Tuesday 7th The “Royal Visit”

The Polytechnic where I work closed for the end of the second term 2 August. However, despite my protests, the team wanted to reopen for the day to meet my parents and show off the institution. This was very touching to both me and my parents as nearly 40 of the maximum 45 regular attenders turned up during their holiday in full uniform. In addition half the staff and half the Board of Governors. All had been there since 8 preparing food and the tour they planned for us. We were asked to arrive around 10.30. This involved my parents first experience with a Matatu. In Kandara we picked up one outside the orphanage which was almost full. Dad got in the front and Mum by the large side door. She settled in the last available seat. Then, as is normal, another 4 people squeezed on, two leaning over mum with feet on the door well and two hanging out of the open door. It was only a short trip to Kamagaru where we changed for another matatu for the 2km to the poly. Another squeeze, lots of laughing and chats with locals.

A Matatu - Record so far is 29 people in one of these!!

The Board of Governors and Some Staff

 We arrived at the Poly to much activity and were greeted by the Manager and Board. Had a formal introduction to the board in the meeting room with Chai and cakes.

Then out to meet the students. Mum and Dad had provided funds for the students to have chai and cakes and helped to dish them out. Being served by Mzungus amused the students greatly.

Ma n Pa said “So much for low profile! Felt like a royal visit etc”

All these turned out on their hols!

I then had a meeting and left Mum and Dad in the kitchen helping to prepare the lunch.

Head Boy Mwai doing his speech

Then back to the Orphanage for more fun with the kids. 

Leaving the City for rural Kenya

 Monday 6^th saw us leave the hotel and the big city for the joys of rural central Kenya. I thought inflicting the matatu experience on two 71 year olds with big suitcases this early would be a little unfair. Plus it would have been 3 different matatu’s to get to Kandara and 2.5 hours. So we took the taxi which took just over an hour. The scenery changed as we climbed and once past Thika and the vast swathes of Del Monte pineapple fields we hit real rural central Kenya and home to the Kikuyu tribe. The scenery now is very green steep sided hills made up of small shamba’s (small holdings) clinging to the steep hillsides. These are all worked by hand including the terracing and average 2 acres. Most have mud huts with corrugated metal roofs. Some have metal walls. The better off, quite rare round here, have stone walls and corrugated roofs. The “green” is banana trees, maize, coffee, avocado and mango with smaller amounts of other crops.

Most shambas house mum and dad plus 2-3 kids and their families. As the generations grow up, unless they have succeeded in education and left to  get work in the city, they stay on the shamba and build a house. This unfortunately dilutes the subsistence crops and the little cash income that can be generated. This is why projects like the Ithiru Youth Polytechnic are so important. They provide real skills for those less academic to allow them to have a sustainable income.  

The area my parents arrive in is beautiful in terms of dramatic scenery and wonderful people of the community I have now been part of for 9 months.

We enter the orphanage gates to curious stares (we do not get many cars here) then huge smiles and cries of “Siiiiimmmmooooonnnnnn!” and my parents experience the joy of living here. We unpack, “helped” by lots of little ones and settle into the Vision Africa volunteer house that we have rented for the period. (my one room 3m x 4m house could not fit the extra beds!).

Then we take a tour of the Orphanage and introduce Mum and Dad to the staff and children.

Later we take a walk into town and it is market day so very busy. I am the only Mzungu (white European) for about 15 km radius but people have got used to me being around now. However 3 mzungus walking up the high street and through the organised chaos of the market area created quite a stir. More introductions to the regular stall holders I get my food from and many handshakes. There are also some “interesting” encounters with some of the more “colourful” and “eccentrics” of Kandara. By the end of the day the oldies have had a good taster of the warmth of the people and the contrast from Nairobi and fall asleep early.  

5th August – Simon’s Nairobi Tours Limited!

After a relaxing Saturday ending with a big fat Pizza meal at Hong’s restaurant followed by a big sleep and a hearty breakfast. The oldies (that should get me a slap from Mum!! J) were refreshed and raring to explore. I had booked Peter a really friendly and enthusiastic driver I have used many times before, to take us round for the day. Being early in their trip we opted for  a tourist day to acclimatise before moving to rural Kenya.

First on the Itinery was the elephant sanctuary. 

This was set up by the Sheldricks on a small scale to help injured and orphaned elephants and had nurtured and returned hundreds of elephants into the wild over the years. The elephants spend the days in Nairobi Safari Park and then return of their own free will to be fed and play in the waterhole once a day which is where we get to see them for an hour. The get fed milk and frolic in the water, delighting in soaking the people. Before getting up and ambling back into the park. It is a great experience and very sensitively done by the charity. Read more on http://www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org/

Then onto the Giraffe Sanctuary again set up in a similar way and if my memory serves me right they have rehabilitated around 300 giraffes into the wild through a breeding programme.

This programme has also taken one of the 3 types of giraffe from a population in Kenya of just over a 100 to about 340. Again great place to visit and sensitively done. You can never get this close to a giraffe anywhere else. They are such amazing and graceful creatures. Only this close can you truly appreciate how big they are!!  http://giraffecenter.org/

Finally we dropped to the Karen Blixen Museum – The film Out of Africa was about her life. Having seen the film and read the book, it was great to see the place where she lived and Mum sat in the place where the immortal words “I have a farm in Africa” from the start of the film were said with a view of the Ngong hills. Our guide was great and we got a real insight into life of the early colonialists in Africa. http://www.museums.or.ke/content/blogcategory/13/19/

An added bonus was a visit to Kazuri http://www.kazuri.com/pc/ (Kazuri means small and beautiful in Kiswahilli) a bead and pottery factory set up by Susan Wood in 1975 in her garden shed with 2 single mothers from the slum and now employs 340 people and exports 75% of the products which are sold for example in John Lewis in the UK. An amazing story they has given employment and skills to so many but also provides education and healthcare to the staff too. Read more of this amazing story on the weblink above.

Back to hotel and chai and cakes before a quick stroll around the adjacent Masaii Market to top off a very touristy but great fun day.

4 August - Ma n Pa Arrive in Kenya!

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. 

1-3 August - The Arrival of Ma n Pa

1^st August saw me lead a session at the Poly where the Trainees helped me with a needs assessment. I am doing a study into how we can improve the institution. The first phase is asking the following questions of trainees, potential trainees, parents, staff, Board and the community:

1         Which courses are most popular with trainees or potential trainees?

2         Which courses are most needed in the community?

3         Which courses are most in demand for adult education?

4         Why do people drop out of Poly?

5         Why do those eligible not come to the Poly?

6         What could we do to influence them to come?

It was quite an entertaining session as there are varying levels of English and some have only limited Kiswahilli. But with the very able and patient support of Faith the Hairdressing Instructor we received some good results and some useful insights. The group session allowed me to capture 35 people’s views in an hour whereas the other 50 community etc interviews had been undertaken individually. The trainees filled their answers on a pro-forma paper and asked if they could be confidential which was fine and allowed them to be more honest too…..!

So far I have interviewed 85 people and only 15 to go. It is a great way to meet the community too and they really value being able to input. I will feedback the results later but one thing that struck me from the trainees feedback was that 2/3rds for the females cited pregnancy as the main reason for dropping out and none of the boys did? Should I be surprised by that?

We closed the Poly 2^nd August and I dropped into the Kibe’s place for chai and lunch. We had a long chat and they are getting almost as excited as me because my parents arrive 4^th August for a 3 week visit to Kenya to experience “real Kenya”. I have taken them at their word so I hope they meant it!!

At 71 I am very impressed and proud of them for coming out. 

July 16-31st – VSO Visit and Exams

The second half of the month was fairly quiet with normal stuff at the Poly as the term drew to a close and the trainees took their end of term exams etc.

VSO also visited for their placement visit which they do in the first six months of a placement to check on how things are going and whether there are any problems etc etc. It is also a good opportunity to talk about potential funding links that VSO may have through their contacts that can help the institution. It was a good meeting and the VSO people were very perceptive and helpful .    

8-15th July – New Volunteers

There are 3 intakes of volunteers a year for VSO Jitolee and July sees another group arrive. This time there were 8 – from Holland, Philippines, England and Uganda. I had volunteered to help with some of the sessions again which also gets me into Nairobi to catch up with the other volunteers, have meetings with VSO and I also had a meeting with Vision Africa too, so a busy week.

The new volunteers arrive on Friday night and then are in Nairobi for a week of orientation. This includes sessions on the full spectrum of issues and background that they need to best prepare them for life in Kenya. These include over 7 hours of Kiswahilli, VSO processes and admin, culture, meeting new partner organisation, etc. The sessions I helped with were: Transparency and Governance, 3-way Partnership and Reality of Volunteering. There are also the “informal sessions” alternatively known as chatting in the bar!!

Half way through the week there is a social evening where the new volunteers get to meet more of the VSO staff, serving volunteers etc for a relaxing meal and a few drinks.

At the end of the week there was a party for Nicole and Nick. Nicole who arrived in my group last November had just moved into a new apartment and Nick her boyfriend was one of the new volunteers in this intake. Friday night was their house warming a great end to the week and good timing for the newbies too.

Saturday was spent having a leisurely breakfast at Nicole and Nicks (where I had crashed the night before) and Dan and Helen (who had visited me at Kandara the weekend before) came round too. I dropped in to Nairobi later and then there was another party at Steak and Ale which, as the name suggests is an eating and drinking place but also a karaoke club too. Volunteer life is not usually all partying – honest!! The occasion was a leaving party for Dan and Helen, Annie and Gemma plus another chance for all the volunteers who had travelled in from the distant towns and villages of Kenya to strut their stuff! The frustrated rock stars of the group belted out classic hits and did impressions of Mick Jagger’s strutting much to the amusements of the locals. The singing was interspersed with dancing and a great night was had by all.

After a weekend of hot showers, sit on toilets and the luxury of hotels it was back to Kandara on the Sunday. Strangely whilst I do enjoy the trips to the city I do miss the simplicity of life in Kandara and have got used to the bucket washes and the social side of collecting water etc. So it was good to be back.