Banking on Obama

So the Irish Banks eh! Soon ye'll all be keeping yere money under the matresses again. Lets hope the goverment doesn't bankrupt themselves bailing them out. Here it has taken me less then 3 months to open a Bank account! (careful the sarcasm doesn't drip on you now). One of the guys at work kindly got a Barclay's rep to come out to meet me. After jumping through a few hoops he finally had all the documents he needed. Unfortunately he went off on Christmas holidays but never came back. So my application disappered. Of course no-one told me and it was 2 weeks into the New Year before I actually found this out. Apparently Barclays have a high turnover of sales staff. I made an attempt to open an account with Equity Bank but didn't have the required letter from VSO. Finally Co-operative bank gave me an account when I arrived in with the correct letter and a friend from work with an longterm account there. Sorted. (Also, my work visa is on its way, so I can leave and re-enter the country at will.)

On Saturday (17th), I was asked by a colleague to visit a company out near the airport to advise on IT Management Systems. The company makes and refurbishes Speed boats (fibre glass and engines - cool!). It was interesting to compare a commerial entreprise's operations with how we do things at Bombolulu. It was a short visit as we had to hurry back to oversee the painting of the yellow floor lines in Bombolulu's stores. Later that night I met up with a few volunteers for some food and then went to see the Obama movie which was good enough as political documentaries go. He is some man for one man.

The highight of the week was the Obama inauguration. It is hard not to be affected here by the upswell of optimism at his election. I'm dubious as to the tangible benefits Kenya will experience, but what a role model for the youth of Kenya. I have decided to put aside my cynicism and jump on the bandwagon, "Yes we can!". We had a power cut here, half way through the speech. The bit I saw was fair good though.

Monday morning was "Rasha, Rasha, kidogo"- a bit drizzily (my favourite kiswahili phrase so far!). The week was focused around a management meeting on Thursday. It was a challenging week of reflecting on what has been achieved/not achieved in 2008, and identifying what our goals are in 2009. It was good to hear hard questions being asked in an open forum. At the centre of the plans is the Kaizen philosophy; remember "Alone we are weak, Together we are strong".

My friend Maj sent me over a copy of the Irish times (December 6th). I sit reading it in the evenings, sipping my coffee...nothing but misery, and the odd receipe for mince pies. In 'An Irishman's Diary' Frank Nally talks about the joy of the open fire. He calls it '...the most charismatic figure in the room.'. True. Níl aon tinteán mar do thinteán féin.

M.


Cutural learning
A fellow volunteers cultural learning for the week...
http://dianainkenya.whereareyou.net/index?page=message&id=74983

Trouble at the Gate

Some people have been asking where is this place, and where is that place, so I have gone all nerdy and set up some Google maps...

Kenyan Orientation
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&hl=en&ie=UTF8&msid=113290586371567899914.00046007c2bd918115de3&ll=-0.900842,39.287109&spn=9.742897,14.0625&z=6

Mombasa Orientation
http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msa=0&hl=en&ie=UTF8&msid=113290586371567899914.00046007e80a8d8a163d0&z=13


So I arrived back to Bombolulu to find armed police at the gate and a large crowd gathered. There is an ongoing dispute about ownership of the land and there was a scuffle at the gate. A few lads were arrested after the argie-bargie but no one was badly injured thank God. It seems all to have quietened down now.

There was some talk of the scuffle at work on Monday, so I got some of the history, but really things continued on as normal. Please note that I feel completely safe and can happily go about my daily routine.

After many New Year handshakes and a few shared stories it was back to work. Catching up on all that had happened over Christmas and a few planning sessions. I bought a Safaricom modem and Nato (IT support guy) at work organised to get me a webcam at a decent price. All thanks to generous Christmas gifts from the family.

Also took a walk down to the klin with Alex. The new shelves arrived and the thermostat, fans and water sprinkers are all in place. The klin is ready for action. It looks great. Hopefully it will be filled with woodcarvings soon and helping to generate many more orders.


There is an awful lot going on at work so I won't bore you with details but on Saturday we 'Spring Cleaned' (see below) the stores. The new shelves had arrived so we beavered away all day and the store is starting to look 'clean and lean'. This morning I went back down to Stores to help do valuations on the Red tag stock(stuff we want to get outta stores) . I must admit it was great to do some hands on physical labour.




















Sunday we met up to celebrate Abdu's 40 birthday at Diana's house. It was a sugar infused tea party and Abdu got a homemade archeologists kit for his birthday. He was chuffed I think.





















Looking at flights home for June and budget trips to Masai Mara for Easter to help quell the New Year's blues. The modem is great 'cause now I have Skype 'mikedugganjnr' and got to talk to, and see, the family, and little Callum, during the week. They are all the fineist.

Will blog again before the end of the week.

M.

Cultural Learning
- Kenyans don't make New Year resolutions. The concept doesn't fit in the Third world.
- Also, 'Spring Cleaning' is not a term they are familiar with, understandably. This is the tropics after all.

New Years

So, on the menu for the dinner party was
Main course 1: Potato and chick pea curry;
Main course 2: Curry with green beans, baby sweetcorn, onions, sugar snaps and garlic
Dessert: Banana split (with pineapple) and coffee/Tea

10 people came. we ate late, 7:30ish. It all went down well. We headed out to a night club (Il Covo) for a bit of bopping after but didn't stay long. I did get chatted up by a local girl called Amy who insisted I didn't have an Irish accent so I must be Dutch. Apparently the Dutch and Kenyans are very alike. I never did quite find out why.

For the next two days I didn't do much bar reading and cooking and cleaning and talking to friends and family on the phone. Thankfully I had my phone working again. The family stayed up till late at my brother Matt's house on Christmas Day. Everyone seems to have had a good Christmas.

The journey to Voi was uneventful. Spent most of it sending NY's text. After getting settled we bought some booze, collected some volunteers from the Nairobi bus, and on to Chris's gaff for the party.

It was an interesting dynamic as the African contingent were mostly men and the volunteer contingent mostly women. Chris hosted the party masterfully ensuring all enjoyed themselves. A dance off around midnight included a short piece of Irish dancing. My only excuse is that I had been drinking. I would have probably drunk more if my bottle of whiskey hadn't mysteriously evapourated.

The night ended with a brisk walk down the red hills of Voi to a warm bed.

After a day recovering it was time to get back to reality. We fought the travelling crowds and eventually made it back to Mombasa. I was anxious to get back to work and a daily routine.

M.


Cultural Learning
Homosexuality is still illegal in Kenya. Female Genital Mutilation is not illegal (even though Kenya is signed up to UN Human Rights bill). Neither is mentioned in polite conversation. Of course I heard both discussed at the New Years Party.











No I don't want my picture taken right now. (Lamu)










On the rooftop with the Canadian volunteers





















Me and Tali on the porch












Sending new year text. I look tanned in this but it is probably as much to do with all the red dust in voi.











The dance off.

Christmas in Heaven

Right! OK, so bear with me a minute. Washing machines are one of the greatest invention ever, right. But what would be the best invention you could think of. Hmmmm...Yes that's it! A teleporter. Ho-K, ho-K...hold on...seriously I'm not going mad. This would have been the perfect Christmas if I owned the world's first ever teleporter!

Let me explain...

A bright and early morning we waited for Abdu's Dad's friend to collect us from outside Nakumatt. He arrived in his jeep only a few minutes late and we set off towards Malindi airport, collecting Abdu from his Dads place on the way. About 20km from the airport strange noises started eminating from the engine and eventually we were forced to pull over. A friendly passer by stopped and offered to take us the rest of the way. He was a genuinely kind elderly gentlemen who refused even to take money for petrol. We rocked up to the airport (a generous title), with loads of time to spare.

A 20 minute plane ride later we landed on Manda island, in the Lamu Archipeligo. Jannat Hotel had sent someone to meet us and piled Diana, Abdu and myself onto a boat to Lamu beach, giddy with holiday cheer. Lamu island is a World Heritage site and exudes Swahili charm with donkey's the main transport and very narrow atmospheric streets winding away from the sea. 'Jannet' means Heaven, and it lived up to it's name with a pool and breezey lounge areas. Everything was perfect except for an over zealous and slightly creepy tour guide. Then the realisation that I'd forgotten the pin for my phone which I had turned off when getting on the plane. Christmas and Phoneless...bugger!

Most Christmases I avoid going home too early. Usual just the day before Christmas eve to help out with last minute shopping and buying wine and beer etc...This year my Nephew Callum understands about the Santa thing and the teleporter would hve allowed me to head back for an hour and soak up the excitement of waiting for Santa with him. I would have popped around to see my other Godchlidren while I was at it.

Back in Heaven, I was sharing a dorm type room with 4 others - proper volunteer style. The bed was decorated with fragrant flowers and as we were first to arrive we had the choice of beds on offer. We rambled a bit, and ate in a sea front restaurant until the other volunteers eventually arrived, full with stories of there safari (journey). Everyone has been working hard in their respective assignments, now the time had arrived for a well earned rest.

So we did the secret Santa draw once Hannah and Dan arrived. Emma did a fine job as chairperson and all the formalities of organising a group were taken care of with swift efficiency. The next few days were filled with trips to Shela beach to swim, strolls around town and seafood and nyama choma (grilled meat) dinners and a few beers. A couple of visits to the pool ended up in a pool olympics with the resident 11 year old Ralph. I won the 'hold your breath under water' event, but that has always been my best event.

Christmas eve we (Diana, Rachael and I) went to the Catholic church for a service which started 90 minutes late and was all in Swahili. It was next door to Petley's bar/club which was just kicking off. The Confession of faith had a backing track of... "Do me, Do me, Do me, Do me, baby"...at that moment I stepped into the teleporter and for half an hour was sitting up in the balcony of Birdhill church watching the local kids singing in the choir and sitting beside my brother Jack spotting who I knew in the crowd. There was Mam half way up near the front. Matt and Katie should be in before the Gospel. I saw the eldest Ryan Gun brother was home. I left just before mass ended...and back to Jannat house where a local Muslim wedding was blaring music forcing me to stay up and polish off a bottle of Whiskey with an English Lad I had just met. Lex was his name. Civil servant from London on a few months volunteering assignment.

Early the next morning, Christmas day, the 10 of us headed out on a Dhow to Manda toto island. I rang my Mum on a borrowed phone and wished all the family a happy christmas. I threw the teleporter into the sea. The family were enjoying Christmas day, it was time I started to too. After a leisurely cruise the dhow hands speared some fish while we snorkelled and generally communed with the blue world. After, we relaxed on a beach and swam a bit while our fish was grilled and some veg curry and coconut rice was cooking. It was without doubt one of the most unforgettable, sensory filled, meals of my life. Soon after the sail was hoisted and we floated blissfully back to Lamu.

Later we were so kn-nackered that the evening meal was a quiet affair. Before bed we exchanged Secret Santa presents. I got Chris and vice versa. I got a piece of carved driftwood. A cool momento. We had a good laugh. All seemed happy with their presents and pottered off to bed slowly. Soon we would be leaving this Idyllic setting behind. Most were already making plans to return.

The next day we flew to Malindi and stopped off in Watamu beach for a while. Rachael and Trixie stayed on in Watamu but would be using my place as a base for the days leading up to New year's party in Chris's place in Voi.

Somewhere during the holiday I had agreed to hold a dinner party on Sunday 28th. I needed to do some serious shopping.

M.

Notices:

- My Uncle Paddy has sent a Camel to Africa with Bothar. One hump or 2? -

- My Nephew Matt just turned 18. Hope you enjoyed clay pigeon shooting -

- 'Cnoc an Ein', the Uncle's horse, won in Punchestown. The family are still celebrating -

- You are never too old to make Sand Castles, NEVER! -

- My sister still hasn't sent me pictures of Callum opening his presents -