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 |
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 |
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 |
No comments:
Post a Comment