Meeting the Mayor and does it rain in Africa?

Wednesday 30th July

Got up around 7.30am this morning after some snoozing… starting to get used to this `african time!' Had another very cold shower which I am not getting used to and then had some breakfast. 1 weetabix with hot milk and 2 boiled eggs!

The driver picked me up and we went to the head office of SAIPEH to meet Donald who was going to take me to meet the mayor of Mumias. We waited for Pius to arrive, who was late because he came to meet me and I had already gone so he had to get the public transport. We went to the mayor who works in what can only be described as an old scruffy building, very different from over here. He greeted me and I sat down in his office. Donald introduced me and talked about the work of SAIPEH. I felt me being there was a bit random and perhaps I was being used as a bit of a political tool. Donald was saying that he wants the mayor to have a link with the mayor of London and wondered whether I could help that to happen. I said it would be very benefitial for Mumias but that I have no way of doing that!

We had tea and then left for the office of the member of parliament, Mumias where Donald also works in his second job. We didn't stay long as I was being dropped at the theatre group I had met the other day for a longer 2 hour session with them.

I arrived and they greeted me with introductions. This happens everywhere I go. Over the 2 hours they performed songs, dances and skits all relating to the awareness of HIV/Aids. More or less straight away they had me up dancing. This was pretty funny, and I felt silly with all of them focusing on what I was doing… but I just went with it. I had a translator with me who was telling me what all the songs and skits meant. They were quite thought provoking and I thought the way they went about teaching awareness was clever. They used a lot of humour to engage the audience and then put a serious message across. It was a real experience which was over very quickly.

Pius came back to collect me and took me for lunch in a café in Mumias. I couldn't help myself and was craving some familiar food so I ordered omelette and chips!! It was good! Pius had ugali and fish. He says he loves ugali bread because it gives him lots of energy.

We had an hour to spare so I went to the internet café next door to try and email the blog. The internet connection is a nightmare and it took 10 attempts to send, very slowly. I was unable to put up any photos as they connection was just not up to it and the file size too big for the computer to cope. Will try when back in Nairobi and see if it makes any difference.

The driver came to take me to St James' girls school Bulimbo for another Lacrosse session. It was raining quite heavily and so I didn't know whether or not it would go ahead.

We arrived at the school and met the deputy principal who was interested to hear the vision and reasoning as to why Lacrosse is being introduced. I explained that Storm had introduced it into Africa and these two schools were the only playing. I told her the long term and ultimate goal is for a Kenyan team to be represented in an U19 World Cup. I met the basketball team in a physics lab (they were the girls who were taught it before) and introduced myself and talked a bit about the game and skills involved. They remembered bits from before but hadn't practiced since, even thought they had 7 sticks from Storm.





















The rain had stopped so we went outside and went through some stick skills. The girls improved very quickly and within minutes were throwing and catching the ball on the move. These girls seemed to understand me better than the girls yesterday. I couldn't work out if it was because I had learnt from the previous experience or because these girls understood more English, probably a bit of both.

We looked at the defending position and played some 2 v 1 and then 2 v 2. They were so good and I was shocked at how quickly they were picking the game up. They kept asking lots of questions and were eager to learn.

We went into a game, 7 v 7 with the sticks I had brought as well as Storm's. This was a good number and we used the handball field they had with goals.

The game was going well so every 5 minutes I would call them in and talk about some things that were happening. We looked at spacing as well as defending and I brought in a safe stick check. I used the rule that only one person can check the ball carrier. Why didn't I think of that yesterday! It worked much better and the girls were spacing out. They also tried to keep in defence, midfield and attacking positions which helped the spacing. A great session and I felt very positive about it. I thanked the girls for the session and asked them to continue with the game. Now they have more sticks and balls (donated from Wycombe Abbey School) they can play inter house tournaments. They were very pleased. I also awarded the player of the match we played an England Lacrosse polo shirt which she was very excited about.

Back to the guest house where I had rice and meat for dinner, got into bed and wrote my diary. A very good day.

Thursday 31st July

Slept straight through the night which is a first for this trip. Woke up in a mad rush to get to the toilet. Something I have eaten is definitely not agreeing with me! Had a shower, it is just too cold to get my head under but hair definitely needs a wash so will take the plunge tomorrow I think.

Pius picked me up at 9.20am and the first activity for the day was to visit some of the dairy cow, goat and poultry projects. Dairy animals are donated to care givers and those living positive lives with HIV to help them not only eat but provide them with some income.

I met two families. Rosemary who had been given a cow and chickens, and Patrick who had been given goats. They both welcomed me into their homes and told me their story and background. Rosemary is a widow without HIV but is caring for 7 children and Patrick is HIV positive, has 2 wives both HIV positive and 14 children. They are both very grateful for SAIPEH and the support they have given. Was really nice to meet them and hear their story. Everybody is so nice and please to meet with a muzungo (white person!).

We then went back to the field office where I joined in with a computer class. The computers are very old and like the first types of computers we had in our homes in England. The students work through 6 packages of Microsoft Office so they can then go out and get better jobs. They were on no. 3. The introduction of Microsoft Excel which involved more writing in their exercise books than working on the computer. I helped where I could and when they had finished writing I quickly showed them some basic things on excel, like creating a spreadsheet and adding data to make a chart. The students are like sponges and pick everything up so quickly, they are so eager to learn and improve.

I then left with Abraham to visit the SAIPEH local health clinic. There I met Caroline the nurse and secretary, and Alice the doctor. They both spoke excellent English and explained the work that they do. To think of a doctors surgery in England compared to this was literally opposite ends of the spectrum. The clinic is in a run down house, resembling a shed with very little in it. They have an injection room, a treatment room and reception where they keep the medicine. Alice explained that they mainly treat Malaria. A lady had come for treatment with severe malaria and asthma and I sat in on her consultation. She looked very poorly, coughing and spluttering, nose and eyes running and in a lot of pain. Alice took her details and weighed her so she could see how much medicine to give her. She had two injections, and although Alice does her best to keep things clean, it is completely different from the cleanliness in England. Was fascinating to watch her in action and how she deals with the patients.

As we left the centre the kids at the primary school opposite had spotted me and were shouting muzungo and pointing. Abraham said they had probably never seen one before.

Next stop was the feeding centre again, and I was so please to be going back there, I really enjoyed it last time and it is good to see some familiar faces. As I arrived the three guardians came rushing over and gave me a big hug. They thanked me for coming back and said I had three friends for life. Nice. I watched them prepare the food again and took a tour of the village. I went to meet the grand parents, 89 and 94 years of age, I think they are probably the oldest people I have ever met. They were lovely and said they wanted to visit England before they die. Very sad to think they will barely travel outside of their district, let alone country. We had some photos taken and then went back to meet the orphans as they came in. They were also pleased to see me and came up for a hug. It felt really good. I served them their food and each one of them said thank you in English. Nice.

When they were done we were served some lunch, uh oh I thought, this is where my upset stomach came from before. But I couldn't turn them down as it would upset them so just went with it and decided I would deal with it later!

Before we left I gave them a thank you card with a photo of me on it. Abraham translated the message and they said they would save up to photocopy it so they could each have one in their hut. I felt I had created a special bond with these people and they would be a reason to come back in the future.

We got back to the field office and I went to the supermarket with Pauline to get some bottled water. They had some small bars of Cadburys so I indulged and it was oh so good!

They didn't have anything else planed for the day so I sat in the office and Pauline played some African music videos on the computer for me to watch. After two hours of watching these videos as well as listening to westlife music (Abrahams favourite!) I walked with Maria (another member of SAIPEH) to get the bus ( I think they are called morder boda's) back to the guest house. It was absolutely peeing down with rain and I got soaked. I was wearing flip flops (a bad choice), so my feet were sliding everywhere and my feet and legs covered in dirt. We got to the bus and Maria realized she had forgotten her phone so had to make the journey back and forth again! Absolutely drenched by the time I got into the bus. They packed 19 people into an 11 seater and drove very fast down the road. I was very squashed and felt unsafe. Was a relief to get out except that meant more rain!.

Got back to the guest house and showered and changed straight away, trying to get warm.

A dinner of fish and ugali had been left in the dining room so brought it to my room as didn't want to sit in the big room on my own. Ate, sorted out the mossy net, did some chasing of mosquitos around the room and then bed.