St Juliet's Primary - Mary Rice - Embulbul

Today is our final day of placement at St Juliet's for Gabi and I. We all met at St Stephens and started the long walk to St Juliet's. I've actually become used to the stares and shouts of “how are you. How are you? How are you?” And “Muzungu!!” It's become a little bit of a reality here- it's almost like we are celebrities as people stare and call out to us and children just want to hold our hands.

At school, I taught the 4th graders science- which today consisted of teaching the respiratory system. There was 82 students in my class. One class. I don't think I should ever complain of my larger-than-state- school class of 28 students again. I'm covered in chalk and dirt- and I almost had to laugh out loud of the moment I walked into the school and a student had been ordered to put water on the ground to make a path for me so it was not so dusty… Just muddy. It was a good class, despite the large amount of students. I had a lot more confidence today and pulled out a few behaviour management skills, demanding silence before I would continue the class. I think the Kenyan teachers and even my guides were pleasantly impressed-which was nice! Keep in mind that no teacher here has had any sort of formal training.

At recess, Gabi and I were asked to mark books while the children played- which annoyed me- I wanted to play! We had Sammy and a few of the Karibu leaders arrive which was a great excuse to leave the books and head outside with them. The children flocked all over us, wanting to hold our hands, hug us, touch our skin, jump on us, be picked up and play with our hair! They were so amazed at how soft our hair was (in reality to me it feels like straw as I havnt washed it in two days!!) my best moment was when I younger student came up and grabbed my arm- cupping his hands on my skin to make a dark space for him to look into to see if I was glow in the dark?! It was adorable- and so strange!

We played some songs and danced together as a group before it was our time to leave. There are so many of those kids faces that will stay with me. I felt like I have finally got started - and now it was time to leave. There are so many things in that school that I think I could help with. Not necessarily the students- but the teachers. It's one thing to give the school sports equipment and money, but unless the teachers are motivated and productive to use the money in a effective way, nothing gets done. Sadly, on many occasions- not much gets done. I walk away from this school feeling as though I have not helped them to my full potential yet. I walk away concerned that the money we donated is not going to be spent in a manner that benefits the school to its greatest potential. The teachers need training, they need guidance, they need some sort of financial plan to make sure they are sustainable and they can continue to provide for their students. It's one thing to give them money, but without being sure of what to do with it, I'm not feeling that confident to know that it will help.

Our next stop is back at the Mary Rice Centre. Brother Gerard has quite a fondness for Lisa and I since his visit to St Bernard's last year and he got so excited when we arrived- he just wants to show us everything! We spoke more to the teachers and therapists working at the special school and began speaking more about some of the students that given education there. We learnt that Gerry, a gorgeous happy child that is in a wheelchair due to a physical disability in his legs was chained up and hid for years by his mother, who thought she was doing the right thing to avoid him the embarrassment of people laughing at him. We learnt that Obama, another child with Cerebral palsy, was also chained up daily and hidden from the world due to his father believing that he was a disgrace on the family and he didn't want to world to see his shame. When asking the teachers what their biggest challenge of the school was, the response we received from all of them was the parents and the stigma that surrounds the children. There are so many negative associations here around children living with disabilities. Due to this stigma, there is also a number of unsupportive parents of children at Mary rice that simply don't care. It too hard in the slum to have a child with such high needs. One of the saddest stories of the day was when I met a loud excited, beautiful child, Sarah, who was diagnosed with Autism. The school has had to patch her up and take her to hospital on numerous occasions due to members of her family who have struck her numerous times in the head- suspected attempted murder. Twice this child has shown up at school with injuries that should have killed her- what a survivor! I am hoping that this child is properly protected now! I know that child protection services exist here due to the fact I just had to read a document outlining these laws since we are working with children in the Edmund rice camps on the weekend- not sure how effective this is though.

There are lots of micro-finance projects run by the school to assist parents for school fees associated with Mary Rice. Many parents are involved in making clothes, bags, jewellery and cards to sell for money. I think it's fantastic that the school helps parents in their way, by giving them an education on how to manage their money and start up their own business in selling the goods they make. Again, I bought lots of beads- I guess people know what they are getting for presents!! ;) it's nice being able to support the incredible people we have met.
Walking back through the slums, it was beautiful when John invited Gabi and I back to his home to see inside one of the houses in Kibera slum. I felt really privileged that he was comfortable enough to invite us back to meet his family and see his house which houses 5 adults and 2 of his baby cousins. John lives with his aunt and uncle after his parents passed away of illness when he was young. His aunt is one of the most beautiful,humble people I have ever met. She welcomed us into her home with open arms and was happy to show us her house which her and her husband build themselves. Mud walls and a scrap corregated iron for a roof. Johns family is probably considered a wealthier family as they have their own walls made of thick mud to keep the heat out. Many shanti's are made of tin and cardboard and anything that can be found. We sat in a lounge room on makeshift couches and were shown family photos on the wall which obviously they were extremely proud of. There was a bed sheet separating the sitting room to the kitchen and bedroom. What I loved is that his aunty was so happy to have us there. She was proud of her house of 10x10 meters big, and I was proud of her. She has worked hard over the years running her own business in selling vegetables to support not only her own children, but her sisters children as well- she was just beautiful. Such happy, humble people.

We arrived back in Karen after our incredible guide Karunja, organise a private matatu (mini bus) for us- what a gun! We placed in our bags and almost immediately Terry, Andrew G and I left to go visit the Parade school boys that arrived in Kenya yesterday. Terry has been working with the boys and wanted to welcome them, and I wanted to go to meet their Immersions coordinator,Rachael and to check out the bungalow that I will be staying in with the St Bernard's boys when I return to Kenya in June!

It's really nice! There is a bungalow at the back of the brothers house, which is built entirely from funds donated from the St Bernard's boys. It made me feel a little bit proud when I saw it. I am hoping to spend some time at Br. Beausang's next week to meet all the St Bernard's contacts.

On reflection tonight we had lots of discussions with Karunja on some of the issues in Kibera from the lack of sewage disposal to the litter issue. The water pipes, which are broken and leaking share the same paths as thes sewerage and the fact that many people live in vary poor conditions and live on one or no meals a day. Another issue we discussed is the thug life which exists in the country. There is a big issue of young men treating women poorly and of course theft and burglaries. You notice the big houses in the areas we are staying that they must know they are targets with high fences, barred windows and armed guards at the front of every building. Over here, police and security are trained to shoot to kill. If someone is suspected in being involved in the thug life, they are shot on the spot. No questions. Talking to our guide John today, he believes he has lost almost 20 friends. Karunja said he had lost 3 friends who have been shot. Again, a very different life to try and understand and digest.

Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

St Juliet's PS & Single mothers group - Kibera Slum

Today I finish my diary entry on a much more settled tone. Today was such a learning experience for me with a lot of emotions.
We arrived at school and I was pleased to see more teachers and students at school and ready for school. I was placed in with the year 7s to teach science- first unit? The human body! I felt relaxed as I walked in the classroom and I was even handed a textbook with an outline of what to teach- today's lesson is on the circulatory system and the properties of blood. 34 students and 3 kids had textbooks- challenge number 1. Secondly, around 20 students had pencils… Luckily I was prepared and had all my Australian pencils with me that Debbie had donated from the Tannery. I handed out each student a pencil and I watched as their eyes lit up at their new gift! Amazing about how excited they were about a greys led pencil! Next challenge- no paper. Some students had exercise books, some students had makeshift books they had put together themselves from any piece of random paper they had found, and some students had nothing. Earlier that day I had picked up some coloured speech cards from the supermarket thinking I could use them for a game- but instead, they become the students writing books!

We wrote down notes about the circulatory system and even did a quick activity, reading our pulses before and after phsycial activity. It was fun, and amazing at how much the students wanted to learn. Of course you had a number of students that had the quiet chatter here and there- but mostly they were amazing! I think the Bernard's boys could use some of that focused energy!

My second class, is as told I could do some PE with a junior class- great! Only 30 kids had arrived to school in that class so I was prepared for some good NIH team building and icebreaker games….nope. There were no teachers for classes 1,3 or 5- so the principal decided to put them in with my PE lesson also- which now made everything that I had planned useless! Not only that… They got 2 of the more senior classes to come out and watch- as their teachers had not planned anything either. So my little class of 30, turned into 150+ students very quickly in a tiny little space. It stumped me for a little and I felt overwhelmed with what to do! I had no control over the crowd of students that all wanted to hold my hand or stroke my hair! I couldn't even get them quiet enough to hear a single explanation. Absolute chaos! Luckily, John, my guide from the Karibu group started some swahili songs and the students fell into place for songs around a circle! with lots of laughing dancing and chasing each other in a structured game I couldn't for the life of me figure out! I taught them the chicken dance (to me singing) and I realised I may have hit my low point! I was exhausted! Luckily the bell rang and they all sprinted back to their classrooms.
For the next section, I was placed on a seat outside the classrooms and were bought maths textbooks one after the other.. At first I had no idea why, then I was instructed I had to correct the books and give them back to the teacher before the class was out! I was used as a personal book corrector! I guess they are not silly!

This is also where I saw something that really struck some emotions. As I was correcting books, I started hearing the swift cracks. Lydia, my Karibu friend who was sitting next to me started giggling. She told me someone obviously hadn't done their work correctly… A kid was getting the strap! I was mortified! Lydia told me it was really common and quite normal, she had the strap a lot when she was a school, children need discipline. :/ she preceded to tell me that it is actually illegal to use the strap on children now and that the government had banned it, but teachers still do it as a form of punishment and no one even bats an eyelid. I asked her why no one reported it when teachers do it, but she simply said it was not their place.
I also had a discussion with her about how people become teachers. She told me you needed spirit. No qualifications, no experience necessary. You just have to have the will to teach… Such a different world when you think about all the children checks and qualifications you need to simply be in a class alone with students at home. I guess it gave me a greater understanding of why the teachers are not as efficient as I expected or wanted them to be. It's a tough job, and these people are basically volunteers. Their salary? $50 a month. There is such a shortage of teachers in schools that there is an incredible amount of classes that are teacher-less, so I guess I need to be more appreciative of what the teachers are doing with the little education and resources they do have. If they were not there- these children would not have anything.

I left the school with very mixed emotions. Our next stop… A Kibera slum single mothers group. Duncan, who is part of the Edmund Rice Karibu group runs a young single mothers group that make beaded jewellery to sell. The money is then used to support the livelihoods of the women and their children.
As I walked in I met a beautiful young mum by the name of Floshy. Her son, Muberak is probably the happiest most beautiful child I have ever met! From the moment I met him I was completed and utterly in love. He is two years old and has the biggest most cheekiest smile in the world! It was really sad listening to some of the mums and their stories. Most of them didn't really tell us much about how they got there but Duncan explained to us that many have had a child after turning to prostitution as a means of getting money, and sadly continue with prostitution as a way of now supporting their child. Again, some fairly strong emotions emerging after today.

Little Muberak seems to have quite the attachment on me and just wanted me to carry him and play with him the entire time. He fell asleep on my lap, he would go for a quick walk, and then he'd come straight back, wrap his arms around my neck and snuggle in. He played games with the others and wanted to high 5 everyone, but he had to do it from the safety of mine or his mums arms. He was just beautiful! He is 2 years old, but he is tiny, and like to chats all the time- he had massive conversations with me in swahili and I have no idea a single word he was explaining to me with such concentration. His mum explained a few of his conversations with me that usually had something to do with observing something such as a light turning on and off, or the fact that his cup had two eyes on it- but most of the time mum was happy to just walk away and leave him with me.

It's strange here, and reminds me a little of the country. Every child born belongs to the community. Every adult, stranger or friend will pick them up, walk around with them, talk with them, discipline them if necessary, and it's all ok- because the child is a child of the community.
Before leaving I was able to get some contact details for Floshy and Muberak and I bought beads for everyone to support their group and said goodbye. This is the first time I have thought very seriously about sponsoring a child. I wish I had more time to spend here. I was very emotionally involved in this program.

Back at home, I decided not to go to the pub with the others. Gabi and I instead went into town to buy sports equipment and posters to donate to St Juliet's tomorrow, and went home to go for a run and a boot camp session with Dani within the Sisters compound. We had many laughs from the cute nuns, but it was worth it- felt so nice to have the heart rate up a bit- but I think I'm going to be sore tomorrow! Good mental health check for me.
Pasta for tea- amazing! We have eaten so much weird and wonderful food it was nice to have some filling pasta- especially after our little boot camp session!

Kenya

St Juliet's Primary School - Kibera Slum

Today is the day we venture into Kibera slum. We all met with our Karibu friends at St Thomas's Primary where Gabi and I were paired off with John, John and Lilian.
Walking through the slum was a really interesting experience. I actually felt my breath being taken away when I looked out over the massive slum which houses over a million people. 5-6 people all crammed into one house, kids playing on the street with dogs and goats and chicken running around-litter everywhere! Some litter piles smoking away as some people were burning their trash in order to try and get rid of it- with a strong putrid smell of burning plastic. The roads and paths are uneven and very dusty, and there is putrid water running down in streams as people empty their rubbish, including dirty water out into the streets. The slum seems to be built down in a ditch- so many of the paths are very steep that I often found it difficult to know where to put my feet. There are a lot of creeks running through the slum also, so you were constantly jumping over the litter filled creeks to continue on your path.

The kids constantly shout 'Mzungu' at us (meaning- white person), and they chant over and over again 'how are you? How are you? How are you?' It was so strange! Kids would either want to come up and shake your hand or give you a high five- or they would just stand and point and scream Mzungu at you! I felt lucky to be walking with our local guides as most people just stared or said hello and left us alone- but I think it may have been quite a different experience if we had walked into the slum on our own account.
Lillian pointed out her house to us on our way past, a black tarp with a few wooden poles for structure- this is where she lives with her dad so she can attend school in the slum. Her mother lives in the country and she gets to visit her a couple of times a year- but there are more opportunities for her to be closer to the city, and she gets to stay with her friends. What I did notice about the slum is that everyone seems so close. They are a community together- they share everything. It's really humbling to watch. At one point we watched a local man hand out the rest of his soda to a child in the slum, who proceeded to share the drink with 3 of his friends- it was beautiful!

It makes me laugh at how protective mothers are in Australia in terms of safety and germs etc- here, kids are playing in the putrid mud, wrestling mangy dogs, jumping over rusty steel on the ground, and I even saw a child who was chewing on what I thought was a toothbrush- but was actually a razor blade with the plastic safety lid on! Wha?! Everything seems to run so smoothly- people setting up their stores of second hand clothes, coal or even cooking chapatti (African rolled bread, not unlike roti bread) in the street over their own little coal fires. It was really interesting to see life in its most normal form in the slum. It seem chaotically peaceful.

On our way to school, the road we were walking on, which was on a higher ridge of the slum, allowing us to look down over the little shanti's, was actually also a train track. At one stage we had to shift and squish ourselves to one side as a train was coming through and collecting rubbish. The smell was incredible! Piles and piles of putrid litter on a flat tray swarming with flies and 3 men standing on top spreading it out. Such a different world! I liked seeing it though, because I feel like a have a greater understanding of how my friends live their life and how resourceful everyone is.

We arrived at school and met the principal who palmed us off to teacher Chris. Teacher Chris took us around to all 8 classes in the school introducing us to each class and explaining to them that we will be here for the next few days. Each introduction went a little like this….“Goodmorning students” “Good morning teacher” “how are you?” “We are fine Thank you teacher, and how are you?” “I am fine- can you take a seat?” “Thank you teacher, and welcome to our class” - all in perfect unison- it was intense! I thought the Bernard's boys saying good morning to me in response was intense, but they have nothing on these kids!

What I noticed about most the classes we walked into was- there was no teacher? As we walked in we met some staff members who were sitting out together in the school yard- but no teachers in the classroom. When I questioned this I got a very interesting answer. Each classroom would have had at least 50 children in each class- some even more that were simply all sitting there and waiting. Some senior students were sitting and writing in random maths books or note books doing some sort of independent study, while the junior classes were just talking and politely sitting behind their wooden desks. What I learned was that school had only just returned this week, and the teachers were not 'in the mood' to teach yet. This infuriated me. Imagine if I could just 'not be in the mood' to teach yet!? What they explained to me was that many of the students had not showed up to school yet. It's only the 3rd day back of school, and the classes I met that had 50 students in it- should have had 115! So.. Since there was so many students missing, the teachers do not see the point of starting classes yet. They also had not organised any food yet either, so the students, who would usually be fed a basic lunch at school, were going this week without anything from the school for lunch simply because nothing had been organised as yet…
I really struggled with this. My first impression was how impressed I was of how a school that has so little resources were able to use what they had and create a learning space to cater for so many students… But I was angry that there was this simple attitude that because not all students were there yet- we simply wouldn't teach. How does that help those 200 students that did show up that day? Or for the last 2 days? How does that keep them wanting to come back to school when they know when they get there they will be simply required to sit in their cramped stuffy classrooms while their teachers sit out in the sun and talk together as a group, not seeing the point of teaching them today. What?! I just did not know how this made sense, and I had to debrief with Andrew and Tim about the culture for them to calm me down, because it really got me fired up. There was so much opportunity, time and resources were being wasted simply because the teachers could not be bothered and didn't see the 200 students waiting were important enough to be taught anything until the others showed up. Grrr!
School was supposed to go until 3pm, but the teachers decided to finish school early today because they had nothing to feed the students lunch, so sent them all home. I walked out feeling very disheartened and helpless. I had spent the last two hours teaching the circulatory and respiratory system to the senior kids and playing games with the junior kids- but this had been the only activities these students had been given for the day. Gabi did activities with two other classes.

After this we left and joined two other members of ours at the Mary Rice Centre. This is the school set up to cater for students with special needs. Unfortunately not all of us could fit in to all do placement here- so I was very happy to have an opportunity to go there, even if only for the day. Currently the school has 15 students and a very long waiting list to get in. I was amazed to see 3 students in wheelchairs- although no wheelchair access through the slum at all, let alone to the actual school (which is simply two shipping containers converted into two classrooms). What I learnt was that the parents and community members just carried the chairs up and down to the school! Pretty awesome! The kids are gorgeous- and Brother Gerard, who runs the centre- is a fairly incredible man. Very patient and understanding. Lisa and I met him last year when he visited Australia and spent some time at st Bernard's, so he was very excited to see me as I walked in as he recognised my face.

He fed all his students, including all of us, beans and rice for lunch. It was very kind, and I appreciated the food as I was so hungry, and I know how big of a deal it is over here, so I ate every mouthful- but it was difficult to get down with the taste, sight and the texture.
We then walked back to St Stephens primary school where we met all the others and shared a soda together to talk about our placements. It was a nice way to end, and Tom Lavers and I kept entertained by learning some singing and hand clapping games with some 11yr old girls who were still at school.
Back in Karen, I had the best shower- but had to literally scrape the layers of dust off my legs! I was filthy! Boots took me for a bit of running/boot camp session as I'm really missing the structured exercise and we had a debrief of the day.

Tomorrow- hopefully I can be more understanding of the culture and won't get so emotionally involved or passionate about why the teachers may/may not be teaching.. ;)

Kenya

Tour of Nairobi City

One thing that if forgot to tell you in my entry last night is that I ran in Thomas Geil from NIH in Denmark! It was the best! He has been over here for four days with some of the Danish national handball team running sports camps in Kibera slum. We contacted each other via Facebook and he was able to come to Karen and meet me for a quick drink in our local pub. It was so great to see him! Such a small world.. Wish he had more time here!
Today we took a matatu into the city- Nairobi. The bus is always an interesting experience here- 20 people squished on an 11 seater bus just trying to find some space! Another funny part is the fact that I get charged 80 shillings to ride the bus, but the local beside me only had to pay 50…

In the city we met our Karibu group, who divided into groups and took two of us with them. Boots and I were put in a group with Sebastian (a teacher in Kibera slum), Agnes (18 yr old who makes and sells beaded handbags) and Sammy (an inspirational speaker- who speaks to school groups about life and vision).

We went walking through the streets, to experience the city Keyan life- but also to see the sites of Nairobi. We saw the Basilica ( which they call the Vatican City if Nairobi), Parliament House (where the first president is buried), Times tower (government building), KICC (Kenyatta International Conference Centre- and tallest building in Nairobi), Uhuru (Freedom) park- protected gardens where people like to relax and where they hold public meetings when the president Kenyatta comes to speak to his people. We took a long walk up the the State house where the president lives, although you can't see the house due to extensive security. We also went up to the Aboretum which is a recreational park which reminded me a lot of the botanical gardens in Ballarat which lots of flora and plaques explaining what each plant is. Boots is a landscape gardener- so was in his true element. Many people go to the park for personal reflection and private study. There seemed to be a number of students sitting under trees studying, trying to be away from the busy hustle and bustle of the city- we also saw a man loudly praying and talking in the bushes. It was a strange place- but kind of peaceful.

When we walked back in towards the city, we visited a few market stalls and walked up towards where West Gate shopping mall is. The West gate shopping mall is where the most recent terrorist attacks were on Kenya. We didn't go to the building, but were pointed to it from afar. The mall is located on the upper class side or Kenya. It is the side where the people with money live- according to Sammy. While talking about the attacks- Sammy became quite emotional. He explained to us that his cousin was one of the 68 people who were killed in the mall during the attack. Horrible. :(

Our next stop was the bomb site from the 1989 American Embassy bombing. This is the day where there was dual terrorist attacks in both Tanzania and Kenya orchestrated by Osama Bin Laden. A massive car bomb was driven into the US embassy gates in Nairobi, while minute later another truck bomb was detonated at the US embassy in Dar es salaam, Tanzania. 224 people were killed (12 Americans and 212 Africans) with more than 4,500 people injured. The site where the embassy used to stand has now been transformed into a memorial garden, displaying the names of all the victims that lost their lives on this day. It was a really sad place to visit, and a memory that will stay with me for a very long time. There is a museum set up on the site displaying some of they debris from the explosion, photos and a documentary film which had us all enthralled for over an hour. Very sad.
After a massive day if walking, we all sat down and had lunch with our friends. We returned to Karen for showers, a little shopping and an early night. Very tired!

Kenya

Tutembee Pamoja - Day 2

This morning we got up early and all headed over for yet another amazing breakfast put on by the sisters. Who'd have thought toasted sandwiches with nothing in them would be such a hit! It's always a good spread with toast, wheetbix, bananas and sausages! Sometimes even eggs. We are very lucky.
There is a certain vibe in the room this morning, as today we are off to Mass! Yesterday we met the most incredible people who are part of the Karibu youth group that run Edmund Rice camps out of Kibera, and today we get to join them for church. Not only are we excited for spending another day with our new friends, we have heard the most incredible stories about mass here in Kenya.

It was such an enlightening experience for all of us. We arrived at the church early and loved interacting with the local children, playing games, juggling rocks and even discussing chapatti recipes with Mamma Mary OKila, who is the manager at St Stephens, a school included in one of our placements.

When the time came to enter the church to start the ceremony, there was a buzz in the room. Soon everyone was out of their seats, clapping and dancing to the upbeat songs, lead by a very talented and energetic choir- I loved it!

At the church they had a visiting priest, Father Paul, who interacted charismatically with everyone. He had people laughing and listening, and even cracked a few jokes. It was amazing about how closely his message related to our immersion, about walking together, becoming a stronger community, going home changed and wanting to be changed and about reflecting on our experiences. This experience was something quite different to what we have experienced at home, and we all left feeling a little bit different and changed within ourselves already. It was interesting at evening debrief to hear about how different our reactions were about the service today.

Towards the end of the ceremony, we were invited to stand as Tom Lavers bravely got up on stage and greeted the crowd with a 'Jambo rafiki' (hello my friends) which received quite the applause! He did a fantastic job relating his speech back to the fathers message of three wise men, handing over 3 gifts, not in the shape of francensese, gold or meer- but a beanie, and beanie and a wristband!

We all left the church with much energy as we walked with our Karibu friends along the dirt track towards Otiende, the Christian brothers residence. Here, we played games together as a group and split off into groups to discuss the reasons why we are meeting together and sharing our stories with one another. Each day, stronger friendships are being formed and more barriers are coming down.

A definite highlight was when poor Kennedy kept being beaten in strength tests by our Wonder Woman Dani, and two of the Karibu boys were eventually able to wrestle Andrew Guirissi to the ground. It was a day with many laughs, many jokes and a whole lot of fun!

Can't wait for our tour around Nairobi with our local tour guides.

Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

Day 2 - Connecting with the Karibu Members

This morning we met our new friends. The members of the Karibu Youth group that run Edmund Rice camps here in Kenya. They are incredible people who have an unbelievable amount of energy and hype.

The minute we met, I had people hugging me, holding my hand, playing with my hair- it was crazy, and almost a little overwhelming! I can't believe how friendly everyone was. Most of the members are between the ages of 18-30 and have either grown up doing camps themselves, and then decided to become a camp leader- or have come into through the program from other means such as their church group, or the Christian brothers teaching them in school.

We bonded over some hilarious games 'balance the ball', 'my little pony' 'Speed dating' I'm going to need to write them all down before I forget! Most of the games involved high energy dance movements and of course lots of singing! It's amazing how through silly icebreaker games how comfortable and close everyone becomes over such a short period of time.
We then retired inside where we sang 'I come from a land down
Under' to our new friends, and literally fed them vegemite sandwiches! I'm not sure if there were many people who could have confidently said they enjoyed the experience- but it was great fun to watch anyway. In return, our new friends did some dancing and singing for us also- they love to dance so much! It was the best!

We enjoyed lunch together which consisted of beef stew, veggies, and chapati bread (yum!) before heading back inside to have a few meetings and organisational talks about the program for the following days. It was lots of talking, but it was probably necessary.
When it was time for our friends to leave, in traditional Eddy Rice style, it took them two hours to say goodbye. Lots of hugging and laughing, photos and joke telling.
Afterwards, our Australian group went into town to try out the local pub and beer. The pub is very basic, walls, a bar and a few tattered posters on the wall and cold Tuskers. The tuskers are the local drink here and is actually quite nice. It almost has a honey-like flavour and I have become quite used to it being my regular drink now!

We returned to our house, completed some journal reflections and had our debrief for the day. We finished the night with a few games of Mafia.
My time is Africa is going to be quite different now- I can feel the busy- ness about to hit! Looking forward to it though. :)

Kenya

Nairobi - Kenya- Meeting. Tutembee Pamoja

This morning Lisa and I awoke and headed down for breakfast. We completing packed our bags so we could spend the morning relaxing by the pool.
We read pour books, paid our bills and organised a taxi to come and pack us up. It was a nice morning to relax and get some things done- I think it is going to be chaos as of tomorrow!

We took the taxi to South B to meet Tim and Andrew. They have been living with the Christian brothers. One of their resident houses in Nairobi anyway! Unfortunately we didn't meet any of the brothers as they were all away, but hopefully we can organise for Lisa and I to stay with them the night we fly back into Kenya after Zanzibar.
We took a taxi to the airport with 'Taxi Tom'. This is where we waited at the big exit gates at. Nairobi airport where people wait to watch their loved ones exit customs. Similar to ours, except there are also big guys with AK47 guns! I am starting to get used to these now though.

Our Tutembee Pamoja group slowly made their way to us and it was great to enjoy their excitement. We took taxis to Karen, where we are staying with the Sister of St Joseph's.
Walking through the guarded gate, I think we were all in shock- this place is incredible! Beautifully manicured gardens, a big chapel, resident houses, eating areas- I feel like I'm back at Amberly! We all got shown to our rooms by the nuns- bedrooms to ourselves with our own bathrooms?! This is crazy! Not what I was expecting at all. Living the high life!
There was however another group doing the exact program as us from WA, who is also staying the night here. They start in Tanzania and then we swap. This meant that there were not enough beds for each person, so Lisa and I volunteered to share for the night.
We went for a walk into town and stumbled across some Masaai markets. The jewellery and gifts here are much more bright and colourful here in Kenya compared to Botswana! I got too excited looking at all the colourful beads, but am forcing myself to hold off buying anything until I get closer to the end of my trip. I also want to maybe wait and get things specifically made for me by the ladies I will be working with in Tanzania, so I can support their businesses.

Upon returning to our accommodation, one of the nuns rang the dinner bell! Yep- I feel like I'm in a movie. We all ran over and washed our hands before we entered the hall and were fed all sorts of different vegetable casserole dishes and goat for dinner. It was actually delicious. I'm very excited about all the veggies! I think I'm going to be eating too well here!
We spent an hour debriefing and discussing the next few days of the program before heading to bed. Poor things- most of them were asleep in their chairs before the meeting finished! Big few days of travel with very little sleep.

Kenya

Nairobi - Meltonia Luxury Suites

This morning Lisa and I had a massive sleep in- it was the best! I made phone calls to the family- also the best and finally got a chance to check out this blog that Sharni set up for me! Can't wait to load all my entries on this page so everyone can keep up with what I'm doing- Thanks Sharni! Xx

We went down and had a buffet breakfast by the pool. Boiled eggs, sausages, baked beans, pancakes, milo cereal, yogurt, lady finger banana, toast- big spread! It was hard to choose what to have- but so good at the same stage as we have been eating Marie biscuits for breakfast over the past few days! It was a nice change- there was even juice!

We organised a driver from the hotel to take us to a mall close by to organise some groceries and SIM cards for our phones. He was lovely and stayed at the mall until we were finished to drop us home.

The mall is only 15 minutes walk from the hotel, although the receptionist told us maybe it be would be best to take a taxi as someone was attacked in daylight the week before! Eek! Glad our hotel had a 24 hour armed guard at the door, high high fences that have barbed wire- and electric wire around the top!

The mall was also interesting in terms of security. As we drove in the gate we were stopped by another armed guard that made us stop and open the boot- just checking for explosives- no biggie! :/ I wonder if this is normal, or whether security has been amped up since the West-gate mall attack.

Back at the hotel, Lisa and I set ourselves up around the pool and read our books. The weather here is more similar to Aus. Really warm in the sun, but a bit of a chilly wind- not hot muggy wind like Botswana.

We had showers- even got to blow dry my hair which now feels amazing- and cooked up a storm of spaghetti bolagnase crammed with zucchini, broccoli, carrots and beans! The best! Feeling much better now- Lisa and I were feeling quite ill in the stomach today.

We watched Bones on TV- got to chat to Nan, Mum and Leigh over Skype and had a relaxing night.

Meeting up with the rest of the Tutembee Pamoja group tomorrow. They have all left Australia and should be on their way!

19° Mostly Clear
Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya

Happy New Year!

Well waking up this morning sucked! What a night!

Today is the day our little group of three must say goodbye. :( Lisa and I leave for our next adventure in Kenya, and Callum heads over to check out Zambia before trying his luck at climbing Kilimanjaro!

We packed up our little chalet, said goodbye to our SA boys and the three of us when for brekky- Lisa and I had organised and paid for transfers to the airport the day before so we had an hour to kill together. For breakfast I ordered some sort of vegetarian pasty and a cup of roobois tea- what I got was a chunky steak pasty and no tea! Gotta love Africa! Lisa smashed a chicken pizza and Callum had a pasty with a coffee.

At 10.45 we returned to the hotel- our transfer was to arrive at 11. We said goodbye to Callum as he got in a taxi towards the border and we waited….and waited….by 11.30 our transfer had still not arrived. The hotel made several phone calls and I physically ran to the transfer office myself to ask why our driver had not yet showed up! Ugh it was so frustrating- so many things seemed so out of control- apparently the office I booked at isn't the office that deals with transfers, but oops they are not answering their phones, and their driver is unavailable now and wow- was I stressed! I did not want to miss that flight and we still had to cross a border!

Lisa and I grabbed our bags, left the hotel and walked back to the office- as we got there, one of the mangers had some keys and directed us into a mini van- he had phoned the border to explain we were running late and had a plane to catch and organised another transfer to pick us up at the border to minimise delays getting a car through and we were on our way!

We arrived at border control to exit Zimbabwe and almost walked straight through- yes! But… Our driver had not arrived yet. Ugh. 10 minutes later he showed up. We raced to the next border control to enter Zambia and I almost died. There was a line about 20 people long and some very frustrated American travellers who got quite annoyed when our driver tried to talk our way to the front- nope! To the back of the line we went!

We eventually got to the front of the queue - and guess what?! Wrong line! We hadn't even bought our visa yet! We went to the next line and the Visa officer was dealing with another traveller, but got to us soon after- eventually, we had each paid $50 US to enter Zambia (we had researched that it would only cost us $20 for a transit visa- but we were running too late to question it so we just paid and ran!) Always losing our money to random fees all over the place! Seriously- most of my spending money has gone towards Visas, parking fees and everything else we didn't expect- you pay for everything! I'm sure we get ripped off all the time being young white Australians… But honestly- I think sometimes it's just easier to pay and be done with it!

It was a speedy trip to the airport! But- we made it! Got stopped at security and had to unpack my bag to show them that the Australian animal wooden pencils Debbie gave me to give away as gifts were not weapons of mass destruction and got our boarding tickets- handwritten of course.

Feeling very flat at this stage and was glad to get a viber call through to Dad and Sharni. Very teary. Not a day to have a New Years hang-over on! I hate borders.

Sitting on the plane, Lisa and I were asleep within minutes. So annoyed I had just paid $56 Australian dollars to enter Zambia for 2 stressful hours only to land and have a stop over straight back in Zimbabwe! Surely we could have organised that better! Luckily we were able to stay on the plane on the stop over which allowed me to have a bit of a Greys Anatomy marathon on my iPad which returned my stress levels back to normal. :) Lisa was able to catch up on more sleep.

Landing in Nairobi was very carefree. We met some lovely Kenyan Visa workers who basically approved a 3 month Kenya visa to us for on the spot, had our bags come out on the conveyor belt first and when we walked out of customs, a driver was standing there with a sign that had my name on it! Upside down… But it was there!

It took twice as long for us to arrive at our hotel as our driver was terribly lost. He did not work for the hotel and I believe was just a taxi driver that booking.com had organised. Oh well- we got there. We drove down some dodgy alleyways with people sleeping under tarps and had security guards with very big guns point us in the right direction- which was actually the wrong direction- but we got there eventually!

The receptionist 'Paul' was very lovely and showed us to our room/ apartment. Yes, an apartment with a bedroom, a bathroom, a laundry, and lounge room and even a kitchen! I'm in heaven! I have been craving home cooked food for so long and need veggies!! I get to cook! It brightened my night. Spoke to the family- feeling much better.

19° Mostly Cloudy
Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya