This week has been pretty much plain sailing for me here in Kenya. This week contained a Safari (more on that below) and meeting many new people, including a couple of Irish brothers who stayed with us for a couple of days. They had heard of Familia Mojo from an Australian friend in Ireland and decided to pass through on their way to Tanzania and beyond. Charles and Alex were very friendly especially Alex, the younger of the two. It was good to chat to someone about the quirks of Kenya life versus the western world and I was surprised at how much I’ve picked up and was able to explain to them.
On Tuesday I took them into Thika as they wanted to buy some items for the orphanage. A squashy matatu ride in which Charles had to sit on Alex’s lap and my seat was the gap in the middle of two others was good for a laugh, especially for the locals who got out the phones and started taking pictures of the myzogus (white person) (Almost everybody here has a mobile phone. Land lines are very rare and apparently very expensive). I took them to the internet café, the bank and finally the supermarket. The supermarkets here are big multistory affairs with mostly food and the like on the bottom floor and furniture, electrical goods and household items taking up the rest. The boys bought a mattress, some outdoor chairs, a whole heap of exercise books, chalk and some flour for the orphanage. Getting it back to Mang’u was an exercise with Wambui’s father, James, original telling us he’d come a pick us up. Two hours later we were still standing outside the supermarket and it was becoming obvious he wasn’t coming. A few phone calls later and some inquiries back inside led to the manager hiring us a ute and driver to cart the stuff back. I jumped in with the goods and Charles and Alex decided to take the matatu.
The boys left for Nairobi on Wednesday and we getting a bus to Tanzania today. Charles had caught a stomach bug while here so I hope it cleared up in time for his 5-6 hours trip.
The rest of my week has been spent at the polytechnic. I’ve been working on the few computers they have to bring them up to scratch and make them usable. They were all secondhand and full of bugs and glitches. They’ve also had a network of sorts installed and I’ve been trying to get it working and happy. It was all going swimmingly till the power went out yesterday follow by a torrent of rain leaving us with very little to do. I offered to fix the electrics for them but the refused saying their own electrician was on his way and if I start working on the circuits he’d get upset and blame me for any or all the problems. He never showed up.
Today I’m in Thika to meet up with Lynna (the Melbourne nurse) who is going to introduce me to a British woman that runs a street shelter. Apparently she lives here permanently and is doing great things for the vulnerable children of Thika. Lynna leaves for Tanzania on Saturday to spend a month in an orphanage there and then it’s back to Oz to continue her job at the Alfred.
Friday a friend of James Woodward from Nairobi is coming to paint Familia Moja so no doubt I’ll be getting involved with that. In the evening some of Wambui’s brothers and sisters are going to take me out for Nairobi nightlife. Not to sure how that’s going to work out but I’m sure it’ll provide me with a story or two.
