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