Back in England, here are the photos!

So I got a bit behind with posts towards the end. I left Kenya Sunday night, arrived back in England around 5.15am GMT Monday. I have finally uploaded all pictures to Facebook (albums are public, so those of you who are not friends with me on Facebook can still see). I may try to write up about the last week or so here sometime soon, but now my priority is finding a job so I can pay off the almost £1,000 overdraft I'm into!

Enjoy the photos!

Back to School

Or so I thought. Monday my initial plan was to be back at the disability school. The new teacher was ill and told to take an extra week off, and there were no volunteers placed there, so I would be the only one. James from NVS arrived in the morning to take some volunteers to Olympic school, and asked if I could take Quinta to her university in Thika for registration day and sort out her accommodation. We first went via Olympic, where they were having a morning cleaning so there was nothing for the others, Ashleigh and Kyung, to be doing. So we headed to the doctors near Quinta's, where we went over the school fees. Unfortunately, the guys who started the programme and were sorting out the funds hadn't sent the money yet, so all we had was what was in the feeding programme purse, 24,000 shillings, out of a total of at least 50,000 needed.

Quinta had been looking forward to this for so long, and began to get upset as it looked like we couldn't take her. One option was to try to call the university to see if it all had to be paid today, or if it could be paid partially. But that would still likely leave us short with supplies to buy for her too. I decided I could withdraw the extra money needed, and have NVS pay it back when they have it sent, though this would likely leave me with far more cash than I need when I go home in 2 weeks, but it would be worth it to get Quinta out of Kibera, and not fall back into a depressive state due to university falling through. Ashleigh also offered to loan the cash she had from donations back home, so between us we decided we could cover all the fees.

So we headed back to the house to get Ashleigh's money and my bank card. I headed back to the doctors, initially it was supposed to be me, Quinta and one of the doctors going, however James had then decided it would probably be cheaper paying fuel for one of the NVS vans than using public transport, so he arranged for one of the NVS drivers, Chomlee, to pick us up, meaning James could come along too. This no doubt made things far quicker, as I had never been to Thika, and certainly had no idea of my way around the university. Plus Chomlee's best friend's (Cleo at NVS) sister in law was in her third year there so knew the area pretty well.

As we drove down a highway with a speed limit of 100kmph, I had to wonder, who on earth thought it would be a good idea to put speed bumps and zebra crossings on such a road? In most places there weren't even gaps in the barricades along the road for pedestrians to pass through. We didn't see that there had been any accidents though, I guess Kenyans are used to braking hard the way they drive.

We arrived at the university which, despite being one of the cheapest, had a very nice campus. Unfortunately the layout of everything for registration wasn't so good, we did a lot of wandering around looking for the right places to go, until Cleo's sister in law arrived to help guide us. Turns out we only needed to pay 60% of the fees initially, so this helped us out a lot. However unfortunately the school accommodation was fully booked, so we had to find a hostel nearby which was a bit more expensive.

With the tuition fees and accommodation paid for, all that was left to do was take Quinta to get some supplies and necessities. Then put her on a motorbike back to the hostel, whilst the rest of us went to get something to eat. By this point it was starting to get dark, so I'm glad we had Chomlee to drive us as matatus and buses would have taken far longer and it would be very late by the time I got back home.

With Quinta now at university, we'll continue to support her family in Kibera for a while longer, at least until we have set up a business for her mother so she is able to provide for the rest of the family, and hopefully be able to visit her at uni occasionally. Unfortunately the family were not home when we visited this Tuesday, and with next Tuesday being the next orientation, I won't be seeing them again before I leave, but at least I had the opportunity to see how far Quinta has come in less than 3 months and see her off to uni.

 

New Year, New Volunteers

The week between Christmas and new year was again quite slow, so nothing much to talk about there, though with orientation for new volunteers on new years day, the new volunteers began arriving the weekend before. Of course we couldn't go without celebrating on new years eve, so Dan and I invited the new volunteers staying with us out for a few drinks. We want to a bar we hadn't been to before, Casablanca. Turns out they had a 1000 shilling entry fee that night that we didn't know about, which seemed a bit steep as there looked to be hardly anyone else there,however Dan managed to talk us in for half price as volunteers! Unfortunately drinks were quite expensive (at least by Kenyan standards), so we all chipped in for a few glasses of the cheapest wine on the menu. This was probably for the best as I didn't want to be held responsible for the new volunteers turning up to orientation hungover! And I'd already decided to get a ride with them at 7.30am to save getting a matatu so I had to be up too.

With 6 of us we would have needed 2 taxis to get to the club, so instead we called one of the NVS drivers, George, with a van. He agreed to take us, and pick us up, even though we had no idea what time we'd be back. At almost 2am I checked my phone to find a missed call and text from him at 1.45, saying he was by the gate and to call him back if we're ready. I thought by that point he'd be long gone, but I went to check anyway. Outside I saw the van, front seat reclined, with George asleep. He had to be up earlier than we did for picking people up in the morning l so we gave him a bit extra for waiting for us.

Next day we all felt fine and made it up in time to be picked up for orientation, though a bit tired, shown by the fact in have since spoken to some volunteers that I apparently had conversations with at orientation but have no recollection of. It seems that, despite hating talking in front of large groups of people, and pretty much blagging the speeches again as I wasn't much more prepared than last time, I still get people interested in the feeding programme. Thursday we had another group of 15 volunteers. This makes catching a matatu into Kibera difficult as they are only 14 seaters, and most people had no idea where they were going. Fortunately we didn't have to on long to wait for a bus to arrive with plenty of seats available. And despite missing one of the guys from Kibera who joins us, we didn't manage to lose anyone, always a bonus!

Schools were still closed that week, apart from one in Kibera I had only recently found out about, Damside school. They have a few children who turn up over the holidays, and teach them whenever they can. There are also five children living there, in one small room, along with the cook. Friday some of the volunteers headed there in the morning. Not wanting to intrude on other people's placements, I headed to Junction. Later in the day the others headed there for a few supplies and found me in the coffee shop, and asked me to join them at the school. With some persuasion I decided I would. The head teacher was most welcoming, showing me around, explaining everything they are planning to do in the future (including building some proper housing for the orphans living there, and getting some ply wood to separate the classrooms). After the tour in helped the others with some teaching, then we were going to sort out the library (small room with a bookshelf and books everywhere). However before we could make it there we had kids climbing all over us wanting to play, and ended up too tired to do anything else after! The head teacher was fine with this, and we said we hoped to be back in the week to do it, between other placements.

One of the new volunteers at the house, Ashleigh, had some donations she wanted to take to orphanages, so Saturday NVS arranged a taxi to take her to orphanages in Rongai and Ngong. As there was space in the taxi, I was invited along for a visit, and one of our hosts jumped in too. Unfortunately though, the driver had to be at the airport later, so we were pushed for time, the children at the first orphanage were in church so we couldn't stick around to meet them, and the second orphanage we didn't have time for, only to visit the host family there. The donations were left anyway, and of course much appreciated.

Sunday was one of the most productive days I had in a long time. Beginning with laundry (I really ought to do that more often in smaller loads instead of leaving it all for ages to do all in one), then heading to a local barber shop for an overdue haircut. Or rather, haircut, shave, face steam and head massage...all for 200 shillings (~£1.50). Following that, Ashleigh was heading off to Damside school to get started on the library. Having nothing else to do that day, and being in a productive mood, I tagged along. We only had a couple of hours, but we had a lot of the books arranged far better than they were, and rearranged the tables and chairs making far more room to move around. There's still a lot to be done, but hopefully we can get back in the week to carry on.

More posts coming over the next few days, still writing them up as I've been busier recently.