Quite a few months back a large group of guys from Trinity Church raised a vast amount of money climbing three of Britain’s most prestigious peaks, all within 24 hours so that a Hydraform brick machine could be bought by the Kericho diocese, headed up by our fave Bish JOS!
The machine was bought in South Africa, and although it took a good few months to get to us, it has finally arrived (on Easter Monday of all days), and is in good working order.
Now if you’re someone in the know, and you have a specific interest in bricks, you’ll know how exciting this is. But for the rest of us thickies, it’s understandable if you’re wondering what the big deal is. I mean, what can be exciting about bricks?!?
Well let me tell you, this event marks the start of all sorts of other exciting happenings! You see, what most people don’t know, is where the expense lies when you build things. Did you know that the main cost of building a wall is the cement and sand that make the mortar?…..No, neither did I!
The Hydraform brick machine can produce 1500 bricks in one day. That’s a lot of bricks in one week. The second funky thing is, it uses materials like local soil and just 5% cement at minimal cost to produce its bricks. The third and really clever thing is that the bricks interlock, meaning you don’t need mortar, which of course knocks a huge amount off your building costs.
So to cut a long story short, all the exciting ideas the Bish has for development in the community can now be put in to action, and buildings can be built at almost half the cost.
This has all created a very excited atmosphere around the ACK offices. But the thing I love the most has been the development of the team that have learned how to use the machine, all from different areas of the diocese. So now where ever the machine goes (yes, it’s on wheels and can be taken practically anywhere!) there will be people who are trained to use it. Most excitingly, a few of our older youth here in Kericho, who really struggle to get training and employment, have been at the forefront of operations, and have really succeeded in this process. A little bird has been spreading the news, so most of Kericho know about the arrival of the brick machine. People are queuing up to hire it with the young team of operators, so it will create employment for them, a tidy income for the diocese to use elsewhere, and it brings exciting hopes for the future of community development.
And you thought bricks were boring! Watch the video, look at the pics and be amazed!
Check out the interlock action on these babies!
Typical old Kenyan wall and new snazzy Kenyan wall! A sign of things to come!
It’s been absolutely awesome to have Dr Jacqui from the UK come over to work for 9 weeks in Kenya with us. Not only has she been working in traveling clinics in Narok, she has also been working in Kericho hospital alongside Dr Eunice Obiero. Dr Eunice is a very experienced doctor, so Jacqui has been learning loads!
The exciting thing is that Jacqui was able to come in to the kids home with me one day to meet the children. I was especially keen that she met Joseph, a boy with cerebral palsy that was found abandoned on the streets of Litein, roughly 6 years old, with a brief case of clothes. No one knew his exact age or name, so when he arrived at the kids home Stella named him Joseph, because in the bible Joseph was abandoned by his brothers, but in the long term ended up being blessed and in charge of most of Egypt! In Stella’s words ‘a name with many blessings!’ We think Joseph is now 16 years old.
I wanted Jacqui to meet Joseph because his condition has seemingly been getting worse. He was losing strength and falling over a lot. The staff at the kids home were wondering about the best way forward for him.
Jacqui had been making links with many of the departments in the hospital and was aware of the physiotherapy department (those of you who know Polly White will know she spent a month there last summer). Jacqui was able to organise an appointment for Joseph. The video shows Joseph’s first visit. It has now been organised, for a small fee for him to have intensive physio three times a week to improve his movement and coordination. He may even be able to have speech therapy.
Because people find it harder to interact with Joseph because of his condition and lack of speech, he can often get pushed to the back of the queue where attention in the home is concerned! He absolutely loved his first physio session because he was the centre of attention and got to go on an exercise bike!! All great things for him. Stella was overjoyed and in tears a lot of the time!
Milk and veg prices are set to start dropping, the dust has turned to mud and certain ‘roads’ all over Kenya have started to disappear! If we look on the bright side, we could say it makes certain long, boring journeys in your average 4×4 in to an experience most people would pay a lot of money for. Whether you get to where you want to go is besides the point, you should just get involved and enjoy the adventure!
For our favourite Doctor Jacqui, there have been times over the last few weeks where getting home in the evening has been quite a relief! After a long day doctoring in the middle of nowhere, sleeping in the land cruiser and listening to the rain beating down on the roof probably doesn’t hold much appeal!
Dr J, Taga and the trusty land cruiser, waiting to be filled with medication.
I had the privilege of tagging along with Dr J to an area called Kitororo. It was a 2 hour drive into the bush, and yes, you do have to ‘create your own road’ as our driver, Taga, put it! Narok town and it’s surrounding area is all Maasai land. There is a hospital in Narok, a couple of clinics a bit further away, but when you get in to what they call the interior, healthcare all but disappears. There are large Maasai communities dotted all over this hinterland that have nothing when it comes to pre or post natal care, immunisations, drugs for HIV or pain relief, help with wounds, bites or injuries and any other general advice doctors and nurses can give out.
The location for the days surgery! Slight change from your average doctors surgery!
That’s where Narok Intetegrated Development Programme comes in. Started by Tearfund a few years back, but now primarily supported by Christian Aid and other charitable bodies, NIDP does various humanitarian work within the community. One of the longer running project is the sending out of traveling clinics to each of the most isolated areas once a month. Jacqui has been helping out for the last few weeks, offering her skills in these clinics. Currently the government is providing two nurses and the drugs they need for treatment, but for the most part, Jacqui has been the only doctor here, so her training, advice and encouragement has played a helpful role in these clinics. Seeing as the NIDP office is on the same compound as the St Luke’s ACK church in Narok, a natural link has occurred. The ACK pastors who are working in these unreached areas, have built relationships through regular visits with the people living there, and are able to pass on when the clinic is coming. Perhaps more importantly, once the NIDP finishes because the funding has dried up (as it always does in the end), the hope is that the local church will be able to continue the work of the NIDP. This way, it will become sustainable.
...curious at seeing the doctor at work.
The video and photos say more about what went on than I can write, and it’s way more entertaining! Enjoy…
One of the first patients! Dr J made him cry when she stuck a needle in his leg!
What a stunner, and so young. Her head dress symbolises that she will be going through the Maasai 'coming of age' initiations before marriage.
Not looking bad for 90 something! And having to keep 5 wives happy, well...the years have been kind!
Maasai fashion. The more beads the better or create a few gaping holes in your lobes!
Yesterday evening we returned from a 10 day break on the coast with our friends from Trinity, Jacqui Orme and James Clapp. It’s been a very strange time. On one hand we have been surrounded by the most outstandingly beautiful scenery and had some lovely experiences, but on the other hand, as a lot of you will know, we lost our very good friend in the UK, Colin Phelps on the Tuesday just before we left. For those of you who didn’t know him, he was 34, an awesome friend, husband and father to three beautiful girls, so we left feeling deeply shocked and sad about such a tragedy.
The last few months in Kericho have been great, and we really love our home and community of friends and neighbours. But the main thing I miss is the freedom and security there is in the UK, especially for women. I used to run three times a week in Cheltenham, but there’s no way I’ll be getting my Lycra’s on for a jog around this neighbourhood! I get stared at enough when wearing baggy jeans on a bad hair day! We can’t go out much after 7pm when it’s getting dark; we’ve been told not to take any chances wondering around at that time as there are opportunists that come out at night. Any later and we feel like we are going to turn into pumpkins! Also it’s not easy to get out of town without a car. One of my most enjoyable activities in the UK was to go on really long walks in the middle of nowhere with a dog on my own. Can’t do that very safely here.
So as you might guess, we need to get out and about for a break! The church here let us hire a 4×4 for our trip. So we set off from Kericho, stopped off for a night in Nairobi, and carried on down to the coast. The whole trip was about 1000 Miles.
We were so glad to have Jax and James with us, and it always feels safer if there’s more than two of you. The whole trip went really well, with no problems on the road. Although there was some ‘creative’ overtakers on some of the concealed bends and in heavy rain showers!
We stayed at Diani beach, one of the main Kenyan coastal resorts, which is pretty unspoiled and has retained its natural beauty.
Jacqui and James enjoying a romantic stroll!
There is a large ex-pat population and compared to Kericho, we instantly noticed this made a huge difference in the social dynamic of the area. It’s interesting what happens to a place when poverty meets wealth.
Firstly we noticed there seemed to be a lot of older, white, rich looking men with young Kenyan women. Who knows what the arrangements behind those relationships were, but as our friend Jessie explained, there are a lot of women who come to Diani to find a white man to marry, a different life, and a man that will treat them well. Whether or not that is how these relationships culminate is another matter. And it’s not only the women that are trying to get in on the action. One of our guide books said that there are often men strutting up the beach offering ‘company with no charge’, hoping to get a passport to different circumstances. And some of the guys we saw, well, by the looks of it they were definitely trying to get some kind of female attention!
There's a storm coming in, lets go for a swim!
We had some interesting talks with the local ‘business men’; sellers of anything you want: boat trips, wooden models, coconuts, bracelets, key-rings and even fake Maasai warriors who will stand with you for a photo! They all want to be somewhere else, doing something else that will pay them more money. I asked if they would swap their working on the beach for working in an office. They looked a bit unsure about that!
Matokeo cleaning our Red Snapper! An office job just wasn't up his street!
How they work out what to charge you, then they add a bit more! Which I of course then argue the price right back down again!
This fisherman took us out on a dhow to the coral reef. He was 50 and stacked! A life on the waves keeps you trim!
Playing with my food as usual!
Keith left his clippers at home and was cultivating a comb-over, so a trip to the local hairdresser was needed. I've never seen a man use meths as aftershave until this moment!
As soon as we arrived at this beach, he shot up the palm tree like there was no tomorrow in order to retrieve a few coconuts to sell! They were delicious!
Us on our favourite beach!
The Trinity family in the UK held a thanksgiving service for Colin on the Thursday we were away, so we had our own special time on the beach, just the four of us. We had written letters that we buried in the sand to remember our much-loved friend.
An amazing host every time. So many great memories. We'll miss you Colster.
Hebrews 12 v1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.
We are just about to go away for ten days down to the coast with our friends Jacqui and James. A road trip, with a beach at the end. After three months and a lot of learning curves, it sounded like the perfect break away! We’ll post some pics on our return!
Before we go, I just wanted to post something about the Sunday afternoon just gone. The youth at the church have recently put together a footy team, and Keith got the privilege of playing with them this Sunday. The match was a friendly against a local tea estate team. After a heavy meal (their first mistake!) We all piled in a matatu, and off we went!
Keith preparing the head for a day running around under the rays! Sun cream just ain't gonna cut it!
The tea estates have housing for the workers in beautiful valleys with amazing views across the rolling tea fields. The houses can be round or rectangular and are in rows. If you manage to get a job in the tea estates with companies like Unilever or Finlays (who supply tea to lipton and other well known brands), you’re doing well, because as well as getting a wage, it usually means you get health care and your children get to go to the schools on the estate. There’s quite a community in the housing areas. There is often a field for football and sometimes a few swings and a slide! Heaven to some of the kids I imagine!
You can see a few houses in the background. It doesn't look it but the sun was HOT that day!
We really enjoyed being a part of that community this Sunday, and we really did meet some characters! Hopefully we’ll go back for a re match, as the boys were thrashed 8-nil! Too much food and too little practice was the conclusion!
Enjoy the pics and the video is a must see! Take note of the kids dancing! Hilarious!
One of my better action shots!
I loved this piece of genius! Lots of the kids had them. Proper recycling! He loved it when I asked him if I could take a picture of his van
Some things don’t move as fast in Kenya as they do in the UK. One might get used to the idea that change is slow. Over the last few weeks my friend, Josphat, and I have been making rough measurements around the office property for what is planned to become the new Conference Centre and Guesthouse here in Kericho.
My involvement goes further than just Kericho, and there are numerous plans afoot for similar projects in other towns in the region. The developments will provide local jobs and generate income to go towards supporting community-orientated projects. For now, though, Kericho is my focus as Anna and I are based here. Josphat and I made the measurements and drew up a plan of existing trees on the site so that we know which ones are worth keeping and which ones are destined to be felled to make way for the new buildings.
I set aside the tree survey drawing to use, in my mind, at some future date when the plans were more definite. So anyway, one week later, I came in to the office to the sound of a chainsaw and the felling of the first tree, a 40 year old diseased Jacaranda!! I am used to the planning law in the UK slowing things down, but not so in Kenya, apparently!
It turned out that Josphat had asked his brother to come in and chop down the ones that we had identified for felling – there were strict criteria for this! It’s a good thing that Josphat is on the ball because the fellers weren’t referring to the drawing either! Also, one of the trees that I wanted to keep turns out to be infested with a parasite, so it needs to come down now too. I am learning all about the importance of local knowledge out here… Josphat knows about the medicinal uses for the trees around the compound as well.
Men at work - Josphat and I survey the wreckage
The timber has been sorted into piles for general firewood as well as beams for roofing which they have sawn and split on-site. We also have some good ol’-fashioned tree-trunk seats which we have set aside for a new seating area. These guys are amazing – they made swift work of two Jacarandas, and as I write a third one is coming down (all diseased and so old they were becoming dangerously close to falling on someone).
Initial sketch design ideas for the site in Kericho
The upshot of this is that I have started to put together some initial sketch proposals for the project sooner rather than later. I can’t wait to see what happens in the next building phase – I am expecting a few surprises!
As a lot of you know, at the moment part of my week is spent in the local children’s home. They are not uncommon in kenya, with many children being orphaned due to poverty, HIV, social problems and abandonment.
Manuel, recently arrived at the kids home. Very interested in my camera!
Presently the current property is rented and run by Stella Kirui, and a team of 6 others who all help cook for, teach, play with, clothe, wash and organise the children! There are 35 children in total. They range between the ages of 2 to 18. I am planning to make a separate page on this website with all the details of the set up, but for now, this is just a taster of what’s been going on there!
They have a main donor, two business men in partnership, who kindly pay the rent, buy the children’s food, and pay a small allowance for each of the staff, but all other costs are covered by the generosity of whoever decides to give.
I enjoy being there, and although I am learning Swahili fast, have had to muddle through with the children without yet being able to communicate with them properly. They can’t speak English, their second language is Swahili and their first language their tribal tongue.
I am a real advocate for knitting and crochet circles! In the UK I enjoyed being part of two knitting circles, and made loads of friends and knitted items! My mum who lives in Carlisle, decided to get in on the action, and ‘Klick Klick Natter’ was born (group name is an important part of knitting circle culture, cheesier the better). They meet once a week to knit, drink tea and eat nice cake (home made if possible, also a very important part of any good knitting circle) and catch up on each others latest news and project ideas.
The other great thing about these groups is that you can raise money. KKN decided to put in £1 each every week towards new clothes for the children at Kericho children’s home. Once that had accumulated to a worthwhile amount, they transferred it over to me in Kericho, so Stella and I were able to go to the ‘bend down boutique’ and buy a load of much needed new clothes for the children!
The start of a clothes buying marathon!
I should tell you here what the ‘bend down boutique’ is. It’s in the local market and comes every Thursday. Along side the regular food market it sells clothes, shoes, head scarfs, blankets and bedding. The way the produce is presented is in huge piles spread across sections of sack cloth on the floor! Therefore to find what you want, you have to bend down and have a really good rummage! Think huge outdoor jumble-sale with a crazy atmosphere and you’d be about right. You have to be a bit careful at times, because the ladies that sell often fall asleep in amongst the clothing, blend in and become virtually invisible! You can get a real shock when in the middle of riffling through you come across an arm or a leg!
Bending down is the only way forward in this boutique!
These fleeces were shipped over from Europe
Everything is second hand, but mostly in good condition. Most of the clothes that the developed world puts in those big clothing banks in Tesco car parks gets sorted, vacuum-packed and sent over to the developing nations to sell on. You can get some real bargains although you have to be willing to put up a good argument with some of the sellers – a challenge I quite enjoy!
'mmm, that ones a bit too pink!'
So we spent one and a half hours sifting through piles of clothes, picking as many items as we cold get for the money that was sent. Our main challenge was to find tiny pants with decent elastic that will stay up on the children! A lot of them, especially the ones that come to the home malnourished, spend so much time attempting to run around with their pants round their ankles! Funny to watch but a bit of a safety hazard!
Walking home the 'African way'!
It was great to get back to the home and see the kids excitement at trying on for size all their jazzy new clothes!
Ripped skirt, just about to be swapped for smart new one!
So thanks to all the lovely ladies at ‘klick klack natter’ for your generosity. Enjoy the photos and video (sorry about the sound quality)!
Being in Kenya, you hear a lot of inspirational stories about how people live, what they have achieved, often through incredible hardship. Jomawe Owen has one of those stories.
Jomawe at the river near his home
Jomawe (his actual name is John Mark Wereh; Jomawe, pronounced Jom-ahh-way) was born in 1992, so this year he is 20. He grew up near Kericho with his mum, three brothers and three sisters. He barely knew his dad; he was murdered when Jomawe was young, the perpetrator was never brought to justice. His mum was left to fend for herself and bring up the family alone. A tea picker, she worked in the plantations for Unilever. Jomawe has memories of being out in the tea fields from a young age picking tea with is brothers, sisters and mum.
A strong lady, Jamawe’s mum borrowed money in order to get the siblings through the government schools, and was able to pay the money back later. Once Jomawe left school, like all youth of his age who don’t have the privilege of further education open to them, he had to find a job. Not an easy task in Kenya.
He managed to get a string of short term jobs, including waitering, selling clothes, selling mobile phones, and finally working at Trinity School in the library, the school attached to the church where we work.
The violence that overtook Kenya in the wake of the disputed December 2007 Presidential elections came as a surprise to many in the world, and probably to a lot of Kenya (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2007–2008_Kenyan_crisis). Jomawe was 18 when the violence broke out. Being from the Luo tribe, and in the heart of the area affected, he was in serious danger, as many opposition tribes were on the rampage. He and his brother had to ‘run for their lives’ and escape to safer grounds and wait for the turmoil to resolve itself. Thankfully, after some time, a coalition government was formed, thus calming the violence. Being in Kenya today, you can hardly believe there was bad feeling between the tribes.
Where Jomawe and Dennis live. They share the one bed!
Jomawe and his brother live together and are both part of Holy Trinity Kericho. He has a strong christian faith and we see them singing up front on Sunday mornings with the other youth / young adults. He is passionate about music and about the progress of young people.
A while back, Jomawe was involved with organizing a concert for some school leavers, and in doing so, got in touch with some local artists to perform. The concert was a success, and afterwards, Jomawe met a group of like-minded young men who also loved music and performing but who also had a strong faith like Jomawe.
There is an epidemic amongst the young people of Kenya. If they are fortunate enough to get through school (even the ‘free’ government schools, which can have up to 100 in a class, aren’t really free if you take into account the uniform, transport, books etc), then the next problem they face is, as I wrote above, getting a job. Only the ‘lucky’ ones land a full-time job. Others may land a contract job for a short time, and some may get ‘kazi mikono’ – hand work – essentially manual labour usually in the hot sun. But unfortunately for the majority, jobs are few and far between. This results is a lot of spare time to do nothing but get bored, or find something better to do, often in the form of drugs, sex and alcohol, which as we all know leads to a dead end, especially in Kenya with HIV being such a problem.
Jomawe and his friends have a ‘can do’ attitude. They saw the problem and decided to do something about it.
They thought, “If we can get young people together for a school-leavers concert, why can’t we get young people together for something better?”
They formed a group that organizes youth events with the vision of uniting young people; creating a place for them to talk, dance, sing, play music together, and diverting them in to healthy, encouraging friendships, where they can channel their energy and gifts, giving them a direction away from the downward spiral of drugs, promiscuity and alcoholism.
The main organizers of the group are close knit. We met Hank and Eli when we were over at Jomawe’s for dinner. They live in close proximity to each other, often eat at each others houses, and have a brotherly relationship.
The guys from G squad in their studio. Keith trying to look as 'down wiv it' as possible!
Their passion for music and technical skills have lead them to produce music through their group called “G-squad” which performs all over the Kericho area. By promotion and performances they are actively encouraging young people in their faith, uniting the youth of Kericho and encouraging those who want to succeed in Kenya today. The local council has been supportive of their events and can see the positive reaction they are having on the youth of Kericho.
listening to a song they wrote and watching the video they made that goes with it in their studio
They have researched how to build a recording studio and then built it themselves; a rented room in a church afforded with the little money they have pooled together. They have saved up and bought the gear, and have creatively produced some songs that have been popular in Kericho and beyond, and now get played on national radio. They rent out the studio to young people for manageable fees to give youth a chance to channel their gifts and to produce their own music. This fee not only goes towards the running costs, it has also become their income.
Others in the group can dance. Street dancing is popular here with the youth. They have won competitions, and instead of spending the substantial prize money, they save it for future development and projects. They are strategic in their thinking.
We were amazed at their enthusiasm, positivity, vision and integrity. All of them are 25 and under. They seem to have come to terms with the fact that in Kenya, if you don’t do it yourself, no one else is going to do it for you.
An amazing story of young people who are standing strong in the face of adversity.
Below is a clip of a video and one of their collaborations, featuring local Kericho youth, and it was filmed in the car park of the local Sikh temple (biggest in Africa actually!). The title, ‘Sukuma Wiki’, is the name of a very popular spinach-like vegetable that everyone eats here. “Why write a song about that”, I hear you ask! Well Sukuma Wiki translates into something like ‘push through the week’ – you can see why it can relate to both faith and spinach!
Being part of a community and church in Kericho, means you make friends quickly, and we find ourselves doing the most random things that were never really planned, they just happen!
We have been trying to make our flat more like a home, and in doing so, needed to find a man with a drill to help us put up pictures. We decided the Indian family run business ‘Bridge Motors’, across the road from our flat was a good place to start. It was a good idea, and their ‘fundi’ (general DIY bloke) was sorted out for the next day. Of course you can never just pop in to ask a question about a drill; they squeezed us some fresh orange juice, wanted to catch up with our recent news, and tell us theirs! In doing so, it turns out that they had a bag full of freshly picked and dried coffee beans that needed processing, and they’d tried and hadn’t had much success! It just so happenes that our friend Jonny who was with us, has over 1000 coffee bushes on his farm back east, and processes coffee all the time! So off we went back to ours with a bag full of coffee beans to process, and no time like the present! The results are as shown in this video!
Yesterday I went to meet Ruth, one of the ladys who runs the sunday school. She works in a salon. Now you have to know that in Kericho, there are salons everywhere, as all the ladies have their afro hair ‘changed’ every two or three weeks. The styles are many and it takes them next to no time to braid a whole head of hair in to intricate rows. The other popular thing is pedicures! They scrub, rub, moisturise your feet, cut and paint your nails for what would be about the equivalent of £3! They persuaded me to have one, and honestly I had to be persuaded as the problem is I am quite ticklish! I got through it, but not without nearly wetting myself first! After that experience, I was taken to meet Ruth’s sister two doors down in her ‘hotel’. That means a place where food is served. The introduction was hilarious. ‘Meet my sister Maggie. Look how fat she is’. Maggie adds-’yes, I am so fat because I taste all the food’. You can imagine my reaction! LOL!
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I ended up in her kitchen serving the workmen, who thought a mzungu in the kitchen serving them was the best thing they’d seen in years. And then Maggie decided to show me how to cook mandazi (basically a tasty deep fried doughnut), so that made their day as well, especially because I gave the mandazi out for free afterwards! The whole afternoon was fun. Kenya is such a lively place and the people are vibrant! Across the alley from the kitchen was a woman who was 120 years old. ‘Do I want to go and see her?’ I was asked. ‘Of course!’ I mean, how often do you get to meet a 120 year old person!! The things she must have seen.
Here are the photos from that crazy afternoon!
A typical kitchen in a 'kiosk hotel'.
Maggies way of boiling two types of beans in one pot of water. Put one load in a carrier bag with holes in! Saves on charcoal too!
Mandazi frying! Great for breakfast.
This is a traditional jiko stove. Notice the hole in the wall on the left. As I was frying away, a rat ran out of it. I said 'Maggie something just ran out of that hole!' Reply: 'oh that's just the rat'.......
120 years old and doesn't look a day past 95! Good old grandma!
Ruth on the left, Maggie on the right, mandazi in the dish!
Nothing to do with the previous story, but just had to add this photo. Sunset as we came home tonight!!!
We have just arrived back from a 6-day trip to Nairobi. The main reason to go there was to organise our three-year visas. JOS (our new name for Bishop Jackson Ole Sapit!) was travelling to Nairobi airport to fly to Mombasa – cheaper than driving – so we used the opportunity to get the visa application started. We left on my birthday, the 7th, and returned on Sunday with JOS.
Our two friends, Josh and Sarah, are staying in Karen, an affluent suburb of Nairobi for a year, so we stayed with them. After applying for visas we then planned to buy items for our flat as we want to make our home more ‘homely’ in Kericho. Not everything we wanted is readily available to buy in Kericho. We also wanted some chill-out time with friends.
That was our plan, but it didn’t exactly turn out like that! One of our many lessons in Kenya is we are realising that we never know what will happen next! We had two great days, having my birthday meal out at a lovely restaurant, and checking out prices for rugs, lamps and alike.
On the third day Keith and I ventured out alone planning to go for a swim. We’d been using taxis and ‘matatus’ to get around, matatus being minibus-like vans that bomb around everywhere picking up and dropping people off where they need to go. Some are okay, others a bit more dodgy, but they are CHEAP compared to taxis. They are a fraction of the cost so they are very attractive. So we jumped on one to get to our swimming pool destination.
To cut a long story short, whilst on the matatu we were the unfortunate victims of what appeared to be a targeted hustle. Through distraction and teamwork I had my phone stolen out of my zipped-up handbag, and Keith almost lost his wallet out of his buttoned-up pocket.
After the incident we were gob-smacked at the expertise of these thieves, and we returned to Josh and Sarah’s feeling shocked and totally naive. After discussing this event with other Kenyans, we now know that this is a regular way of life for some here, where no one is immune to the dangers of thieving. However, as white people, we are a very conspicuous target.
We have a friend in Nairobi who knows the Chief of Police and we did track the phone to central Nairobi’s phone shop district, but we think that they wiped the memory which stops the tracking device and so we lost it.
Let’s face it, looking for a stolen phone in Nairobi is like looking for a needle in a haystack!
We decided to put the whole incident down to a seriously steep learning curve. It could have been so much worse. We realise now that we have to live with very different eyes. We are not cynical about being here, just a lot more savvy we hope. And that can only be a good thing.
The saddest thing for me is that we were helping a man pick up his coins when his accomplices were quietly robbing us. Since the event, people have said either, “never help anyone in Nairobi”, or, “if people are asking for your help, ask yourself ‘why?’”. Not something that naturally comes to my mind when I see someone in need.
Apart from this unfortunate happening, we continued our time in Nairobi as best we could, and we can actually say that we really did enjoy the rest of the week! We feel we know our way around now, and would be able to go back again feeling a lot more confident.
Gunther before the change
A really fab thing that happened when we were there (especially for me, if you know me well you’ll know why!), was that Josh had this huge caterpillar called Gunther! It had been in a cocoon when we arrived, but it hatched when we were there, on the night of the ‘bad’ day! It was really cool to watch and we recorded some video footage that I’ve made into one clip. Its amazing to see the transformation and how it turns out! And we felt the name Gunther didn’t suit it once it was hatched. It’s new name became Bullseye! You’ll see why!
Driving back to Kericho with JOS, we saw some amazing views caused by the dust being lifted by the coming rains. Here are two of the the best- Rain coming across the rift valley.
