Working at kisma!
Well its been almost a week since the blog has been updated and its my turn to let you know how we are doing. I’m currently sitting at Catherine’s house having my hair braided and after I’m done Ally is going to get hers done. It takes about 2 hours per turn so I’ve got quite a while.
Let me just begin by saying that although we are in Kenya we are by no means cut off from events back home. We heard yesterday morning by radio about the 4 bombings in London and have subsequently been following them very closely on the TV. We were horrified and our first thoughts were if everyone we loved and cared about in the capital was OK. Fortunately a series of texts and phone calls home reassured us that everyone was safe. However our hearts and prayers go out to the many victims of this tragedy and their families. We are remembering the situation in our daily morning devotions as a group.
So anyway what have we been up to as a group? The others updated up to last Sunday where they got their first experience of Kenyan church and of joining in a traditional dance. They may not have told you but I caught it all on video camera and will be making a video of our trip which everyone can see. It’s quite amusing to see Gerald, Dave and Nigel dance.
So Monday the work began. You might remember that Nigel, Catherine and I spent the week before painting the girls wash room. Well now it was the turn of the boys wash room and it went quite a bit quicker thanks to the rollers bought out by Ally and Dave and by the fact that there was five of us. We put the first coat of magnolia on in the morning and then in the afternoon Ally, Gerald and Dave sat in on a Math’s lesson. I went home to do some washing whilst Nigel walked up to town to have a look around and get himself some lunch. The others joined him later in the town to update the blog. Then around 4 pm we went to visit a friend of Catherine’s who lives quite close to the school. She served us tea and showed us all around her place. Her name was Naomi and she lives with her sister Wambui and her brother. They were really friendly. It however tipped it down with rain just as we left so we had quite a wet walk home. We gave them a British tea towel which they were really pleased with.
On Tuesday we put the second and third coats of paint on the boys wash room. In between coats we also painted the window sills of the boys dorm and the door to the prefects room. It is always interesting doing the high places as the ladders the school has are not exactly the most stable. Picture a sort of wig wam with steps on each side. However most of the steps are simply resting on nails and a lot of them were loose. One person had to stand on a barrel whilst the other two had proper ladders. Fortunately no one fell off but there were some interesting manoeuvres done in order to get to tricky bits of the wall. Painting the door was also fun as we used blue oil paint that only comes off with white spirit. Dave and Gerald perhaps forgot that when they started a paint fight. Dave decided to swipe Gerald’s leg with paint in an effort to stop him always wearing shorts and to put on trousers for a “more respectable” look. Gerald responded by swiping Dave in the arm and it continued. Dave tried to remove the paint with water but only succeeded in making the blue paint go further up his arm. The result was that both had to use a lot of white spirit to clean up. And the next day Gerald got burnt on the back of the same leg whilst the other one was fine. Gerald and Dave as you can all imagine are providing many amusing incidents between the two of them.
So onto Wednesday. After two days of work we decided to do some touristy stuff with Gerald, Dave and Ally. We took them again to Thomson Falls and walked all the way down. The amount of rain that had come down meant the river was swollen and the mist appeared a lot of earlier. But it was still great fun although Gerald had a bit of a hard time getting back up the slope with his ankle. It meant a lot of stops of the way. Once at the top we went back to the Thomson Falls Lodge and got lunch and drinks. The Lonely Planet guide had said that it was the most expensive place to eat but it was very cheap in the end. We then went shopping. On the way down to the falls we had been told by a dozen different women to come and visit their shops and as soon as we approached we got reminded of several promises of visits that none of us remembered every having made. Most of them said they were friends of Catherine although she had never met them before.
The Kenya system of buying is very interesting. There are no fixed prices but they simply ask you what you think it is worth. Of course none of us had the faintest idea at first. However after a bit of buying of similar things there were certain prices we were not prepared to pay. Gerald and Dave had to be educated on the price of a banana leaf which they had paid around 5 -7 pounds for one. I had got 4 for the same price. And so we had to haggle, learn and actually got some very good deals in the end. The only annoying thing was that once you had bought something they called their friend in and told us we should go next door with them where they would wrap it. A cunning ploy whereby they would not wrap it but insist we look round first. We all spent quite a bit and even when we were out of money they still wanted to call us in to have a look. Once out of Kenyan shillings they also wanted any pounds or euros we wanted. Finally we prized ourselves away and went back to town.
Wednesday dinner was also very interesting. When we went for tea at Naomi on Monday we had talked about the relative costs of animals out here in Kenya. And Gerald found out to his astonishment that a chicken only cost about a pound. So we decided as a group to buy one and attempt to kill and cook it. So we split out the tasks. Gerald was to kill it, Nigel was to hold it down, Ally and I were going to pluck it and Dave would gut it. And then we were going to cook it. It sounds very organized but didn’t really go as planned. After detailed instructions from David Nigel got ready to hold it down. Gerald cut its neck very quickly but the chicken somehow sprang loose from Nigel’s hands and flew headless towards Dave who quickly dodged out of the way. After about a minute of chaotically trying to capture the dead bird we dragged it to the pot. Nigel and Gerald went to clean themselves up as the blood had spattered everywhere whilst Ally and I attempted plucking. After a few minutes Ally could take no more, declaring the killing to be barbaric and turning quite pale. Some others joined me and finally the chicken was ready. Dave couldn’t quite bring himself to gut the chicken so David took over and then the rest of us prepared it by coating it in honey and herbs. We were prepared for a delicious mean. However it was not to be. We sat down and tasted the chicken. It was absolute rubber and most of the meal would not come off the bone. After quite a bit of cave man like chewing most of us did get some meat but it was extremely tough. But it was a good laugh. Gerald’s explanation for its rubber like taste was that Nigel didn’t console it enough and sing it a lullaby before it was killed. Therefore it went all tense and stressed out.
So Thursday we went back to painting. The wash room was now done and as we had nice weather we decided to paint the frames of the windows which were in-between the panes of glass. It was quite delicate work and took us a whole day just to do one side of the boys dormitory. The others are currently down at the school doing the other side, as long as the weather holds off. We also painted some of the back doors blue. At school Gerald, Ally and Dave got to experience their first meal of ugali (the tasteless maize mash). Gerald pretty much ate what was on his plate but Dave and Ally’s faces when they tasted it was a sight to see. Ally had one mouthful and then declared her meal finished. Dave and the rest of us also left quite large lumps on our plates. I don’t think we will be asking for the recipe to take home. Then Thursday evening we all went out to a nearby restaurant. Kenyans don’t often go out at night to restaurants because many don’t own cars and don’t want to walk in the dark. So the main time for meals out is lunchtime. Therefore the restaurant was very quite and the menu was very limited. But again it was so cheap. It cost 900 shillings for 7 of us to each. 900 shillings is about 7 pounds in total.
So today the others are back at school working. Tomorrow we hope to cook some English dishes such as scones and cakes and take them to school for the children to try. We are also going to give them a quiz and get taught some Swahili. We are then going to take a trip up north for a few days to see some of the schools and villages that the children come from. We hope to be back here Tuesday afternoon and then leave for Nairobi Wednesday morning. We will spend some time doing a few touristy things in Nairobi for the benefit of the others and then our flight leaves late evening. We arrive back in the UK Thursday morning. I do not know if we will get another chance to update the blog before coming home. We may Tuesday evening if we get time. I hope everyone is well and we look forward to seeing you all face to face when we get back. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog and keep updated with what we are doing. It has been a privilege to share it with you all.
Let me just begin by saying that although we are in Kenya we are by no means cut off from events back home. We heard yesterday morning by radio about the 4 bombings in London and have subsequently been following them very closely on the TV. We were horrified and our first thoughts were if everyone we loved and cared about in the capital was OK. Fortunately a series of texts and phone calls home reassured us that everyone was safe. However our hearts and prayers go out to the many victims of this tragedy and their families. We are remembering the situation in our daily morning devotions as a group.
So anyway what have we been up to as a group? The others updated up to last Sunday where they got their first experience of Kenyan church and of joining in a traditional dance. They may not have told you but I caught it all on video camera and will be making a video of our trip which everyone can see. It’s quite amusing to see Gerald, Dave and Nigel dance.
So Monday the work began. You might remember that Nigel, Catherine and I spent the week before painting the girls wash room. Well now it was the turn of the boys wash room and it went quite a bit quicker thanks to the rollers bought out by Ally and Dave and by the fact that there was five of us. We put the first coat of magnolia on in the morning and then in the afternoon Ally, Gerald and Dave sat in on a Math’s lesson. I went home to do some washing whilst Nigel walked up to town to have a look around and get himself some lunch. The others joined him later in the town to update the blog. Then around 4 pm we went to visit a friend of Catherine’s who lives quite close to the school. She served us tea and showed us all around her place. Her name was Naomi and she lives with her sister Wambui and her brother. They were really friendly. It however tipped it down with rain just as we left so we had quite a wet walk home. We gave them a British tea towel which they were really pleased with.
On Tuesday we put the second and third coats of paint on the boys wash room. In between coats we also painted the window sills of the boys dorm and the door to the prefects room. It is always interesting doing the high places as the ladders the school has are not exactly the most stable. Picture a sort of wig wam with steps on each side. However most of the steps are simply resting on nails and a lot of them were loose. One person had to stand on a barrel whilst the other two had proper ladders. Fortunately no one fell off but there were some interesting manoeuvres done in order to get to tricky bits of the wall. Painting the door was also fun as we used blue oil paint that only comes off with white spirit. Dave and Gerald perhaps forgot that when they started a paint fight. Dave decided to swipe Gerald’s leg with paint in an effort to stop him always wearing shorts and to put on trousers for a “more respectable” look. Gerald responded by swiping Dave in the arm and it continued. Dave tried to remove the paint with water but only succeeded in making the blue paint go further up his arm. The result was that both had to use a lot of white spirit to clean up. And the next day Gerald got burnt on the back of the same leg whilst the other one was fine. Gerald and Dave as you can all imagine are providing many amusing incidents between the two of them.
So onto Wednesday. After two days of work we decided to do some touristy stuff with Gerald, Dave and Ally. We took them again to Thomson Falls and walked all the way down. The amount of rain that had come down meant the river was swollen and the mist appeared a lot of earlier. But it was still great fun although Gerald had a bit of a hard time getting back up the slope with his ankle. It meant a lot of stops of the way. Once at the top we went back to the Thomson Falls Lodge and got lunch and drinks. The Lonely Planet guide had said that it was the most expensive place to eat but it was very cheap in the end. We then went shopping. On the way down to the falls we had been told by a dozen different women to come and visit their shops and as soon as we approached we got reminded of several promises of visits that none of us remembered every having made. Most of them said they were friends of Catherine although she had never met them before.
The Kenya system of buying is very interesting. There are no fixed prices but they simply ask you what you think it is worth. Of course none of us had the faintest idea at first. However after a bit of buying of similar things there were certain prices we were not prepared to pay. Gerald and Dave had to be educated on the price of a banana leaf which they had paid around 5 -7 pounds for one. I had got 4 for the same price. And so we had to haggle, learn and actually got some very good deals in the end. The only annoying thing was that once you had bought something they called their friend in and told us we should go next door with them where they would wrap it. A cunning ploy whereby they would not wrap it but insist we look round first. We all spent quite a bit and even when we were out of money they still wanted to call us in to have a look. Once out of Kenyan shillings they also wanted any pounds or euros we wanted. Finally we prized ourselves away and went back to town.
Wednesday dinner was also very interesting. When we went for tea at Naomi on Monday we had talked about the relative costs of animals out here in Kenya. And Gerald found out to his astonishment that a chicken only cost about a pound. So we decided as a group to buy one and attempt to kill and cook it. So we split out the tasks. Gerald was to kill it, Nigel was to hold it down, Ally and I were going to pluck it and Dave would gut it. And then we were going to cook it. It sounds very organized but didn’t really go as planned. After detailed instructions from David Nigel got ready to hold it down. Gerald cut its neck very quickly but the chicken somehow sprang loose from Nigel’s hands and flew headless towards Dave who quickly dodged out of the way. After about a minute of chaotically trying to capture the dead bird we dragged it to the pot. Nigel and Gerald went to clean themselves up as the blood had spattered everywhere whilst Ally and I attempted plucking. After a few minutes Ally could take no more, declaring the killing to be barbaric and turning quite pale. Some others joined me and finally the chicken was ready. Dave couldn’t quite bring himself to gut the chicken so David took over and then the rest of us prepared it by coating it in honey and herbs. We were prepared for a delicious mean. However it was not to be. We sat down and tasted the chicken. It was absolute rubber and most of the meal would not come off the bone. After quite a bit of cave man like chewing most of us did get some meat but it was extremely tough. But it was a good laugh. Gerald’s explanation for its rubber like taste was that Nigel didn’t console it enough and sing it a lullaby before it was killed. Therefore it went all tense and stressed out.
So Thursday we went back to painting. The wash room was now done and as we had nice weather we decided to paint the frames of the windows which were in-between the panes of glass. It was quite delicate work and took us a whole day just to do one side of the boys dormitory. The others are currently down at the school doing the other side, as long as the weather holds off. We also painted some of the back doors blue. At school Gerald, Ally and Dave got to experience their first meal of ugali (the tasteless maize mash). Gerald pretty much ate what was on his plate but Dave and Ally’s faces when they tasted it was a sight to see. Ally had one mouthful and then declared her meal finished. Dave and the rest of us also left quite large lumps on our plates. I don’t think we will be asking for the recipe to take home. Then Thursday evening we all went out to a nearby restaurant. Kenyans don’t often go out at night to restaurants because many don’t own cars and don’t want to walk in the dark. So the main time for meals out is lunchtime. Therefore the restaurant was very quite and the menu was very limited. But again it was so cheap. It cost 900 shillings for 7 of us to each. 900 shillings is about 7 pounds in total.
So today the others are back at school working. Tomorrow we hope to cook some English dishes such as scones and cakes and take them to school for the children to try. We are also going to give them a quiz and get taught some Swahili. We are then going to take a trip up north for a few days to see some of the schools and villages that the children come from. We hope to be back here Tuesday afternoon and then leave for Nairobi Wednesday morning. We will spend some time doing a few touristy things in Nairobi for the benefit of the others and then our flight leaves late evening. We arrive back in the UK Thursday morning. I do not know if we will get another chance to update the blog before coming home. We may Tuesday evening if we get time. I hope everyone is well and we look forward to seeing you all face to face when we get back. Thank you for taking the time to read our blog and keep updated with what we are doing. It has been a privilege to share it with you all.
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