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.