First Impressions

Day 1 -Friday 1st May

We were greeted with a warm welcome from Fred as we arrived in Nairobi airport, after a long and sleepless flight. But our first experience of Kenyan roads was… interesting! Miskak said “you’ve been complaining about the highways…” when we replied that we were simply commenting he said “well…prepare for a lot of comments!” We arrived and met Fred’s lovely family and enjoyed a satisfying breakfast before crashing on the bed for a kip! We woke up in time for a Kenya feast with the whole family…plus a few extras that had wandered in, and enjoyed a luxurious warm shower to freshen up. The afternoon was spent relaxing, meeting friends and a long discussion on British politics! It was sweltering hot inside and out but we whipped out the “Guess Who” and “Snakes and ladders” and introduced 2 very eager kids to them! We played until the light faded and were then employed in the kitchen - Working as a team we created some spectacular chipati! The food again was some of Esther’s best so on a full belly we tucked in our mozzy net and slept as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

Day 2 - Saturday 2nd May

Up for a breakfast of eggs, sausages, bread and jam, we gathered our stuff together ready for Mike when he came. To fill the time we took 2 lacrosse sticks outside and taught a very good, fast learning pupil to play! Although the stick towered twice as high as Marvel, Fred’s daughter, she picked the skills up remarkably quickly and glowed when we mentioned that it took some kids hours to get. After some good byes we clambered into the back of a car and started along those Kenyan roads. We had to change cars at one point and from there we headed into Nairobi proper, to visit Fred in his office at Daystar Uni. And here we are…writing from the SCI laptop getting ready to buy some water, a sim card and then head off to Fran Kaime's home looking out over Lake Elimentaita. Here we begin to work at a nursery school and orphanage.

















We had our first experience of ugali - much to our dismay there were no knives and forks so we ate with Fred in the traditional way, with our hands! After meeting the SCI team, we set off with Mike in a mutatu (a kenyan minibus) on the road to Nakuru. Despite the crazy Kenyan driving, it was a comfortable journey with much Kenyan scenery to admire along the way.

We arrived at Fran's house just before dusk, where we went with Mike for a walk along the beautiful Lake. Neither of us have ever stayed in a house with such amazing views! There, we met Fran's son Michael and his millions of dogs, all of various shapes and sizes...

Day 3 - Sunday 3rd May

We woke up to the sounds of activity in the house, then prepared for our first experience of a rustic, rural church. There were no hymn sheets, just huge energetic singing, dancing and drums, so different to our serious sermons and sedate responses. To add to the experience, our walk to church involved dirt tracks, risking our lives crossing the main road and a mini-hike up a rocky slope.

After church we grabbed an extremely crowded mutatu with Mike and Fran, which incredibly kept adding to its numbersw whenever it saw fit, and headed to Nakuru. Here we are after a nice lunch, getting accustomed to the prehistorically slow pace of the internet here.