Breaking up with 20 people in the same evening

After a month in Kenya, I'm transferring to Thailand. A bit of a surprise but exciting none the less. I prepared by talking to my colleagues in Thailand, finding out about the center there, trying to get as much work done as possible to cover my travel days and of course the inevitable packing.

What I didn't prepare for was leaving the children.

I was only in Kenya for one month so I assumed that the children (even the 20 girls in my dorm) wouldn't be too surprised or sad at me leaving. Volunteers come and go all the time at IHF so I thought they would be used to people coming in and out at the center. I was wrong. Some of them were really angry with me, and the rest of them were really upset.

Chelatan spent the whole evening with tears in her eyes, Chembalau wouldn't really talk to me. I didn't appreciate how important love and affection is to these kids - and how much they rely on the stability on someone's continued presence in their lives. I think I allowed myself to forget that they don't have anyone else.
Thankfully, Madie arrived in the dorm to hang out the last evening I was in Kenya so the general depressed mood was lifted by general mucking around - including games that my family will recognise as being reminiscent of Sisters-de-McKeon action. Hearing the sound of giggles was a big relief.


- flying Chemongot...

Keeping clean in Nakuru

So, one of the theories about the name "Nakuru" is that it's derived from tribal words meaning "swirling dust". This would make a lot of sense. It's a pretty dusty place. Everything is coated in a layer of dust. You step outside and after a few minutes you are covered in it. You would think that you'd need hot showers three times a day to cope with this. However, you quickly learn how to keep clean with the resources you have available....

Kenyan cuisine

Food is important to me. There's not much I don't like about food. So when the type and quantity of food I am able to eat is restricted, I turn from a food enthusiast to a food obsessive. So here is a blog all about Kenyan food.

In the morning, the kids have tea for breakfast. We have tried many times to persuade them we should spend the money on porridge instead but they have none of it. They are determined that they have sweet kenyan tea (brewed with loads of sugar) with loads of sugar as their morning  intake.

As a result, I nip over the road to a little shack by the factory and grab a bag of mendazi for 20KES (about 15p). They're like doughnut-type things and you get five in a bag. I have managed to eat all five in one go, which left me in quite a lot of pain but was pretty enjoyable.

Lunch at the center is githeri - maize and beans in a soupy kind of thing. It's pretty uninteresting but hey, it's protein. Dinner is ugali - which is made from maize flour - and is sort of like a palenta-type substance. We have it with cabbage or kale (althernate day). Thankfully it gets quite addictive, which is just as well when you eat it every day.

I'm very grateful that I bascially enjoy any food and the only thing I draw the line at is beetroot (not come across any beetroot in Kenya) as it makes eating the same, tasteless food every day much easier. However, I spent the last six months in England eating fantastic food - including a final meal at a delicious chinese featuring crispy fried fillet steak. It was a long way to fall. I blame Griff...

As a result, I've found that I've turned into one of those grim westeners who go to a different country and only want to eat their own rubbish food. I crave burgers, pizzas, big blocks of processed cheese, chunks of stodgy bread and potatoes. However, my occasional treats are more general on the healthy side as the one food stuff that is amazing in Kenya is fruit. Kenyan mangoes at the most delicious mangoes I've ever had. They're 20KES each, really big, really juicy and completely amazing and to be honest make the endless days of ugali totally bearable....

A quick tour of IHF Kenya

So here's a little video I made...