Week 13

My visa was running out and needed to be extended. I had to go to town on Monday and arrange it all. However, due to a mix up with ICYE and some wrong information I was given, I could not complete it that day… so I decided to go and visit Jane at NCR office and then went to see the elephants again with June and Zanaya. As we got to the orphanage it started to rain a lot and neither of us had an umbrella. We had to wait for it to stop at least a little. Due to the rain the smaller elephants came back from the park earlier and were quite agitated. Nonetheless, we still had great time there. Because of the rain it was getting dark sooner and faster so we decided to leave earlier than usual to get back to town in good time… we managed to get a bus for very cheap fare so we were all quite happy. About 15 min into our journey the bus pulled out at the petrol station. Nobody said why and we just sat there for about 10 min… I thought we were getting petrol but soon we found out the the bus was not working properly and had to be fixed… nobody told us though how long it would take. When June looked out the window one of the mechanics told her that although we were there for 20 min already they have not started working on the bus yet and there were 3 cars in front of us… It wasn’t looking good and people started to get annoyed… June walked up to the front of the bus to find out whats going on and all of a sudden everyone followed and started getting off the bus. They all wanted to get their money back so they could catch another bus or a matatu and get to town. The conductor lady was not having that though. She argued with everyone and refused the refund. The mechanic did start to work on the bus though. We waited further 10 min and then started to move… It did not last very long – after about 5 metres we stopped again and were told that the bus would not be able to go anywhere… People were really angry by then – it is quite funny to listen to them argue in language I do not understand with an occasional English word thrown in… In the end we got half of our money back and had to walk for quite a while in the dark to get a matatu to town… probably not very safe for me – a mzungu (white person), June who is 18 and Zanaya, a 14 years old…
When we finally got to town and found a bus back home it started to rain and it took us absolute ages to get back home as the traffic was tremendous…

On Tuesday I went to Imani. When I arrived there I was asked to go to the Kenyatta Hospital to collect the abandoned babies from there. It was 7 of us going and we took the Imani bus… it was quite a lengthy process, it took ages and in the end, instead of bringing 10 babies with us we were only able to take 4 as someone at the hospital did not complete all of the paperwork… there were so many abandoned babies there though… all just lying there, naked and crying and not getting much attention at all… such a contrast to the babies that had parents and were on the other side of the room – they were all well looked after, dressed and their mothers coming to feed them… again, I got home really late as we didn’t leave the hospital until around 6pm and then were stuck in traffic again…

The following day I had to go to town again to get my visa… I managed to get it all done but again – very lengthy process, with fingerprints taken from all of my fingers etc… after I was done I met up with Wilson and his wife and we had lunch together :) then I met with Ena and we went to see the elephants. On the way back we were again joined by Steve – the keeper. If you had to travel in Nairobi after dark in remoter areas, you’d understand better why we were so happy to have company… Gladys – my friend, goes to university near by to where the orphanage is and she told me that one day she had to jump out from a moving matatu as they were trying to kidnap them – there was only 2 other people in the vehicle and the driver took a different route which is why they suspected that they were in danger… apparently it happens often… I guess I have been lucky so far… I am not writing this to worry anyone but I want you to realise that it is not easy living here, there are things happening every day and it is not a holiday for me. In fact I am in a great need of a holiday…

Things rarely go as planned here in Kenya – I am sure you realise what a trial that is for me… I love to plan and it takes a lot of energy to stay focused when people keep changing their mind.

Despite the money being stolen I still wanted to do sthg for the children which why I planned a day out for kids from Imani. As it was school holiday I wanted to take my class out for the whole day plus some other children – Imani have a big bus so I could take 35 children plus guardians… the plan was that we go on Wednesday but if you are reading this blog carefully you will notice that it did not happen – I was asked on Tuesday to change it for Friday… it took a bit of negotiating as I had 3 different places booked (elephant orphanage, giraffe centre and crocodile farm) but I managed to move it… then on Wednesday evening I was asked again to move it to Thursday which firstly was way too late too arrange and secondly very unprofessional. I hope you can imagine how frustrating it was for me – I was trying to do sthg nice for the kids and yet the management kept changing their mind. In the end we agreed that we leave the trip for Friday…

On Thursday it was Kate’s and Ena’s good bye lunch at Imani. We Went to Imani B for that which is located on the other side of Kayole. It was a really nice afternoon. After that I went back to Imani A to check which children are actually coming with me on the trip and was told that only 2 kids from my class are going to be there… instead I was told to take little babies – 2years old + !!! it was not what I had in mind at all and I was quite upset yet again that most of the children I wanted to take out were not allowed to come…

Despite all that I tried to stay open-minded and kept thinking that at least I can take some of the children out as they all will enjoy it… I was just wondering what the 2 years old would understand from that…

I arrived at Imani around 7.30 am on Friday morning to make sure everyone is ready for 9am. We left Kayole at around 9.15 am which is quite an achievement for Kenyan timing ;) on the way we picked up Kate and Ena whom I asked to help me look after the children on the day… We had a lot of fun that day… We spent the whole day out and I could see how much it benefited even the smaller children to be out and about. They were all scared of the elephants at first – especially when one of them went the wrong way and ended up in the middle of the children – they were screaming and running for their life… it was quite scary and at the same really hilarious… I could see they enjoyed Maalim much more since he is much closer to their size… We then went on to the giraffe centre… I could see kids really enjoying this experience – they watched a documentary and then were feeding the giraffes. We had picnic lunch there and they had their faces painted. From there we went to get ice-cream for everyone and then to Mamba Village to the crocodiles and ostriches. The braver ones got to touch and even hold a baby crocodile – I did too but was absolutely terrified… :) some of the kids also got a chance to ride a pony… it was a great day for all – they all looked really happy which was exactly what I wanted to achieve :)

From that children went back to Kayole whilst Kate, Ena and I went back to the elephants (only those that sponsor orphans are allowed to come in the evening – and now Kate and Ena are also sponsoring).

That evening the 3 of us went out to a cultural night at Carnivore with 2 of the keepers – Steve and Charles… it was a really good night – only 2nd time I was out since arriving in Kenya… we stayed the night (or whatever was left of it) at the hostel in town. It was less than £5 per person and we had to sleep in one bed (Ena, Kate and I that is…)

On Saturday we went to the market again – it was quite fun for me as I wasn’t really buying anything but I was helping Ena get better prices for what she wanted as I love bargaining and I know many people at market now too :)
After the market Ena and I went to stay the night with Jane (as Ena and Kate finished their volunteering they no longer could stay at the host family which made them kind of homeless; Kate was staying at another friend’s house and I asked Jane if Ena could come with me).

On Sunday we went to Don Bosco church again and after the mass we were selling the hot dogs again. :) We went back to Jane’s for lunch and then it was time to go back home as I promised Zack (my host brother) that we would go out that night to celebrate the fact that he just finished university and also it was the last weekend for Easterlina as she was flying back to the US on Tuesday… or so I thought…

It was a really great night – the 4 of us went out together for the 1st time (Zack, June, Easterlina and I). when we were on the bus on the way to town Esterlina told me that she is no longer going back to the US and she decided to stay in Kenya and look for a job. I didn’t believe it at first – it must have been a joke but later on I realised she was being serious… We were joined by 2 of Easterlina’s friends and had brilliant time. It wasn’t even a long night – we were home just after midnight. I really enjoyed it as after all the problems I have had it was nice to stop thinking about them for a while…

I have had a great time here but at the same time a lot of problems and stress that I would not want to bore you with… But it was a reason why I decided to take some time out and went to the coast following week…