7.45 on Saturday morning and I am stood excitedly waiting in
Arrivals at Jomo Kenyatta Airport peering through the gap in the doors for my parents
of a 9 hour flight from Heathrow. There is a jostling throng of tour company
drivers, family members etc all waiting for their friends etc to come through the
door and then try and pick out a name board or familiar face in the crowd of
about 200 eagerly waiting. Luckily being 6ft 4 and the average Kenyan seemingly
at least 6 inches shorter, plus me being white and having a very shiny head Ma
and Pa had no trouble spotting me. Big smiles and some warm hugs later we got
the taxi to the hotel. We were staying at Grace House which is near the VSO
office and I have been there a few times. On arrival Fred greeted me by name
and with a cheery “Habari Asabuhi Simon” (good morning). You can’t tell I have
been here before?? This was great for Ma n Pa who knew they would be well
looked after. We checked in to our rooms and grabbed a leisurely breakfast from
the well-stocked buffet.
Ma N Pa and their "Little Son"
Just after 10am I left them to sleep and crossed Nairobi to Karura Forest
http://www.friendsofkarura.org/
This was my first visit
and what a great place with cycling and walking/jogging trails etc just on the
edge of the city. It was very quiet and it seems not many people in Nairobi
appreciate the beauty on their doorstep (or many are too busy fighting for an
income to feed and school their family to worry about leisure activities – maybe).
I am there for a meeting in the forest with the rest of the Central
Province volunteers. WE get together 3 times a year to work on what we can do
to improve volunteering in Kenya. This is in terms of relationships with VSO,
Partner organisations etc. Issues like living allowances, placement review
process improvements, new volunteer orientation etc are all discussed and the
chairperson feeds back information to VSO plus delivers information from VSO
too about issues and the direction VSO are going, new developments etc.
Very Professional
Nina one of the Youth Polytechnic volunteers came with a car
load of food. Her Poly have a catering department who are looking to set up
their own catering business. They wanted to use us as pilot customers. Looking
at the fine spread and professional presentation they should have no problem
making a success of it. It was better than anything I had had from professional
organisations in Kenya!! They all turned up at the Poly 6.30 am on a Saturday
morning and worked valiantly to produce the following for over 30 of us:
Chapati’s, samosas, beef stew and rice all in very smart boxes lined with foil
and with smart labels etc – Wow!
I left after the food to get back to Ma n Pa but will return
to make the most of the forest another day.
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