To everyone I know...have a very Happy Christmas!
I'm off to Lamu, to work on my tan.
M.
Friday, December 19, 2008
Happy Christmas
Wednesday, December 17, 2008
Voi
Last weekend was spent in Voi, visiting Chris. It was very chilled.
This is Chris our host for the weekend. He hopes to have a career as a Nike model in the future.
Walking up to Chris's house. Red dust gets everywhere.
Chris explains why we shouldn't climb that particular mountain. Apparently it is covered in posionous snakes.
View from a Hotel Lodge in Voi. Chris had to go to a work social so we chilled here and had a few Tusker.
Voi is cool. It is what I had in my head when I imagined what volunteering in Africa would be like.
Next blog will be from Lamu. Whoo Hooo!
M.
Cultural Learning
30-60 minutes late for a meeting is perfectly on time in Kenya.
This is Chris our host for the weekend. He hopes to have a career as a Nike model in the future.
Walking up to Chris's house. Red dust gets everywhere.
Chris explains why we shouldn't climb that particular mountain. Apparently it is covered in posionous snakes.
View from a Hotel Lodge in Voi. Chris had to go to a work social so we chilled here and had a few Tusker.
Voi is cool. It is what I had in my head when I imagined what volunteering in Africa would be like.
Next blog will be from Lamu. Whoo Hooo!
M.
Cultural Learning
30-60 minutes late for a meeting is perfectly on time in Kenya.
Sunday, December 14, 2008
Jamhuri Day
Dec 11th
Kenya gained their Independance from Britian on December 11th 1963, and formed a Republic the following year. They celebrate it every year as Jamhuri (Republic) day. Nothing much happens. A few politicians make a few speeches is all. I'm off to Voi to see where Chris lives so will spend he day in transit.
I found Monday tough this week. Felt like I was chasing people around the place and moving from thing to thing getting nothing of much consequence done. But as usual another urgent request came from above and Wednesday and Thursday were mad busy. I got my holidays approved for Christmas by the boss man so I'll have Christmas and New Year week off.
News from home is that the Duggan clan have bought 2 goats. One is off to Malawa (Uncle John) and the other Kenya (The rest of the family and significant others). I'm not sure what I'll say when the mother asks what I'm feeding the goats! Just kidding ;-) I kind of got misty eyed when I heard. I feel it was a real statement of support. (Although, seriously Ma, I don't actually get the goats).
The building manager James finally sent someone around to cut the grass (What with the rain it's been growing at a savage rate). All done by hand of course. I took the Lad out a cup of sprite on my break. He is now officially my best mate. I better get on and start packing for Voi. Planning to do a bit of hiking so better pack my factor 50.
Later,
M.
Kenya gained their Independance from Britian on December 11th 1963, and formed a Republic the following year. They celebrate it every year as Jamhuri (Republic) day. Nothing much happens. A few politicians make a few speeches is all. I'm off to Voi to see where Chris lives so will spend he day in transit.
I found Monday tough this week. Felt like I was chasing people around the place and moving from thing to thing getting nothing of much consequence done. But as usual another urgent request came from above and Wednesday and Thursday were mad busy. I got my holidays approved for Christmas by the boss man so I'll have Christmas and New Year week off.
News from home is that the Duggan clan have bought 2 goats. One is off to Malawa (Uncle John) and the other Kenya (The rest of the family and significant others). I'm not sure what I'll say when the mother asks what I'm feeding the goats! Just kidding ;-) I kind of got misty eyed when I heard. I feel it was a real statement of support. (Although, seriously Ma, I don't actually get the goats).
The building manager James finally sent someone around to cut the grass (What with the rain it's been growing at a savage rate). All done by hand of course. I took the Lad out a cup of sprite on my break. He is now officially my best mate. I better get on and start packing for Voi. Planning to do a bit of hiking so better pack my factor 50.
Later,
M.
Monday, December 8, 2008
Getting Touristy
Dec 5th to 7th
Saturday morning I was up and out early. Time for my first real tourist outting, to Haller Park, a former Cement Quarry whose natural ecology has been restored (by a German lad called Haller). The wooded paths and scenic lakes provide a quiet and relaxing backdrop to feed Giraffes, and spot Crocs, Hippos, monkeys and gaint turtles. The lake is full of birds, like pelicans, crowned cranes and such like. Some of the fully grown male monkeys have bright blue balls. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
The ex-Amdahl boys had a caption competition with the last set of pictures I put up. It got me to thinking. There have been very few comments on the blog recently. So, I have decided to run a caption competition. I'll buy a pint for the best caption. Of course you'll have to wait till Oct next year, unless you come to Mombasa to claim the prize.
Sunday morning I went to Church. Down the Docks there is a Seafarers mission with an Anglican service, much like our services at home. I have avoided the local ones here as you can get pestered with all sorts, and the fact they go on from 9am-1pm. This service was 10-11. Afterwards, over free tea and coffee, I talked with an elderly Lady, Meg, who runs a Theology college and has been looking for ways to diversify their curriculum. We talked about IT skills, Business acumen and entreupeneurial support type courses. Meg reckons I could be very useful to her. I reminded her that I already had a very packed schedule but would think on what we had discussed.
The afternoon was spent in the Blue Room (icecream!) and in a terrace top bar...a real locals place. Diana, Emma, Abdu and muggins, caught up on the week and talked about plans for Lamu. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!! Abdu, who was just two weeks here, was shocked at how apparent the poverty on the streets was, compared to Nairobi. The street is lined with beggers. Seems to be worse on Sunday morning. Mostly old or crippled people. One boy with no arms or legs had been placed on a corner. They always shout 'Jambo/Mambo' when a Mzungo walks by. I have no idea what Kenya's Urban poverty reduction strategy is. I have only read about rural projects. Maybe there is something Bombolulu could get involved in. I shudder to think what happens to the mentally disabled here. This morning a young woman stood naked on the main st in Mombasa remonstrating with an unseen nemisis. It was a disturbing site.
This time my Sunday trip home on the Matatu was fun filled. The money collector was a toe rag. He tried to charge me 40 bob. I laughed in his face and he got aggressive. I said, in Kiswahili, that I was a worker in Bombolulu workshops and that the price was 20 bob. Then he continued on to a young Lad beside me. The lad, maybe 16, didn't have enough fare. The matatu stopped and they had a kicking competition as he was thrown off. Just Handbags really.
Friday is Kenyan Independance day so a four day week ahead. Another busy week awaits...
M.
Cultural Learning
When going to Tourist attractions always carry your Kenyan ID card. The tourist rates can be 3 times the residents rate. It cost me 600 bob to get in Haller because I forgot mine. Doh!
Haller Park - Beautiful place.
Saturday morning I was up and out early. Time for my first real tourist outting, to Haller Park, a former Cement Quarry whose natural ecology has been restored (by a German lad called Haller). The wooded paths and scenic lakes provide a quiet and relaxing backdrop to feed Giraffes, and spot Crocs, Hippos, monkeys and gaint turtles. The lake is full of birds, like pelicans, crowned cranes and such like. Some of the fully grown male monkeys have bright blue balls. (Yes, you read that correctly.)
The ex-Amdahl boys had a caption competition with the last set of pictures I put up. It got me to thinking. There have been very few comments on the blog recently. So, I have decided to run a caption competition. I'll buy a pint for the best caption. Of course you'll have to wait till Oct next year, unless you come to Mombasa to claim the prize.Sunday morning I went to Church. Down the Docks there is a Seafarers mission with an Anglican service, much like our services at home. I have avoided the local ones here as you can get pestered with all sorts, and the fact they go on from 9am-1pm. This service was 10-11. Afterwards, over free tea and coffee, I talked with an elderly Lady, Meg, who runs a Theology college and has been looking for ways to diversify their curriculum. We talked about IT skills, Business acumen and entreupeneurial support type courses. Meg reckons I could be very useful to her. I reminded her that I already had a very packed schedule but would think on what we had discussed.
The afternoon was spent in the Blue Room (icecream!) and in a terrace top bar...a real locals place. Diana, Emma, Abdu and muggins, caught up on the week and talked about plans for Lamu. It's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas!! Abdu, who was just two weeks here, was shocked at how apparent the poverty on the streets was, compared to Nairobi. The street is lined with beggers. Seems to be worse on Sunday morning. Mostly old or crippled people. One boy with no arms or legs had been placed on a corner. They always shout 'Jambo/Mambo' when a Mzungo walks by. I have no idea what Kenya's Urban poverty reduction strategy is. I have only read about rural projects. Maybe there is something Bombolulu could get involved in. I shudder to think what happens to the mentally disabled here. This morning a young woman stood naked on the main st in Mombasa remonstrating with an unseen nemisis. It was a disturbing site.
This time my Sunday trip home on the Matatu was fun filled. The money collector was a toe rag. He tried to charge me 40 bob. I laughed in his face and he got aggressive. I said, in Kiswahili, that I was a worker in Bombolulu workshops and that the price was 20 bob. Then he continued on to a young Lad beside me. The lad, maybe 16, didn't have enough fare. The matatu stopped and they had a kicking competition as he was thrown off. Just Handbags really.
Friday is Kenyan Independance day so a four day week ahead. Another busy week awaits...
M.
Cultural Learning
When going to Tourist attractions always carry your Kenyan ID card. The tourist rates can be 3 times the residents rate. It cost me 600 bob to get in Haller because I forgot mine. Doh!
Haller Park - Beautiful place.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
National Shopping Holiday
So Monday (8th) the towns will be overrun with Country bumkins doing there Christmas shopping. Limerick, Dublin and all the major towns. Here, nothing. Not a dicky bird! As much as anyone I dislike the fact that the commerical Christmas starts so early but I also enjoy from about now on. There is a social buzz and the week/weekends are packed with shopping and meeting up with friends. I hear the credit crunch is worsening so it will be a more subdued this Christmas. No harm. Have a think about buying a goat or a cow for Bothar or giving SVP a few bob. Many Charities have suffered badly this last year with people struggling to readjust to new economic realities. I don't have a morgage, and I ain't got no kids so it was easy for me to swan off to Africa. But honestly the only possesion I miss is a washing machine. It is now in my top 5 of the best inventions ever.
Last weekend was busy so I am looking forward to a quiet one this weekend. Have got in the habit of falling asleep when I get home from work and then struggling to get to sleep at night. I have so many balls in the air at work that my mind refuses to quiet... Raw material data cleansing, Production scheduling and planning, Product design and costing, donor reports and budget applications. I worked late on Wednesday evening but the meeting I was working towards never happened. Still hasn't happened. The Kaizen project has lost momentum. The next management meeting can't come soon enough. For now I have decided to concentrate on what I'm good at, Data manipulation and information flow (it's not all glamour!).
One of the more interesting things I have been asked to help with is defining our policy for piecework e.g. 35 bob per bracelet made. I have read that “Civilized nations have moved away from paying by the piece.”. By law the workers have to make at least a basic wage. Some employees work themselves hard until they make thier target income for the month and then sit back and relax or don't bother showing up. Quality can vary according to how fast an employee works. Their is a high risk of overproduction. Just think what might happen if programmers got paid for the number of lines of code they wrote. The only previous experience I have of piece work is a summer spent footing turf, getting paid by the line. One day we hit a water logged area and my earnings halfed. I went home dejected. Trust and open communication between employees and employer seems to be the key to making piece work viable. Quite civilised.
I have gotten over my coffee addiction. In APC I was drinking maybe 4-5 cups a day. Here it has been mostly water and sprite. Soft drinks are extremely cheap here. 20 bob (20 cent) from the local shack, as long as you return the glass bottle. Sometimes I buy it down at the Cultural centre but have to remind Mercy (the waitress) that I am on staff rates. 'Mimi si Mtalii' (I'm not a tourist).
Lamu is booked. For a week at Christmas I WILL be a tourist. Christmas dinner will must likely be BBQ chicken by the pool. I believe ye are freezing your butts off at home. Ho, Ho, Ho.
M.
p.s. Keane has stepped down. I admire him for accepting he hasn't met his own high standards. At least his dogs will be happy of the company.
Cultural Learning (open to interpretation)
Alex, the Kaizen manager, out of the blue this morning walked into my work area and repeated three times "I am the champion!". I replied "Yes, you are!". He is a good lad in fairness.
Last weekend was busy so I am looking forward to a quiet one this weekend. Have got in the habit of falling asleep when I get home from work and then struggling to get to sleep at night. I have so many balls in the air at work that my mind refuses to quiet... Raw material data cleansing, Production scheduling and planning, Product design and costing, donor reports and budget applications. I worked late on Wednesday evening but the meeting I was working towards never happened. Still hasn't happened. The Kaizen project has lost momentum. The next management meeting can't come soon enough. For now I have decided to concentrate on what I'm good at, Data manipulation and information flow (it's not all glamour!).
One of the more interesting things I have been asked to help with is defining our policy for piecework e.g. 35 bob per bracelet made. I have read that “Civilized nations have moved away from paying by the piece.”. By law the workers have to make at least a basic wage. Some employees work themselves hard until they make thier target income for the month and then sit back and relax or don't bother showing up. Quality can vary according to how fast an employee works. Their is a high risk of overproduction. Just think what might happen if programmers got paid for the number of lines of code they wrote. The only previous experience I have of piece work is a summer spent footing turf, getting paid by the line. One day we hit a water logged area and my earnings halfed. I went home dejected. Trust and open communication between employees and employer seems to be the key to making piece work viable. Quite civilised.
I have gotten over my coffee addiction. In APC I was drinking maybe 4-5 cups a day. Here it has been mostly water and sprite. Soft drinks are extremely cheap here. 20 bob (20 cent) from the local shack, as long as you return the glass bottle. Sometimes I buy it down at the Cultural centre but have to remind Mercy (the waitress) that I am on staff rates. 'Mimi si Mtalii' (I'm not a tourist).
Lamu is booked. For a week at Christmas I WILL be a tourist. Christmas dinner will must likely be BBQ chicken by the pool. I believe ye are freezing your butts off at home. Ho, Ho, Ho.
M.
p.s. Keane has stepped down. I admire him for accepting he hasn't met his own high standards. At least his dogs will be happy of the company.
Cultural Learning (open to interpretation)
Alex, the Kaizen manager, out of the blue this morning walked into my work area and repeated three times "I am the champion!". I replied "Yes, you are!". He is a good lad in fairness.
Monday, December 1, 2008
Everybody comes to Bombolulu
28-30th Nov
After work on Friday I headed straight out to do shopping. I was tired and grumpy. Got into the wrong Matatu and was asked to "get down". Everyone else in the Matatu started laughing like a pack of hyenas. I was vexed. Got in the right Matatu and had to argue all the way over price. "Hapana, Kumi bob" (No it's not, it's 10 bob"), i repeated until he eventually gave up. By the time I got to Nakumatt I was spitting bullets!
I sat and had a sprite in the restaurant and steadied myself. An array of expletives were running through my head. I let them pass and then started shopping. Tomorrow I would have guests. VSO Coast meeting in Bombolulu.
Diana arrived around 8:45 and Hannah and her boyfriend, fresh from the airport, soon after. Had some coffee and bacon sandwiches. Cocky (the Coast volunteer chairwoman) arrived around half nine and we headed up to get settled into the board room for the meeting. One by one the volunteers arrived. Chris from voi, Anique from Mtwapa, Geri from Malindi, and all the other Mombasa based volunteers. The newest volunteer Abdu was introduced to all and then the meeting began (with a silent prayer).
We had a quick round table to catch up on how everyone was doing. Biggest challenge (spreading myself to thin) and biggest success (Traidcraft visit last weeK) since the last meeting. We complained about VSO a bit but generally everybody is doing well. After that we reviewed the minutes from the last meeting in July. Lively discussion and good humor permeated the boardroom.
There is a VSO fridge doing the rounds and we eventually decided that Hannah would be next to take ownership. The girl is craving breakfast cereal but can't keep milk in her house. The "Fridge policy" was read, a comprehensive guide to rules and responsibilities to owning the fridge. Good laugh.
I had been asked by the VSO International staff that visited to promote the new Online VSO community site. We all agreed to get registered and to have a look. Currently most volunteers use Facebook to keep in touch.
At 1pm we broke for lunch. There was a wedding going on in the restaurant so we had dinner el fresco beside the massai hut. Mataha (potato with green veg) and beef stew, at staff rates, thanks to Stephen, the Bombolulu procurement manager. Paul was going to give us a guided tour, no charge, but first the Bombolulu dancers performed and then got all the volunteers up dancing. See pictures below. Mighty craic. (Yes, that's me getting involved!).
After a tour of all the tribal huts, given by Paul (in wheelchair, Katana standing), and a stop at the shop we went back to the boardroom to talk about Global Education. The main focus is responsible tourism i.e. stop exploitation of children as sex workers. An intense discussion let to agreement that the target audience and key message needed to be solidified. We aim to work towards a large rally next September.
When the meeting ended we all headed back to my place to chill out and have a few beers. The craic was great and some stayed for an hour, some all evening. We sat out the back of the house and traded stories and laughs, a totally comfortable laziness settling around us. I demonstrated my doorbell (toot-toot-toot OPEN THE DOOR!) and we organised lodgings for the evening. Chris, Hannah and Dan at mine. Abi at Emma's. Then off out with us to a Chinese restaurant and then Tembo.
I had been there once before but we arrived earlier this time so the number of sex workers there was very apparent, and lots of older white guys with good looking young black women. As the place filled it was less noticeable. We had a few beers; some danced, some talked. I nattered away to Emma, Abi, then Cocky for most of the evening but tiredness set in around 1:30am and we headed for home. Matatu and short walk then, comatose till 10:30am the following day.
Sunday went into Mombasa and Abi and Dan headed back to Likoni. Hung around Mombasa for a while and had a walk around and lunch. Chris headed back to Voi. On the Matatu home a local girl tried very unsubtle-ly to "pick me up". I was polite but dismissing. "Come sit with me". Pretty girl. Thanks, but no thanks.
I met Guma and his Mum on the walk to the house and Guma decided to walk back with me. Crossing the football pitch we were joined by a couple of Guma's friends and one of the kids next door (Chris, 2 Naomi's, Harold and a little one called Chrysanthemum I think). We all sat on the porch, drank juice and told each other our names and ages. Once the juice was gone I sent them all home. It was time to cook dinner and wash clothes.
M.
Cultural Learning
Dec 1st was World Aids awareness day. Over 1 million people are infected wih HIV/AIDS in Kenyan (population is around 35 million).
Relaxing in a traditional Swahili house (Cocky got a chance to play my Swahili wife)
Picture of Bombolulu Gardens
After work on Friday I headed straight out to do shopping. I was tired and grumpy. Got into the wrong Matatu and was asked to "get down". Everyone else in the Matatu started laughing like a pack of hyenas. I was vexed. Got in the right Matatu and had to argue all the way over price. "Hapana, Kumi bob" (No it's not, it's 10 bob"), i repeated until he eventually gave up. By the time I got to Nakumatt I was spitting bullets!
I sat and had a sprite in the restaurant and steadied myself. An array of expletives were running through my head. I let them pass and then started shopping. Tomorrow I would have guests. VSO Coast meeting in Bombolulu.
Diana arrived around 8:45 and Hannah and her boyfriend, fresh from the airport, soon after. Had some coffee and bacon sandwiches. Cocky (the Coast volunteer chairwoman) arrived around half nine and we headed up to get settled into the board room for the meeting. One by one the volunteers arrived. Chris from voi, Anique from Mtwapa, Geri from Malindi, and all the other Mombasa based volunteers. The newest volunteer Abdu was introduced to all and then the meeting began (with a silent prayer).
We had a quick round table to catch up on how everyone was doing. Biggest challenge (spreading myself to thin) and biggest success (Traidcraft visit last weeK) since the last meeting. We complained about VSO a bit but generally everybody is doing well. After that we reviewed the minutes from the last meeting in July. Lively discussion and good humor permeated the boardroom.
There is a VSO fridge doing the rounds and we eventually decided that Hannah would be next to take ownership. The girl is craving breakfast cereal but can't keep milk in her house. The "Fridge policy" was read, a comprehensive guide to rules and responsibilities to owning the fridge. Good laugh.
I had been asked by the VSO International staff that visited to promote the new Online VSO community site. We all agreed to get registered and to have a look. Currently most volunteers use Facebook to keep in touch.
At 1pm we broke for lunch. There was a wedding going on in the restaurant so we had dinner el fresco beside the massai hut. Mataha (potato with green veg) and beef stew, at staff rates, thanks to Stephen, the Bombolulu procurement manager. Paul was going to give us a guided tour, no charge, but first the Bombolulu dancers performed and then got all the volunteers up dancing. See pictures below. Mighty craic. (Yes, that's me getting involved!).
After a tour of all the tribal huts, given by Paul (in wheelchair, Katana standing), and a stop at the shop we went back to the boardroom to talk about Global Education. The main focus is responsible tourism i.e. stop exploitation of children as sex workers. An intense discussion let to agreement that the target audience and key message needed to be solidified. We aim to work towards a large rally next September.When the meeting ended we all headed back to my place to chill out and have a few beers. The craic was great and some stayed for an hour, some all evening. We sat out the back of the house and traded stories and laughs, a totally comfortable laziness settling around us. I demonstrated my doorbell (toot-toot-toot OPEN THE DOOR!) and we organised lodgings for the evening. Chris, Hannah and Dan at mine. Abi at Emma's. Then off out with us to a Chinese restaurant and then Tembo.
I had been there once before but we arrived earlier this time so the number of sex workers there was very apparent, and lots of older white guys with good looking young black women. As the place filled it was less noticeable. We had a few beers; some danced, some talked. I nattered away to Emma, Abi, then Cocky for most of the evening but tiredness set in around 1:30am and we headed for home. Matatu and short walk then, comatose till 10:30am the following day.
Sunday went into Mombasa and Abi and Dan headed back to Likoni. Hung around Mombasa for a while and had a walk around and lunch. Chris headed back to Voi. On the Matatu home a local girl tried very unsubtle-ly to "pick me up". I was polite but dismissing. "Come sit with me". Pretty girl. Thanks, but no thanks.
I met Guma and his Mum on the walk to the house and Guma decided to walk back with me. Crossing the football pitch we were joined by a couple of Guma's friends and one of the kids next door (Chris, 2 Naomi's, Harold and a little one called Chrysanthemum I think). We all sat on the porch, drank juice and told each other our names and ages. Once the juice was gone I sent them all home. It was time to cook dinner and wash clothes.
M.
Cultural Learning
Dec 1st was World Aids awareness day. Over 1 million people are infected wih HIV/AIDS in Kenyan (population is around 35 million).
Relaxing in a traditional Swahili house (Cocky got a chance to play my Swahili wife)
Picture of Bombolulu Gardens
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