Night time

Tuesday 15.02.11

The flight was relatively uneventful.  I had a lady next to me that didn’t speak a word of english, but only Greek.  I watched a few of the in-flight movies and slept for only a couple of hours.  It was also a slightly surreal flight as I left Nairobi on Monday night and we followed the night around the globe.  There was a couple of hours of day light and then it was dark again before arriving in Melbourne on Tuesday night.

Home time

Monday 14.04.11

I was up early to increase my chances of sleeping on the plane and was just in time to say good bye to Emily as she headed to school.  I read a bit in the morning and then Judy and I went into Karen while she ran some errands.  We grabbed some lunch at a hidden away local restaurant, which was very cheap but had good food.  We both ate rice, beans and cabbage.

At 2:30pm Barasa arrived again to pick me up for the airport.  We arrived with plenty of time to spare.  I met Tammi at departures as she had been at the cargo centre all morning trying to collect her luggage.  She didn’t manage to get that far but at least was able to complete the required documents this time.  She will return tomorrow to pick up the bags.

She also informed me that Zac is doing much better and he is off the oxygen, his eyes are both open and he is sucking his thumb.  This is such great news finally and even baby Gabriel who had gone so far down hill on my last visit, had in the last week greatly improved.  For the first time his naso gastric tube was out and he had put back some of the weight he had lost.  Finally things are looking up for some of the babies of Kenyatta National Hospital!  Tammi hopes that now Zac is ready to travel to Mombasa as soon as she can organise it.  Hopefully he will be there within the fortnight!

Tammi and I had a quick snack at the departures terminal and then it was time to say goodbye and I went and checked in.  I had a bit of a look at the duty free shops and bought some skittles in bulk - yum!  I also found a Tusker beer t-shirt in my size, and now that I have tried it I feel justified in wearing one!

It was still raining pretty constantly while I was waiting to board, which is not common for Nairobi, but fortunately it waited until I was leaving!

Nairobi and Judy

Sunday 13.02.11

We were up early to finish off our last minute packing and ensure that Kim and Mel were packing also.  Fortunately they had organised a tuk tuk to collect their things and we were hoping for a smooth and hasty departure from them.  Unfortunately that was not the case as it became clear that they had damaged the caretaker’s hut in places, and were not intending to fix it.  Also they threw all of their rubbish out the front of their place and left it there.  Tammi asked Mel to remove it and she said no and just left without saying bye.  Kim tore off on his motorbike in a huff too.  Even after everything Tammi has done for them they couldn’t even manage a thank you or anything.

So we headed into town to catch our bus, a bit late by this stage.  Both of us were pretty annoyed and just wanted to get to Nairobi.  The bus ride was pretty uneventful so I just read a book again.  I am getting used to this 8 hour bus trip so it seems after 3 times in one week!

It did rain quite a bit on the way to Nairobi so there were a few accidents towards the end of the trip.  It was practically pouring by the time we headed into Nairobi, and it seemed to be welcomed by the locals!  At the bus stage, Judy’s driver Barasa picked me up.  When we arrived at Judy’s in Karen it was still raining a bit, and proceeded to for the rest of the evening and overnight also.

I met Judy, who immediately commented how much I look like my mother!  I also met Judy’s partner Andrew and daughter Emily.  Andrew owns a hotel with his brother in Sudan, so is often over there for a few days or weeks.  Judy is doing some writing while keeping busy bringing up Emily.  We had a lovely dinner of roast chicken and vegetables, cooked between the power going off.  Apparently when it gets wet, the power usually goes off for a while or intermittently!  I also tried a Kenyan Tuskers beer with dinner, and it was surprisingly nice so I had another.

After a bit of chatting in the lounge room, I had a bath and headed to bed to read for a bit.  I didn’t want to sleep too long as I want to be tired to get on the plane tomorrow so I can sleep well!

Mombasa nights

Saturday 12.02.11

I was up pretty early as usual, and finished packing what I could.  I did some more hand washing and when that dried I finished off packing my bags for the trip home tomorrow.  We then went into town to book our bus trip to Nairobi.  While there we visited Fort Jesus just off the main street.  It is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Mombasa.  It was originally built by the Portugese in the 1600s but later taken over and reinforced by the Arabs.  It is quite an impressive structure and I got some nice photos too.

Tammi and I then headed home for dinner.  We discovered that unfortunately Melvin had broken and only the stove top is workng, but not the actual oven anymore which is a shame and Tammi is devastated!  So we now think that when we originally bought him and we couldn’t get him to work, we weren’t silly mzungus after all - but there is a problem with Melvin!

Throughout the day we were texting Mel, as her and Kim had not been home.  They are avoiding us and being quite rude.  The second we get home, they rush straight out.  So we told Mel that considering they ahd already told us they were leaving for Nakuru tomorrow also that they needed to be out and return the keys the same time we were leaving, by 8am tomorrow.  Kim was especially not impressed and began leaving a series of nasty facebook posts.  Really it just shows how immature they are being, and also how ungrateful they are.  After all, Tammi let Mel keep a month’s wage, even though she only worked a week and even that you would not really call work!

About 9:30pm Omosh turned up to pick us up to see some other clubs in Mombasa.  We were expecting Josh to be with him but unfortunately he was delayed and would join us later in the evening, apparently.  Again, it was beginning to look like a bit of a setup!  So off  we went without Josh, heading first to Tembo, which is apparently the biggest open air disco in Eastern Kenya.  It even has a restaurant and a strippers!  The drinks were a bit expensive though, so we decided to head on back to Casaurina.  At this stage Tammi called Josh and not surprisingly he didn’t even answer.  So we realised that he wasn’t joining us after all but still enjoyed our night with Omosh.

At Casaurina we met another mzungu from Norway, Kristen, and her Kenyan boyfriend.  He had a brother who decided he wanted to spend the night dancing with me, even after my assurances that I had a husband!  He was not deterred, and was quite keen to become my Kenyan husband!  It is such a strange lifestyle, even after a month here I still find myself laughing at it.  Especially the ugly, old mzungu men with their hot, young Kenyan wives.  It’s so disgusting I can’t help but laugh every time I see them together dancing!

Again, we made it home at about 2am and crawled into bed for a few hours sleep before our bus ride to Nairobi.  Fortunately Tammi fared a bit better than last time and didn’t spend the whole night in the bathroom!

Shopping

Friday 11.02.11

This morning we headed to Nyali Nakumatt, as we thought we had seen a laundromat there.  We carted all of our dirty washing along and were surprisingly excited at the prospect of sitting in a laundromat for an hour, as it meant we didn’t have to handwash for once.  Unfortunately, when we arrived it was only a dry cleaners and we had to head home and hand wash after all!

After some lunch and a bit of chilling out at the house, we went to White Sands for my last time, as I wanted to wander the beach and get some photos.  Taking a stroll along the beach is no easy feat!  Everybody approaches me wanting to touch my mzungu dreads, or direct me to their stall, or take me sailing!  I even had one man tell me “oooh your hair and your body and your eyes and your ears make me say ‘ooh la la’ and I could marry you quite happily and you will make my heart stop!” which I thought was overly corny and hilarious!  He was saddened when I declined his offer to dinner, but not disheartened and said he would try harder when he saw me tomorrow.  Unfortunately I did not have the heart to tell him I wouldn’t be back!

Once home we had dinner and prepared to go out tonight with Josh and Omosh.  By 9pm we still hadn’t heard from them which we thought was strange and were beginning to think that they had forgotten.  Then of course Omosh messaged saying he would come at 10:30pm, but unfortunately Josh was unable to join us.  The whole thing seemed a bit set up and also because it was getting so late, we all agreed to postpone until tomorrow night, when hopefully Josh was available also!  So instead we watched a DVD and called it a night.

No more social worker

Thursday 10.02.11

I was up early again as usual and went and sat by the swimming pool with my book.  The temperature is beautiful and you would never believe it is not heated!  It is warmer than any heated pool I have been in back home, and all because of the sun!  Mel came over and gave us a bit of a debrief on what she has been up to in the last few days.  Unfortunately, it didn’t amount to a great deal of work.  But she did come dressed well and appropriately for work for the first time, so we thought maybe things were looking up.  We decided to see how the day went with her, and reassess the situation at the end of the day.

I had organised mum to put some money into Western Union for us, so we went up to Nyali Nakumatt to pick that up, and I was able to pay Tammi back the money I owed her and also keep some for myself, hopefully enough to last me until the end of my trip.  We also used the internet cafe briefly and then did some supermarket shopping.

Back home again, we noticed Mel had not been doing all that much since we left, and Tammi finally reached a decision.  Mel would be let go tonight.  So after work Mel came in and Tammi spoke to her about how it wasn’t working, and that perhaps it was best to let Mel go.  Surprisingly, Mel then provided the name of another social worker that was apparently interested in the job.  It looks as though Mel was wanting to return home anyway and has been trying to find a replacement.  Mel said she has already run out of money and it’s only been two weeks since being paid, and she has not yet paid rent even.

So after a rough week or so, it seems Tammi and Mel have reached an agreement and Mel will keep her months wage and not pay her rent, and return to Nakuru within a week.  Tammi is feeling so much more relieved to have that over and done with.  Now it is time to start looking for a new social worker, probably part time for a while.  Omosh is aware of a social worker also so Tammi will interview her at some stage also.

Later that night we made dinner, and received a phone call from Morris.  Finally Tammi’s luggage had arrived in and we told him to expect Tammi Monday morning.  Tammi is so relieved that it has arrived, but it’s yet to be seen whether she can collect it or not!  We then watched a DVD and headed off to bed for the night.  Tomorrow we are heading to the NGO (Non Government Organisation) office to apply for NGO status for The Upinde Centre.  I also want to head back to White Sands to the beach for some photos and a walk up the beach.

Home to Mombasa

Wednesday 09.02.11

Tammi was up early to head into the airport in the hope that the luggage had arrived overnight.  Of course, it had not turned up so we packed for Mombasa and checked out of the hotel.  We missed the morning bus but got on the 1pm one.  We went with Modern Coast, which was so much better than Maslah.  It was another few dollars but completely worth it.  We drove direct to Mombasa and stopped only for lunch so the trip took only 7 hours.

At the lunch stop, I bought some hot chips and returned to the bus to eat them.  As I sat down just in front of the door, a young school boy noticed me and stood at the bottom of the bus steps staring at me.  He was so cute!  Considering I couldn’t eat all my chips anyway, I wandered down the steps and held them out to him.  His face was so surprised and he wasn’t sure if he was meant to take them.  I kept nodding and he eventually held out his hands.  As soon as I placed them there he smiled, and I told him to say thank you, and he did!  He then ran off and shared them with his sister.  Such a tiny little thing, 40c worth of chips, made him so happy!

The bus trip went quickly and I got through another novel before dark.  We arrived in Mombasa at 8pm and Omosh met us and drove us home.  It was good to be home as we had had a pretty disastrous few days in Nairobi.  Unfortunately, Tammi is going to have to go back again when the luggage arrives, hopefully she can come when I go back for my flight.