School Holidays

The schools in Kenya closed - 1st term was finished, time for holidays. Hamza was supposed to go to Mombasa to stay with his relatives but he liked Lamu so much during the few days we were waiting for Juliet to arrive that I decided to keep him here - much to his delight :) I will most probably not be in Kenya in August when the next school holiday is so I thought it would be better to have him stay with me and Juliet this time and send him to Mombasa next time when I am not around to look after him. I also wanted some more time to bond with him - it is always much harder with a boy... With Juliet it was an instant connection, with Evelyne took a bit longer because she is very quiet but Hamza is much younger and he is a boy...

Hamza with his friend preparing the firewood

Hamza and friends playing Bao game

On 13th April it was the day of Juliet's case. I was supposed to travel to Nairobi and then come back to Lamu with her but I was not well again and not up for the long journey... I spoke to her on the phone and explained the situation - this was also the time when I had the infection on the back of my foot... She understood and we agreed that the day after the case she would travel to Mombasa and I would meet her there and we would travel to Lamu together...


with Juliet on Easter Sunday

When Juliet went to court it was only to find out that the case would not take place on that day as the court was not sitting... The case was moved to end of June!!! that's already a 3rd time now... it's been more than a year since it all started and we are no nearer to getting the justice...  Juliet was very upset - it is a lot of stress for her every time but at least this time she was excited about the forthcoming trip.

Hamza enjoying sailing for the first time - he was a very serious captain ;)

Evelyne went to visit her grandmother whom she hasn't seen for about 1 year and Juliet travelled to the coast.
To collect Juliet from Mombasa I travelled during the day (over 7hrs journey), waited for her for 1 hr and then 3 hrs later we were already on the night bus heading back to Lamu... The journey was terrible - I was already very tired from travelling to Mombasa, we were travelling at night and it was very humid and the road from Mombasa to Lamu is really bad so no chance for getting any sleep. We arrived in Lamu after 5am...

Brother & sister finally spending time together :)

Hamza & his friends

We were supposed to travel to another island for a wedding with some of my friends but I was just exhausted from all the travelling... Juliet wanted to go though and since this is part of her culture (she was born and brought up at the coast), I decided to let her go with my friends - they were gone for 2 nights and she came back very happy. After that wedding everyone kept telling me how good Juliet is at dancing and since then everyone always wants to take her to weddings with them - within 2 weeks while she's been here she already attended 3 weddings :)

Spending so much time with Hamza really helped us bond :)

Hamza's top wish was to go swimming and sailing - all of which we already accomplished :) I took them both swimming and then on Tuesday after Easter we went on an all day trip - first we visited ruins of an Arab town from 17th century and then we went to the beach. It was a really great day - kids swam all day long, we cooked lunch on the beach, tried a bit of fishing but unfortunately didn't manage to catch any this time ;)


Kids having fun with the waves :)



even Juliet decided to join in :)

The Easter was rather quiet - it is predominantly Muslim community here and it is also Hamza's religion but I treated them to nice food, drinks and cake... They were very happy with that. On Easter Monday I was very sick so we didn't do much which is why I wanted to make up for it by taking them on a trip. Hamza really liked sailing and was very interested in how to operate the boat.

Just "hanging around" ;)

Both Hamza and Juliet have many friends here and they are never bored. As Hamza's school results were so good I did get him a football which he was over the moon with.

The only thing spoiling the great time we are having was Juliet's accident - when we came back from the trip and she got out of the boat she slipped on the steps and cut her toe really badly - lots and lots of blood and loose skin - luckily we were literally outside the hospital so we took her there straight away where she was treated but it involved a lot of crying and screaming. Normally when I see blood I want to faint and run away but this time I had to be strong and try to calm her down - she was so distressed (she has very low pain threshold) that the nurse refused to treat her and we had to wait for someone else to attend to her. Finally a male doctor arrived and he finished the treatment well. As I am while I expected to get a high bill for that but he was very nice about it and it all cost next to nothing. I will have to take her to change the dressing probably tomorrow as on Sunday she needs to travel to Nairobi so I want to make sure that it is all healing well before she goes back to school.

At Takwa Ruins



love spending time with my kids :)

I am sad I didn't get to spend any time with Evelyne this time but I know it was important to her to visit her grandmother who was the one taking care of her since she was born. I also know that Evelyne would not like it here too much - she comes from much cooler part of Kenya and over here right now is unbelievably hot. The rains were supposed to start a couple of weeks ago but so far it only rained twice for less than half an hour at the time...



Hamza enjoying sailing :)

On the way back from the beach - playing improvised drums and singing :)



Hamza's results after 1st term - from his report book

More about Hamza's school

2 days after I brought Hamza to his new school I had to go back there - there were 2 reasons for that: Firstly I forgot to buy the matress for him (!), felt really terrible about this but the head teacher was very helpful and they got a spare one for him to use until I bring a new one... I simply forgot about it as for the girls' matresses we just paid at the school... I also had to go back there because it was the time for the AGM meeting which was normally attended by pupils parents.

The meeting was on Saturday and was supposed to go on from 9 am till 12pm. I knew that since this is Kenya it would never start on time. I did however arrive on time just in case... And I really wished I had taken my book with me as the meeting was much more delayed than I anticipated - it did not start until 11.15! While I was waiting for the meeting I was talking to Hamza who seemed to be quite happy with the school but I could tell he was missing his friends from Nairobi. Somebody also stole a couple of items from his storage box so I had to speak to the teacher in charge of the boarding students as well as the head boy and they promised me to investigate the matter. The only items stolen were soap for washing clothes and vaseline (kids here use it to moisturise their skin).

While I was waiting I also realised that most probably I was just wasting my time as the language spoken during the meeting was more than likely to be kiswahili (many of the coastal people can't actually speak english or at least not well enough to have a serious conversation). I mentioned it to one of the teachers and he promised to get me someone to translate which I thought was really nice.

Obviously I was the only white person at the meeting so I got quite few stares and funny looks, especially when my interpreter was sitting next to me explaining what was happening. I found the meeting very interesting - there are many issues there, mainly financial as the governmet funding is not enough to cover all necessary costs. Een though the US marines have been helping out a lot recently (painting the buildings, sponsoring the solar system etc) there is still a lot that needs to be done there.

During the short breaks kids were singing, dancing, reciting poems... It was very nice to see.

I went to visit Hamza one more time when my friend Kate was here visiting for a couple of weeks. Again, we spoke to the headmaster about the issues that the school is facing. I was also told that the top scorer in KCPE exams (end of primary education exam) for whole Lamu district came from this school which is very encouraging. I hope it will motivate Hamza even more to work hard and get great results.

We were supposed to go back again for the football tournament for the local school but unfortunately I did not feel well on that day. Hamza's telling me that his school won though so it must have been a great day :)

The school term was supposed to finish on Friday, 8th of May. Kate left on Wednesday which meant I would have 1 day to prepare for Hamza's return home. I got up pretty early on Thursday and decided to do most of the laundry on that day and prepare a room for Hamza. While I was busy washing I did not hear my phone and when I finally checked it, there were many missed calls, quite a few of them from Hamza's school. Immendiately I started to worry that sthg bad had happened and I rang the headmaster straight away only to find out that I must go to school asap to collect Hamza as they decided to close the school 2 days earlier (on Wednesday instead of Friday) and they forgot to notify my which meant that Hamza was the only child still remaining there.

I think it must have been the faster shower I had in my time in Kenya - where I stay means that I have to walk for over 20 min to the pier and then get a boat to the mainland, and then a motorbike taxi to get to the school... so quite complicated... I did get there pretty quickly though and got the apology from the headmaster. I then was told that Hamza is a very good student, polite and disciplined and he scored really well in the end of term tests which put him in number 3 position in class (out of 36 children) - I was really happy to hear that, it is a really great performance on Hamza's part especially that he missed couple of weeks of school at the beginning of the term and had to change schools in the middle of the term. Now I am expecting even better result next term :)

I am supposed to take Hamza to stay with his relatives in Mombasa but at the moment he likes it here and I am still considering my options - I will not be here in August when next school break is so maybe this time I will keep him with me and send him to Mombasa next time. He has made many friends here already and every time I ask him he says he'd prefer to stay here for a while longer... But next week Juliet is coming and at the moment there isn't enough room here for the 2 of them unless I come up with some solution to that.

Hamza's New School

After the hectic time we had with the girls getting them ready for return of school (there were still some things that they needed which we hadn't bought for the start of the term because there was no money for it, i.e. biology sets -each cost about £8 - some more books requested by teachers, etc...), it was time to do the same for Hamza.

As I didn't want him to miss out on too many days away from school - the term restarted on the same day the girls were due back at their school... Then we needed 2 days for travelling (well, whole night and most of the following day...). I originally planned to travel on a night bus the same day I needed to take the girls to school but luckily in the end I decided to give myself a bit more time to avoid necessary nerves in case there was a problem getting back to Nairobi from Kiambu (where the Hillside Girls is located)... And thank God I changed my mind as we got back so late I would definitely miss the bus...

I took girls back to school on Monday and it was a very hectic day, returned to Nairobi around 10pm - I was very happy that I was staying at Jane's house that night, it would be quite dangerous to go to stay with the children at the orphanage at that time... On Monday morning I already brought my bag for Jane to take home with her after work so it was all set. All I needed to do on Tuesday was to get the necessities for Hamza and pack.

Hamza and I set off for town around 10am and went looking for a shop with school uniforms. Luckily Jane proved to be a savior once again - she drew me a map of where we needed to go (although I know Nairobi quite well now, I don't know the names of the streets, for some reason I just can never remember which one is which...) and we found the place without any problems. We bought the shirts, trousers, ties and a t-shirt (all for about £25). We then met with John and Nicolas to discuss what else we could be doing, which other children we could be helping and generally how to grow this project... Nicolas also promised to help me with the work permit when I return to Kenya later this year (no point getting one now as I need to change my passport - it is expiring in Sept...), he also offered to help with the land registration once I have more details of it - another thing that is taking a very long time to arrange... but this is Kenya so I just must be patient, no point getting too worked up about it, it will not help or make things faster or easier...

We then completed the shopping - bought the shoes & school bag, torch, padlock for the metal box where all his belongings would be kept, some snacks for him to take to school - the food there is very basic and it is up to the parents to provide the snacks for their children. At least for Hamza I did not need to buy any sugar as at the coast everything is very sweet and they would never give a child tea without it (unlike in other parts of the country - I had to buy it for Juliet and Evelyne, as well as salt and other bits and pieces to make their meals a bit nicer).

Hamza in his school uniform

I decided not to buy the metal box in town to save carrying it on the matatu back home and instead wanted to buy it in the local supermarket.

As my Kenyan sister Easterlina is in the country for only few weeks (she works in Mongolia - out of all places a Kenyan could go... ;), we met for a coffee before Hamza and I returned to Jane's place. We just managed to beat the traffic which was great as it saved us a lot of time... I managed to get most things packed before Jane got home and we went together to get the box. I was not lucky though, as the only one they had was far too big and double the usual price... I had no choice but to hope that I could get one in Lamu...

Our bus was leaving at 10.30pm and we were supposed to get to Mombasa before 7am... Then we needed to take another bus for a 7hr journey to Mokowe... I wanted to book the 9.30 bus from Mombasa but was told they no longer operated that and had to reserve the 11am instead - that meant waiting in Mombasa for at least 4hrs and then travelling during the hottest time of the day (obviously no air con - lots and lots of dust instead... :(

I was a bit worried travelling by night (only did it once before - on my first trip to the coast when I went to Malindi with Maria in 2009 to visit the other branch of Imani where I was volunteering), especially that it was just me and Hamza but the journey went with no problems and we got to Mombasa very early. It was 6 am and I hoped that we could swap our 11am reservation for our next bus and travel on the one at 7am instead to save us all that waiting time... We got a tuk-tuk and rushed to the other bus company hoping there were still tickets left for the earlier bus. When I got there our luck was even better as the 6.15am bus was still there and they rushed us onto it... We didn't even wait 5 min for a connection which was absolutely brilliant :) Actually we had so little time to get on the bus that by the time I bought the tickets our bags were already on it and the bus was leaving without us, the conductor shouting at me to hurry up - while I was handing the money over for the tickets! But again - this is Kenya, you must expect anything to happen at all times ;)

The journey to Mokowe (the last stop on the mainland before we need the boat to cross to the island - it is a very small town/village where Hamza's new school is located) went without any problems and again we arrived at our destination much sooner than I expected, normally the journey takes 7hrs but we got there in 6 so by 12.15 we were already there (if we had to wait for the 11am bus we wouldn't even got to Malindi yet...).

We then took a boat to cross the channel to get to Lamu town, Hamza was very excited as he had never been on a boat before :) We were both very tired after such long journey so after a quick bite we went to rest for a bit... Then I went to find the metal box needed for school while Hamza washed some of his clothes. By the evening he already made friends with some of the local kids - even now they still are asking me how he is and when he is coming to visit again... :)

Following morning was time to go to school - before that a trip to barbers to shave and tailor to saw the school badges onto the shirts for the uniforms. By lunchtime we were good to go but we had to wait for the boat - it is much cheaper to wait for the boat to fill up with passengers than to pay for a private trip, the problem is you never know how long you will end up waiting...



Arid Zone Primary School in Mokowe

 Once we arrived at the mainland I had to confront one of my fears which is to take the motorbike taxi - there isn't really any other way to get to school from the pier... I am absolutely terrified to go on one of those, they drive at crazy speeds, drivers normally don't have proper licences, they can buy a bike in the morning and by the afternoon already transport people... No qualifications needed - just a learner's licence is enough... So when I choose a driver he is always under strict conditions to drive very slowly ;)

We got to the school and Hamza was getting a little bit more excited although also a little worried... He has been through quite few changes in last 12 months (which is why we decided on boarding school for him - it will offer much more stability)... The head-teacher is a very nice man and I also recently find out that he is a good friend of a friend of mine, which always helps.

After taking some information for the register it was time for us to leave Hamza - it was then when I realised that I forgot to buy him the mattress! I was so fixed on getting the box which I didn't buy in Nairobi that I forgot about the mattress... I felt very bad but the teacher in charge of the boarders reassured me that they will give Hamza a temporary one for a couple of nights to give me time to buy one... I was very grateful and relieved.

As Hamza is a boy saying god-bye wasn't as emotional as it was with the girls. He likes to behave like he is a big boy and act all "manly" ;) I really hope he settles in well and makes good friends there, as well as getting good results. I am sure he will make me proud :)


Last photo before leaving Hamza at his new school



Mid-term break

Because I was not well I was not able to go and collect my girls from school - I arrived in Nairobi on Thursday evening and spent the night with Jane and her husband (as usual Jane came to the rescue when I needed somewhere to spend the night...). I spoke to Juliet that evening and we agreed to meet in town the following morning. As we were coming from opposite sides of Nairobi and Juliet didn't have a phone, it was quite a challenge to meet up but my girl is getting more and more responsible and when she was stuck in traffic, she borrowed someone's phone to call me and let me know :)

When we finally met on Friday it was already midday. I needed to extend my visa so we headed to immigration office first. When we got there we were told that the office is shut for 2 hrs for lunch and we must come back at 2pm... We decided to do some of the shopping for school in the meantime and drop it at Jane's office so we wouldn't have to carry it around town with us.
This time there was no problems with my visa and after almost 2 hrs of queuing at various counters, having my fingerprints taken, etc... I had my passport stamped for another 3 months :)

I wanted to pay girls school fees that day but by the time we got to the bank it was already shut...

We headed back to Jane's office to pick up our shopping and also my bag which her husband was bringing for me in the car when he was to collect Jane from work... We were unlucky again as there was a lot of traffic and we waited for a very long time for him to arrive... By time it was already getting dark and I was quite worried about getting the bus... At least this time we were in luck and another friend offered to take us in his car as it was on his way back home.

We arrived at the children's home very late - it was after 8pm, but the kids were very happy to see us and I brought them some sweets. It was good to see Evelyne too. You must wonder why I only take Juliet to town and not both of my girls but Evelyne doesn't like to go all that way and she prefers to stay at home... We didn't really talk much that evening as we were all really tired... The next day I had to go to town again to pay the fees, meet with someone and do some shopping - for me this time :)

We set off quite early with Juliet - again Evelyne wanted to stay home. I went to the bank and paid the fees which made me feel much better (even though the queue was really long), I was really worried about the money before and having to make excuses at the school again if we couldn't pay the fees before girls went back to school... I don't even know what it was that made us so tired but when we got home we just bought some things to cook the supper with and some eggs for children and straight after that we were in bed already. Juliet and I share the bed and we were bickering about who should turn off the lights ;) it is never an issue but this time we were so tired we couldn't keep our eyes open...

With Easterlina, June, Zack and Zanaya :)

On Sunday the girls had a lazy day as I was going to visit my host family - I was staying with them when I came to Kenya the first time. It has been absolute ages since I went to their house and spent some time with them - this time everyone was at home, even Easterlina was home for few weeks from Mongolia so it was a great opportunity to catch up with everyone. On the way back to the children's home I got some cake and juice for the kids - it was Sunday after all and I wanted to treat them at least a little bit :)

Juice and cake - sthg so little to get such big smiles :)

Finally in the evening I got a chance to speak to the girls properly and ask a lot of questions about their school. It seems like they are really liking it there, they told me it is very quiet there and good environment for studying. Juliet has joined various clubs for after-school activities, i.e. book club, wildlife club, drama, net ball, etc... Evelyne was only involved in wildlife club but she promised me she would also join the book club and basketball team. The school timetable seems to be pretty busy and they study a lot but at the same time at weekends they get some time for themselves also and they get to watch TV for 2 hrs on Saturday ;) They are quite popular at school as everyone knows they were brought there by a white person ;) As I expected, Juliet is already complaining how hard maths is for her... I knew it would be the case as it was her weakest subject in primary school. I saw their papers for the midterm exams and although there is still plenty they can improve on, I think the results are quite good after all they have been through in recent months... I think once they have settled in properly, the results for end of the term will be much better - and this is what I asked them to work towards. Their best results were in history - they both got 29 points out of 30.

Before travelling to school

Monday came too soon for me and it was already time to take girls back to school. I had to attend a mtg first and then we had to go and collect Hamza so he could travel with me the following day. In the meantime we also needed to buy some snacks for the girls to last them till the end of the term. The journey to school was an experience of its own... the first matatu we took from Nairobi kept breaking down, then we needed to take another one to collect Hamza, then we needed to get back to where the 1st matatu dropped us as it was impossible to get space on a vehicle where we collected Hamza from, and then we were on another one squeezed like chickens...



Girls with their friends from school

 We were really late getting to school - instead of arriving by 4pm we got there at 6.30pm...Which also meant it was already getting dark when we were waiting for transport back home. We waited for over an hour and still didn't manage to get a matatu. Luckily, someone else came to drop off their daughter and they offered to take us back to Kiambu where we could get another matatu to Nairobi. They came with the lorry so all of us had to fit somehow - the driver, his wife, me, Hamza and John... It was a terrible ride - the road was very bumpy, we were very squashed, Hamza was sitting on my lap... When we got a matatu in Kiambu it was just as bad - already very late, matatu full of people - I counted 22 in a vehicle designed to carry 14... I finally got back to Jane's house after 10pm... It was an absolutely exhausting day, I didn't even have time to eat anything until now... All I wanted to do was to shower and go to bed.

Time to say bye to my girls... until beginning of April...

Medical care in Kenya

So I managed to get ill again... I thought I would wait it out but after 2 days of temperature, sore throat, feeling really dizzy and sweating a lot I thought I'd better read a bit more about malaria on the net... Until then I was under the impression that if you had a sore throat then I could not have been malaria... I was wrong though, apparently you can have sore throat also... Malaria has many flu-like symptoms and after reading about it all I have scared myself enough to decide to go to see a doctor.

There is a hospital nearby so I decided to go there. I was wondering about the cost involved and decided that I should check that first (so at least I had a chance to negotiate the price - yes, this is also possible here...). When I arrived at the hospital I headed straight to the cashier (all medical treatments are paid for by the patients, there is no such thing as free medical care in Kenya)... I was very surprised to hear that the malaria test was free - I definitely did not expect that and was a little suspicious... I also asked about the fee to see the doctor, expecting sthg like £5 or thereabouts... I was told it is 60Ksh (less than 60 pence...)...

I soon found out that the services which they offer pretty much match the price you are required to paid for it... I went upstairs to see the doctor and I told him I suspected I had malaria and wanted to do the test... I was also trying to explain him all the symptoms I was having but he was not really listening and told me to just go and do the test first... I was feeling absolutely terrible - my whole body aching and really dizzy... On top of that I couldn't face eating anything as just a thought of food was making me wanna throw up... So all this made waiting for the test results (they only prick your finger to get few drops of blood for testing), which took over 1 hr, even worse...

I was quite relieved though after finding out that I did not have malaria after all... It took me ages to get over it last time and I did not want to go through it again... By the time I went back to see the doctor, he was no longer there - must have gone for lunch and that takes around 2 hrs over here... Luckily there was another doctor available so I just went to see her... She just looked at me and said that I did not have malaria... I had to explain once more how I was feeling and she eventually took one look at my throat and said I had tonsillitis and I should take antibiotics... She didn't check my temperature, didn't ask any questions at all really...

I went downstairs to the chemist and waited in the queue for a while only to be told I need to pay for it first at the cashier's desk. When I went to pay, he was nowhere to be found - most probably also having lunch... After waiting for over half hour while someone looked for him finally I could pay for my prescription. He then tried to charge me more for the doctor's consultation (only 40p more but these days I don't like when people play with me), he was trying to tell me that the 60ksh charge was for residents and I wasn't one... But he could have clearly seen that when I asked the question originally - after all everyone can see I am not from here... He made few excuses but in the end charged me the original price. When I went to pick up the medicine the chemist was closed - another persona decided to take lunch... It was really frustrating... I did manage to get it after a while though...

Even though the medicine did make me feel better, I have read on the net that tonsillitis should not be treated with antibiotics... This now makes me wonder how knowledgeable that doctor actually was, what was the quality of their malaria testing and it is that is making me feel so unwell...

In conclusion, I think it is pretty accurate to say that you get what you pay for... ;)

Quiet times...

Things have slowed down significantly since the girls went to school... After all this running around in the couple of weeks preceding the start of their 1st term it was a welcome change.

I had a little more time to plan the new project. I have started the research for the location and have been offered a place for (almost) free... I just need to arrange for the deeds which will cost me around £300 which is around 10 times cheaper than buying the land already owned by someone... I just have to keep things on the quiet side as I don't want someone to suddenly start creating problems for me - since I'm white people might think that they could get some money by threatening to create problems with the land... Things are moving really slowly (as most of the time they are in Kenya...) and my patience is being really tested at the moment but since I do not have lots of money to spend I have to just put up with it...

In the meantime I still have my 3 kids to look after :) And also - as soon as the girls' fees are settled - there is another girl in a great need of help, she is 11 years old I think, quite sick and not attending school for quite a long time... She is being looked after by her relatives (the grandfather and the rest of his family) and they have been asking us for help for quite some time now but I do not want to take on yet another child until the 3 kids in our care are all settled with what they need.

I went to visit the school for Hamza and got the list of things he will need whilst there - I will be bringing him over after the midterm - he should arrive at the new school in w/c 6th of March. I am going to Nairobi next week to collect him. I believe going to a school at the coast will be much better for him as he comes from Mombasa and is finding it quite hard around Nairobi as the culture there is very different from what he knows... It will also be easier for us to ensure that he keeps in touch with his relatives (which all leave in the Coast province) and he will be able to visit his mother during school holidays. It is very important to ensure that the child keeps the bond with the parents (especially in Hamza's case, having already lost his father when he was very young) and the rest of his family. After all, my main aim is to ensure that he is looked after well and attends school, which was not happening while he was staying with relatives. He is very bright and I am sure he will do very well once there is more stability in his life. When we moved him to Nairobi, after only one term he was already number 4 in his class... Hamza missed out on a few years of schooling and this is also an issue when looking for a school for him as not everyone would accept a child that is older than the rest of the students in the class... Luckily for us, The Arid Zone Primary School did not cause us any problems because of his age.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Alison for sponsoring Hamza's school fees for this year and Stephen & Janet for donating money to ensure I can purchase the uniform and other necessities Hamza will need for school. The response & support I have been receiving recently has been absolutely amazing and motivates me to work even harder to help more children.

This is where the new project will become very useful as, apart from providing help to the local community, I will be able to have a small rescue centre where the children we rescued from difficult situation will be able to stay while we are arranging schools for them - at the moment this is quite a challenge as the children's homes are not as helpful with this as they could be... Also, the children that we deal with are not necessarily orphans so putting them in children's homes is not really benefiting them. This is why we chose to send the 3 children to boarding schools - while they have a place to stay, they are also in an environment which is encouraging them to study and also teaches them how to be independent at the same time.

A couple of weeks ago I finally spoke to Juliet - I was very excited about the phone call and even though we only had 15 minutes to talk, it was really great to hear how the girls were doing (Evelyne was not able to come to talk as she was in the middle of washing her clothes but Juliet passed on the msg from her).
Juliet told me that they were both doing well and they liked the school, even Evelyne - normally very quiet - was being much livlier lately. They joined some clubs within the school, one of them being a reading club, which makes me very happy as I was really trying to encourage them to read more, now they are asking if I can get them more books :) Juliet was telling me that the maths in Form 1 is very difficult and she is really struggling with it - which did not surprise me at all, actually I knew she was going to say that as maths was her weakest subject in primary school... There are 20 students in their class which is pretty good as normally there are many more students per class in Kenyan schools... One thing I was not aware of when I took them to school 3 weeks ago was that they were supposed to be given pocket money to purchase some snacks every morning to have with their tea... For some reason nobody told me that and the matron did not call me either when she realised that the girls had no money with them... Now I know about it I sent them some money to last them until Thursday (around £1 a week each is enough for them to buy sthg small every day) when the mid term begins. I am very excited about seeing them - I am going to Nairobi on Wednesday so I can go and collect them from school on Thursday :)

The main issue that I am still left with is the school fees for the girls - they still remain unpaid and until this is settled I cannot help any more children... We have applied for help from government for Juliet (we were only allowed to put through just 1 application...) but haven't had the decision on that yet... I am worried that when I go to collect the girls next week, I will have some problems with the school management... I should be able to give them around 5000ksh but that's not even a quarter of what needs to be paid... the total fees for both girls are Ksh33,000 in total which adds to around £300 for the first term... for term 2 & 3 the fees are £250 per term (for both girls - £125 each per term)... If anyone reading this is able to help me in my struggle to educate the 2 girls, please do get in touch - anything you can afford helps as it all adds up eventually to the amount that we need.

I will try to post some photos of the girls in their uniforms next week when I see them.

Hillside Girls High School - 1st Feb 2011

So the day finally arrived and it was time to take my girls to school... As planned we got up very early to ensure all was ready in time. We were quite lucky actually as a friend of Juliet offered to take us in his taxi - which is quite a thing because the school is quite far away (over 1 hr drive - and on a matatu much much longer) and we had 2 big metal boxes and 2 buckets to carry...

My girls are ready for school :)

We still needed to take a bus first and I was quite surprised to see the girls falling asleep (I mean I know we hardly slept for 2 nights running but it was 1st day in high school so the curiosity and excitement should have kept them awake...;) but when we met with the taxi driver - Tony and set off for Kiambu all of a sudden they became much more energetic and kept looking out the window curiously.

Daniel helping Juliet to carry her box

Before getting to our destination we stopped at the nearest town and I bought them some sweets, salt, sugar, peanut butter etc... so they could have some treats in the next 2 months :) I really hope the matron allowed them to keep it.

We arrived at the school and completed the formalities - I was very worried as we have not paid anything towards the fees, we only had enough money to pay for the uniforms... The director however was fine with that as she knew we were really struggling but we had to promise to pay at least part of the outstanding amount soon.

On the way to school - very excited :)

After that it was time to say good bye to the girls who were met by the Form 4 students to help them carry their boxes and to show them to the dorms... The girls were really sad to see us go and Juliet didn't want to let go of me - she didn't cry though which was great as otherwise I would have probably started too ;)

I really wanted to take a photo of my girls in their new uniforms but the skirts were too big for them and needed to be adjusted to the right size... Hopefully I will be able to go and visit them and take some photos then...

Eveline & Juliet were welcomed at their new school by Form 4 girls

So now I am on my own - it seems really strange - for the first time I had nobody waiting for me at the bus stage and was walking home alone... Even the guys selling cakes etc along the way were asking me if I took the girls to school and that's why I was alone...

I still have a task of getting the fees - which adds up to £300 for 1st term (for both of them) and I also need to find some funds for a boarding school for Hamza - Juliet's brother, who was also staying with us... I am going to visit a school next week and I was told that the fees for that particular primary school is just £60 for whole year (on top of that he will need some personal items & uniform, just like the girls) so the expense is much lower as it is primary school not a secondary one... I believe that a boarding school would be good for him and he is very excited about this. In the meantime I am arranging for him to go to a day school) as I dont want him to just sit at home while he could be studying.

If any of you are able to help with my quest to educate my 3 children, please do get in touch with me, we are really struggling at the moment...

Me and my two daughters :)

Getting ready for school

The day of reporting to school was approaching very fast and I was getting very stressed as I did not have any funds for the shopping (before going to boarding school there are many items that need to be bought, i.e. blankets, buckets, shoes, tracksuits, etc... and of course books). And now it was not just Juliet who was supposed to start school but also Eveline (I think it would be absolutely terrible to just take one of them and leave the other one out...). The sponsors we originally had for Juliet have not been in touch for a very long time and the funds that were left from what they sent few months ago were only enough to buy 2 sets of uniforms... So I am so grateful to Stephen and Janet for their continuous support of my efforts here - a week or so ago they transferred some money to help out with running expenses and I decided to use it on the most urgent matters, which of course was the school expenses for the girls.  On top of that I also received more money from Pam which was heaven sent as it meant I had enough money to at least get all the items the girls needed to take with them.

THANK YOU SO MUCH GUYS

your help has been invaluable to me & my girls

On Monday morning we got up really early as we knew it would be a very busy day. The girls were supposed to wash their clothes on Sunday (I don't really like doing this sort of work on Sundays but this time it was necessary) however, there was no water here that day (where we are staying there is a big problem with water supply - again today there's been no water) so before setting out to town there was some housework that needed to be done first.

We first went to get the photos done for Eveline (we needed 2 for the school admission form - I did Juliet's when we were in town on Saturday). I had an important meeting at 12pm about my new project so we had to rush but we still managed to get the school shoes, the sport shoes, blankets and majority of the other items from the list before running for the meeting. We were very lucky as I was able to leave all of the shopping with Jane at her office so we didn't have to carry the huge bags across town with us, especially that after my meeting we had to go to yet another area to get the medical check for the girls (another requirement for the school - mainly to have a confirmation that girls coming to school are not pregnant). As normally this is done for a fee, we went to our friend's small clinic (a charitable organisation run by a retired Kenyan nurse) as she offered to do it for free. By the time we were finished there, it was already after 3pm. We had less than 2 hrs to complete the shopping and collect the bags from the office before it closed. We really had to rush as there were still some items we needed to get, like books, tracksuits, bedsheets, metal box (to keep all of the items in - every boarding school student must have one to keep their belongings in it). At that point I was sure we would get the tracksuits in one of the shops we went to in the morning but when we went there again they no longer had the size for Juliet (she is very petite). That really put the spanner in the wheel for us as it was 4pm and we had very little time to find all that was still missing. We were almost running trying to find the tracksuits but we were not lucky - they were either far too big or of very bad quality... We walked (actually - run) for miles across town but we did not find it. All that time I also kept thinking that we must get to the bookshop by 5pm otherwise we would really be stuck. We just made it there but they did not have one of the books... It was almost 5.30 when we finally got to Jane's office to pick up our shopping - by that time I was so exhausted from all the running I wasn't sure if I could continue. The girls were just as tired... But we still needed the tracksuits for Juliet, the English text book, some t-shirts and other small items... And we also needed to collect Eveline's photos... We had no choice but to start moving again. We all had to carry a huge bag each filled with stuff - it was all very heavy and we had to carry it on our backs. I felt like I was the Father Christmas ;) The girls were laughing that I was really becoming a Kenyan carrying my shopping this way and people on the streets were really staring at me as it is not very common for a white person to carry such amount of stuff and walk with it - I'm sure they were wondering why we were not taking a taxi... ;)

We walked for a bit but the bags were really heavy - I decided to stop at a chip shop, got some food for my girls, left them to look after the bags and went to collect the photos as I did not want to carry all the bags there and back again as it was not on the way to get the bus home. On the way I noticed that the book shop I was hoping to get the missing text book from was already shut - it was 6pm... That also meant that if we didn't get the bus very soon, we would not get back home before dark...

When I collected the girls, I decided to head for the bus stage. We really needed to get back home soon. Luckily, there was another book shop on the way and I got what we needed from there. Before reaching the bus we also found the rest of the missing items, including the tracksuit which was a real relief for me. As I was really stressing over the missing stuff, I even forgot to get some food for me... It was 6.30pm and I did not eat all day... I just had about 1l of water - which also wasn't enough and my head was hurting as a result. I was happy though that we got what we needed - the mission was almost accomplished, we just needed to get a metal box for Eveline (I already promised Juliet to give her the one I was using in Ruai).

We were all shattered but happy as we sat on the bus waiting for it to fill up. However, all of a sudden everyone started to get off and I noticed that there was another bus next to ours offering a cheaper fare which is why everyone was switching... We had to do the same as it would take ages for our one to fill up since the ticket was more expensive. We jumped off and run to the other bus (you have to be fast so you can get to it before it fills up). Juliet is very skillful in "wiggling" her way through the crowd and very soon she was already on the bus. However, Eveline and I did not manage to get on and the bus started to move - I got very worried that it was full and it was about to drive off with Juliet on board with no money so I was shouting to the conductor that my daughter was there with no money for the ticket, hoping that either he would let us on or at least let Juliet get off... People were looking at us funny as obviously they were wondering how my daughter could possibly be on the bus as there was no other white person there! ;) Then the bus stopped and more people were getting on - at that point I was determined to get on and again I had to push some people off, telling them to allow my daughter (this time it was Eveline) to get on. Again - even more funny looks but I didn't care - at least we were all on the bus and I really wanted to get home as soon as possible as we still needed to pack, cover the books etc...

Unfortunately we did not reach home until almost 9pm because there was a huge traffic jam on the way out of town... In one way I was happy I could just sit for a while doing nothing and get some rest but on the other I knew that we still had so much to do and we did not get Eveline's box... And I still haven't eaten or drunk anything... Also, the manager from the orphanage where we are staying was waiting for us with few boys at the bus stage for ages... I felt terrible because of that - I really don't like to make people wait, especially if they are trying to help me - there is no way we could have walked back home alone (and it was really great to share some of the bags so carrying them home was much easier :)

While I was sitting on the bus I was laughing to myself about the looks we were getting while carrying the huge bags as well as the way we got on the bus and people wondering who my daughters were :)

Juliet and Eveline were really happy with the shopping trip though - I did try to economise but at the same time I wanted to get good quality items to ensure that they last them for long time, especially shoes (they were quite expensive for Kenyan standards - they cost £10 each for real leather - and the girls really like them - the shoes are from Bata - the main footwear manufacturer in Kenya with a very good reputation).
The same thing with the blankets - I didn't buy the cheapest as the girls will be washing them often and I want them to last and keep my girls warm (at night it gets pretty cold in some parts of Nairobi and where the school is it will be even colder).

My girls - very tired but happy with their shopping

We stayed up until almost 2am preparing everything. And the alarm was set for 6am following morning - the day of going to school...

The only MUZUNGU in the area

We have settled in the new place pretty well, even though it is only temporary... On Tuesday I'm taking the girls to the boarding school and then I will start looking for land for my new project. I still have to work out what I should do with Juliet's brother who is also staying here with us. Originally the idea was for him to remain in a children's home but after all I have seen so far I don't want to leave him behind. I am actually considering the idea of a primary boarding school somewhere at the coast (that's where he is from) but it will of course depend on how expensive it is as I still don't even have enough money for the girls' fees.

It has been almost 2 weeks since we arrived here and we have all been much more relaxed these days... Juliet is absolutely fantastic in looking after me when I am busy running to one meeting after another - going to town every day is really draining my energy, especially when I get stuck in traffic on the way back... I know I should be teh one looking after her and I am really doing my best but she is a star for making sure that most of "housework" is done every day (I'm saying housework but we only have 1 room and share the same bed ;).

Eveline is helping out with the kids that are staying here and Hamza - Juliet's brother - is just drawing and playing which I am very happy about (he does wash his own clothes though - he really is a very good boy).
In turn, I make sure that they have what they need and we all talk a lot every day. Lately we have started cooking together (as I cannot eat what kids here are eating because of my stomach) and we have a lot of fun in the process. The kids are all very eager to help us - and surprisingly it is boys, not the girls, that want to stay in the kitchen with us and help with chopping, bringing things, running to the shop and tidying up. For all their help I always make sure that they also share the food that we make, so that means that in last week on most of the days some boys had eaten their supper twice :)


I just realised that on most pics Im wearing the same clothes! LOL

Yesterday I bought bread & milk and this morning all kids had bread with jam or honey and tea for breakfast - they were all really happy as normally they just have porrige. When I came back from time they also got sweets - they now know that normally when I go to town I bring sthg small for them also. As there are only 17 of them plus the 3 that arrived with me, it is not expensive to spoil them a little :)

I love to make children smile...

 

Kids enjoying their Sunday breakfast

I am used to the area now and I am sure I am the only white person around here. We have been here almost 2 weeks now and I have not seen any other muzungu around. By now people recognise me on the streets, we have made few friends, i. e. the man that sells cakes, I buy few cakes from him almost every day (they cost less than 5 pence each) and now he got to know me and Juliet he even brings what he doesn't sell at the end of the day for the children here :) There is also the woman that sell chips, the couple that sells samosas and the boys that sell mandazi :) I do try to support the local people trying to earn their living.

The most annoying thing about being the only muzungu is that for some people it is still a novelty to see me around and they never stop trying to get my attention, either by saying sthg in kiswahili (that I cannot understand anyway), calling me funny names like Paloma, Corrine, Wanjiku ( a Kikuyu name) or Msupuu (apparently that means beautiful in Kiswahili ;), all that I can tolerate but what I really dont like is when they try to grab my arm or touch my hair - I have no problem with children doing that but the grown ups should really know better...

Despite all those people that are really friendly to us, I still would not want to walk around here after dark - every day I go to town I make sure that I am back before sunset. Only on one occassion when I got stuck in jam for ages I got back here when it was dark - it was still quite early (around 7.30pm) but I would not risk walking home alone and Juliet came with the boys to meet me, which I really appreciated.

On Thursday was Juliet's B'day. I got her the English dictionary and the bible as a present (this is what she is going to need for school) along with some chocolates and a lip gloss (after all presents are meant to be fun not practical ;) I also got some sweets and cakes for her to share with the other children here. I waited until midnight to give her the gift as I wanted to be the first one to wish her happy birthday as the following morning I had to leave early and didnt want to wake her up so early on her b'day.

Juliet and I after our trip to town for b'day pancakes :)

As we didn't have a proper birthday cake, on Saturday the 2 of us got dressed up (we did our nails teh day before - my only day in the whole week that I was actually able to stay at home) and we went to town. Of course we had to go to Java (Ena and Kate - if you are reading this I am sure you are laughing ;), by now I also got Juliet to join me in my love for Java cakes and juices :) We had strawberry pancakes (BTW - Ena, Java took the strawberry crush off the menu! how could they?!?!? It was the best juice there!), we went to Masai market and got some jewellery - in short, we had a really girly day and we both really enjoyed it :)

Today we were cooking together again (it was a very nice day in general actually) and we really did have a lot of fun. The kids find it very funny when they speak in Kiswahili to me and I don't understand them, and here they also speak Kikuyu most of the time which to me sounds very funny :) This time we cooked so much that there was enough for everyone to have at least few spoonfuls - the kids really like it when I share my food with them and it is the same for me, I love when they like what I make :)

Having fun with kids while making supper :)

Disappointment in Court

The day after leaving Motherly Care we had to be up very early as it was a day of Juliet's case in court. We were really tired from the move and the events that preceded it... However by 5am we were up and got ready. As we were in a new place I didn't even know where we needed to go to get the bus. Luckily the teacher here - Daniel offered to walk with us and to ensure we got on the correct bus. I was very grateful for that. We were supposed to arrive at the court by 7.30am (the court does not start until 9am but we needed time for Juliet to go through her statement as it has been quite few months since the case begun and we didn't even have the copies of her statements). Unfortunately, when we got on the bus after very short while we were stuck in terrible traffic jam... We were getting more and more stressed as the time was ticking by and we were moving very, very slowly... On top of that I forgot my mobile so couldn't communicate with John to let him know that we are delayed. But I had to get in touch with him somehow so I decided to act like a Kenyan and asked the guy sitting next to me to let me use his phone. I offered to pay for the call but he was really nice and helpful and did not want it - instead he was trying to explain me how we can get to the court, as we needed to take another bus once we arrived in town.

In the end we got to the court for around 9am but it all worked out quite well as Juliet's case was one of the last ones... But that's where the good luck stopped.

Once the magistrate arrived, she went through all the cases due for that day and postponed them all except for one. It was very disappointing for us as coming to court is really stressful for Juliet. What's even worse is that they moved the case back to 13th of April... So we have to wait another 3 months while the person we are trying to prosecute is walking free... The law in Kenya is really different than that in Europe - the guy just paid around £1000 bail (yes, he is quite rich for Kenyan standards) and he is free, nobody really cares he probably continues to do what we want him to be jailed for.

My Italian friend was also with us at the court as she is the one completing Juliet's documentary - she hid her camcorder to get some more material for the film but we didn't get anything. It was a complete waste of time coming all that way just to be told we have to come back in April.

However, I was pleasantly surprised by the prosecutor's attitude towards us (obviously we went to complain about postponing the case for such long time), he really took time to answer all of our questions (not sure of it was because he is really symphatising with Juliet's case or because we were 2 white women and he didn't want any problems). He also got us copies of all statements submitted to court which means now Juliet can prepare herself better for April.

I am really hoping that in April we will actually get the result we are looking for. By then the case will have been going for over 1 year and nothing really has been done so far...

New beginings?

On 18th Jan we moved from Motherly Care... It all happened pretty fast and because of that I had to find somewhere to stay even if it was going to be sthg temporary... I had an option to stay with my friends but in the end I decided I should stay with the children, especially after everything that happen and because soon girls were going to the boarding school and I would not see them for 2 months. We found shelter at another children's home, a very small establishment with only 17 children and very basic facilities. However, as long as I knew my kids were OK I was fine with that.

When we arrived at our new location the children here were really happy to welcome us into their home - they are all very young - the oldest ones are in STD7. There are only 2 workers here - the teacher/manager and cook/matron.

As usual, my fear of being alone at night took over and since the day we arrived here Juliet has been sleeping with me (in one bed, as there are no other beds to spare). So far we have not had any issues with security though, despite the area being pretty rough.

I am the only white person around here - everyone keeps calling out to me as I walk around, children want to touch my hair and my hands... It is quite funny when the adults also start behaving like kids... And at times pretty annoying also...

My room is very basic but we are coping just fine.