The Mission: 7 Children's Homes, 1 Day...

Last Saturday I had the most amazing time visiting five different children's homes around Mombasa and donating items of food, clothes, toiletries and SWEETS!

There were seven children's homes in total that received donations, but we were unable to go to two of them because they were in dodgy areas, so the staff met us at the meeting spot and we distributed the donations from there.

We headed off behind our big blue truck to Nazarene School, the very first project i-to-i worked with. We had to drive the truck through the smallest gap between the houses in the community, where we saw a few people try to take some of the donations from the back of the truck, but we were on their tails and they fled.

We arrived:

We dropped the items off for Nazarene, took a look around the school, played football with the children and then sped off into the distance. We had work to do.

The next stop was around the corner at the Grandsons of Abraham project. Grandsons takes in street boys who want to live a better life and it was so amazing to meet the boys. Most have lived on the streets and they've run away from something in their lives. But the boys I met were all great, a little tough looking, but once you crack through that exterior, it was great to get to know the boys and talk to them.

After leaving Grandsons, we headed to New Hope school and children's home, but not before getting stopped by the police for reasons I'm still not sure about but that I think involved a bribe :)

We met the children, took a look around the school, I even had a go at taking a lesson of my own :)

After spending time at New Hope, we hit the (bumpy) road again and headed to Tumaini Home of Hope. The project is run by a British lady called Joan who now has Kenyan citizenship and all of the children at the home have been affected by HIV in some way. There's some great work going on at the home.

We were running out of time and we still had one project left to visit, Lunahome! So we climbed back in the cars, sped over to Lunahome and met the children :)

It was such an amazing day that just showed me how much good work is being done here, but how much more there is still to do. I'm happy to have been a small part of that and to have met everyone I did that day!

Thank you to everyone who donated money from back home, thank you.

How to get around in Kenya... NOT LIKE THAT!

For anyone who hasn't been to Kenya before, there are three main types of public transport, all equally dangerous, fast and a LOT of fun. Today's essay blog will explain in more detail:

1. The matatu

As Mombasa doesn't have public buses, the main transport comes through matatus, or minivans that theoretically should seat 12 people as they have 12 seats. Go figure. However it's not uncommon to have more than the maximum capacity and strangers sitting on your lap. You have to forgo any concerns about personal space and leave them at the door. In the matatu you have to climb over people to get to seats - literally CLIMB.

I am clumsy, I have hit at least 20 people in the face on matatus so far.

Plus, I always forget that wearing a skirt in matatus + climbing over people = pants flashing! MUST STOP WEARING SKIRTS ON MATATUS.

The best thing about matatus is that at night time, they pimp the matatus so that every angle of the vehicle is decorated with a string of rope lights, so they look like freaky skeleton/badass/neon slugs. That is until they drive past you pumping Britney Spears 'Hit me baby one more time' at full volume and you fall about laughing.

Did I mention that most journeys cost 30 shillings which converts to around 15p???? CHEAP, man.

2. The tuk-tuk

These three wheeled menaces aren't afraid of anything, and I flipping love them. The engines are so noisy that  conversation is ruled out while they're in motion but the drivers are hilarious and you can trust that they know the dimensions of their vehicles to the nearest millimeter. They're more expensive than matatus, but handy if you have shopping to carry home.

3. Boda-boda/piki-piki

I've saved the best until last... the forbidden fruit... my motorbikes! I'm not actually supposed to go on them as they're apparently so dangerous, but feeling the breeze in your hair is just so amazing on a hot African day. I have a very nice driver called Rashid who likes to tell me about his family as he drives, but he has a scary habit of turning his head to talk to me, so I don't talk that much on the bikes... JUST LOOK AT THE ROAD PLEASE.

So there we are. A mini guide to how to get around ON TRANSPORT in Kenya.

An Interesting 24 Hours in Kenya...

There's no point in planning anything in Kenya. Kenya grabs any plans you might have, throws them out the window and says 'HA! That's what you THINK you're doing!' then runs away with them into the sunset.

In the last 24 hours I have:

* Gone to the airport to collect a new arrival who we took straight for a few beers. A few beers turned into talking with the owner of the bar who offered me a job and treated us to a kilogram of beef, ugali and four tusker beers. At one point there were three unopened bottles in front of me at which point I had to tell him to stop buying us beers - not something I enjoy saying.

* I took a motorbike taxi to a beach hotel and sunbathed and typed blogs to earn some cash. I had planned to stay at home and work to save some cash but Mombasa decided to have a powercut so I figured it would be cooler to sit on the beach and work than sit in my apartment when the fans aren't working. Smart move.

My new office :)

* I took a motorbike taxi to the beach which cost me a cool 100 shillings = 80p. This is a sign that I am becoming Kenyan that i didn't want to pay for a motorbike so instead I walked for 20 minutes in the sun, paid 10 shillings for a matatu, then had another 20 minute walk and a 30 shilling matatu again. I saved 60 shillings, you work it out.

* I was skyping with my Dad earlier and a waiter comes over to see why I am talking to my laptop. He then proceeds to stand and watch me for five full minutes while my Dad keeps saying 'Katie, he's still behind you'. I guess I'm getting used to this behaviour, like when a lady came and sat on my lap on the matatu bus the other day.

* I had a full conversation with a Masai tribesman today, I'm still not exactly sure what I said but it seemed to make sense to him and we both parted ways.

* I had an invitation to live with a man in Burundi today. I don't even know where Burundi is other than it's not in Kenya. I'm not going.

Supermarket love

I love supermarkets in other countries, I love seeing all the different products on offer (but I'm not one of those people to go 'oh look, they have McVities here! Weeeeee! Let me buy some at four times the price back home) Not me.

Look at these bad boys I saw just yesterday:

BRILLIANT. What a tourist I am.

Sun is shining... weather is sweet

Some photos from Kenya Land!

Much love from Kenya!

Things Kenya Has Taught Me...

Being here on my own in Kenya is great because I'm challenging myself daily and getting all independent at the grown up age of 28. All the things that are so easy for me back home are things I have to face here with gusto and creativity.

For example, if I need to wash my clothes, there's no washing machine, so things get hand washed (OK so I've decided to help the Kenyan economy by PAYING someone to hand wash it for me - is that so bad?).

I'm not much of a cook back home, the boy tends to do it all because he enjoys it more than me and it's a good way to avoid Crazy Katie coming out when she burns the rice and throws the pan through the kitchen window. So, when I was introduced to my new stove (I've called him Steve)...

Hi Stove! I'm probably going to kill you...

... I knew it probably wouldn't end well. Probably because I was told 'to light it, just hold the lit match against the gas tank and switch it on. SORRY, WHAT?!

Me and Steve the Stove are getting on ok, most nights I pick at stuff rather than having a full meat as it's just too damn hot to eat hot food.

So far I've learnt the following here:

* You can boil water in the microwave, I honestly didn't know this but I've found it a good way to get water when I'm in a mood with Steve and don't feel like torching myself.

* 'Make love' sounds an AWFUL lot like 'my club' in a Kenyan accent. Use your listening skills at all times, people but especially on a busy matatu when the guy asking you for a drink is drunk.

* I REALLY cannot dance. I mean, after a few tequilas, I think I can dance, but in reality, I cannot dance one tiny little bit compared to the women here. Might as well have more tequila then...

* Ants can find ANYTHING that you don't clean up. I am having to be the tidiest I've ever been in my apartment, that's probably a good thing

* Green bananas are plantains and are not sweet bananas. This is especially annoying when you think it's just an under-ripe yellow banana and persevere only to be rewarded with HORRIBLE HORRIBLE SAVOURY BANANA FAKER.

OH YEAH, IT'S REALLL FUNNY TO PUT THEM SO CLOSE TOGETHER!!!!

* Do NOT mention God in a conversation here unless you have a good few hours to listen to your opponent new friend express his views.

* Factor 40 is not strong enough, fetch the cement!

Conclusion: despite it all, I love it here.

Water lot of fun...

I've completely fallen in love with Kenya, there is so much I love about this place! Everyone is just so laid back about everything.

Over the weekend we had so many adventures, I need to write them down before I forget them all, I'm becoming very forgetful in this hot weather...

On Saturday we rented two beach cottages next door to each other and 12 of us hit the beach for Alice's birthday. Cue much fun! We jumped in the pool at the earliest opportunity and spent a very happy few hours diving, swimming and generally having fun before getting out and drying off...

... It was only at this time that we realised that Mandy (another volunteer here from Sweden) now had green hair instead of her usual blonde locks and my legs had turned a fluorescent shade of green from the knee to the ankle. We made quite a pair.

Not being a scientist, we assumed that there was too much chlorine in the pool and went to tell the staff. After explaining in broken Swahili and English that we were green from the pool we were met with the response 'yes, that is normal'. Errrr, no it's not actually Senor. I love Kenya.

Later that night I taught everyone to play Spoons, the best game in the whole world when we realised that Alice only had 15 minutes left of her birthday, and she wanted to do SOMETHING RECKLESS in that time, so we decided to jump in the pool (yes, the same pool that turned me green). We ran and jumped in with our clothes on and were laughing so much when the security guard came along and spoken in Swahili. I assumed that he was telling us to get out of the pool, but he was just telling us that we should keep the noise down. So it was ok for us to be in the pool fully clothed at midnight, but it was NOT OK to be loud in the pool. I love Kenya.

The scene of the green crime...

On the Sunday we took a glass bottomed boat out to sea and it just happened to be called the Ray Kate, so obviously that made my day already...

We sailed out to sea and the captain stopped the boat so that we could see the fish through the glass bottom which was incredible. Then it was our turn to snorkel and I've never snorkeled before and it was AMAZING. Apart from when everyone on the boat was throwing bread at us which made all the fish circle us - most distressing. 

Myself and Mandy (of the green hair) decided it would be a good idea to SWIM UNDER THE GLASS BOTTOMED BOAT AND WAVE TO EVERYONE ON BOARD - LOOK AT US! YAY! However, i totally misjudged the width of the boat and ended up surfacing right under the boat, smacking my head against it and having my body pressed up against the glass bottom - WITH EVERYONE LOOKING. A classic Bridget Jones moment, move over Renee.

Oh well.

Here's a few pictures of the beautiful beach to help me calm down and catch my breath again...

To conclude: Don't swim under boats that have glass bottoms. They're wider than they appear. Especially if the only experience you have of diving is for goggles in a pool... That would have made for an interesting insurance claim 'So you say she was swimming UNDER A GLASS BOAT?'