Day 4.
First things first - the donkey culprit was John! I've been instructed by the ladies to get the story straight in the blog, and absolve any guilt that may have been cast!
I was up early this morning, around 6am. I wanted to be up and about, take some photo's; Tony's an amazing photographer, and I was keen to get some of his expert tuition - and one thing he did say is that the light is so much better early or late in the day, so I was keen to start early. Cup of tea in hand, and we were off to take pictures of the "hotel" about 200 meters down the road - it's actually a shack - remember what I said in Day 1 about what they call hotels?
When we were back Tony showed me some of the pictures he'd taken yesterday; while we were here enjoying the assembly, Tony was out taking pictures for his project - the positive impact that Hope and Kindness has on the community, leading to jobs and work that wasn't here previously. Over the course of the week Tony's subjects are a farmer, a seamster, a carpenter, a string maker, a local businessman, a seamstress, a gravel maker, workers at a maize grinding factory, a man of the church and "True Love" (Bernard and Suzannah from next door, who have have lost all of their 7 sons to aids - they split up, but have now got back together, he's 71, she's 65. When asked what they'd like for having their photos taken, all they wanted was washing powder :) His pictures of the farmer and seamster from yesterday are amazing!! Once back in the UK he's planning to exhibit his pictures and sell some limited editions to raise money for Hope and Kindness - you'll hear more about the details as soon as they're ready!
News splash - Rachel just came in laughing at Polly heaving whilst trying to wash her crusty clothes from her sick incident on the flight :)
Breakfast was boiled eggs & pineapple. More than I've had for breakfast all week! Sitting here in the teachers office (our chill-out zone) trying to break my hot egg shell (with the help from Tania as I blog), I notice a big file called "Pending Applications to School" :( Walking around the community you realise there are so so many kids who have no access to education - what are their chances? Yesterday John went with Mary to look at some land the school is looking to buy so they can expand the school - with the amount of money we've raised the school can now realistically look at expanding!! :-)
This morning we went to Oyugis market to buy items for the Sand Filter we'll be constructing tomorrow, plus food & provisions for the food parcels we'd be delivering later in the day. The market was CRAZY!! You could buy anything & everything! Over the next 2 hours it was like something out of "The Apprentice" as we went around buying in bulk, which we'd later divide up into parcels. At the Hardware store Polly, Rachel & I had the job of buying the items for the Sand Filter; the owner had all the bits & pieces we needed within arms length - just when we challenged him to a new intricate piece, he'd put his hand bellow the counter and bring out just what we were looking for! :) For the elder Brits reading this Blog it was like the scene out of the Two Ronnies - 'fork candles' ;) We were also buying items for the sports day we'll be running on Thursday, sacks for the 'sack' race, elastic for the '3 legged race', 'medals' for the winning team … to be continued ;) We finished our purchases in the 'supermarket' so we had all our essentials.
Tania & I also put together our own food parcel for Stephen and his family and bought Stephen and his 2 brothers a new pair of shoes each, as we noticed yesterday they hadn't any. We also bought a pair for his mum. Cost, about a pound each!
We were just boarding the fun-bus, when I saw a bloke selling the "Daily Nation". I thought it'd be good catch up on the local news. Paper in hand, I crossed the road back to the van. All of a sudden I heard a screech of brakes and a thud! I turned round to see the newspaper salesman lying on the floor - he'd been run over by a motorbike - who didn't even stop! the newspaper salesman was a little shaken, and was trying to keep his dignity while his mates just stood there laughing at him. Actually, he seemed ok.
On the way back we were really feeling pleased with our purchases, and were looking forward to lunch - yep, more plain noodles with tabasco. All of a sudden smoke started pouring from the front of the Land Rover! Then thick smoke! PANIC! Elkana, aka "Tiny" brought the van to a sudden stop and we all literally ran out the back; we'd also bought some gasoline for the generator, which was in bottles in the footwell - justified panic then! So there we were, stranded 5km from home, with all the shopping and groceries we'd bought! John and Tiny soon had their heads under the bonnet trying to diagnose the problem. After a very short time John has deduced that the brake cable had 'shorted out' the ignition. I could've told them that, not ;) We needed some cable, or actually any piece of thin wire to conduct for the ignition. We were just about to dissect one of the girls underwire bra's when a truck stopped to see if we needed help - couldn't he have arrived in just another 10 minutes? ;) The truck was no other than from the company sent to mend the solar power! They had all the gear, and all the idea! What a stroke of luck! Whilst all this was going on Tony had spotted half-a-dozen children walking down the side of the road, with 1 balancing a bowl on her head with around a dozen mango's inside - she must have no older than 5. Tony agreed a price of 500 shillings for the lot (they were probably worth 100!). You should have seen them - they jumped and skipped all the way back up the road, screaming and singing. It was a fantastic sight! His mother came back and thanked us - no thanks were required, it was us who were grateful.
Fifteen minutes later, van fixed, we were on our way back to our home :)
As soon as we came back home, the children asked if they could borrow my copy of the "Daily Nation" newspaper I'd bought at the market - no sooner than I'd given it to them they were all huddled over the paper reading! They were aged between 7-9yrs - amazing can you imagine our kids doing that! :)
After one more check of the van, Meghan & Helen left with Tony who was off to capture more portraits for his collection. The girls then got assistance from some of the children to make the food parcels. They took to the task with huge enthusiasm, and it was soon complete. Their payment - harlbro sweets :)
Just as I started to relax and write the blog, the girls decided it was football time. My son Connor had given us his prized football to donate to the children, and we'd been waiting for the right time to give it to them - I guess this then was the right time! The children loved the sight of the ball :) I divided them into 2 teams - their were about 18 children, and we played in about 32c! The children played in bare feet - that's what they would naturally do. They were fantastic - why hasn't Kenya won the World Cup yet? Apparently the life expectancy of a football is only 1-3 days! The problem is the bushes which surround the play area have the spikiest of spiky thorns - and they kick the ball blinking hard! Anyway, the good news is, as I write this blog at 9pm, the ball is still perfect spherical :-) Connor, you gave a fantastic ball! ;)
Later this afternoon we divided into 2 groups - some went out to distribute the food parcels we'd made, whilst some stayed to work on the management training course work for the teachers tomorrow. Tania, Helen, John & I were on food parcel delivery service - Meghan, Rachel, Polly, Emma & Tony worked through the training. We went out in the Land Rover, which I drove, and which was an experience in itself - 40+ years old, and 250,000 on the clock! Tania reminded me I wasn't on the Gumball, and needed to drive slowly! Easy tiger - I hadn't been able to get out of 2nd gear! I thought the Campervan was a challenge to drive, it seemed like a Bentley compared to the rattle & bounce of the Land Rover. We were also joined by Peter (daytime security)and Joseph (the carpenter) to help with the directions, and security - just in case. First stop was Martha (you remember, has TB, 2 children, no husband, no house, and no money to pay rent). Her children were out playing on the road, and once they saw the car coming they started screaming! They were so happy. Helen and Tania led the way with food parcels in hand. Martha's face was a picture to behold :) She had the biggest smile. Next stop was Anna-Mourice who lived a couple of "houses" round the corner. Again we were greeted by huge smiles, and so grateful. We also gave her a months rent - $6. She asked for a private word with me - after giving her a months rent I didn't know what she would ask for - she wanted chairs, chairs so that when friends come to visit they have somewhere to sit - she said she feels embarrassed. I said I would talk to the church to see what they could do. We wanted to drop more off but we didn't know where they lived, so we made our way back to H&K and hoped John would be there, so we could pick him up and carry on delivering.
On the way back Helen & I thought it only fitting to call into the local small village and pick up a few cheeky Tuskar's - 8 cold beers were soon making their way back to H&K :) We'd only been back for 10 minutes when John came back, and we agreed we'd shoot off and carry-on delivering :) I'd managed a couple of swigs of Tuskar (the others said i necked it), and I hoped it would still be cold when we got back.
Out first stop would be Stephen and his brothers (Stephen is the young boy Tania & I are sponsoring - paying for his school fees/food). Tania & I knew this would be difficult. Stephen was on the side of the street when we pulled up. He had the biggest smile you could imagine. It's actually difficult to write in words how we felt based on what we saw. Stephen was there with his 2 brothers - all alone. No mother. Stephen said his mother was on her way to see them - she lived 10km away where her job is - his elder brother had gone to fetch her. He showed us where they slept. It was a mud block which was divided into 4 dwellings - theirs was one of them. Inside there was nothing - I mean nothing. A mud floor. That's it. There were some adults outside - a man and 2 women who lived in the other dwellings with their children. Firstly we gave him the food parcel - he was so happy, though seemed embarrassed - it that makes sense? We took it and hid it in the corner of the bedroom. Next we gave him the shoes - he particularly liked the shoes we'd bought for his mother. We said we'd call back on the way home to see his mum - hopefully she would be there. As we walked back to the van Tania & I were shell-shocked, very emotional. It was getting dark - we only had time for one more drop. Next it was to see Helena, grandmother to 7 children, no mother or father - both had died of aids. No she had the biggest smile yet! She started singing in joy when she saw us - her whole face beamed with joy. The children were happy as they knew we'd have sweets, and we'd take some photo's (remember they love to look at themselves on the LCD display). It was now dark so we couldn't stay - mozzies were out in force, and the roads aren't safe at night; one the way back there's alll sorts of traffic - lorries driving erratically, donkey & kart (obviously with no lights!), kids playing on the side of the road, and thick dust making it very difficult to see. We made it back in one piece - all very emotionally drained. Over the last few days we've all got ideas on how we can make H&K more sustainable - and we have 3 more days to fill in the detail before we leave.
We arrived back to see the girls had started work on a pasta feast; the plan had been hatched at the supermarket earlier in the day. Tomatoes were being chopped, garlic crushed, avocado sliced - OMG this was going to be good! Helen & I immediately went back to where we'd stopped - our Tuskar's! Helen put hers in a coffee mug just in case Mary came in (H&K manager). Next minute, Mary came in. "Nice cappuccino" I said to Helen :)
Just before we ate Mary wanted us to take some time to talk to the children - talking about respect, how they need to look after each other, set the right examples to the younger children etc.. We decided to split the children into 4 groups, older boys/girls, young boys/girls. We agreed to just set the scene tonight - give them some things to think about, for them them to sleep on it, and we'd be back tomorrow to spend more time with them, and look forward to their questions. Tony & I took the elder boys. 10 minutes later we were done. Mano-to-mano. The woman who'd taken the other 3 groups were another 15 minutes. Blinkin 'eke don't women rabbit on?! :)
Dinner was served. The meal was fantastic! The proof point was I didn't need tabasco! Now that is a compliment. We're now chillin, reflecting back on the day. What a day! We're excited about the problems we know we're in the midst of providing solutions - and equally emotionally drained by our day's events. It's 21:45 and we're going to bed. Well almost, Polly is now trying to give us guys a run for our money with the Executioner, yep there is flying malaria in the room and she is determined to get them. Ok you know we are blooming exhausted, we have had no booze (well apart from a tuskar beer) and lost the plot when our excitement and conversation is all around how many blooming bugs we can fry!
BIG GOODNIGHT FROM ALL !
Ps.. if you've enjoyed reading this, and are moved by what you've read and would like to help, please donate to Hope and Kindness at www.justgiving.com/ciscohopeandkindness/
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Monday, November 29, 2010
Day 3.
The girls are getting very competitive - they're discussing their aim when on the loo - gross!
It was quite a late night last night - must have been midnight, so everyone was a little slow to start - even still, we were all up by 7am. The noise and excitement from the children was infectious - they all looked so smart in the school uniforms - well, I'd say 50% had uniforms. After breakfast - salty porridge and/or mini bananas, it was time for assembly. We walked out to see 121 children all standing perfectly still, across 3 sides of the square. Then we heard chanting as 10 children came marching in, singing all-together. They stood still, completing the square, and came to attention. They then moved alongside the rest of the children. The children range from 4yrs to 15. The Headmaster, Mr Dedans, then came out and addressed the children; "Good morning, how are you?", "I'm fine thank you Mr Dedans, how are you?", "I'm fine". It was very special. We all had huge lumps in our throat. Over the next half-hour the children performed a series of songs, poems and stories. It was amazing - fantastic - we were all transfixed :) It was then time for us to be introduced - we all stood in-line at the front, and John introduced us one-by-one, and again after saying our names, they would repeat, "Hi …." - what a buzz! :) John mentioned Megan was from America, "you know where America is don't you?", and they all replied, "Yes! Barack Obama!", who's Grandmother of course was born in Kenya :)
Next it was time to hand out our clothes. First the 4yr olds. They all lined up neatly and the teacher read out their name to Tania, who after a quick check to see the football shirt would fit, wrote each child's name in indelible ink in the collar. With 131 children, this would take some time! But to see the faces of each child was magical. Of course, when a Manchester United or Chelsea shirt came out, you could hear the boys all softly call the team name - usual school football fans then, just like back home, all supporting Man U, or Chelsea - and not one Nottm Forest fan - what!?
Tania and I were then introduced to Stephen - we're sponsoring Stephen for $30 per month which pays for all his food, education and school uniform. Stephen knew we were his sponsors; we noticed he had no shoes - this was very upsetting. We told him about our son Connor, who at 9 is the same age as Stephen. Connor had written a letter to Stephen - we gave it to him for one of his teachers to read to him later. We called Connor on my phone so he could speak to Stephen - Connor asked which team he supported, "Manchester United, and my favourite player is Rooney!", "really! Same as me" Connor replied! :) We then had some photo's taken with Stephen, and with his 2 brothers who are also at the school. Every time we took a picture they want to see it - their friends would then say who's who - some of them have never seen their own reflection and so of course they don't know what they look like! :( One of the girls had never even seen a mouzungu (white person) before - she was 4 yrs old, and so so cute! :)
We didn't have time for lunch - we needed to start work on Grace's new houses so we took a picnic with us and the 10 children from the home that came along to help us :) The 9 of us then squeezed into the Hope and Kindness Land Rover - it looks like it's very much on it's last legs, mind you with the roads around here its not really surprising!
I can't stop giving my clothes away (Tania here) - yesterday a small girl was sweeping the yard at the school, and her dress had lots of holes & rips in it - I went and gave her one of her Abercrombie T-shirts and later that day she was wearing it - she looked so cute :) Today when building Grace's house, a boy had a T-shirt with rips in it - I took off my "Cisco volunteer" T-shirt off and gave it to him - Phil asked him his name - he replied but he voice was very quiet - he was very shy. "Pardon?" I replied. This time I heard him "Clifford" he said, just like phil's dad - suddenly that made us sad as Phil'sls dad passed away from cancer 2 years ago, and at times Phil in particular still finds it hard.
A group of us went off for a little side visit while the rest were finishing the house, oh my goodness you just cant believe what its like, a woman with 11 children in a tiny little mud hut, no water, no electricity, no real furniture to speak of, a picture from the side of a packet of razors is what they have to decorate their walls with. We had some little toy cars and some biscuits, but sadly not enough for all the little children. We'll be back there tomorrow with some aid :)
(Wrighty back now). I must say all the girls did an amazing job (Rachel, Helen, Polly, Megan, Emma & Tania). They were covered in sweat and thick mud - Tony couldn't resist and stop taking lot's of photo's - so lookout fella's for a 2011 Cisco Calendar special! ;) All this and it's still like 3pm in the afternoon!. House finished - well the first mud layer, so we decide to be very decadent and go for a soda on the way home, thats a coke to you and me. No diet coke here, you just take what you are given and be grateful - tasted blooming marvellous out of a cold fridge!!!I It was like out of the scene from Shawshank Redemption when they're on the roof having a cold beer! OMG that cold coke tasted good - the best coke I'd ever had! And talking of beer, we almost snuck in a cheeky beer in too, even though bars were not opening until 5pm we found someone who would serve us - we agreed a price of 800 Kenyan schillings for 8 large bottles (no negotiation - we're not here to barter). However, just as our mouths started to drool, when we touched the beer bottle it was warm - very warm! Tania hates beer but even she was nearly tempted. I wasn't having it, so the beers went back. Off back to the home, muddy, filthy dirty, all rushing for a nice cold shower, getting used to them already. Looked like Rachel had decided to have a bath, her bowl was almost overflowing!
Entertainment is quite interesting here so I challenged Tony to a game of fly frying in the teachers office (which has been turned into our chill-out room) - first to 5. It was a close game, and at 2-2 we changed ends. 4-4, match point! The kettle was whistling, and complained the tea/coffee needed to be made - we clearly pointed out that if it was for our skills they'd be 8 more fly's buzzing around their noodles (it was a fair point, but an hour later the tea still hadn't been made!). Whilst I was going for a backhand smash, i heard the crackle crackle hurt which meant Tony had won, 5-4. A close game, and one in which I feel a re-match coming on! Yep thats right, not TV, no X-Factor, no I'm a Celebrity, no blooming anything, but we've been playing cards and Perudo which is a lot of fun, and ok, Tania won at cards - damn where's the TV!!! :)
Now dinner here, well I said I'd try anything but tonight was pretty hard, that cement stuff ugly, just call it ugly, they pile it on their plates, then some whitebait type of fish (heads and all of course) and some seaweed stuff, big fat yuk! we came back and ate noodles with some salad stuff and loads lovely biscuits, that is our saviour, biscuits.
Big rain tonight but literally for half an hour, it wont touch the sides but at least it might be a little less dusty in the morning. We have all piled into bed early (all by 10pm) we are just so exhausted, so lying in our mozzie net sweating while it snows back home, how surreal does that feel.
Early brekkie tomorrow and then shopping for food parcels to take out to the community - they are all so desperate we agreed that would be a good use of our time and resources, so time to say goodnight, blog you for tomorrow with no doubt more sad stories to tell, but hopefully generous portions of laughter thrown in :)
Ps… just as I'm about to post this there's some weird noises coming from the girls room next door (Rachel, Megan & Polly) - sounds like a donkey trying to catch it's breath after carry a fat bloke on Skeggy (Skegness to you) beach! Noise has gone now - I think one of the girls must have thrown a pillow at whoever it was - come on girls, own up! :)
The girls are getting very competitive - they're discussing their aim when on the loo - gross!
It was quite a late night last night - must have been midnight, so everyone was a little slow to start - even still, we were all up by 7am. The noise and excitement from the children was infectious - they all looked so smart in the school uniforms - well, I'd say 50% had uniforms. After breakfast - salty porridge and/or mini bananas, it was time for assembly. We walked out to see 121 children all standing perfectly still, across 3 sides of the square. Then we heard chanting as 10 children came marching in, singing all-together. They stood still, completing the square, and came to attention. They then moved alongside the rest of the children. The children range from 4yrs to 15. The Headmaster, Mr Dedans, then came out and addressed the children; "Good morning, how are you?", "I'm fine thank you Mr Dedans, how are you?", "I'm fine". It was very special. We all had huge lumps in our throat. Over the next half-hour the children performed a series of songs, poems and stories. It was amazing - fantastic - we were all transfixed :) It was then time for us to be introduced - we all stood in-line at the front, and John introduced us one-by-one, and again after saying our names, they would repeat, "Hi …." - what a buzz! :) John mentioned Megan was from America, "you know where America is don't you?", and they all replied, "Yes! Barack Obama!", who's Grandmother of course was born in Kenya :)
Next it was time to hand out our clothes. First the 4yr olds. They all lined up neatly and the teacher read out their name to Tania, who after a quick check to see the football shirt would fit, wrote each child's name in indelible ink in the collar. With 131 children, this would take some time! But to see the faces of each child was magical. Of course, when a Manchester United or Chelsea shirt came out, you could hear the boys all softly call the team name - usual school football fans then, just like back home, all supporting Man U, or Chelsea - and not one Nottm Forest fan - what!?
Tania and I were then introduced to Stephen - we're sponsoring Stephen for $30 per month which pays for all his food, education and school uniform. Stephen knew we were his sponsors; we noticed he had no shoes - this was very upsetting. We told him about our son Connor, who at 9 is the same age as Stephen. Connor had written a letter to Stephen - we gave it to him for one of his teachers to read to him later. We called Connor on my phone so he could speak to Stephen - Connor asked which team he supported, "Manchester United, and my favourite player is Rooney!", "really! Same as me" Connor replied! :) We then had some photo's taken with Stephen, and with his 2 brothers who are also at the school. Every time we took a picture they want to see it - their friends would then say who's who - some of them have never seen their own reflection and so of course they don't know what they look like! :( One of the girls had never even seen a mouzungu (white person) before - she was 4 yrs old, and so so cute! :)
We didn't have time for lunch - we needed to start work on Grace's new houses so we took a picnic with us and the 10 children from the home that came along to help us :) The 9 of us then squeezed into the Hope and Kindness Land Rover - it looks like it's very much on it's last legs, mind you with the roads around here its not really surprising!
I can't stop giving my clothes away (Tania here) - yesterday a small girl was sweeping the yard at the school, and her dress had lots of holes & rips in it - I went and gave her one of her Abercrombie T-shirts and later that day she was wearing it - she looked so cute :) Today when building Grace's house, a boy had a T-shirt with rips in it - I took off my "Cisco volunteer" T-shirt off and gave it to him - Phil asked him his name - he replied but he voice was very quiet - he was very shy. "Pardon?" I replied. This time I heard him "Clifford" he said, just like phil's dad - suddenly that made us sad as Phil'sls dad passed away from cancer 2 years ago, and at times Phil in particular still finds it hard.
A group of us went off for a little side visit while the rest were finishing the house, oh my goodness you just cant believe what its like, a woman with 11 children in a tiny little mud hut, no water, no electricity, no real furniture to speak of, a picture from the side of a packet of razors is what they have to decorate their walls with. We had some little toy cars and some biscuits, but sadly not enough for all the little children. We'll be back there tomorrow with some aid :)
(Wrighty back now). I must say all the girls did an amazing job (Rachel, Helen, Polly, Megan, Emma & Tania). They were covered in sweat and thick mud - Tony couldn't resist and stop taking lot's of photo's - so lookout fella's for a 2011 Cisco Calendar special! ;) All this and it's still like 3pm in the afternoon!. House finished - well the first mud layer, so we decide to be very decadent and go for a soda on the way home, thats a coke to you and me. No diet coke here, you just take what you are given and be grateful - tasted blooming marvellous out of a cold fridge!!!I It was like out of the scene from Shawshank Redemption when they're on the roof having a cold beer! OMG that cold coke tasted good - the best coke I'd ever had! And talking of beer, we almost snuck in a cheeky beer in too, even though bars were not opening until 5pm we found someone who would serve us - we agreed a price of 800 Kenyan schillings for 8 large bottles (no negotiation - we're not here to barter). However, just as our mouths started to drool, when we touched the beer bottle it was warm - very warm! Tania hates beer but even she was nearly tempted. I wasn't having it, so the beers went back. Off back to the home, muddy, filthy dirty, all rushing for a nice cold shower, getting used to them already. Looked like Rachel had decided to have a bath, her bowl was almost overflowing!
Entertainment is quite interesting here so I challenged Tony to a game of fly frying in the teachers office (which has been turned into our chill-out room) - first to 5. It was a close game, and at 2-2 we changed ends. 4-4, match point! The kettle was whistling, and complained the tea/coffee needed to be made - we clearly pointed out that if it was for our skills they'd be 8 more fly's buzzing around their noodles (it was a fair point, but an hour later the tea still hadn't been made!). Whilst I was going for a backhand smash, i heard the crackle crackle hurt which meant Tony had won, 5-4. A close game, and one in which I feel a re-match coming on! Yep thats right, not TV, no X-Factor, no I'm a Celebrity, no blooming anything, but we've been playing cards and Perudo which is a lot of fun, and ok, Tania won at cards - damn where's the TV!!! :)
Now dinner here, well I said I'd try anything but tonight was pretty hard, that cement stuff ugly, just call it ugly, they pile it on their plates, then some whitebait type of fish (heads and all of course) and some seaweed stuff, big fat yuk! we came back and ate noodles with some salad stuff and loads lovely biscuits, that is our saviour, biscuits.
Big rain tonight but literally for half an hour, it wont touch the sides but at least it might be a little less dusty in the morning. We have all piled into bed early (all by 10pm) we are just so exhausted, so lying in our mozzie net sweating while it snows back home, how surreal does that feel.
Early brekkie tomorrow and then shopping for food parcels to take out to the community - they are all so desperate we agreed that would be a good use of our time and resources, so time to say goodnight, blog you for tomorrow with no doubt more sad stories to tell, but hopefully generous portions of laughter thrown in :)
Ps… just as I'm about to post this there's some weird noises coming from the girls room next door (Rachel, Megan & Polly) - sounds like a donkey trying to catch it's breath after carry a fat bloke on Skeggy (Skegness to you) beach! Noise has gone now - I think one of the girls must have thrown a pillow at whoever it was - come on girls, own up! :)
Day 2.
The start of a Day at Hope and KIndness is far from your typical - everything requires significantly more effort, from cleaning teeth, to showering, and of course the loo! But I'm sure in a couple of days we'll be well adjusted and it's business as usual (no pun intended!).
Breakfast was porridge, which apparently was salty! I wouldn't know - I don't do porridge at the best of times, and settled for a couple of mini-bananas - very sweet - gorgeous! Then filled my water bottle up by syphoning from the large filter bottled and took my daily malarone. The toilets are something else - 3 in the block - girls, boys and staff. There are 2 wooden hatches, which slide out of the way depending on your intentions! Either latrine or a "long-drop". Let's leave it there shall we!
The main event of the day is Sunday worship in the church across the road. I reserve my visits to the church for weddings & funerals, however this I couldn't wait for and was really looking forward to seeing the community - church is the life-blood of the community where they all come together to worship, communicate, celebrate and most of all sing! However, this is like no church I've ever seen - a shack made out of corrugated iron, tied onto lengths of tree branches. Back home it would be condemned and not even used to house cattle. It was an incredible experience. At one stage we were asked to come to the front and introduce ourselves. We asked if they had any questions - they replied, could we sing to them :) The only song I know is "swing low, sweet chariot", but we agreed on "Amazing Grace"… if you could call it singing! We were all struggling for the words, but John did us proud and quickly spoke the line before we sang it. It was a very uplifting experience. I met Joseph, and his wife Vinnie; Joseph only has one arm - his neighbour in a drunken rage attacked Joseph and severed his arm. He still lives door to Joseph. We met one old man (forgot his name) who has cataracts - easy to treat, but there's no money to pay for it. We'd be meeting him again tomorrow at his house.
We came back to Hope And Kindness for Sunday school (boarders only) - the children were reading & reciting stories. We were then introduced to the children one-by-one, and the children repeated " hello ….." all in time together - very very cute :) Next it was time to blow up some balloons - many hadn't seen balloons before - it was mad - fantastic fun - but mad, mad in a very nice way :) And next it was the bucket of Halibro sweets I'd brought from Costco - now they went down very very well - and just enough to go round one each :)
Lunch was next - noodles, plain & simple, with the obligatory poring of tabasco :) In the afternoon we wanted to split into groups and visit the community, walk to see some of the people we'd met at church. I was with Tania & Helen. The first house was Martha's - it was "only a short walk" of 5kms. Martha, who has TB, 2 children, no husband, and also looks after her sisters child, doesn't own a house - she rents a "house" for $6 a month. We then went to see Anna-Mourice - she also didn't own a house as it fell down in the rain earlier this year. She too was renting for $6 per month, to put a roof over her 5 children. Next was Lucas' house, who wasn't there at the time. His house wasn't complete - it had only had it's first course of mud applied. It needed 2 more before the layer of cattle manure, which binds and makes the house more solid. However, nothing was happening as he could afford to finish it. A house costs $500 to build, plus land. We'll be building one tomorrow - Grace's house. You feel so helpless. We gave some money to help pay for some rent, although it's discouraged as you don't know where the money ends up - I know that doesn't sound right, but if it ends up in the hands of the men it could be spent on alcohol. You're better off giving it to the mothers, but really it should come through the church, and through Hope and Kindness.
Everywhere we went there were children - lots and lots and lots of children, all smiling children. We'd taken sweets out with us - the children beamed with huge smiles on seeing the sweets. We were out for around 3hours visiting as many as we could in the community - and the other 2 teams were doing the same. When we came back we all shared stories of the hardship we'd witnessed. Everyone had a story to tell - we were all quite emotional.
Dinner was with the children here at Hope and Kindness school - those that lodge here, that are permanent. There's currently 34 - 18 girls & 16 boys. Dinner was rice with gram-greens (like lentils), again with dashes and dashes of tabasco. I had a big portion - but it was insignificant compared to some of the children's - they were HUGE! and they didn't leave a grain of rice :)
Next it was back to the teachers office to discuss our working week ahead. We broke down the tasks in hand and divided them up between the group. Tomorrow was going to be a group day - morning with the children as it was their last day at school before they broke for holidays, and in the afternoon we were going to build Grace a house - Grace is homeless as it fell down in the rain. Up until a few years ago there wasn't a word for "maintenance" in the Swahili - commonly they'd just leave things to deteriorate. Everyone was excited about what lay ahead :)
Next it was to divide up all the clothes we'd brought over into sizes/age groups - we needed to arrange into piles for all 131 children - boarders and day scholars. The room looked like a hurricane had passed through! It was going to be a long night! But fortunately, thanks to Rachel's folding skills from her days at Gap & Jigsaw, we were done by 23:00. The room looked fantastic, and we were very pleased with ourselves - tomorrow was going to be a great day :)
We just had enough energy for a cup and a game of cards - yes, I won, of course ;) much to the annoyance of Tania :-> Oh and a game of mozzie frying, and John spider catching in the girls room - it was HUGE!
ps.. John mentioned one of the teachers, Josephine, walks 10 miles each way to school, with her 3 yr old son who also attends the school. Josephine is paid $3 per day.
The start of a Day at Hope and KIndness is far from your typical - everything requires significantly more effort, from cleaning teeth, to showering, and of course the loo! But I'm sure in a couple of days we'll be well adjusted and it's business as usual (no pun intended!).
Breakfast was porridge, which apparently was salty! I wouldn't know - I don't do porridge at the best of times, and settled for a couple of mini-bananas - very sweet - gorgeous! Then filled my water bottle up by syphoning from the large filter bottled and took my daily malarone. The toilets are something else - 3 in the block - girls, boys and staff. There are 2 wooden hatches, which slide out of the way depending on your intentions! Either latrine or a "long-drop". Let's leave it there shall we!
The main event of the day is Sunday worship in the church across the road. I reserve my visits to the church for weddings & funerals, however this I couldn't wait for and was really looking forward to seeing the community - church is the life-blood of the community where they all come together to worship, communicate, celebrate and most of all sing! However, this is like no church I've ever seen - a shack made out of corrugated iron, tied onto lengths of tree branches. Back home it would be condemned and not even used to house cattle. It was an incredible experience. At one stage we were asked to come to the front and introduce ourselves. We asked if they had any questions - they replied, could we sing to them :) The only song I know is "swing low, sweet chariot", but we agreed on "Amazing Grace"… if you could call it singing! We were all struggling for the words, but John did us proud and quickly spoke the line before we sang it. It was a very uplifting experience. I met Joseph, and his wife Vinnie; Joseph only has one arm - his neighbour in a drunken rage attacked Joseph and severed his arm. He still lives door to Joseph. We met one old man (forgot his name) who has cataracts - easy to treat, but there's no money to pay for it. We'd be meeting him again tomorrow at his house.
We came back to Hope And Kindness for Sunday school (boarders only) - the children were reading & reciting stories. We were then introduced to the children one-by-one, and the children repeated " hello ….." all in time together - very very cute :) Next it was time to blow up some balloons - many hadn't seen balloons before - it was mad - fantastic fun - but mad, mad in a very nice way :) And next it was the bucket of Halibro sweets I'd brought from Costco - now they went down very very well - and just enough to go round one each :)
Lunch was next - noodles, plain & simple, with the obligatory poring of tabasco :) In the afternoon we wanted to split into groups and visit the community, walk to see some of the people we'd met at church. I was with Tania & Helen. The first house was Martha's - it was "only a short walk" of 5kms. Martha, who has TB, 2 children, no husband, and also looks after her sisters child, doesn't own a house - she rents a "house" for $6 a month. We then went to see Anna-Mourice - she also didn't own a house as it fell down in the rain earlier this year. She too was renting for $6 per month, to put a roof over her 5 children. Next was Lucas' house, who wasn't there at the time. His house wasn't complete - it had only had it's first course of mud applied. It needed 2 more before the layer of cattle manure, which binds and makes the house more solid. However, nothing was happening as he could afford to finish it. A house costs $500 to build, plus land. We'll be building one tomorrow - Grace's house. You feel so helpless. We gave some money to help pay for some rent, although it's discouraged as you don't know where the money ends up - I know that doesn't sound right, but if it ends up in the hands of the men it could be spent on alcohol. You're better off giving it to the mothers, but really it should come through the church, and through Hope and Kindness.
Everywhere we went there were children - lots and lots and lots of children, all smiling children. We'd taken sweets out with us - the children beamed with huge smiles on seeing the sweets. We were out for around 3hours visiting as many as we could in the community - and the other 2 teams were doing the same. When we came back we all shared stories of the hardship we'd witnessed. Everyone had a story to tell - we were all quite emotional.
Dinner was with the children here at Hope and Kindness school - those that lodge here, that are permanent. There's currently 34 - 18 girls & 16 boys. Dinner was rice with gram-greens (like lentils), again with dashes and dashes of tabasco. I had a big portion - but it was insignificant compared to some of the children's - they were HUGE! and they didn't leave a grain of rice :)
Next it was back to the teachers office to discuss our working week ahead. We broke down the tasks in hand and divided them up between the group. Tomorrow was going to be a group day - morning with the children as it was their last day at school before they broke for holidays, and in the afternoon we were going to build Grace a house - Grace is homeless as it fell down in the rain. Up until a few years ago there wasn't a word for "maintenance" in the Swahili - commonly they'd just leave things to deteriorate. Everyone was excited about what lay ahead :)
Next it was to divide up all the clothes we'd brought over into sizes/age groups - we needed to arrange into piles for all 131 children - boarders and day scholars. The room looked like a hurricane had passed through! It was going to be a long night! But fortunately, thanks to Rachel's folding skills from her days at Gap & Jigsaw, we were done by 23:00. The room looked fantastic, and we were very pleased with ourselves - tomorrow was going to be a great day :)
We just had enough energy for a cup and a game of cards - yes, I won, of course ;) much to the annoyance of Tania :-> Oh and a game of mozzie frying, and John spider catching in the girls room - it was HUGE!
ps.. John mentioned one of the teachers, Josephine, walks 10 miles each way to school, with her 3 yr old son who also attends the school. Josephine is paid $3 per day.
Sunday, November 28, 2010
Day 1.
So after 26 hours we're finally here. Get us - we had Nigel Havers (I'm a celebrity and I did get out of here) on the plane, did no one tell him there is no jungle here!
Interesting airport Nairobi - there isn't a lot to it, a couple of luggage belts. We were met by Victor from the Born Free foundation, who be our guide until we board the plane. First challenge is fitting 21 bags of luggage into 2 Land Rovers! Luggage on roof - case solved. First near miss - as we're loading the handbrake was not on in one of the cars so John nearly got his legs crushed!
First stop, see the baby orphaned elephants, very cute, must wonder what the hell a huge group of adults is doing just stood there gorming at them though. They get very attached to their keepers apparently so they have to have "families" so people can actually have a day off now and again.
Next, lunch overlooking the national park and some baboons, naughty little monkies. I of course went for a T-Bone - well, it was the final final last supper with…. Kenyan Tuskar Beer!
Next stop a 9 seater plane over to Kisi; we were allowed 1009 kilos. And to check we're not a kilo over we all have to stand on the blooming scales with our hand luggage, how humiliating.Of course I leaded the list coming in at 106k (with hand luggage I will add!) - well I had just eaten a T-bone after all ;)
One-by-one, we literally squeezed tight into our plane, and Derek (mr Grumpy) told us to listen up and put our 3-point belts on! A very small plane it has to be said, good take off, slightly worried when the pilot put his oxygen on though - ok, why you ask… well, I think it had something to do with Polly throwing-up on her own lap!!! OMG the stench! Where was our oxygen masks!
So we landed on a tiny airstrip, and couldn't fail to notice the hundreds of people that stretched the entire length! A plane landing is a rare site - they didn't know who we were - they were just so excited to see a plane, and what surprises were inside! As we came out onto the tarmac there were hundreds of kids lined up on the edge of the strip - all being held back by "the man with the stick"! With more than enough sweets for Hope & KIndness, we had to give some out there and then, so we brought out half-a-dozen bags. What happened next was overwhelming - swarms of children's hands stretched out for sweets - a sea of hands is all you could see, oh and Tania's faces - a mixture of joy & shear panic!! There was never going to be enough to go round - and you couldn't see who'd had what. The man with the stick suddenly raised his namesake and for a few seconds order was restored, only to be broken as the children knew the bag was nearing empty.
It was then a matter of squeezing our 21 bags into another Land Rover as we squeezed into a Matatu (Toyota people carrier - they're everywhere!), which for the next 2hrs would take us along the bumpiest of roads any of us had experienced. It was to be a fascinating journey… a non-stop mixture of shops littered our route - everything from furniture shops (well, huts actually), food/market stalls, mobile phone top-up shops, "shopping centres" (which were one small room shops), "hotels" (small snack bars)… and all the way people were shouting "Mouzungu's!!", which is a friendly way of saying white people.
We arrived at Hope And Kindness into an amazing reception - all the children were there to great us, all full of song, hand waiving and chanting - very very over-whelming! It took quite some time to go round and greet everyone - so many happy faces, so many hands to shake and so many names to remember! Many of the children were quite shy - though I'm sure that'll change, especially when we get our sweets out :)
After a while it was time to get the children to settle down - the teachers took them into their classrooms for story telling time and time for bed.
Dinner for us was ugali (corn maize flour) and talapai (a local white fish from lake Victoria), plus….. several dashes of the tobacco i'd brought! It went down just great - though no one asked for more! I just hope the tobacco bottle lasts the week!
Evening entertainment mostly consisted of my Terminator - the mozzie tennis racket fryer! My forehand was better than my backhand, although I did manage a multi-kill from a back-hand lob! Problem was everyone wants to play a game of mozzie frying - good job we brought 2 so we can have a game of doubles :) We were just getting into it when the electric went out - we quickly wound up our lanterns, and all agreed we needed an early night - after all, it was turning 9pm. We were going to start opening up the laptops which had arrived (bought from the kind donations we'd rec'd) and talk about the week's itinerary, though we were all bushed! That could wait till breakfast.
We'll all sleep sound tonight - and think about the days ahead. It's going to be a rollercoaster of emotions - I know that sounds such a cliche, but already we've experienced the hard reality of living in these extreme conditions - when tiny things we take for granted back home can bring such joy, and seeing the joy and laughter of the children is a high like no other. I still can't take in the fact that all of these children have no parents - I have to try and put that out of my mind, otherwise there's a danger of getting so depressed that you're not in the right frame of mind to enjoy the experience; hearing the giggles & laughter of the children quickly snaps you out of any thoughts of despair. Can't wait for tomorrow :)
Good night all…
ps… just been told we mistakenly have brought mr Gumpy's laptop with us! Oooops ;) Oh well, he can have it back when we get back to Nairobi on Saturday.
So after 26 hours we're finally here. Get us - we had Nigel Havers (I'm a celebrity and I did get out of here) on the plane, did no one tell him there is no jungle here!
Interesting airport Nairobi - there isn't a lot to it, a couple of luggage belts. We were met by Victor from the Born Free foundation, who be our guide until we board the plane. First challenge is fitting 21 bags of luggage into 2 Land Rovers! Luggage on roof - case solved. First near miss - as we're loading the handbrake was not on in one of the cars so John nearly got his legs crushed!
First stop, see the baby orphaned elephants, very cute, must wonder what the hell a huge group of adults is doing just stood there gorming at them though. They get very attached to their keepers apparently so they have to have "families" so people can actually have a day off now and again.
Next, lunch overlooking the national park and some baboons, naughty little monkies. I of course went for a T-Bone - well, it was the final final last supper with…. Kenyan Tuskar Beer!
Next stop a 9 seater plane over to Kisi; we were allowed 1009 kilos. And to check we're not a kilo over we all have to stand on the blooming scales with our hand luggage, how humiliating.Of course I leaded the list coming in at 106k (with hand luggage I will add!) - well I had just eaten a T-bone after all ;)
One-by-one, we literally squeezed tight into our plane, and Derek (mr Grumpy) told us to listen up and put our 3-point belts on! A very small plane it has to be said, good take off, slightly worried when the pilot put his oxygen on though - ok, why you ask… well, I think it had something to do with Polly throwing-up on her own lap!!! OMG the stench! Where was our oxygen masks!
So we landed on a tiny airstrip, and couldn't fail to notice the hundreds of people that stretched the entire length! A plane landing is a rare site - they didn't know who we were - they were just so excited to see a plane, and what surprises were inside! As we came out onto the tarmac there were hundreds of kids lined up on the edge of the strip - all being held back by "the man with the stick"! With more than enough sweets for Hope & KIndness, we had to give some out there and then, so we brought out half-a-dozen bags. What happened next was overwhelming - swarms of children's hands stretched out for sweets - a sea of hands is all you could see, oh and Tania's faces - a mixture of joy & shear panic!! There was never going to be enough to go round - and you couldn't see who'd had what. The man with the stick suddenly raised his namesake and for a few seconds order was restored, only to be broken as the children knew the bag was nearing empty.
It was then a matter of squeezing our 21 bags into another Land Rover as we squeezed into a Matatu (Toyota people carrier - they're everywhere!), which for the next 2hrs would take us along the bumpiest of roads any of us had experienced. It was to be a fascinating journey… a non-stop mixture of shops littered our route - everything from furniture shops (well, huts actually), food/market stalls, mobile phone top-up shops, "shopping centres" (which were one small room shops), "hotels" (small snack bars)… and all the way people were shouting "Mouzungu's!!", which is a friendly way of saying white people.
We arrived at Hope And Kindness into an amazing reception - all the children were there to great us, all full of song, hand waiving and chanting - very very over-whelming! It took quite some time to go round and greet everyone - so many happy faces, so many hands to shake and so many names to remember! Many of the children were quite shy - though I'm sure that'll change, especially when we get our sweets out :)
After a while it was time to get the children to settle down - the teachers took them into their classrooms for story telling time and time for bed.
Dinner for us was ugali (corn maize flour) and talapai (a local white fish from lake Victoria), plus….. several dashes of the tobacco i'd brought! It went down just great - though no one asked for more! I just hope the tobacco bottle lasts the week!
Evening entertainment mostly consisted of my Terminator - the mozzie tennis racket fryer! My forehand was better than my backhand, although I did manage a multi-kill from a back-hand lob! Problem was everyone wants to play a game of mozzie frying - good job we brought 2 so we can have a game of doubles :) We were just getting into it when the electric went out - we quickly wound up our lanterns, and all agreed we needed an early night - after all, it was turning 9pm. We were going to start opening up the laptops which had arrived (bought from the kind donations we'd rec'd) and talk about the week's itinerary, though we were all bushed! That could wait till breakfast.
We'll all sleep sound tonight - and think about the days ahead. It's going to be a rollercoaster of emotions - I know that sounds such a cliche, but already we've experienced the hard reality of living in these extreme conditions - when tiny things we take for granted back home can bring such joy, and seeing the joy and laughter of the children is a high like no other. I still can't take in the fact that all of these children have no parents - I have to try and put that out of my mind, otherwise there's a danger of getting so depressed that you're not in the right frame of mind to enjoy the experience; hearing the giggles & laughter of the children quickly snaps you out of any thoughts of despair. Can't wait for tomorrow :)
Good night all…
ps… just been told we mistakenly have brought mr Gumpy's laptop with us! Oooops ;) Oh well, he can have it back when we get back to Nairobi on Saturday.
Friday, November 26, 2010
The last supper!!!
So here we are, finally all 9 of us, at the last supper before we are for the off!
We are embracing our giving back culture fully by indulging in lots of free champagne and burgers in the lounge........ oops but lets face it we wont see any more alcohol for a week so we've got to make the most of it!!!!
The bags are packed (ours mostly full of sweets and football shirts) and loaded and we are now waiting for the off.
We have raised over 17k, absolutely amazing, honestly that is more than a third of what the orphanage needs to run for a year, you guys are fabulous. I cant wait to bring you back the pictures and videos to show you what your money is doing.
Nothing funny to report yet, apart from Phil's Movember tash, which is wonky and absolutely hilarious.
I must post this now as killing precious battery, further updates later.........
T
We are embracing our giving back culture fully by indulging in lots of free champagne and burgers in the lounge........ oops but lets face it we wont see any more alcohol for a week so we've got to make the most of it!!!!
The bags are packed (ours mostly full of sweets and football shirts) and loaded and we are now waiting for the off.
We have raised over 17k, absolutely amazing, honestly that is more than a third of what the orphanage needs to run for a year, you guys are fabulous. I cant wait to bring you back the pictures and videos to show you what your money is doing.
Nothing funny to report yet, apart from Phil's Movember tash, which is wonky and absolutely hilarious.
I must post this now as killing precious battery, further updates later.........
T
D-DAY!
No more sleeps! Wow this has come around so quickly. It really sunk in yesterday as we started to take the malarone tablets – 1 a day now until a week after we return. I bet them blinkin mozzies already know I’m comin’! They’ll have been fasting waiting for my blinkin blood – they love me!
So what's new - well firstly, with the amount of business travel I’ve done over the last 5 weeks (away for 3 of them) I’ve not been able to get myself motivated to get into the gym – so I thought “why not have a go with Tania’s personal trainer?” Bad idea! Especially when I heard her telling him she’d pay double if he made me throw-up! Well, he didn’t quite manage that, but not far off - for the last 2 days I’ve been walking like a man of 90 in high heels! Oh the pain. I'm nearly recovered just in time for the 26hr door-to-door journey.
I called in at the mountaineering shop on the way home from the office yesterday – just to see if there were any last minute gadgets I forgotten – nope, got them all I soon realised. However, I did purchase one item I think could be invaluable – a torch on a strap to fit around you head – for nocturnal comfort breaks you see! Can you imagine going to the loo in pitch black, holding a torch – let’s not go there! Anyway, case solved. I also called in at a games shop - bought a couple of packs of cards, game of liar dice... stuff to keep us occupied at night once all the kids have gone to bed. Though one problem – there’s no alcohol!! Yep – a week of abstinence! Ouch! Actually, that’s just what I need - I need a break before the Christmas holiday celebrations.
The other exciting purchase was in Costco at the weekend – a 5kg party pack (mega-tub!) of sweets.... 5kg! Oh, I also bought a 2kg of Halibro & 2 kg of Jelly Belly jelly beans! 9kg! I’ll have to find room in my bag somewhere, though that’s 30% of my weight allowance! So what - the children will absolutely love them, and us of course!
So that’ll please the kids - and I’ve just seen a mail which’ll please the adults – we’re taking 2,000 flavoured condoms kindly donated by Boots – WOW! How long will 2,000 condoms last – now that’s what we all want to know! I hope we don’t get searched when we land – can you imagine the looks/questions... 6 girls, 3 blokes & 2,000 condoms! "So exactly how long are you planning to be in Kenya?" OK, not politically correct, but hey, you got to see the funny side :)
Good news... Virgin are giving us all access to their lounge! I think we’ll be on a mission to drink our weight in Champagne before we get on the plane – now that’ll ruin our chance of an upgrade! OK, I’ll have to settle one-to-three of their delicious burger & chips – our last supper before a week of ground maize flour & spinach. Actually – the food at Hope & Kindness looks great, and I can’t wait to help out in the kitchen – I might even spice everyone’s meal up from the 500ml bottle of Tabasco I bought (also from Costco at the weekend!).
Right – got to rush.. got to finishing packing (not that I’ve got any room left after all those sweets!), and a last tidy-up of my Movember.
Blog you later, from the Virgin Lounge!
Wrighty.
So what's new - well firstly, with the amount of business travel I’ve done over the last 5 weeks (away for 3 of them) I’ve not been able to get myself motivated to get into the gym – so I thought “why not have a go with Tania’s personal trainer?” Bad idea! Especially when I heard her telling him she’d pay double if he made me throw-up! Well, he didn’t quite manage that, but not far off - for the last 2 days I’ve been walking like a man of 90 in high heels! Oh the pain. I'm nearly recovered just in time for the 26hr door-to-door journey.
I called in at the mountaineering shop on the way home from the office yesterday – just to see if there were any last minute gadgets I forgotten – nope, got them all I soon realised. However, I did purchase one item I think could be invaluable – a torch on a strap to fit around you head – for nocturnal comfort breaks you see! Can you imagine going to the loo in pitch black, holding a torch – let’s not go there! Anyway, case solved. I also called in at a games shop - bought a couple of packs of cards, game of liar dice... stuff to keep us occupied at night once all the kids have gone to bed. Though one problem – there’s no alcohol!! Yep – a week of abstinence! Ouch! Actually, that’s just what I need - I need a break before the Christmas holiday celebrations.
The other exciting purchase was in Costco at the weekend – a 5kg party pack (mega-tub!) of sweets.... 5kg! Oh, I also bought a 2kg of Halibro & 2 kg of Jelly Belly jelly beans! 9kg! I’ll have to find room in my bag somewhere, though that’s 30% of my weight allowance! So what - the children will absolutely love them, and us of course!
So that’ll please the kids - and I’ve just seen a mail which’ll please the adults – we’re taking 2,000 flavoured condoms kindly donated by Boots – WOW! How long will 2,000 condoms last – now that’s what we all want to know! I hope we don’t get searched when we land – can you imagine the looks/questions... 6 girls, 3 blokes & 2,000 condoms! "So exactly how long are you planning to be in Kenya?" OK, not politically correct, but hey, you got to see the funny side :)
Good news... Virgin are giving us all access to their lounge! I think we’ll be on a mission to drink our weight in Champagne before we get on the plane – now that’ll ruin our chance of an upgrade! OK, I’ll have to settle one-to-three of their delicious burger & chips – our last supper before a week of ground maize flour & spinach. Actually – the food at Hope & Kindness looks great, and I can’t wait to help out in the kitchen – I might even spice everyone’s meal up from the 500ml bottle of Tabasco I bought (also from Costco at the weekend!).
Right – got to rush.. got to finishing packing (not that I’ve got any room left after all those sweets!), and a last tidy-up of my Movember.
Blog you later, from the Virgin Lounge!
Wrighty.
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Not long to go now – just 8 more sleeps as my son Connor would say!
Talking of which, it’s his 9th birthday today – he was very excited this morning – couldn’t get the little blighter to sleep last night. So we were woken up very early this morning for card & present opening – usual stuff for a 9yr... football gear & computer games! I started making a video which I’m going to take to the orphanage – I did the school run with Connor and went into his classroom to video a typical classroom morning (though recalling my school days it was very un-typical) - it was very quiet, even though it was pre-class; several of his mates were in “reading corner” with their heads stuck into their books! I was very impressed! So then of course it was my opportunity to embarrass Connor, and sing Happy Birthday :)
I’m making the video so I can show the children in Kosele the daily life of our son in school – Tania & I are sponsoring a boy called Stephen, and we want to share with him Connor’s typical morning – though of course he doesn’t have a birthday every day! Next week Tania’s going into school to talk to the children about what we’re trying to achieve, and take some video messages which we’ll be sharing with the children in Kosele. And equally we’ll be taking lots of video & photos at Kosele to bring back and share with children at Connor’s school – and of course with the blog readers!
The fundraising is going really well – we’ve already smashed our original target of £10,000, and now in typical Cisco stretch mentality are aiming for £20k – now that really would be amazing, especially with Cisco match-funding!! The charity will be able to do so so much with that – we’re hoping we can now build an additional classroom so more children can gain access to valuable and desperately needed education.
Anyway – enough of the serious stuff for a moment :) .... the other news is I’ve expanded! Yes, after 2 solid weeks on the road, for 15 nights in 3 different hotels from Miami to Dubai hosting customers - engaging in the odd glass/pint of the wine/beer, of course just from a social perspective you understand, I’ve literally ballooned - I have what you ladies call a muffin-top! So much so, that all the clothes I bought (well, 3 pairs of trousers to be precise) no longer get round my now perfectly shaped sphere of a belly!! What the ..! So what can be achieved in the 8 days left before I leave for Kosele? .... major healthy eating, exercise & drastic abstaining from alcohol is the only way forward! Fun fun fun :-/
Also, on the gadget & gizmo front the portfolio’s growing nicely; yesterday a present arrived from Tania.... “The Executioner TM”! It’s an “electronic fly, wasp, mosquito and bug zapping racket”! WOW, it’s brilliant!!! I’ve never been a dab hand at tennis, but I reckon I’m a Federer in the making :) Though one word of warning – I’ve noticed it does say “not a toy for children!” – is this something I really should be taking? I don’t care!! I’ll make sure it stays way out of reach of the kids and in my bedroom! Blinkin mozzies!! Whilst in Miami I managed to get a round of golf in, and before I could even hit a ball I was nearly eaten alive by teeny weenie insect vampire-type thingy’s! I must be their favourite dish – I swear I had over 50 bites in 10mins before I could spray myself. So I’m panicking about those blood-suckers in Kosele – should I invest in a burker?
That’s all for now bloggers – I send an update before we leave next Friday, and let you know the results of my fat smashing!
Wrighty.
Talking of which, it’s his 9th birthday today – he was very excited this morning – couldn’t get the little blighter to sleep last night. So we were woken up very early this morning for card & present opening – usual stuff for a 9yr... football gear & computer games! I started making a video which I’m going to take to the orphanage – I did the school run with Connor and went into his classroom to video a typical classroom morning (though recalling my school days it was very un-typical) - it was very quiet, even though it was pre-class; several of his mates were in “reading corner” with their heads stuck into their books! I was very impressed! So then of course it was my opportunity to embarrass Connor, and sing Happy Birthday :)
I’m making the video so I can show the children in Kosele the daily life of our son in school – Tania & I are sponsoring a boy called Stephen, and we want to share with him Connor’s typical morning – though of course he doesn’t have a birthday every day! Next week Tania’s going into school to talk to the children about what we’re trying to achieve, and take some video messages which we’ll be sharing with the children in Kosele. And equally we’ll be taking lots of video & photos at Kosele to bring back and share with children at Connor’s school – and of course with the blog readers!
The fundraising is going really well – we’ve already smashed our original target of £10,000, and now in typical Cisco stretch mentality are aiming for £20k – now that really would be amazing, especially with Cisco match-funding!! The charity will be able to do so so much with that – we’re hoping we can now build an additional classroom so more children can gain access to valuable and desperately needed education.
Anyway – enough of the serious stuff for a moment :) .... the other news is I’ve expanded! Yes, after 2 solid weeks on the road, for 15 nights in 3 different hotels from Miami to Dubai hosting customers - engaging in the odd glass/pint of the wine/beer, of course just from a social perspective you understand, I’ve literally ballooned - I have what you ladies call a muffin-top! So much so, that all the clothes I bought (well, 3 pairs of trousers to be precise) no longer get round my now perfectly shaped sphere of a belly!! What the ..! So what can be achieved in the 8 days left before I leave for Kosele? .... major healthy eating, exercise & drastic abstaining from alcohol is the only way forward! Fun fun fun :-/
Also, on the gadget & gizmo front the portfolio’s growing nicely; yesterday a present arrived from Tania.... “The Executioner TM”! It’s an “electronic fly, wasp, mosquito and bug zapping racket”! WOW, it’s brilliant!!! I’ve never been a dab hand at tennis, but I reckon I’m a Federer in the making :) Though one word of warning – I’ve noticed it does say “not a toy for children!” – is this something I really should be taking? I don’t care!! I’ll make sure it stays way out of reach of the kids and in my bedroom! Blinkin mozzies!! Whilst in Miami I managed to get a round of golf in, and before I could even hit a ball I was nearly eaten alive by teeny weenie insect vampire-type thingy’s! I must be their favourite dish – I swear I had over 50 bites in 10mins before I could spray myself. So I’m panicking about those blood-suckers in Kosele – should I invest in a burker?
That’s all for now bloggers – I send an update before we leave next Friday, and let you know the results of my fat smashing!
Wrighty.
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