch, so I decided rather than eat alone, I would wait for them to arrive and talk to Dennis whilst I was waiting. They guys must have been held up somewhere so after talking with Dennis whilst he did his washing for half an hour, I decided to give up waiting and went to eat.

Most of the afternoon was spent in the office, tiding up my project and tying up any loose ends. Back at the guesthouse we had our dinner and were supposed to have our first session of evening devotion with the new guests, but unfortunately the people we had arranged to come had been working in the field all day and arrived back too late to come.

Not having an evening devotion we sat around in the guesthouse lounge drinking our Chai and hot chocolate. John took to the guitar and began strumming, playing some songs that I remember from school and when I attended church with my parents. I was reminded of so many memories and being sat round singing along to the acoustic sounds that John so professionally and wonderfully played, the atmosphere was so positive and had such a loving and united feel to it. Despite having no Hymn books at this point, we still managed to remember most of the words to each song and sang them pretty loudly and enthusiastically. The only real unfortunate thing about this particular activity was that I think Emily had all the songs stuck in her head as she tried to get some well deserved and needed shut eye, after a long and busy day of orientation.

I spent Tuesday morning printing out all the work I had done over my three month period so that I could sit down with Solomon and discuss and present him with all the information he needed to understand how the Transformation Kenya programme would work. The printer was very slow and there were continuous interruptions with numerous people wanting to also print from the same machine. I spent lunch time with just Matthew as John and Emily were off at Dreamland involved in workshops in the school and hospital.

Back at the office some time after lunch we were faced with once again a power shortage probably because of the rainfall we were experience at this time. Once the rain had stopped, I decided to head back to the guesthouse to be taught by Helen how to make an impressive selection of Chapattis that I could show off possibly with when I returned home. I helped with the nine chapattis that we were able to make from the big ball of dough that Helen worked so hard to prepare and then I added some oil to the dough and left it to set for about 20 minutes. After this I began to roll out the dough and create the chapattis which would be later deep fried. My first few attempts were pretty poor to say the least with the shape tending to be more square than round like they are usually found. Once I had gotten some practise, I became quite good at quickly rolling a nice round, even layer of dough and helped put these in the pan to be fried for what was less than a couple of minutes. We soon had a full meal prepared and I also made Chai under the instruction of Helen and we all feasted and had what was a successful and well prepared meal.

That evening we were visited by Francis where we had our first evening devotion session. It went successfully and John also assisted with the guitar whilst we sang one song. Once Francis had left for home in the pouring rain, John taught me a few chords on the guitar which I tried to learn and pick up for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday morning I ate breakfast alone with John and Emily out and about doing all kinds of activities, with Matthew with them showing them to their stations. This morning I had arranged to have the meeting with Solomon that would finalise my project and allow him to have a clear interpretation on what I had spent most of my time doing.

I called Solomon’s secretary to clarify my meeting and Solomon got back to me suggesting 11am as the time we were to have our meeting. Putting a few things together, I waited until 11am to be called to his office but like usual he was delayed, with another of his meetings lasting a lot longer than initially planned. I waited around and continued working on what I could until lunch time and then head back to the guesthouse to quickly grab some lunch and hurry back, as I could have been called for this meeting at any time. Unfortunately I spent most of the day waiting and never actually succeeded to have a successful discussion with Solomon at all. Before dinner I went to Spring’s café with Dennis and Mike for some Mandazi and Chai which was really nice and it was a chance to catch up with the guys who I hadn’t really seen or talked with for a while.

Back at the ranch I met with John and Emily who had both come back from a successful day working both in Lagulu School and out in the community with a mobile hospital. John proceeded to tell us about his day and how he used his musical talents to give across a spiritual and encouraging message to children, and then Emily explained how her day saw her working alongside doctors, meeting and treating patients with medical problems such as AIDS and TB.
After dinner we had our usual evening devotion and continued the rest of the evening playing the guitar. I had the opportunity to have a tinkle, so I practiced a few chords attempting to try and learn at least a little.

Thursday morning I was faced with breakfast alone again. This was becoming seemingly more common and I hope the reason wasn’t because I failed to have a proper shower for some of the mornings previous because of the power problems we were experiencing. They had gone early to start their duties and had quite a distance to travel to actually reach where they would be working. I spent most of the morning emailing people who could help with this program and also spent some time with Ann discussing the Education System as the details I had received were slightly incorrect. Sitting with Ann for about 20 minutes, we made a few alterations to the material I had strung together and arranged to meet again some other time to discuss it in more detail.

After lunch I came back to find the office being powered by the petrol generator. I spent the afternoon, working on some guidelines for my presentations and did a little more printing in the cyber area. We spent the evening in the lounge for devotion and all seemed to go our separate ways with another day ahead of us tomorrow.

Matthew set off to Kisumu early Friday morning so the table for breakfast was not full once again. I spent the morning just contacting some people via email regarding my project and took it quite easy with not a very lot to do. The rain soon began to beat down on the tin roof and continued all the way up to lunch time. I had to take a journey home in the runny slippery mud but fortunately this time I had been smart and worn my trainers instead of my flip flip/slippers which I had worn on previous very wet and muddy occasions.

Finishing lunch I took shelter under the slanting roof of the Simba and stood speaking to Dennis waiting until the rain calmed down before I embarked back on my journey to the office. As I waited I saw Solomon jump into his car ready to leave the compound. Quickly running over, I asked where he was going and if I could have a lift to the office. He was on his way to the office also anyway, so I got into the passengers side and we left for the office. During our short journey along the road we arranged to have the meeting that we were unable to have a couple of days previous. He told me that 2.30pm was a perfect time to come and see him so I should get my things together and meet him in his office.

At half past I made my way and sat with him and put forward some of my ideas for this project in brief. He seemed pretty happy with what I explained and excited to read the document I had put together in full and placed before him on his desk. The meeting lasted about 30 minutes and was very encouraging and left with both of us feeling positive about what would come from this over the next few years.

In the evening John, Emily and I sat in the guesthouse playing cards like amateurs. We didn’t really know the rules to the game we were playing so we improvised and dealt with any problems when we came to them. Matthew still hadn’t arrived back as he was picking up four new visitors who were travelling from Holland to stay here at the guesthouse on an internship for 11 weeks. 10pm arrived and we were all pretty tired so we head to bed to sleep and wake up with four new visitors to greet at breakfast.

Not long after we had hit the sack the new arrivals were heard dragging their suitcases and carrying their stuff along towards my room and then up into the guesthouse to be shown to their rooms. They all must have been so tired from a long and stressful journey, so they too quickly made their way to bed to wake up fresh and ready to greet the rest of their housemates and start on their new adventure.

See you soon x