Kisii - and Happy New Year

On Sunday the 21st December i set off to Kisii, an agricultural area in the highlands of Western Kenya - made famous by the huge turn out of soap stone carvings that you see all over Kenya in the tourist shops, and all over the world in fact - actually you can get some really nice plates and bowls, and there are some Henry Moore type carvings at the entrance to hotels etc. Except they were doing them way before Henry Moore.

Anyway my visit was a mixed bag; I spent most of Monday 22nd assessing Kisii Children's Home and the horrors of that place. I am still shocked by these places, which i know is a good thing when i've seen so many dreadful things, but another home where the children are not being properly cared for just made me very cross.The poor social worker who joined me had known that there were problems at the home and failed to make improvements. Very young children getting up at dawn to work in the fields and not being provided with cooked food; left unsupervised at night and so on, and generally at risk!! I made lots of calls to managers and directors as this is a government sponsored home through Child Welfare. I have been told that there are "political issues" that i don't understand, so i am to meet with the director next week so they can explain it all to me!! They are now panicking as they know i am going to be writing a report on their management!!
I ended up staying to make sure the children all got a good lunch, and then played with them for ages - i'd taken a few toys and balloons.
I then went of into Kisii town and booked myself into a dive of a hotel and had to move three times, as there was no water or lights working, and it was far too quiet. I locked myself in and eventually got off to sleep. In the morning i refused to eat breakfast there and managed to make contact with my cousin Julia, who i hadn't seen for more than 5 years. She was great, she cooked breakfast for me and my driver - poor man slept in a much worse hotel than mine!!

23rd December turned out to be a family day for me, as well as Julia and her family it was lovely to see my aunt Martha. She is the image of my grandmother, and like her she is a thin wrinkley leather skinned woman. Martha is a very kind and very affectionate 80+ year old and has always been an important part of my life, and without any real explanation we know we have an affectionate attachment, its just always been that way. It was the same when i first introduced her to Roy 24 years ago, she was all over us. She is a big part of my attachment to Kenya i guess. It was good to see her farm again and really nothing has changed up there. More and more children of cousins turned up that i didn't know but seemed to know all about me - all very strange but reassuring!! No i couldn't live here - too remote and too hard a life, but Nairobi in parts is much better - well it was until i saw a dead body in the road (another car accident). I am so English its shocking!!

I hope you've all had a lovely Christmas.
HAPPY NEW YEAR xxxxxxxx

Message from Roy: Bomu and Arap Moi

Hi everyone Roy here. I'm back home at freezing Hunciecroft now but i had a great three weeks in Kenya with Veronica. Of course i hadn't seen her for about six weeks which was really weird and hard going at times. Now we have a very strange Christmas coming up, with Josh away in Brasil as well. We had a short break on the coast, and for me it was a very relaxing time, and i was able to do a fair bit of drawing when Veronica was at work. But i do want to write a little bit about two places that we visited, and which have had a big effect on me.

During our holiday at Diani we took a day out to visit a clinic that we'd heard about in Mombasa town. It's in Bomu, a very poor part of the town. The clinic was founded many years ago, and is still run by an Indian lady called Mama Hayati. She's a wealthy woman, her husband was a minister in Kenyata's first government, and she lives well, but she has basically devoted her whole life to building up this clinic. It's a charity; remember there is no free health care in kenya; you get the care you can pay for. And of course they get nothing from the government. After the politicians have been paid there's not that much left to go round it seems! They are just finishing a fantastic new extension to the clinic which has taken years of fundraising. The building itself and the workmanship are top class (Mama Hayati's motto is that "just because people are poor they shouldn't have to expect less than the best") but they don't have much equipment. No beds yet, and the operating table came out of the ark (did they have an operating table on the ark?). I don't want to sound like Lenny Henry or Sting (no i don't) but they do need some equipment if you've got the odd hospital bed or operating table your not using.....

My other little excursion to Stark Reality Kenya '08, was the Arap Moi Children's Home at Nakuru. We drove there on the day before i left Kenya, and i was pleasantly surprised that they'd done the road up. I remember it as dusty and very bumpy, no joke in the back of a pick up. But we got there in no time, thanks to the magnificent benevolence of President Kibaki, apparently. We picked up a social worker called Donald and made the visit. I shadowed Veronica and took some photos. Veronica told me, and even i could see, that this was a good place and they were happy for me to take pictures. The head was proud to show what they were doing, but wanted to show also what they lacked in terms of facilities and funding. Again no internal funding; it comes from USA, Sweden, Britain etc. Again a woman at the helm who is totally dedicated and stretched in every direction. Veronica says she comes across this time and again. People who want to do things the right way, and want to learn, but who's hands are tied by lack of cash.
Arap Moi is a long established children's home, but of course they've had to take in all the internally displaced children following the post election violence. When we visited there were only four (but there have been many) which is a testament to the their committment to the stated policy of returning children to their families or extended families, or recognised foster carers. We were told that of the sixty something children's homes in the Nakuru area, only about twenty are registered with the government. It seems anyone can just set up a home over there, Some will be ok, but many will be very bad. Some are run by the churches, notoriously difficult to regulate, others by unscrupulous individuals who gain foreign funding, and use the places as a front for child trafficing and the worst you can think of. This is no exageration.
Veronica is flying of all over the country assessing schools and homes, but what has amazed me is that no one was already doing this. And if she hadn't volunteered to do it, it wouldn't be happening now. To their credit the powers that be seem to realise this and are using her knowledge and experience to the full.
She really is kicking ass at a national level!!
Roy.

Samburu

Over the past few weeks i have visited numerous children's homes, and even whilst Roy was visiting i took him along to see a Children's home in Nakuru. My work seems to be developing a pattern and now feels more focused with a better plan. I am going to continue to assess and monitor Childrens Homes, and where there are children who can be rehabilitated home then this will be the focus. I am showing managers how to rehabilitate children back into their communities, and also how better to care for the children they have in their homes. There aren't really enough hours in a day to do this work, and not enough people either - i have teamed up with the local social workers and wherever possible i take them along on the inpections - they are really appreciative, interested and learning a lot. I am going to be working on setting up a practice manual for staff in homes, followed by workshops and triaining events.
The most amazing and moving visits i've made so far have been to childrens Home for disabled children, in the Kajiado, a Masai area, and in Maralal, a Samburu district. I have just been amazed at the work some people are doing with such little support. Both these homes are really well managed by good honest and reliable people who just have nothing thenmselves and have to go begging to the local NGOs for food - its shocking, especially as the home in Samburu has 109 childen who are either deaf, blind, have celebral palsy or have various limb deformaties. I am trying really hard to get them some funding so if anyone has any ideas - email me for more details.
You've all got to go to Samburu - it has the most breath taking scenery with shocking views of the Rift Valley - the Moran (Samburu Warriors) just add to the amazement and wonder of the place with their bright colours and showing their off to potential brides!! I had half a day in the national park and got up very close to the elephants and surprisingly the eagles too - it made for an intersting journey to work. The manager of the Serena Lodge where i stayed overnight is from my tribe, Kisii, and knows my cousin who is a catering manager, so i managed to persuade him to give me a great reduction on the accommodation, and he also hosted dinner and drinks. He was very interested in the work we're doing and it looks like he may persuade the the other Serena Hotels to support other homes close to where they are. I'm going back and see him in January hopefully. They aready have a toilet installation project thing going on in Samburu, so at the moment that's where most of their local funding is going.
Really wish some of you would come out here and see how beautiful Kenya is once you get away from the cities - it really is extreme. I hope somehow that i will get to go to Lamu or Zanzibar, now that would be a treat!! I'm off to Kisii, the place of my birth next week. I know that will be hard for me in many ways, apart from the fact that western Kenya has the highest aids problems and aids Orphans in Kenya.

Am i still sane i hear you asking - well only just - so looking forward to the Christmas break and a couple of days off - met some nice supportive people and trying really hard to avoid the rest!! I've been distracted by the odd lunch party and a Christmas fair Kenya style, with various tribal gifts on offer and all that you might imagine so i bought a jar of Whiskey marmalade to remind me of home and some fab beads. So much to say that i could write a book! Its hot and dry getting hotter still.

Love to you all

Veronica

A School Visit - Nairobi Part 1 & 2

Taking a Break

Roy arrived on the 13th November for 3 weeks and i took a week off work. We went to Mombasa and had a lovely time resting by the sea and generally enjoying life - actually eating lots of fish!! Now we're back in Nairobi and it's much cooler weather at just 24-28 degrees and about 12-13 degrees at night. Mombasa was roasting in the mid 30's but felt hotter, anyway Roy and I both have tans! We've really got to know Nairobi, its art Galleries and Museums and we've even joined the Museum Society - Roy went out on a bird walk with them yesterday while i was working and had loads of fun. Its Thanksgiving today, or is it tomorrow? Anyway the US team members have another reason to be happy and very few people are around in the office - gone home to bake those pies!!

Roy and i were invited for dinner by a colleague in my team for traditional Kenyan dinner of Ugali, Sukuma Wiki(spinach like) and beef stew with rice - it was lovely. Interesting to hear from her that she had never had a musungu (white man) to dinner before and that white people had never been in her building (block of flats).Roy was cool and really enjoyed the attention!! I think??

Our son Josh has now settled and is very happy in Rio where he tells me he hopes to stay for the next 6 months - hes just bought a second hand guitar - so if he has to he'll at least be able to sing for his supper! Great to hear all about home but i must admit the media coverage here is all about the stress of the credit crunch and how gloomy things are in the UK - made worse by winter blues too i guess.

With work i now have a routine of sorts and i am just planning my next big trip and assessment to Samburu Central in about 10 days time - so i had better start reading about the Samburu tribe and culture. This should be a really interesting visit as i am going to see my first specialist Children with Disabilities Unit here.

Not looking forward to Roy leaving on the 3rd December and not being able to share Christmas with the family - don't feel too sorry for me though, i have a few other options for Christmas!!

The "Obama Rave"

Obama fever hit the country yesterday in true Kenyan style with the loudest celebrations ever - people everywhere were shouting and screaming with joy when my cab came to collect me for work at 7.30. I have to say that i bet that Nairobi hasn't seen so many happy people on the street in a long time. Its all beyond words really - its just fantastic. In Mombasa they are apparently re-naming a street - Barack Obama Avenue, and they are putting in electricity to his grandmother's place for when he comes to visit.
Today most people are on holiday celebrating but unfortunately that does not include me and loads of others here on the UN campus. I am just off now to Mombasa to train Barclays Bank staff who want to volunteer with street children and need to know how they go about it all etc.
I have been presenting my work and ideas on social care to quite a few people and to the government team, but the amusing thing for me, and somewhat distracting, is their surprise and happiness when they find out that i am Kenyan. I am now getting used to being the Obama in the team and that feeling of being reclaimed is a good one! I never thought that i would say this but i quite like Nairobi, i guess its the variety, and the extremes - nothing is hidden here and it does take time to get used to 'everything being in your face' but this is true Africa, where everything is bright and obvious whether we like it or not. I am really enjoying learning about the different tribes and their customs and i'm trying to find out how these impact on parents and their expectations etc.

Off to buy that newspaper that i will be keeping for ever - someone save me todays guardian!!

ps. When i arrived in Mombasa this afternoon i was taken to a very famous restaurant called Tamarind - guess what? They've made a new cocktail to celebrate the US election result, it's called the "Obama Rave" and consists of - Southern Comfort, Malibu, orange juice, pineapple juice, grenadine syrup and angostura bitters. Not sure in what measures but it was good stuff!

Happy Obama Day!

Happy Obama Day! - tomorrow Kenya has declared a national holiday - i have never seen such celebrations, with people shouting and crying and singing in the streets - it's amazing here. Joy, happiness and huge expectations. We are all so happy and distracted. Songs have been especially written, i think the Obama raps are the best.

Even i am referred to as "an Obama"- a returning / reclaimed Kenyan!!!  It's great!!

More about this later; i'm travelling to Naivasha again today - back tonight. No national holiday for UN, so i'm back in the office tomorrow.

Love to you all. 

My First Month and it's Getting Hot

I have been in Kenya for one month and now it's getting hot!! Actually i am at present in Mombasa and its boiling. Over the past 4 weeks the work has unfolded and i have been given responsibility for several projects - registration of displaced children and running the team that will collate all the information. I will supervise them 2 days a week in Nairobi and then for the rest of the time i will review children's homes and set up a training package for heads of homes. This is a huge project and involves government officials, meetings and a lot travelling around the country. Yesterday i inspected homes in Malindi and today i'm doing Mombasa. Everyone's so desperate to be trained and really interested in taking the advice i'm offering so it is very rewarding work, but feels like a drop in the ocean. I am also training social workers, and it looks like i will be pulled into several more training events concerning child protection and advocacy, so i am coming back here next week to do that.
I was encouraged kicking and screaming into the Indian Ocean for a swim last night and was goalkeeper for the youth social workers, girls who are professional footballers, who played against the boys including Maasai beach craft sellers - I tackled a Masai warrior on the beach, surreal!!
I have now settled into my city life style and met some very nice, weird and very interesting people. I am meeting with a Maasai woman next week to talk to her about parenting and tribal customs - she is particularly interesting as she was recently awarded the 'Order of the Spear' (like an OBE) for her work rescuing girls from abuse. I have been to an art exhibition, a private view at Romoma Gallery in Nairobi which was great fun and i met a new bunch of people. Also i had my first weekend away with a Jewish American crowd of woman and neighbours who have decided i needed distracting occasionally. We all went to Niavasha to a beautiful farm and nature reserve - i think this is the most relaxing place i have been to so far. I went on a night game run and saw hippos and loads of other wildlife.
Some times i wake up and feel as if i'm in the wrong place and uncertain about what i'm doing here or of what benefit i am etc - other times i am totally enveloped in the work, in the flow, and running with stuff like i do when i'm home. I do have mixed feelings about the work i'm doing even though everyone here thinks its great. I'm sure its because i'm here short term and because this country really struggles with structures and implementation, and has done for years - its a huge problem for all sorts of reasons. Maybe i'll be able to work around it like every one else does, let see. My Swahili has improved and i've got a sun tan!! So far so good.
How are you all?

Settling In!

On Sunday i moved into my own place. I'm now renting a wing of a house just across from where i've been staying. It's taken me this long to check out the safest place to stay other than expensive hotels that is. I had just about gotten used to be waited on hand and foot. Everyone seems to employ staff, my bed is made daily and food prepared and loads more. It's all a bit strange but i have now stopped saying "asante sana" upteen times for everything. It's just very different and takes some getting used to. It is the done thing to tip everyone at the end of the week.
My new house was built by the family in the '70s, it has three cows, a nice vegetable plot and even a pool, which i'm going to try out later, but mostly it is surrounded by dense forest. Security is everything, the denser the better i think.
I've had some interesting conversations about culture, race and tribalism. I met a white British woman who told me that there were three different types of whites in Kenya; the settlers, who have chosen to live in Kenya, make it there home and integrate; the colonials, who are still here and were sent to sort Kenya out and make it profitable for the British government and themselves, they still have attitude; the expats, the worst, who come to Kenya for a year or two and live in isolation frightened to death to mix, and live in gated communities giving nothing to the country. I don't know whether she is right or not but it's very interesting chewing all this stuff over. She herself was a settler who came out in the 80s to do wildlife conservation work after university.
Where i am staying there is a fairly mixed community. It's a smart, clean and well to do area, with wealthy Kenyans, Asians, Americans and some British, and just down the road is the Argentine Embassy.
But i always have to mention the amazing wildlife, i'm constantly suprized, though i have to say last night i was kept awake by the loudest toads and tree frogs on earth i would imagine, combined with a squawking Ibis - very annoying, I'm quite knackered this morning!
Roy's booked his flight to come out and see me in November - i'm so excited!!

Homabay

On Thursday this week we travelled from Kisumu to Homabay and back. A very long day. The school we visited was in a very poor state. The children were sharing beds and it was very overcrowded. They were well fed and are being educated but their day to day care is an issue. The Catholic preacher who runs the school was arrogant and very argumentative with us - we are reporting him anyway and trying to sort out what should be done. Over 250 children are sleeping on damp floors without mattresses. I could say loads about this place but it might be said that conditions are better than they would be at home.
We had hoped to see hippos on Lake Victoria here but there was to much to do. We had dinner in a local traditional bar with the kenyan guy who works in the UN office.

On the way back to Kisumu we witnessed a very nasty accident between two motor bikes. A woman, in her late seventies i would say, who had been on a bike had been badly injured and was lying on the road bleeding everywhere - we couldn't touch her, HIV issues, so some of the local people put her in our 4x4 and took her and another, younger girl to the hospital/clinic. There was no doctor in sight when we got there. Because i had given them some paracetamol they thought i was a doctor. Anyway i paid about two pounds for some treatment and left them in the good care of the nurse running the show.
A very long and hard day not helped by the heat and the fact that we couldn't drink much - no loos to speak of and certainly no privacy.

Lake Victoria

Kisumu - Just back from having had lunch. Talk about extreme experiences!!
A colleague and i went down to the lakeside where she'd previously had good fish lunches, so i thought hey, that sounds good. There before us on the lakeside was a row of shacks, open sided, with iron roofs called "hotels". Not somewhere either of us would want to spend the night. Within seconds we had been spotted, and loads of touts descended on us asking us to "eat this restaurant". We walked the whole length of the row trying to ignore the shouts from these young people around us. I eventually stopped and just asked a couple half way through their meal which one of these places was the best. They said "this one", so we sat down after being told to inspect the fish and choose which we wanted. We stood there mesmerised by the open cooking and general rawness of the experience. Heat wasn't the word! A waiter came over to us with a bowl of water and some soap, and for the first time since i arrived i realised that i was going to be eating with my hands - real Africa.
Half way through our lovely meal, and with a great view of Lake Victoria, we were suddenly aware of at least a dozen young boys, aged 10-16 years, all holding glue sniffing bottles looking wild, and definitely hungry. The waiter that was attending us ran over and pushed one of the boys away and made him cry - i was shocked. The waiter said he didn't want the boys to disturb our meal - well too late i thought and i asked him whether the restaurants ever fed these hungry boys. I didn't finish my food, and fully aware that i couldn't give them money, i told the waiter to give it to them. He tipped the food into the carrier bags the boys had - so that is why they walk up and down by the hotels with their bags, collecting scraps!
I was upset and angry, but there was nothing else i could do. We left and went back to the base office where i asked what programmes they were running locally for the street children. I was told to talk to the children's department, which we are visiting tomorrow. I will!
So, one extreme to the other. When i arrived here in Kisumu i was distracted by the beautiful little shack of an airport terminal that greeted us, and how i'd never seen a waiting lounge in a marquee before. It was great and looked like someone's garden with mangoes hanging from the trees all around us.
The images of those children will stay with me for a long time. I know we've seen these things before, but never so real and never at my lunch table. Maybe i'm not so tough.

Nakuru and Eldoret

So much has happened in my first two weeks in Kenya, i really can't believe it. Last week i was driven to Nakuru to visit the camp holding IDPS, Internally Displaced Persons, and met with the organisations working in the field. There are so many camps all over the Rift Valley - the north and south Rift areas are the most affected but there are temporary camps all over Kenya. There is so much work to be done and a serious amount of organisation is still needed. The NGOs and local organisations are doing well with very limited resources. The main focus is on moving people, families and children out of the camps and back to their land and homes, or to temporary settlements.
On Tuesday this week i flew out to Eldoret. I just got back to Nairobi this morning after spending the last two days training the local workers on how to register children and trace their families so that they may be reunited, and returned to their homes with support. Some children are being cared for by CCIs, Charitable Children's Institutions, and they too are to be registered and reunited with families. The amount of work to be done is scary, and the most difficult part is that there are just so many children who are in desperate need of help, and we have to prioritise them. Those prioritised at present will at least get some limited help. There is also a focus on children who are looking after other children, living in what's known as Child Headed Households. I am now coordinating some of this work but i've also been asked to look at and advise on child protection policies, so it looks like i'm going to be busy! Next week i fly to Kisumu, by Lake Victoria to assess the situation up there.
I've take some great photos but I'm having real problems with sending and uploading them. The internet access is poor, very slow and annoying. It took me 30 minutes to send two emails the other day. hopefully photos will be up soon, videos even!!
The short rains seem to have arrived. In Eldoret it rained quite a lot and now in Nairobi too. The wildlife is amazing, blue, red and yellow birds, Great Malibu Storks everywhere, and even birds of prey in the gardens where i'm staying, and African Flycatchers too apparently. I saw zebras and baboons by the roadside on the way to Nakuru. Having lunch in the UN garden the other day i was ducking to avoid the Black Kite that was swooping in between the tables and umbrellas to get the leftovers - an amazing sight for me but they were all used to it.
Love to you all x

4 Days In

Hi Everyone,   I arrived in Kenya four days ago and it already seems so long ago - but i am feeling less tired and more settled. I started work at the UN on Monday and met all my team. I quickly remembered that the most important people in any organisation are the support staff - I'm really nice to them!! I was thrown in at the deep end on the first day; a meeting with the government team. I'm now much clearer about the work and general expectations. Today i've been given my own computer, and tomorrow i may get a mobile.

The campus here is like a university campus with the most amazing floral gardens - i've been distracted by watching small monkeys jumping from tree to tree just outside my office window this morning.

Today (Wednesday) is a big day, with an overnight trip to the Rift Valley to see the children in the transit camps and meet with the local officials to plan what needs to be done next, and who is going to do what.

The great thing about being here is definitely the weather, but i am told that the short rains / showers are due in a week or so. It's so hot here, everyone eats lunch outside, and the people have been so nice, generous and very welcoming. Looks like I'm staying in Nairobi for the next few weeks. Love to all. V.

Last Minute Preparations

I can't believe that there's less than a week to go and it seems like a million things left to do before I set off for Kenya. I have the last of my vaccinations to look forward to tomorrow plus last minute shopping for those everyday things here that are virtually impossible to find out there. I am about to experiment with a small video camera that I have got for the trip, I will post the results with this blog entry. Bye for now.