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.

No luggage :(

Tuesday 08.02.11

Tammi was off at 7am to go to the airport.  A couple of hours later she rang me to say that the luggage hadn’t even arrived yet and was arriving tonight, meaning she has to go back in the morning to sign the papers, and again tomorrow night to pick up the luggage.  This whole thing is getting to be ridiculous and now we are going to be stuck in Nairobi for a while instead of just a day or two.  On the positive side it means we can sort out a new plan for Zac and try to find him some better care today or tomorrow.

When Tammi returned to the hotel we headed off to the hospital to see how Zac was.  To our astonishment he was looking a lot better.  He was off the oxygen (though he seemed as though he still needed it a bit) and his one eye was open and alert.  The huge abcess over his other eye is preventing him from opening it but we sighted some doctor’s notes and it appears that they are planning to take him to theatre to drain it.  Hopefully this will be the last of his hurdles.

We didn’t really get very far in organising a transfer to another hospital for Zac, as everybody tell you to see somebody else.  We spoke to the nurses, doctors and social workers and neither of them were willing to help much.  We will give it another shot in the morning tomorrow.

When we finally got home I realised I was exhausted and had a half hour snooze.  Even Tammi slept for a couple of hours!  We had an early dinner - their lentil stew is amazing!  I even tried the local alcoholic cider called ‘Redds’ which is made in Tanzania, and it was surprisingly good!

That evening Morris rang, to say that unfortunately the luggage had not arrived on tonight’s flight so there was little point coming in tomorrow morning.  You should have seen poor Tammi’s face - she is so angry!  Morris will keep an eye out for the luggage but in the meantime we will head back to Mombasa, as we don’t really have the money to stay any longer at Khweza.  We then watched a DVD and called it a night.

Hospital and airport

Monday 07.02.11

We headed out to Sarit Centre for the morning to grab some essentials.  We spent most of our time in the bookstore where I bought a couple more novels as I had already gone through 4 or 5 since leaving home.  I also got a book about the Samburu tribe, in Northern Kenya and another about an English family with 5 children living in Africa working with lions.  Novels by Tess Gerritsen, whom I am recently getting into, were only 300 shillings so I bought 4 of those!  It is looking like my luggage will be full of books on the way home!  Fortunately, two of the ones I brought with me are e-books on my computer.

Our next stop was the hospital where we were keen to check on the progress of the abandoned babies, especially poor Zac.  The first thing we were told by the nurses was that little Lincoln and Emboso had been taken to new homes.  That was so exciting as not every baby makes it to a home.  We then asked how Zac was and they said he had just been resuscitated earlier that morning.  This was awful news and we couldn’t believe he had gone down hill so far since our last visit.  He was looking so much better last time, and his oxygen level had been reduced so far that he nearly didn’t need it.  We were told we could not see Zac which was terribly frustrating.

We then visited the 3 abandoned boys in the cot, only to find that one had his mother visiting!  The nurse was angry at her telling her to leave and take her child or not come back.  They said that she just wanted to leave him there until he was one year old, so that she could then take him when it would be cheaper to raise him.  The fact that she visited rarely was stopping children’s services form placing him in a home, even though a number of them are interested in taking him!

I then went to the room next door where Martha lived.  She was asleep but when I returned she was awake.  She was very sleepy and subdued compared to last time.  She didn’t respond to touch as she had previously.  Her eyes were rolling around in her head and she couldn’t focus.  She was lying still and not thrashing around laughing as she kicked off her bedsheets.  I was really worried for her, as it looks as though she is heading in the direction Alvin went - a life of being bedridden and not exercised or stimulated.  I was beginning to think though that maybe they had even drugged her!  I did stand her up for about ten minutes to give her some exercise, and she seemed to enjoy that.  Her legs are strong, but she can’t support her head at all.

We then noticed Zac on a cot in a different room and saw that nobody was with him so we went to see him.  He was struggling to breathe and has developed a skin condition which is causing his skin to break down.  His face was again covered by an oxygen mask and his right eye was so swollen.  He reminded me of how Joyce looked when I was at Mission In Action last time, just three weeks before she passed away.  Her eye was swollen just the same, due to swelling on the brain.  Let’s hope this is not Zac’s problem.  We are worried that Zac will not survive the week and Tammi has decided to try and get temporary custody of him so that we can move him to a private hospital where he will get better care.  Melanie will spend the afternoon at children’s services in Mombasa, and we will see what we can do at Nairobi’s office tomorrow.

We then went to the other ward to visit Alvin, who has a bandage wrapped around his neck .  It was unclear whether this was for a wound or just as a support for his neck.  He was so happy to see us, and Tammi read him a book she bought for him.  Lucky and Angel were still there and have become the best of mates.  They stroke each others faces and hold hands most of the day.  Angel’s neck and ear wounds have cleared up which is great news.  Lucky actually has parents but his mother can’t afford to pay the bill so she can’t collect him and she won’t allow the father to take him even though he is happy to pay the bill.  It’s such a shame!

Gabriel is also in their cot now and he is looking so unwell.  He is still crying constantly and has the most intense look of pain on his face.  His eyes are so mature and he gives the saddest looks.  He has lost so much weight and his stomach is bloated.  He appears to be so malnourished and dehydrated, and it does not look as though the hospital is providing adequate care for him.

Damaris was asleep when we arrived but woke up shortly after.  He looked a bit sick and was very warm but he is young, so hopefully he will get stronger as he gets older.  His herniated belly button seems to have got much larger, and is by far the worst one I have seen.  His chances of finding a home are slim, as most home recognise that he will need surgery to correct this.  There is a new baby next to him, who is very tiny and most probably abandoned too.  He stayed asleep the whole time we were there but he looks to be quite healthy.  Hopefully a home will take him before he picks up something from the hospital.

After the hospital we headed to the curio shops at the Hilton Arcade in town.  They are very cheap and I picked up a few canvas prints and a few small carvings for $1 each!  I also got two lovely framed drawings for $13 each.  Tammi bought some things to sell for fundraising too.

We then headed back to the hotel for a bit before heading to the airport ot pick up Tammi’s luggage.  The whole night turned out to be a disaster though!  We caught a bus to the airport, only to find that it didn’t go the whole way so we had to get off and wander around looking for another one that did.  As we were standing on the side of the road a large bus pulled over.  It said ‘Kenyan Airport Authority’ so we figured we might be in luck.  Once we got in, we saw that the bus was empty so the driver probably just took pity on us and stopped even though it’s not a passenger bus.  He let us off at the cargo terminal and didn’t charge us which was nice.

Here we were trying to figure out where to go, and by this stage it was very dark and we were conscious of being two mzungus wandering around at night, which is very dangerous.  A man approached us, Morris, to ask if he could help.  He told us that customs closes at 5pm so there was no way we could pick up the luggage tonight but we could fill out the forms to save time when we return tomorrow to pick them up.  Tammi was understandably so annoyed as she was not told this, but I did tell her to call before we went which I wish we did but never mind.  We were then sent all over the place by staff looking for the forms only to find out that we couldn’t fill them out tonight.

The next disaster came when we were told that after filling out the forms it can take 6 hours to retrieve the luggage, which means returning in the morning to fill out the forms, and then again at 5pm to pick up everything!  At this point we realised it was going to cost a lot of money to get to and from the airport that many times so we couldn’t afford to get a taxi home.  We decided to do the stupid thing and get a bus home.  Being a mzungu out at night in Nairobi is definitely not smart as you can be mugged, abducted or any other number of bad things can happen.

Regardless, we got a bus from the airport and had to change to a matatu.  It was the best matatu so far and had such loud music and neon lights and the driver was so fast!  We finally arrived in town and got something to eat from the supermarket and headed straight for a tuk tuk to Khweza.  Fortunately we made it in one piece!  I decided not to go back to the airport in the morning as I was tired and frustrated with the whole situation so thought it was better to stay at the hotel and relax.

Bus trip

Sunday 06.02.11

We jumped on a matatu and headed into town for our 9am bus departure.  We went with Maslah, and in the past day, everybody we had told had laughed at us saying that they were more like a matatu service than a bus.  We didn’t really understand what they meant until our trip began.

The bus stopped every ten minutes out of Nairobi to pick up people and made constant detours off the highway along the way to pick up or drop off passengers.  At some points, there were so many people aboard that they sat on milk crates in the aisles.  The other similarity to matatus, was the quality of the ride.  It was such a bumpy trip!  It took us a while to realise it was not the condition of the road, but the bus itself causing the rattling.  We were a bit worried about reaching Nairobi in one piece!

Tammi slept the entire 8 and a half hour trip as she was still feeling pretty seedy after last night.  I read most of the trip and managed to get through an entire novel.  Finally after a ridiculously hot, sticky and sweaty trip we arrived in Nairobi and headed to Khweza for dinner and a good night’s sleep.

Nightlife :D

Saturday 05.02.11

This morning we headed into Nyali as we had received news from Bec that she had transferred some money for us and it was waiting at Western Union.  As it turns out, both Tammi’s mum and Bec’s parents each donated $AUD250 so Tammi ended up in front rather than at a loss.  We were very lucky to have some money finally, but are very aware that it won’t last long so Tammi tried to open a Kenyan bank account.

Unfortunately, you need a working visa to open a bank account, and Tammi doesn’t have hers yet.  The plan was once the account was opened Tammi could transfer her money via internet banking, and withdraw it from the Kenyan account.  That is pretty much the only idea we could come up with so it looks like we are going to have to do some more thinking.

We managed to get some essentials at Nakumatt, and I also bought some kikoi shorts as they are about the cheapest i could find and I am in desperate need as clothes get so dirty and sweaty, plus my old shorts are falling apart anyway.  I look like a definite tourist now with my new shorts, which is an odd feeling as I have never considered myself as a tourist on this trip for some reason.  Perhaps it’s that I have been to Kenya before and I feel like I know my way around the matatu and tuk tuk system, not to mention all the other idiosyncrasies of Kenya.

On the way home we got a motorbike and I sat behind the driver.  At one stage we stopped for fuel and the driver reached towards his back pocket for his wallet.  Unfortunately for me, I was wearing a skirt and the man enjoyed putting his hands right up my skirt and going for the upper thigh feel!  When returning his wallet, he did exactly the same thing even after admonishment!  Ewww!!

Earlier in the week we had seen signs and posters advertising a Kenyan band playing just up the road at Mamba Village (Crocodile Village) and as it was walking distance we ahd decided to go.  I was also keen to experience a bit of Kenyan nightlife finally!  Tammi invited Josh, a friend made on her last visit to Mombasa.  Josh runs a volunteer program at the local hospitals for medical students from around the world, including Monash University in Melbourne!  So Josh and his friend Omosh joined us for the night.

We also had dinner at Arturo’s, the restaurant on site and Josh insisted on paying for us all which was very generous.  He also insisted that we must match him round for round on drinks so by the end of dinner I was feeling my 3 wines!  And poor old Tammi was looking a bit worse for wear after 3 vodka and Red Bulls!  Josh decided the band was too loud to talk properly so wanted to take us elsewhere and show us a ‘real’ night out in Mombasa.  We headed to Casablanca up the road further past White Sands a bit.

It was a nice enough club and it was packed full of mzungus - either old men with very young Kenyan wives, or old mzungu women with young Kenyan husbands.  We felt odd just being there it was so weird!  The young Kenyan girls look under 20 and their husband al look over 60, some as old a 80!  The girls dress very scarcely and some of them were clearly stoned, most probably just to put up with the situation they are in!  They were all asking me in the bathroom if I had a husband or did I want them to find me one!

After Josh ordered us another few rounds of drinks, we headed to the dance floor which was strangely sickening.  Dancing beside sleazy 70 year old men and women and clearly uncomfortable younger Kenyan girls was a bit weird for me!  A young Masai man approached me and starting dancing with me.  He then asked if I was American and was a bit disappointed to hear I was Australian.  He seemed to overcome his disappointment quickly as he then asked if I was married.  I told him I was, as it doesn’t take long to learn that in Kenya if you want to be left alone, then you are married!

This didn’t deter my new Masai friend though, and he said that surely I was interested in a bit of fun and ‘messing around’ with him.  When I laughed and said no, he still kept pushing so it was fortunate that at that moment the guys decided it was time to head home.  Tammi by this stage was pretty drunk and Josh was just as bad.  Fortunately I had held up okay, and Omosh was driving so he was fine!

The guys dropped us home and we gave them a tour of the house as they hadn’t been yet.  Omosh said he would pick us up form the bus stop in Mombasa when we returned from Nairobi on Tuesday night and we also organised to go out again on Friday night.  I am looking forward to it as it’s nice to see the Mombasa night life and Josh and Omosh assured us they will show us some popular places!

By the time we were in bed it was 3am and we got straight to sleep ready for our early morning bus trip to Nairobi tomorrow morning.

ROBBED!! (again)

Friday 04.02.11

Well today is definitely going down as the most disastrous day thus far.  We had a bit of shopping to do for the house so headed towards Nakumatt on a matatu.  Unfortunately, we had a bit of cash with us because of the amount of shopping we were planning to do.  After jumping off the matatu, Tammi realised her wallet was not in her bag, to which my first thought was “good one, she has left it at home again!”.  Then I remembered that Tammi paid for the matatu when we boarded.

In hindsight, Tammi remembers another passenger getting off a few stops before us.  He took his time to squeeze past her and made as though there was less room than there actually was.  Tammi’s wallet was in her bag but it was not zipped up, so in the distraction it seems that he just grabbed it out and off he went.

It was a devastating blow, particularly as money is tight for the Upinde Centre at this early stage where a lot of costs are being outlaid to set up the orphanage.  There was about $AUD250 cash in the wallet.  We also realised her bank card, drivers licence and all the business cards she had collected from contacts were in there also.  The most crippling loss was the bank card, as I was already unable to draw from my bank after cancelling my credit card thanks to the episode at Barklays, for which I have still not been reimbursed.

Tammi and I panicked for a few hours struggling to think of how we were going to survive on the approximately $AUD40 that I had in my wallet.  We managed to get onto Bec in Sydney and she said she would try to do a Western Union money transfer overnight and hopefully we could pick it up in the morning tomorrow.  Ivan also offered to transfer some money using MPesa, a mobile phone money account system used to transfer money between friends.

So we spent the day at the house, having little money to do anything and not wanting to use what we did have.  We sewed a few more curtains and watched a DVD with dinner and had an early night.

Hassles (and a half!)

Thursday 03.02.11

This morning was due to be Mel’s first day of official work.  She arrived ten minutes late and said there was nobody to look after Natalie so she would be with her for the day.  Tammi was not impressed but she had decided to wait until the end of the day to talk to Mel.  Mel was meant to go to the hospitals today to introduce herself to the social workers but had not organised anyone to look after Natalie.  Tammi is getting very frustrated with her and things are not looking good for her position with the Upinde Centre.

Then the property manager arrived finally, without warning of course, and finally saw to all the problems with the property.  He is getting very tough on his workers and trying to get everything done finally!  They even began to fill the pool this morning! Finally, it will be so great to relax in the pool in the evenings after a busy day!  The rest of the day we spent at home further tidying and cleaning the house.  We began sewing some curtains from fabric we had purchased too.

Tammi asked Mel to begin cleaning the babies room in preparation for the cots in a couple of weeks.  She didn’t seem to impressed with the impending chore of cleaning, and spent the next 3 hours sitting by the pool outside which did not impress us!  In the evening Tammi had a bit of a chat with Mel about her commitment to the job and that she needs to pick up her act tomorrow.  Fingers crossed for some more effort from her tomorrow!

We headed to White Sands again for the evening, taking some fabric with us with the plan of sitting by the beach or pool and sewing curtains.  Of course we never got any sewing done but did enjoy a nice swim and dinner!

And the cots are coming!

Wednesday 02.02.11

Today we headed into town with Yasin and ordered 10 cots from Sharif.  He is giving us a good deal considering the specifications we are requesting.  We are having each cot larger than usual and a removable divider down the middle, so the cot can be used for two small babies or one large one.  We are also having a larger cot/bed made for an older child with mobility impairments.  This bed will have four sides to prevent the child from falling out, but they will be low enough so they do not feel like they are in a cage!  It will also have wheels so it can be moved to areas of activity in the house such as feeding room or windows etc.  This bed would be perfect for Alvin, who Tammi is thinking of taking in if it can be organised.

We then went to Nawal Centre to get some material for curtains.  We are going to try to sew them ourselves so that will be interesting to see how we go!  We then headed home to meet the property manager to discuss some outstanding maintenance issues such as the pool, unfinished painting, cracked roof tiles and too many other things!   He ended up not coming at all which was very frustrating as we had cut short our time in town to rush home.  So we spent the rest of the afternoon around the house and made an interesting yet lovely dinner of vermicelli noodles with minestrone soup and tuna!

We then headed into White Sands on a motorbike to enjoy an evening by the bar and the ocean.  We met an American guy living in South Kenya working for a government consultancy agency that worked closely with the Kenyan military in an advisory role.  It sounded like an interesting job and he said he also worked with many orphanages so he gave us his business card and we will send him an email to see if he can be of any help to the Upinde Centre in the future, and hopefully he will turn out to be a valuable connection!

We headed home and on the way stopped at a late night bookstore at the Nyali Nakumatt complex.  It was a very western bookstore which was nice too!  Then we headed home where we had a bit of a stressful night with dramas from Mel and Kim.  It became clear that they had been in the house while we were out, eating the food and using the internet and many other things.  It even made me angry, so you can imagine how pissed off Tammi was!  Tomorrow is going to be an interesting day as we sit down with Mel and go through some rules.

More bank dramas

Tuesday 01.02.11

I was up early and ready to head to the bank.  I had to get Tammi up too, as she is not usually an early riser!  Of course, the bank manager was not in, so I spoke to customer service.  They said there was no evidence of such a transaction with my account yesterday, so they rang head office and confirmed that it had taken place.

They said that the transaction was pending as it had not been approved by my bank so that the money would be restored within 3 business days, or I would be refunded my money.  Slightly skeptical, I requested a letter of confirmation to bring with me if I needed to return to the bank.  So having got nowhere really we headed to do some other chores in town, including the post office and to another store to buy dresses as it’s far too hot to wear even shorts!  We also need a nice dress to wear to White Sands so we can blend in as guests again!

We then returned home and waited for the caretakers to move out so Mel and Kim can move in and begin working for To Kenya Forever.  They arrived before the caretakers were out so we gave them a tour of the freshly renovated place and soon enough they were able to get settled in the servants quarters.

The rest of the day we stayed around the house cleaning, unpacking, sorting through the babies clothes and a few other housecleaning chores.  We headed into Nyali cinema and saw ‘The Tourist’ for $4!  It was a lovely cinema with nice lights, seats and it was even clean!  It was as good as Australian standards, which could not be said for the cinema we went to at the Sarit Centre in Nairobi!  We also had dinner at an Italian restaurant in the same complex, and that was nice too.  Before heading home, we did our first weekly food shop so we didn’t have to go out every day.

Corrupt bankers!

Monday 31.01.11

Today was a bit of a ‘nothing’ day and we pottered around the house for most of the morning.  Then we headed to town to look for a fridge and I went to the bank to withdraw money.  After waiting in line for an hour I was told that the network was down so they could not process international transactions.  Then another lady told me it might be working now so she went to check.  When she informed me it was I gave her my card with the request for $AUD250 (20,000 KSH).  After a few minutes she returned saying that the machine was reading ‘sanction declined’ which meant that my bank had disallowed the transaction.

As I had already done over the counter transactions before I knew this was not true and asked her to try again but she would not, stating that there was no point as my bank would not sanction it.  At this point I was becoming increasingly angry and decided it was better to leave and try again another day.  I borrowed some money from Tammi and we headed back towards home.  We stopped at Nakumatt and bought a fridge and it was delivered for us too.

When I got home I checked my bank account online, only to find out that $AUD250 had indeed been deducted from my account.  I was pretty annoyed as I should have figured out earlier that the whole thing was dodgy and it could have been two or three corrupt staff members working together to rip me off.  Though I still thought that there was the possibility that the machine had experienced an error and if I returned tomorrow they would see that they had cash unaccounted for and would apologise for the mistake and give me the cash.

I called the bank at this stage, and asked if the transaction could be cancelled.  They then informed me that not only one but three withdrawals of $250 had been attempted!  Fortunately the automatic security system had recognised the suspiciousness of this and denied the final two transactions.  So as advised, I cancelled my card as I didn’t want the bank staff to continue withdrawing money from my account!

I had a pretty restless sleep worrying about the money and returning to the bank in the morning!