A(nother African) Day in the Life...

2012-01-31T08:08:00.002Z

Currently not enjoying...

As usual the traffic. Calm and composed I should be, but most of the time I drive around yelling at other drivers, (with the windows shut I hastened to add) and honking my horn.

Waking up in the night to gun shots and car crashes. There have been quite a few car crashes outside our house recently, often in the night and sometimes combined with gunshots. The new bollards outside the house have been destroyed for the second time since they were put in a few weeks ago. At least they stop people crashing through our wall!!

The potential of a rat invasion. There are rats on the compound, big ones with bodies around 15cm long, or maybe rats are just that big. Our neighbour had them in her kitchen running around and eating things. So far we have escaped that and I have only seen one in the garden that the dog killed. We were warned that there can be rats in the house so I will be on the look out!!

The security situation which remains. Most people generally avoid crowded areas, and the big shopping centres. However Bethany managed to lose her gum shield this week, so I had no choice but to go to one of the so called banned shopping centres to get one. "If you don't mummy, I won't be allowed to play hockey and will have to spend the lesson running round the field"! Yes sure Bethany I am happy to risk a potential terrorist attack to buy you a gum shield".

Currently enjoying...

The weather which is fantastic. Sunny, 27-29 degrees C everyday.

Currently watching...

Downton Abbey.

Strangely feel like I understand a lot more about life in this period having someone who works in my house for me. I also find myself looking at the type of candlesticks they use as we are often use candles when the power is out. Wine bottles seem to work the best.

Currently reading... Well I have just finished the White Masai, very interesting, particularly to anyone who has ever live in Africa. It's quite old now, but about a Swiss girl who marries a Masai and lives with him and his family in Kenya.

Currently working on projects...

Planning Caleb's Star Wars party. Just the challenge I love, especially when there are no star wars party things to be had in Kenya. Still, having been made to watch all the Star Wars films 1-6, (actually I think I managed to escape 5)I have a much better idea of what I am supposed to be doing. All I can say is thank goodness for the Internet. Whatever did people do without it.

Currently wishing for...

Star Wars party stuff, that my cooker will be fixed today so I can cook dinner and on a more serious note, peace in Kenya.

Guest Blog #8 Phil (Pop)

2012-01-10T17:20:00.016Z

In the middle of our 'chilling out' in this warm urban haven, we had an opportunity to join Daniel and Libby and family at a Missionary Conference at Brackenhurst near here. Gate crashers we are. (Yoda speak - verb at the end - sorry, we get a lot of Star Wars here). A lovely time with some lovely people, some having travelled for 2 days to get here.
It was actually cold at times (high) which seems an anomaly at the equator! But a lovely spot. You might recognise a few faces here.

We went on a walk through a tea plantation - lush, green.

Back at the MAF 'ranch' we chilled in the sun, visited the various magnificent shopping centres replete with goodies, coffee shops (with cake), and security guards using oversized dentists mirrors to check for bombs under the car. Did some sights, too many to mention here. Had a run in with a local bank whose cash machine gobbled up my purchased 20,000 kenyan shillings before I could get them in my bag. I am still short of the £160 and waiting for payback which they assured me on three visits will arrive! Local expatriates (Simkins ones) are very chilled out about it. They are confident it will come.

We did another gate-crash onto a MAF flight heading for Dadaab with some aid workers who seemed to be visiting to better engineer the latrines. The refugee camps look very tidy from the air, we were not able to get any closer. It felt a bit voyeuristic, but hopefully we will be able to subsidise a future flight.

Lots of wild life. No need to go to the safari parks for these:-

and..

Also managed an engineering project with Joshua - construction of this chopper:-

Which reminds me how I was green with envy at all the motor bike riders in this balmy weather (except for traffic).

Anyway, must sign off now as up early for onward trip to Ethiopia.

Guest Blog #7 Viv (Grandma)

2012-01-09T17:20:00.003Z

Pop and I have been house guests here since Boxing Day (or the day after Christmas for non-Brits)and a thoroughly interesting time we are having, too. This is my first visit to Kenya, Pop's second if you include the hair-raising journey he had last year driving the car from Tanzania.
The house occupied by the Nairobi Simkins reminds me partly of my childhood home, a bungalow in a large garden plus black dog, and partly of our Reading house on Wokingham Rd, for the quantity of noisy traffic that passes. The setting seems pretty idyllic and I have never enjoyed hanging washing out so much, watching the birds in the soaring tree above! On the other hand, the rolls of barbed wire atop the wall, the two sets of gates before the road, the guard at the entrance, the doors locked, chained and barred, all remind you this is not quite paradise. This weekend we have been warned it is not a good idea to visit tourist places or crowded shopping malls as there is a terrorist threat.
But we have had some outings. Even being brave enough to drive the small car ourselves into the maelstrom that is Nairobi traffic, but not as brave as Daniel when it comes to negotiating unbelievably potholed dirt roads. One outing was on Saturday (before the warning) when we went into the centre of Nairobi (not Libby's favourite place so only the three of us went). We treated ourselves to a drink at Nairobi's equivalent of the Savoy and one of few remaining old buildings, the Norfolk Hotel. Ordering coffee would have been OK but I had the temerity to ask for a chocolate croissant and six arrived. The bill was such that although we only ate two, we asked for a doggy bag for the remainder and had the gall to ask for the four little pots of jam to be added too. The waiter was momentarily nonplussed, but had the grace to jokingly decline including the plate!
My private mission (bee in the bonnet, says Daniel) has been to find a library for Libby the bookworm. Surely there must be one somewhere near.. We did find a mausoleum of a vintage one in the centre of the city with coloured paper jackets on the books, fifties-style, plus layers of dust. But not quite the ticket.
The weather for us Brits is wonderful. Most days have been warm, but when there are shady trees, and we aren't stuck in traffic, that's not a problem. We have spent time outside as much as possible, and can't quite understand when little people prefer to watch a DVD inside. But then it isn't such a treat for them as it is for us, and to do them justice, they spend a lot of time on the trampoline using up that wonderful little people energy. Tomorrow they are back to school with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
Also on Saturday we went to the MAF BBQ a few paces away, and met others on the team, a very pleasant bunch.It's nice to know the family have these folks around them.

Update on the Christmas tree

2011-12-18T06:02:00.002Z

Hot weather does not make me feel Christmassy, but I sure do like waking up to bright sunshine every morning. It is very cheering. Well the hunt for a Christmas tree is over. On Thursday we prayed (not exactly sure about praying for a Christmas tree!!) and then went to one last store where we found 1 wonderfully plastic, slightly lopsided tree that the kids thought was great. In their opinion this is infinitely better than decorating the exercise bike (Daniel’s suggestion), buying a banana leaf baobab tree (my suggestion, and actually looks really nice decorated, but according to Joshua is not authentic) or any other real species of tree that isn’t really a Christmas tree. The good news is that the lights still work, even after two years in a box, so we now have a fully flashing Christmas tree.

Christmas frivolities aside it was quite a sad week. MAF medevac’d a pastor from Dodoma to Nairobi for an operation, but he died and had to be flown back in a body bag. Also a 4 month old baby that had been medevac’d from Dar (son of two teachers at the international school there) also died after being on dialysis for a few days. It was very sad because the baby had survived the medevac which was thought unlikely and had been doing quite well in hospital. The third thing that happened was that a Dutch medical student was medevac’d from Kampala after been dragged under a lorry. She has broken her pelvis in 4 places and is waiting to be medevaced to the Netherlands for further treatment. I have now discovered that our medical cover entitles us to be medevac’d by Lear jet back to Europe. Quite fancy the shorter trip by Lear jet, but am not sure that I want to be in a situation where I need to be medevac’d.The final thing was that the gardeners brother was killed by a hit and run driver in Nairobi.
Anyway, if you remember please pray for these situations.

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

2011-12-13T06:11:00.001Z

Sorry to anybody who has e-mailed recently and has not got a response. Our power is very erratic and when we do have power the internet is often down. Most days the power is out at least some of the time. It wasn't helped by the fact that someone drove into the transformer outside our house and blew it up. Quite scary in the middle of the night, a huge explosion with a massive flash. I thought someone was throwing grenades outside the house. (Yes I always do jump to the worst possible scenario). That took around 16 hours to fix and we had power for a few more hours until it blew up again and the power was off for another long stretch. Combined with pouring rain it has made it very hard to do and dry laundry.

The children have now broken up for school. I have to say I don't really enjoy Christmas here that much. It just doesn't feel like Christmas. I know that isn't really the point of Christmas, but I do enjoy all the lights and the festive feel. We are having trouble trying to find a Christmas tree. The children are not very impressed by the lack of a tree, but I have been trying. There is a choice between a slightly dodgy looking Christmas tree sold by the side of the road, that although real, is definitely not quite the right type of tree and probably unable to support any decorations. The other option is an artificial one, but the supermarket only had a 20 cm one and one that was about 8 feet high!! The search continues. I haven't even started looking for a Turkey. I bought a Christmas pudding at a yard sale in April, so at least we can have a traditional dessert. Those things do last for ever- right? The good news is that there are plenty of Panetone to be had if you want to pay £20 or more for one. Where is good old Lidls when you need it? I have managed to buy Christmas presents for my children and the other children in the family, but that is it. I keep planning to go on line to look for other people, but it is difficult with no internet. So people, do not have high hopes for on time Christmas presents from this end. I am thinking about it though!

Wednesday morning

2011-11-25T11:10:00.001Z

Wednesday I had an interesting drive to school. Things were pretty normal until we got near school. There was a lot of traffic and a lot of people, but there always are so I didn’t think much about it. In hindsight I realize that it was much busier than usual. We crawled round the corner onto the road where the school is when I started to see lots of men running down the hill waving huge branches. I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it, but there was nothing I could do because I was stuck in a traffic jam. Within a few seconds, chaos descended. The men with branches arrived in front of the car, we were in the front of the queue at the intersection by this time. They were carrying huge branches, tires, large rocks and big pieces of cement. Very quickly, tires, rocks and cement were all being thrown down on the road in front of my car, some to block the road and the others to set fire to. At some point I decided that this was getting dangerous and I should get the car out of there. However, as slight panic over took me, I realized that I could not go forward and there was a car behind me. As I was planning to get the kids out of the car and just run for it, a group of very kind Kenyan men started gesturing to me that they would help me get my car out. They careful showed me how far I could drive forward and back so that I could turn the car around and drive away. I had a friend with me in the car who really helped me keep calm. She said one of the more violent looking men started coming towards the car and one of the guys who was helping us, hit him with a branch to move him away. Not my favorite experience ever, but I really feel like God provided a group of angels to get my car out of there. As I drove past a policemen on the way out I asked him what was going on. He said, “trouble, if you want to save your life get out of here”. We went straight back home, although afterwards I had no memory of the journey. The kids who thought it was all “cool”, suggested it was a protest about trees!! Later we found out what was going on. In the early hours of that morning, the police had shot and killed a man and his 14 year old son, saying that they were robbers. This happened in Kawangare, the slum that is next to the school. The riot was against the police in protest against what the residents claimed to be the killing of an innocent man and his son. The policeman in question has now been arrested and so things are calm again. I drove to school yesterday and this morning and the road is clear and life continues as normal. Oh the joys of living in Nairobi! Anyway thank you to all who pray for our safety, we do need it!

Some photos

2011-11-11T10:51:00.013Z

Well, things plod on here as normal. We have had Victorian day at school, Roman day, crazy hair day, visits to fire stations and cheese factories. Every week there is something different. It is sometimes hard to keep up with the costumes.

Caleb has managed to hurt his back. Not sure how, but probably doing Caleb type things. Yesterday I took him to the hospital for an x-ray. They will get back to me today with the results. Health care can be fast here. The doctor told me to go and get an x-ray done and it took me just over an hour to drive across town, get the x-ray done and drive home again. It did cost me around £30, no NHS here, but it was fast.

At the weekend we also saw a big monkey in the tree in the garden. The photo shows the monkey watchers, but the monkey was so scared of the dogs it went to the top of a tree where it was hard to get a photo of. Instead there is a photo of a Caleb-spy monkey in a tree!!

News from Kenya

2011-11-01T07:07:00.009Z

Well it was a busy week last week. Things are pretty tense in Nairobi, since the Kenyan army started fighting in Somalia against a terrorist group who have now threatened to blow up places in Nairobi. Last week there were two grenade attacks in the city centre and embassy's are advising against visiting certain areas in the city. Everywhere security has been tightened, more checks, more security personnel and more security measures. Even from school we have had a few e-mails about the different measures they have put in place. Please pray for this situation, that peace would come to Nairobi and there would be a resolution to the conflict.

On a lighter note, here are a few pictures from daily life. One of the relief pilots was able to deliver a net for our trampoline. Great fun for boys and Transformers! We had a water fight on one of the sunny Sunday afternoons. All the kids against the neighbour's dad.

Last week was sports day for Caleb on Tuesday and the others on Thursday. Caleb was thrilled that his team won. The older kids event is more serious and less fun and I didn't take my camera, so sorry no photos.

Today is Bethany's 9th birthday. We had the party on Saturday with a mixture of girls from school and MAF. Birthday partys are not my favourite thing, but it went well and Bethany was happy, which is the main thing.

What MAF Kenya is doing at the moment...

2011-10-21T13:38:00.003+01:00

Those of you who see the news will know that the famine in Somalia is causing a huge displacement of refugees into the North of Kenya. MAF has been much in demand to assist with transporting aid workers to and from Dadaab and the surrounding areas. MAF South Africa have 'lent' us a plane and several pilots (in rotation) to help us meet the demands.

MAF South Africa (and this is the point...) have put together a video made up of some of the photos that the pilots have taken.

You can (hopefully) view it here.

MAF Kenya is still very busy with our other 'normal' flying - much of it in South Sudan - so we are all kept very busy! I am glad that our Programme Manager returned this week, as I have been doing his job as well as my own for the last 6 weeks!

I have now had 3 days off sick this week - I don't know if these facts are related...

Jacaranda

2011-10-17T07:31:00.007+01:00

I always do at least one post about the Jacaranda tree each year. It is stunningly beautiful and now the leaves are falling off we have a beautiful purple trampoline and a purple path.The middle two photos are not mine, but they give you a better impression of how beautiful this tree is than any photo I have.

Bits and pieces of news

2011-10-14T09:56:00.004+01:00

Well not much to report here. Daniel is busy as he has been covering for the country director for the last 6 weeks. There have been a few ups and downs and a few midnight calls to tell us that the hanger alarm has gone off, but apart from that it has passed relatively smoothly. Next week he will hand over again and will go back to his normal job.

The children all seem to be well. Next week is the half term break which we will spend here. For me it will just be a relief not to do so much driving. It has been normally crazy here traffic wise this week. I have only driven on the pavement a couple of times and was scraped by a large 4x4 once. On our road they have been cutting down all the trees to make pavements. This is to improve road safety. However, now the pavements have finished they have covered them with bolders to prevent vehicles using them as extra lanes. This makes walking on them much more difficult especially if you have a buggy as my friend discovered.I should also point out that although the pavements are finished there are still a number of trees that haven't been cut down in the middle of the new pavements. I know this because all the trees due for the chop have big white crosses on them. The question is, have they changed their minds about the trees or are they, haveing finished the pavements going to cut the trees down? We will see.

Our garden

2011-10-03T12:21:00.009+01:00

My mum suggested I do a blog about the flowers in our garden, so here it is! I can take no credit for any of this,(well maybe Bethany) but I do enjoy it!

Currently

2011-09-27T07:48:00.004+01:00

Currently:

Not enjoying. Those regular readers will know about my love for the traffic here. This week is the Nairobi show which means it is even worse than usual! A few pictures to back it up. The mini buses, called matatus, are the things that really snarl the traffic up as they drive wherever and whenever they want and give way to no one. Yes that is a fish.

Enjoying:

A fantastic dog. However, when she starts barking at night and snarling at the windows it is difficult to know what to do. Go out and look, which we have done but is probably not a good idea, or stay in and pray it is the wind?

Caleb has started gymnastic lessons and loves it. His aim is to learn how to do a front and back flip like the teacher. Good luck with that I say. Nobody else in our immediate family, as far as I know, has ever mastered either. That doesn't include feats on the trampoline. Daniel suprised himself the other day by being able to flip on the trampoline, encouraged by Caleb of course. The best I can do is a few jumps.

The trampoline which we bought off the previous owners of the house (shipped out to Tanzania over 10 years ago and then moved with them to Kenya)is a great hit and also a great user upper of excess boy energy.

Currently reading:

Anything by Randy Alcorn.

Watching:

The Cosby show, season one. My Own Worst Enemy, a series with Christian Slater and Robin Hood, the BBC children's series.

Currently wishing for:

Cheap cereal that tastes nice, cheaper cheese, actually cheaper food in general. But maybe that is a worldwide problem. Sugar. I am nearly out of sugar so today I am planning a sugar hunt. There must be some somewhere.

Currently working on projects:

Daniel and Joshua finally finished making a small wagon this weekend. They started making it over two years ago in Tanzania. The progress has really sped up here with the help of a work shop full of decades of other MAF family's junk. It's a boys dream, nuts, bolts, screws, bits of wood, metal, old wheels etc... I like it because they can do all sorts of projects out there and the mess doesn't come into the house.

Currently praying about:

How to use my spare time. That is the time that is left after the traffic jams. Was considering doing a Phd on Nairobi Traffic!!

Time flies and Joshua turns 10!

2011-09-13T18:33:00.006+01:00

Well the children are back at school and loving it. Bethany says her school days go so fast, so does time go more quickly in Kenya? I am not enjoying it as I have had a week of very challenging school runs. The traffic has been a nightmare and every day I am trying to find a better route to get to school. It is not just the number of cars on the road it how people drive. I know I go on about this but it is very annoying. My children helpfully repeat to Daniel in the evening everything I have said to other drivers. Probably not my finest moments! God has been very faithful in protecting me on the road, please continue to pray for safety. Right now I see around 2 accidents a day.

In other news, there is a sugar shortage in Kenya. I have not seen it on the shelves of the main supermarket that I go to since we returned from the UK.

Sunday was Joshua's 10th birthday. We celebrated with a BBQ with friends.10 years has gone very fast, in another 10 he will probably have left home - scary thought.

Tea Farm

2011-08-29T12:43:00.007+01:00

Yesterday we went out for a meal at a tea farm to celebrate with a MAF couple who have been working for MAF for 25 years. (The cow in the pick-up was just something I saw on the journey home) It was a pretty cold, foggy day, not at all what you imagine for Kenya, but it is the winter. We had to light a fire when we got home we were so cold.

Patio

2011-08-27T18:02:00.004+01:00

Well we have been in the new house two weeks now and are slowly getting used to it. Fortunately almost all the curtains from the new house fitted and I only had to alter a few. Sewing really is not my forte but I will give anything a go. Today I decided to build a small patio. I was fed up with the mud pile at the bottom of the steps outside of the kitchen door that the dog and the children keep tramping in and walking through the house. My neighbour was getting rid of her slabs so I got the compound workers to move them for me. See the photo of my two helpers I roped in. Caleb was actually a great digger (I think he would have done well as child labour in Victorian times) and Daniel helped with the detail. It was dark when we finished, so you will have to wait until another day to see the finished product.

Security

2011-08-21T13:12:00.002+01:00

This was a photo I forgot to post yesterday of our outside wall. It can feel like being under house arrest!! In case you can't see the picture well enough, that is razor wire and lots of it!!

New house

2011-08-20T14:16:00.004+01:00

Finally we have moved into our new house. We have been here a week now, but it has taken that long to get the internet sorted out. This house is on the main MAF compound and has much more outside space. We are also getting used to our new dog, she is actually a really nice dog but is quite scary to any visitors she doesn't know. Kenyans are particularly scared of black dogs. She sleeps in the house at night to keep her safe (outside, dogs can more easily be poisoned) and to warn us of any intruders.

MAF Kenya is very busy right now as we try and do our bit for the famine crisis that has hit. We have had to get another plane from South Africa and we have extra pilots from various places to help out. We will keep you posted!

Flora and fauna (II)

2011-07-16T16:54:00.007+01:00

As promised, here is the second instalment. Sorry about the quality of some of the pictures; living creatures tend not to be as accommodating as flowers when it comes to portraits :). You may well need to click to get the larger picture...

This one is cheating slightly :)

The human is standing there to give an impression of the magnitude of the beast...

We will be on holiday for the next 3-4 weeks, and will be moving immediately upon our return, so there may well be a dearth of blog posts. We hope you will cope :)

Flora and fauna (I)

2011-07-10T07:59:00.007+01:00

This post has been pending for some time, and is we are shortly to move to a new house it seems like a good time.

Although our garden here is only a 'postage stamp' there is a surprising variety of both flowers and birds/animals.

Here are some of the flowers:

And my personal favourite for weirdness...

Real life in Africa

2011-06-29T07:32:00.003+01:00

For those of you who remember Focus our day guard in Dodoma, please pray for him and his family. On Monday night his 6 month old daughter Felista died of pneumonia. This comes only a few weeks after Frank's (The guy who worked with Daniel in the finance office in Dodoma)3 month old daughter also died. Also yesterday one of our staff in Juba (Sudan) had to return to Uganda because his wife had died suddenly. Life here is, for some people, very hard.

Monday also saw the medevac of the Tanzanian country director to Nairobi as he slipped and fell and did something nasty to his leg. He will have an operation today.

And we believers also groan, even though we have the Holy Spirit within us as a foretaste of future glory, for we long for our bodies to be released from sin and suffering.....
And the Holy Spirit helps us in our weakness. For example, we don’t know what God wants us to pray for. But the Holy Spirit prays for us with groanings that cannot be expressed in words. And the Father who knows all hearts knows what the Spirit is saying, for the Spirit pleads for us believers in harmony with God’s own will. And we know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8 23 + 26

Final weeks of school

2011-06-28T12:18:00.003+01:00

Not so much to report here. Wind in the Willows was a success, although I did struggle to understand all the accents. (Most of the children are not English). I had to go both nights as Bethany was outraged that no one was going to watch the second night. I found the script in Joshua's bag and that helped me a lot to catch all the words. I enjoyed Joshua's bit the most although he didn't believe me. ("You're just saying that mummy because I'm your son). Still it was long days (leaving at 7:30am and getting back at 9pm- school provided dinner) and I am glad to have a relatively normal week this week.

Daniel has gone to the UK for a finance conference and has managed to avoid the parent-teacher conferences yet again. I have done two lots this year already and said it was his turn this time-sigh! Anyway I think it has been a great year school wise, I have been hugely impressed by the schooling here.

This morning I went with Caleb's class for a supermarket visit. They had 100 shillings to spend (about 80p) so they could learn about money and change. They all had their own small trolley to push round and it was fairly chaotic trying to bring order to a long caterpillar of small children with small trolleys. Still a fun learning experience and you can actually get quite a lot for 100 shillings - Scary coloured juice and an equally scary coloured lolly, 2 note books, a ruler, a rubber and a pencil sharpener. The kids loved it especially the bit where they got to pay for their own stuff.

Next week is the last week of term, which in my opinion can't come soon enough. I seriously need a break from making snacks, driving to and from school and being organised enough to get 3 children out of the door, complete with uniform, lunch, reading folders, games kits, swimming kits, homework and various other things that small people need on different days, by 7:30am!

Bits and pieces of news

2011-06-17T08:48:00.008+01:00

Well it is busy busy busy here, but at the same time not really that Blog worthy. It has now been decided that we will move house in August (see attached picture), which in spite of the rats will be much better for the children because it has a big garden to play in. There is also enough room for a dog, so we are inheriting a 3 year old black labrador called Rhum. Finally after 35 years I get to have a dog. The Kenyans think she is quite scary which is good. Actually she is basically a dog version of Caleb, only black and fatter.

In other news:

I found a snake in the garden and Daniel laughed at me because I sprayed it with Doom. (The stuff I use to kill cockroaches) Well I don't have much experince in snake killing so didn't know what else to do. Anyhow it slithered off and hasn't been seen since. I was not sure whether to tell Caleb about it or not. I wanted to warn him to be careful but I also didn't want to initiate a snake hunting expedition. In the event he seemed quite worried about the snake. I think this is because the big boys on the other compound have teased him about cobras so now he is a bit wary of snakes. This has to be a good thing.

Caleb has now switched to school lunches as he says bread makes him vomit. Having found out that they weren't as expensive as I first thought I said he could try it for this term. He is loving it. If you can read it I have uploaded one weeks menu. I am wondering about eating there myself.

Bethany and Joshua are busy rehearsing for a production of Wind in the Willows which opens next week. If I can, I will film it for any grandparents that are interested.

That's all for now.

Jeff

2011-05-29T17:29:00.002+01:00

A couple of weeks ago we were driving along our road, on the way to Java House (one of our favourite eating spots) and Libby and I spotted a guy lying at the side of the road, apparently frothing at the mouth. We were going pretty fast, so didn't get a good look, and we decided not to stop - for various reasons; e.g. we had the kids with us, and we wouldn't have a clue what to do anyway. We felt pretty bad about it, but there were people walking past, and by the time we were on our way home he had gone.

Funnily enough, as we were driving to Java House yesterday (told you we enjoyed going there!) we came across the same guy, again frothing at the mouth - except this time he was sprawled across the middle of the busy main road, right in front of our car - this gave us considerably fewer choices! So we stopped the car in the middle of the road with our hazard warning lights on and Libby and I grabbed a leg and an arm each and carried him to the side of the road. When he started choking, we rolled him on to his side. We still had no clue what to do, but fortunately (or otherwise) our friends were driving past in the other direction, and stopped. Laura is a pilot with MAF and one of these 'capable' people. So while I moved the car out of the road, a posse of people carried the guy to the other side of the road and Laura came out with her First Aid kit and surgical gloves and helped clean him up. They then said they would take him to the doctors.

It turns out that the guy (called Jeff - or maybe Geoff) is an epileptic who had run out of his medication a few weeks ago. Although he had a prescription for more, because the medication is free the hospital had no supply. So Mike and Laura paid for three month's prescription for him, and prayed with him. Apparently he is a street hawker who lives in the slums, but as he has no license the police had taken everything.

We feel a bit like God had given us a second chance to do the right thing :) Or maybe he just let us see him the first time, so we would be more likely to stop the second time. Given how most people drive round here, if it had been someone else driving past just at the time he started fitting the chances are he would have been squashed.

It wasn't until we were on our way again that it occurred to us that it could have looked rather bad to someone coming upon the scene - Western couple stopped in the road with a poor Kenyan guy lying on the ground. Then carrying him out of the middle of the road and bundling him into another car...

Anyway, interesting story.

(The cynic in me wonders whether he is really epileptic, or whether he has just found a clever way to make himself froth at the mouth and he has now sold the medication...but I will try to choose to be trusting, and hope we did a good deed).

International Day

2011-05-18T17:43:00.008+01:00

Today was International day. There are 70 different Nationalities at Braeburn school and the children all had to dress up in their own or another National dress. 25 Classrooms were set up as different countries inlcuding Lebonan, Ivory Coast, Japan, Greece, Israel and so on. The children all had their own passports and had to travel round the world getting stamps from different countries.They got to dress up, do crafts, taste food and there was a big parade round the field, with each class representing a different country. Caleb's class did Italy, Bethany's Nigeria and Joshua's Aruba. Bethany said is was one of the best days of her life.I spent the day with Caleb's class which is why I have more photos of him.

Differences between living in Kenya and the UK

2011-05-17T18:16:00.002+01:00

* I see a traffic accident almost everyday.

* Sometimes I see dead bodies lying by the side of the road.

* At major road junctions (actually at all road junctions) there is no system except ‘everybody go at once’. Some junctions have roundabouts and traffic lights which you would think helps. It doesn’t. The same rule still applies: every man for himself. The whole ‘stopping at red lights’ and ‘giving way to others’ hasn’t really reached here yet!

* In the UK, the filter on the kettle was used for filtering out scale; here it filters out ants. (Likewise, it is always wise to give the tap on our water filter a few 'taps'. You then get to watch the little army of ants run away round the outside of the filter!)

* Termites are eating our house from the inside out. We have little termite mounds inside the cupboards; this cannot be good.

* There are cockroaches inside most houses whether they are clean or not.

* Geckos live in every room of the house; some of these are quite large. Still, I find them quite friendly and they eat mosquitoes.

* Seeing a giraffe is about as exciting for us as seeing a squirrel in England.

* Equally, seeing a Maasai warrior is now as about as exciting as seeing a foreign exchange student.

* I never park my car on the side of the road. Whether at home, visiting a friend, at school, church or shopping my car is always parked in a secure compound with a guard and I still always lock it.

* I drive around with my car doors locked and my windows up nearly all the time, especially if I am in traffic.

* The weather is much nicer. Sorry people, but you do need some compensation for some of the above.

* All my immediate neighbours are Christians.

* I can buy two large pizzas from the take away on ‘Terrific Tuesdays’ for much less than I can make them and they are much nicer!!

* I have friends from all over the world and very few of them are English. I do like the English but that is just the way it has worked out. (Although I am a bit annoyed that England doesn’t really have a National Dress that I can use to dress my children in for International day tomorrow. Instead they will have to go as Maasai warriors and an American cowgirl).

Currently...

2011-05-10T18:28:00.001+01:00

Currently reading:
Having an electronic book reader does really help with the supply of books, or it would if my husband hadn’t taken it to use for himself!!

Currently watching:
‘Flashpoint’ or whatever other series Daniel has managed to buy for almost nothing on e-bay.

Currently working on:
Possibly moving house. A house had come up on the other MAF compound which has a much bigger garden than here. In many ways it is my perfect house, an old Kenyan bungalow in the middle of a big garden. To most Europeans it is probably a house you would want to completely do up, rip out the kitchen and bathroom, re- paint, re-plaster, put new windows and new floors in and maybe a patio. For me I think it will be just fine, although I am not so keen on the rats. However there are very few cockroaches! We just have to wait and see if anyone else wants to move in too!

Currently praying about:
Whether or not to change church. We like the church we go to but it is quite large and far away, so we are wondering about going for a nearer smaller one.

Currently enjoying:
Well the kids are enjoying silly bands. Not sure if they have hit the UK yet or we are years behind. Anyway they are like rubber bands but coloured and shaped. I have no idea what you are supposed to do with them but all the kids have them and swap them with each other.

Currently not enjoying:
Traffic as usual. A guy on a bike hit my car the other day. I was a bit panicked at the time but as he seemed OK and didn’t fall off it was OK. These things can often work out to being your fault even if it wasn’t so it is a bit nerve racking. Last week the country ran out of fuel, so there were huge queues at all the petrol stations. This caused traffic chaos and on Tuesday people were getting home from work hours late. It took Daniel 2 and a half hours to drive home. I managed to get home from school by working the back routes. The fuel situation is still not clear and they have been rationing fuel at some petrol stations.

Currently longing for:
A home that is ours and that we can stay in for ever. Although Daniel says I would soon get itchy feet. A place to live that didn’t have such huge security issues. I guess God knows what he is doing and hopefully all of this is character building or something !!!

Currently working on projects:
How to feel settled and at home in a place where you feel the opposite.

Nairobi National Park

2011-05-02T16:18:00.004+01:00

On Sunday afternoon we decided to go to the National Park. Nairobi is the only capital in the world that is bordered by a National Park, so you can see the sky line of the city from the Park.

Compared to other places we have been on safari it wasn't great but we still managed to see quite a few animals inlcuding rhino and crocodiles and of course the monkeys in the car. The best bit was at the end when the giraffe came right up to the car. The kids wanted to get out, but we weren't sure that was a great plan.

Hippo Hunting on Lake Naivasha

2011-04-18T13:24:00.009+01:00

Lake Naivasha

2011-04-18T13:21:00.004+01:00

This weekend we went to lake Naivasha to stay at the house where Joy Adamson (Born Free) used to live. We had a great time but it was definitely the most surreal night time experience I have ever had. The first night I got up because I heard what sounded like an army marching past the window. Well you never know here and I was a little spooked at the fact that there was only glass between me and the outside world rather than my usual fort knox. I looked out the window and what should I see but a huge hippo happily munching grass. I had seen the watch out for wild animals at night sign but quickly dismissed it as being a bit over the top. I quickly woke everyone else up so they could see the hippo too. The second night as soon as I heard the earth begin shake I looked out again to see more hippos and this time we also saw a huge giraffe outside the window eating the acacia tree. It was hard to sleep what with the noise of the hippos and the desire to keep leaping out of bed to see what else was outside the window. Unfortunately I couldn’t take a picture so you will have to take my word for it.

In the morning the hippos had all disappeared back down to the lake so we took a boat out to see them in there natural habitat. We must have seen over a 100. We also saw the most amazing array of different bird including an African Fish eagle. I could almost get interested in birds here and it has even crossed my mind to by a bird book.

There were also two troops of monkeys at the house when we arrived and it was fun to watch them swinging through the trees.

Even staying in the house was strange. It has been left as it was with books, paintings, furniture and silverware as Joy had it. However, there is no sense that it is a museum and you are welcome to sit in the chairs by the fire and just relax. The house is not posh but it is in a stunning setting overlooking the lake, hence the hippos.

The best bit for the children was the satellite TV. What can you do!!! Don’t think that is original.

2011-04-10T18:08:00.003+01:00

One of our favourite meat eaters.

2011-04-10T18:06:00.002+01:00

The East African Rift Valley

2011-04-10T18:05:00.002+01:00

Washing hands on the edge of the rift valley.

2011-04-10T18:03:00.002+01:00

Bethany and her friend Natalie waiting for their goat.

Holidays

2011-04-10T18:01:00.002+01:00

This week was the first week of the Easter School holiday. Unfortunately it doesn't coincide with the holidays of the other schools (American and Dutch) so we are by ourselves on the compound. So far we have played a 3 hour game of Monopoly: gone to a soft play area: gone out for chicken and chips; gone out to a coffee shop with a play area; gone to the dentist and bounced on our neighbours trampoline. There aren't really any parks here that you can play in, all the play areas are attached to eating places so you have to buy something to use the facilities.

Today after church we drove to the edge of the rift valley to eat lunch Masai style. The Masai have set up a sort of restaurant where you can buy a meal and enjoy the view of the rift valley. Well actually they have a herd of goats and a few chickens and the menu is, you guessed it, chicken or goat or both. The food takes rather a long time to come because with no refrigeration everything is freshly cooked. That sounds nice but what it actually means is that you can go and watched your meal being slaughtered before you eat it. Then a couple of hours later a pile of meat appears on a wooden board and that is lunch. No need to bother about plates, cutlery, side salad or vegetables. Needless to say that went down very well with certain members of the family!

(The photo was taken on the way back. The children thought we were back in Tanzania. They associate Kenya with City life and Tanzania with rural life.)

Plug

2011-03-27T10:12:00.004+01:00

This is the plug for the welder!!

Welder

2011-03-27T10:11:00.003+01:00

This is the welder that was used to make the gate.

Security

2011-03-27T10:10:00.003+01:00

Here is the new security gate that we had put in this week. It seals off the upstairs of the house from downstairs in case of intruders. (Yes you could still get shot through the bars) Most of the other houses on the compound have one, ours was just missed out when they were putting them in. It will look a bit better when it is painted but it is a bit like being in prison.

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Joshua's camping trip.

2011-03-18T17:06:00.000Z

These photos are a few weeks late, but here are some pictures of Joshua's school camping trip.

2011-03-15T07:24:00.000Z

Eating dinner in the garden. We bought this table off a family that are leaving, so now we can eat in the garden everyday! There are definitely some good things about living in Kenya.

2011-03-15T07:21:00.000Z

Bethany waiting too!

Splash

2011-03-15T07:20:00.000Z

Finally in the water.

Swimming again

2011-03-15T07:18:00.000Z

Josh waiting for his event at the swimming gala.

YWAM Athi River Mourns Loss of Missionary

2011-03-10T06:13:00.004Z

Sorry for the lack of posts the last couple of weeks. We have been left quite shocked by what happened to a couple in our church and have not felt like blogging. I have included a news article for you to read.

YWAM Athi River Mourns Loss of Missionary

At around 1am on Friday, 25th February, armed robbers broke into a property owned by the Youth With A Mission (YWAM) team in Athi River, Kenya, 50 km outside of Nairobi.

In the attack, 36-year old Ebel Kremer, a Dutch national, was shot and killed. His wife Lora was assaulted during the attack, which took place in their home on the property. Their two children were present, but unharmed. A night watchman was also injured, and is now recovering.

The Kremers have been volunteers with Youth With A Mission in Kenya since February 2008. The YWAM centre in Athi River runs Christian training schools and a preschool in addition to their focus on caring for local orphaned children. “Homes for Hope and Healing” has been providing community-based care for orphans and Ebel was leading a project called the Maanzoni Children’s Village which aimed to merge with this effort to include a village of 8 homes which would accommodate foster families caring for up to 12 children each. Karin Kea Sued, the leader of the YWAM Athi River center until very recently, says it is too early to determine what will happen to the plans for expansion. “Ebel was overseeing the building of the second of the eight homes,” she said. “We were waiting for the homes to be completed before accepting more children.”

The YWAM property in Athi River accommodates 25 resident volunteers and approximately 50 other people, including students and visitors were also on the 70 acre property at the time of the attack.

The incident is being investigated as a robbery. The police are conducting extensive inquiries and have increased security in the area. YWAM has also engaged additional security.

Lora Kremer and her children are being cared for by friends in Nairobi and are preparing to return to Holland, where the funeral will be held, later this week.

Karin Kea Sued expressed gratitude on behalf of Lora Kremer and the YWAM community in Athi River for the prayers being said for them around the world. She says, "Our hearts are hurting as we are all in shock and disbelief that Ebel has been taken from us so suddenly, and in such a cruel and heartless manner. We have lost a fellow missionary and friend who beamed with energy and determination serving the One we all know to give perfect peace, comfort and eternal life. Our prayers and sympathy remain with Lora and their families in Holland."

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Sitting on one long bench! Kids from 4 MAF families after our giraffe visit.

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These are big animals. This giraffe is standing roughly at the same level as Caleb.

Gross

2011-02-18T17:08:00.000Z

Whatever will they do next??

Half Term

2011-02-18T17:07:00.000Z

We had a few days holiday this week for half term. Today we took the kids to see giraffes.

Fun in the sun!!

2011-02-12T18:03:00.000Z

Today we spent the day here to celebrate Caleb's birthday. It was great fun. The person coming down the shute is actually Bethany, although it is hard to spot. This is definitely a different sort of Africa!!

2011-02-12T18:01:00.000Z

6 Years old

2011-02-12T18:00:00.000Z

Caleb's 6th birthday.

Nothing much...

2011-02-07T17:51:00.006Z

Seems like a while since I've blogged :( Not that there isn't a lot happening, but not a lot that is blogworthy.

We've been back about a month, and I've just about caught up with myself at work, and working on implementing system improvements apace. That's the fun stuff :) Also supposed to be preparing year-end accounts for the auditors, but that's not as much fun, so is slightly on the back burner.

In case you don't follow these things, Omar al Bashir (the President of Sudan) today acknowledged the results of the Southern Sudan referendum on independence, and said that the results (99% for seccession) were 'accepted and welcomed'. This is really good news, and pretty much eliminates the risk of all-out civil war. There are still localised skirmishes in some areas in the South and along the border, and we have had to do a few evacuation flights, but all-in-all everyone is very happy and impressed with the way things have gone so far. Although things are pretty quiet for flying in Sudan at the moment, we are gearing up to increasing our presence in Juba, in anticipation of a huge development effort once things have stabilised and Sudan becomes independent (in July). Exciting times!

Had a fairly 'African' experience a couple of weeks ago (our life is generally fairly 'un-African' by Dodoma terms, but occasionally Africa creeps in...). In order to get my Airport Security pass, I needed a 'Certificate of Good Conduct' (roughly equivalent to a CRB check in the UK - I think there was a post in the past about out efforts to get one in Tanzana). This involved a trip to CID, in the North of Nairobi. All we knew was that we needed our passports; a copy of our passports, and 1,000 shillings. I went with Alan, our Programme Manager, and a Kenyan guy from the Stores Department. We arrived at CID and followed the signs to the 'Certificate of Good Conduct' Office. There was a massive queue outside, and to the left a little window with a couple of African mamas. We were led to this window, where we were supposed to pay. Unfortunately, we discovered that we weren't able to pay until the copy of our passports had been certified.

So we had to go to the main CID building and ask for a particular person, who we found eventually (after the guy at reception had ignored us for a suitable period of time in favour of serving other people). We then sat in his office for another suitable period, after which he inspected our passports and the copies minutely, and then stamped and signed the copies. He also made another copy of something, but I forget what.

We then had to go back to the paying place; pay and get our receipt. We then joined the end of the long queue. It didn't take us long to realise that the rest of the queue were clutching forms. On enquiry we found out that we had to squeeze to the front of the queue, go inside the building and collect the form from someone inside. We duly did this, and then completed the sections we could. Then back to the end of the queue...

Wehn we got to the end of the queue, we found that this was the queue for getting your receipt photocopied. (CID have obviously worked out that this both saves money - on duplicate receipt books - and is a charging opportunity, as they charge you to photocopy the receipt...).

Now with our passports; copies of passports (certified); letters of introduction; receipts; application forms; copies of receipts...we joined the end of the next queue. This was quite entertaining, because this queue was a queue to get a seat at the back of about 10 rows of seats. Every 5 minutes or so the first row would stand up and go and join the next queue, and the second and subsequent rows would snake forward one row...etc, etc. It was interesting to wonder how many buttocks had rested on each seat in the course of the day...(the room was packed - maybe up to 200 people, with everything indicating that this was its normal state).

Eventually we reached the front row, and were then called forward to one of the 'fingerprinting' tables. Here we took turns inking up the roller (presumably another cost-saving measure) while the guy folded our forms in the appropriate manner. He then took our fingerprints in record time, and miraculously without seeming to get any ink on his own fingers. Once this was done we then joined the next queue, which was to have our receipts attached to our forms, and both the form and the copy of the receipt stamped with our reference number. This all still with completely black fingers...

Eventually we escaped outside, where we found there was actually a sink with two taps, each dribbling a tiny amount of water. This was (as you might expect) well attended. There didn't appear to be any soap, but people were using stones from the floor, and the side of the stone sink to attempt to clean their hands (from the look of the outside of the building, walls were also a favourite method).

After all that, we were quite glad that we didn't have to go back to collect the actual certificates (a job which involves at least another two queues...), as we have logistics staff who do that kind of fun thing for a living. However, after that lot, we had to go back to the office via the bank, which involved a whole load more queueing...

Word to the wise: don't come and work in Africa if you don't have a fair supply of patience...

Anyway - all's well that end's well:

Cockroach

2011-02-07T13:49:00.003Z

Just so you can see how gross these things are. The average one here has a body about 5cm long.

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The winner!

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A happy swimmer!

Swimming

2011-02-07T13:45:00.000Z

Take your marks, get set, go!

Swimming gala

2011-02-07T13:43:00.000Z

This afternoon, year 1 and 2 had their swimming gala. It is quite a long afternoon, but the children love it. Not much else has been happening here. I have had a war against the cockroaches trying to kill them all. One day last week I managed to kill 30!! I don't mind them outside but I really don't want them in the house. In other news, Joshua left this morning on a 3 day camping trip with school. I was really proud that he was so keen to go and not bothered at all about being away from home. He obviously feels pretty settled here to go away with a group of people that 6 months ago were strangers. Bethany is camping on the school field on Friday night, she'll get to go away properly next year.

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BBQ

2011-01-23T13:53:00.000Z

Nice to have warm light evenings. Barbecuing marshmallows on Saturday evening.

2011-01-23T05:54:00.004Z

This week the traffic had been particularly bad and I have spent a lot more time than I would like, siting in jams. Twice I have had to drive on the pavement and I have made good use of my horn! We were praying in the prayer meeting this week about things that we find difficult in Nairobi. I was thinking about traffic and thinking it wasn't really worth praying about because what could God do about the Nairobi traffic! The next day I found a new short cut to school saving me loads of time sitting in traffic queues. The only downside of the new route is that it is a lot bumpier, still the kids love it as it is much more of an adventure on the way to school.

2011-01-12T11:53:00.000Z

Crafting

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Eating!

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Sliding!

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Opening presents.

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Rowing. (Bethany is the pink person at the front).

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Making lego with Pop.

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paddling the the water.

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New Year

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January the 1st on the beach. Sand castles and snowmen in the same holiday!

2011-01-12T11:39:00.000Z

Back to Kenya

2011-01-12T11:33:00.000Z

Having survived the coldest December in the UK for 100 years we are now back in sunny Kenya. It is nice to see the sun again but it is quite hot at the moment and uncomfortable to sleep at night. We also seem to have quite a few large cockroaches in the house which is really gross. The children started back at school yesterday. They were quite worried about going back, but everyone had a fantastic day. Caleb was helped by the promise of playing on the Wii when he got home. As usual the traffic was terrible on the journey to school and I had to fight my way in and out of the car park- no change there. A few photos of our time away to follow. If you can't tell from all the clothes, our children are the 3 at the back in the photo on a treasure hunt with their cousins.

Our very own Weaver bird!

2010-12-08T06:20:00.000Z

The Cast

2010-12-07T16:34:00.000Z

Mtoto Mfalme

2010-12-07T16:32:00.000Z

Today we went to see Caleb's Christmas production. It was only years 1 and 2, but even Daniel was impressed. For interested grandparents Daniel recorded it all.

Different worlds

2010-12-02T10:29:00.003Z

Bethany doing swimming training this week in an outdoor unheated pool and the UK this week. Which would you choose? Why is it that when you are hot you can not imagine being cold and vice versa?

We will be travelling quite a bit whilst we are in the UK, but, due to the weather, maybe not as much as we had planned. If you would like to know where we will be and when and would like to try and meet up with us, please e-mail us. Our e-mail is on the last prayer letter.

Traffic

2010-12-01T14:05:00.005Z

It's a beautiful 28 degrees C. here, bright sunshine and light until 7pm. Going to the UK for Christmas seemed like a nice idea, theoretically. What was I thinking!! Christmas never feels like Christmas to me in hot weather so I wanted a cold Christmas. Now it is getting closer and I have seen the temperatures in the UK I am wondering whether a hot Christmas is nicer after all. Time will tell. The last winter I experienced was 2005/2006. Joshua was 4, Bethany 3 and Caleb 1. They have no memory of cold and are really looking forward to it. They think cold is when it is 24 degrees C. early in the morning on the way to school when they put on fleeces!

I certainly won't miss Nairobi traffic for a few weeks. I've decided Nairobi junctions are a bit like running the gauntlet. You have to watch for that perfect moment when there is a split second of a gap that you can get through and you aren't going to hit the traffic coming in the other 3 directions. On Monday Joshua announced that he needed a gum shield and shin pads for Hockey the next day so I decided to brave the rush hour traffic and buy them. Bad idea. Buying them was not a problem but the return journey a nightmare. Imagine a junction feeding onto a major road, no roundabout or traffic lights. Everybody goes at the same time and everybody behind follows. Eventually the result is a huge tangled mess of cars where no one can move. Joshua and I revised for his French test whilst we waited for everything to be untangled by some guys who decided to get out of their cars and act as traffic police. It is strange that I am worried about driving in the UK!

O Christmas tree!

2010-11-23T14:18:00.000Z

What's new?

2010-11-23T11:40:00.004Z

...scouring the second hand market for warm clothes and shoes to wear in England in December. Can't say I am looking forward to the cold. Joshua would like to wear his usual outfit of shorts, t-shirt and crocs, but somehow I think he might be a bit cold!

...We have a brown out. The power goes off fairly regularly here, but this time it is very low, enough for a few dim lights, but not much else. Thank goodness for a split electric/ gas cooker. There is no generator here! When the power is on we now have a much faster Internet connection. Thanks to Zuku and the new under sea fibre optic cable we now have 1mbps each instead of sharing half that between 8 families.

...We have brown sludge coming out of our taps. Yesterday we filled up the bath and came back of and it was full of brown sludgy water. We figured we were probably cleaner skipping baths!

...Joshua has gone on a trip today to visit a tea plantation and Bethany is going on a walking safari on Friday. Nairobi is bordered by a national Park so you don't have to go far to see animals.

...Christmas has come to Nairobi. There is a Christmas tree and decorations up in the shopping centre and yesterday at school they put up a huge tree and the little kids (year 1 and 2) decorated it with their hand made decorations. They sang carols and had mince pies and mulled wine or mice pies and mold wine as Bethany called them. It is a lot more festive here than Dodoma, but it still doesn't feel like Christmas to me with such hot weather. Still I am looking forward to seeing Caleb as a Weaver bird in the Christmas production!

Rain, Rain and more rain.

2010-11-16T15:57:00.009Z

We spent last week battling the flu and the weather. Caleb came down sick first followed by me and then Bethany. Joshua is sick this week and Daniel (the most unhealthy person in the family) has escaped it. The rain was also pouring down all week which made the journey to school a nightmare. Wednesday it took an hour to get to school. I spent a lot of time in the school cafe with other mums trying to wait our the traffic. Thursday I felt so ill I actually spent the whole day in bed and Daniel had to take the day off to watch the other two invalids. On Friday evening I was much better and took Joshua to the memorial of his French teacher. The school had put together a book of memories to send to the teacher's mother, now 83 and living in Marseilles in France. Her son had been teaching in Kenya for 25 years! It was my first time driving home by myself in the dark and I really put my foot down. Needless to say I wasn't car jacked!!

This week the weather is much improved which is fortunate because Mon and Tues Afternoons were sports afternoons for the lower school. Sports day is split because there are so many children. It is much more manageable with 2/3 year groups at a time. I forgot my camera for Joshua and Bethany but have some shots of Caleb performing.

Currently

2010-11-07T12:09:00.004Z

Currently:

Looking forward to:
Bonfire night. On Saturday we were going to go to school for a Bonfire and fireworks. This will be a first for the children as we never celebrated in Dodoma and they don’t remember Bonfire night in England. However it has been postponed until next weekend as Joshua’s French teacher had a heart attack and died on Saturday morning, so it was postponed out of respect for him.

Proud of:
Bethany and Caleb who were both selected for the school swimming team (Thank you MAF Dodoma pool) The only downside of that is that Bethany has to train after school and doesn’t get home until 5pm. Fortunately for now, Caleb is training at lunchtimes. They are both swimming 3 times a week, with 3 lots of sport on top of that, so I think they will soon be much fitter.

Not Enjoying:
The rainy season. There is a lot more rain here than there was in Dodoma and this is making the traffic even worse than usual. There also seems to be an increase in cockroaches in the house and big black caterpillars. I have bought a new can of ‘DOOM’ to try and deal with the problem. I was quite pleased by the fact that the huge cockroach I found crawling up my leg didn’t gross me out too much.

Enjoying:
Our American neighbours. We get on really well with them, the kids get on great and it’s fun learning new recipes and new words and new ways of doing things. E.g. Popcorn and apples with a movie on Sunday evenings, sloppy Joes, Popsicles, candy, couches and mid term breaks. Unfortunately they will be moving off the compound soon to a bigger house (they have 5 children), but hopefully we will still be able to hang out together!

The beautiful weather in Kenya, well at least until the rain started and the stunning jacaranda trees.

Currently watching:
Hustle Season 2, morally questionable to say the least but very clever.

Currently reading:
Again, a bit short of books and wondering whether a Kindle would be the way forward.

Currently working on projects:
Getting a comfortable sofa. When we arrived we had to get new foam and covers made for our sofa. MAF sofa’s are notoriously uncomfortable. We spent 6 weeks sitting on cushions on the floor, but when they returned the finished sofa it was done really badly and was as uncomfortable as ever. Now we have another sofa much more comfortable, the only problem is it is white. Very dirty children + white sofa = much less white sofa. I am doing my best to keep it clean with a few throws, but after a week I am thinking we may need a better solution.

Currently praying for:
The way to plan our time in the UK so we see as many people as possible without exhausting ourselves.

Birthday cake

2010-11-01T09:20:00.000Z

Yes I am still making novelty cakes with disgusting icing. This time I made fondant icing as I couldn't buy it here. It worked out OK, but I don't think you would want to eat to much of it.

Birthday girl

2010-11-01T09:02:00.000Z

Bethany has had a weekend of birthday events. She didn't want a party this year, but she had the cake at a BBQ on Saturday night, lunch out on Sunday and movie and popcorn with neighbours on Sunday night. Today she has taken a cake into school and we will do ice creams for all the kids on the compound after school.

Happy Birthday Bethany

2010-11-01T08:58:00.000Z

8 years old today!

The family.

2010-10-22T09:40:00.000+01:00

Focus, Sarifina and Francis. A new baby is due next month!

The new house

2010-10-22T09:38:00.000+01:00

Inside

2010-10-22T09:35:00.000+01:00

The new house

2010-10-22T09:32:00.000+01:00

For those of you who have followed this story or have contributed money, here is an update on Focus' house. (He was our guard in Tanzania). It is now finished and, at least by Tanzanian standards, is livable in. It was finished in perfect timing just before the rains start again in November. Thank you so much to everyone who contributed money, it has made a real difference to his family and he is very pleased.

New friends

2010-10-17T13:47:00.000+01:00

Bethany made two new friends on the weekend. The girl on the left has Zimbabwean parents and the one in the middle, one Canadian and one Somalian parent. I love the variety of people you meet here!