Early July Blog update

Another kid with another story
Okay this is a long complex story. Basically a kid turns up who's claimed to have been beaten at home in kakamega and came to kisumu to find he aunt but she has gone. Now usually if a dirty kid, badly spoken holding a bottle of glue says something like this you just kind of usher him away, maybe give him some bread and milk. But this kid was different, clean well spoken etc.
But one of the e-merge volunteers Kevin decided to follow up on this boy as he seemed so genuine and bright. Anyway so we are in the middle or sorting this boy out, his story was genuine his family have been contacted as have the children's office. Things are moving well, its difficult to know what decisions to make but I really think if Kevin didn’t step in this 13 year old boy would end up as another street boy sniffing glue. Hes soooo smart and really needs motivation and stimulation. This is just one of those kinds of cases that pop up from time to time. I think its important not to close yourself off to them, as some, like this one are genuine cases and not just a kid trying to get money.

Getting to know the real Kisumu

Walking at night
Walking at night strictly speaking isnt the best Idea, but when there is a group of us and we all have our hoods up we tend to scare other people rather than vice versa. The other day we made this one guy quite nervous.
In london my pockets are stuffed with phone, wallet keys, ipod and chewing gum. Here I take a bit of cash in pocket, leave my phone at the house and I now clip a flick knife to the back of my jeans. It really is a different world.

The Police
Okay so I have had to be dealing with police in the last couple of weeks, a lot. I really think that the criminals here aren't as bad as the slimy fat corrupt police here.
The first way that the police affected me was when they came to the blue cross youth centre in Nyalenda. They said they were looking for arms, now there is no reason on earth that there should be any here. The idea is that the centre is a positive and safe place for young people, trying to improve the image of young people in the area. And here comes the police searching it just because it is filled with young people. Okay so they have to search it, but when they did they turned the place upside down. Guns pointing everywhere, plain clothed "police" standing on furniture, throwing books around the room. But the thing that really pissed me off. Is they stole money out of the cash desk in the youth centre shop and from Mikes room where he was keeping some of the money they had made untill the bank account was ready. The guys had worked there arse off to make that money, okay it was only a couple of thousand shillings but when your making a couple of shillings profit on each soda you sell that’s a lot of work. Infact some of that money was a business loan that I had put the money up for and it’s the fucking police that took it. What corruption. I was all ready to go above these policeman's heads and take it to the top. I've made friends with people that have friends in high up places. But unfortunately the below story happened. Meaning I had to give in to corruption on both sides and could not have any justice.
I can't really go into details of what happened, this is someone's life and not my place to blast it over the internet. But basically a 17 year old kid ended up in prison when he shouldn’t have been, he happened to be living with someone who was caught up in crime. So I spent many a day at the police station (a horrible place) trying to get things sorted. Eventually the guy did get let out. How and why is another story.
But the thing that really got me was how horrible (that the polite version) some of these high up policeman are. One evening I found myself waiting in the police station after the guy should have been let out, he hadn't. Eventually the high up police guy (wont say who) turned up to his office, then about 30 of these policeman marched in with their guns. He shouts to bring in the Mzungu. So I walk into a room surrounded by guns, policemen in uniforms and this big fat guy sitting in his chair who glares at me. He made it his mission to make himself look as big as possible in front of his chronies. He shouted at me, told me I should of come here and all sorts of crap. Trying to intimidate me and embarace me. This pissed me off so much, who the fuck was he to talk to me like that. I was so angry you cant imagine. It was dark and quite late by this point. Walking down the road in the dark from the police station I thought maybe I should call a tuk tuk (auto rickshaw home) to be safe. "Nah fuck it, im so pissed off right now if anyone starts anything with me I'll batter them."
Okay so looking back that was pretty stupid but was blind with anger. When I got home it took a good couple of Tusker Malts to calm me down.

Around Town
Its pretty cool now that I know so many people that where ever I go I'm stopping to chat to people. It’s the same as being in north finchley!! Which is ace, really makes kisumu feel like home from home having so many mates here.

10th July

The Aprentice UK
"The music - Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights, from 'Romeo and Juliet' - starts to swell. The portentous voice-over chimes in: 'Sixteen people have come to London in search of a job.' Various business-suited figures, their features arranged into vaguely mettlesome expressions, are seen gliding up and down shiny escalators and striding purposefully across bridges, pulling modish wheelie-bags." (Stuart Husband)

Okay so that’s the Aprentice UK, this is the apprentice Kisumu:
"The hustle and bustle of boda bicycles, little shops and people buzzing around here and there provide the background to Nyalenda, Kisumu. No voice over this time but Mike and Steve can be seen in smart trousers and shirts, standing out against the dirt roads and rusty tin shacks that are the targeted market in Nyalenda. Alex stands between them in paint splattered smart clothes sweating in the mid day heat. They can all be seen walking purposefully from shop to shop doing there best to make a sale" (Alex Ingram)

So team blue-crosses tasks in this weeks episode of the apprentice kisumu is to sell eggs to local businesses, hotels and individuals so that they can sustain the youth centre. Team leader is Mike and Enok is in charge of logistics and storage, Steve is communication and marketing manager and Alex is Sir Alan…or more like Margaret

The team went into every shop, restaurant and kiosk on the Nyalenda ring road and even ventured into mega city to speak to expensive restaurant owners there. They left leaflets with everyone they spoke to and even managed to have one order right then and there. There pitches got stronger to the procurements manager at each business. Next week they will venture further into town. Then they will have to go the boardroom where Sir Alex will fire one of them….(okay not that last part)

Roger's Orphanage & Clinic

Roger's Orphanage & Clinic
Okay so there is about a week between Nairobi and going to Roger Carter's orphanage in Magina I have missed out, but it was just more of the usual kind of stuff. Blue cross rehearsals and meetings, preparation for the workshops and running around town getting quotes and sorting this and that out for various projects and individuals.

Day/Night 1 (typed up from my notepad)
I'm perched over a table being lit by a candle, in what can only be descried as a tin shack. No electricity, no water, no flushing toilets and just pitch black everywhere. The piercing yet relaxing sounds of insects buzzing has been interrupted by the sounds of raised voices and argumens from the farm next door. I've bolted the door and feel safe here (I think).
After a day of travelling, introductions, inductions, medicating the kids for this and that and an evening of cards and Rosey Lee, I'm well and truly ready for bed.
Feckin Freezing!! (I found myself sleeping in hoodie and trousers as my blanket was so thin and I froze my nuts off!)

Day 2
I went to the church in the morning which is a small tin, open sided building filled with the wicked voices of the kids. They sang tonnes of call and response kind of songs with one boy playing the drums on a plastic oil container with his hand and one stick, and it sounded wicked. Really cool kind of syncopated rhythms.
During the day I got some little jobs done for Roger and around the site, went to town to buy some timber and saw the boys school which they were so please to show me. In the afternoon we played bingo with the kids and then played some circle games like Commando Piccolo, pulse and all those sorts of games we used to play with the kids on scheme at FRS.
That evening we talked over tea swapping experiences and stories. I should explain Rogers friend Maria was up at the site with us too. It was so cool to sit and listen to Rogers stories in his cockney patter. (I felt like I was on set at Lock Stock or Snatch lol!) He's done so much in his lifetime and has this dad like quality of being quick witted and having done everything. I could sit and listen forever, so interesting and cool.
Its my second night and this time I've mad sure I have enough blankets. A cat jumped out of the kitchen building window, right in front of me in the pitch black which scared the living daylights out of me. I hope it doesn’t work its way into my house, I really hate random cats, especially mangy wild ones!

June 23rd
Sitting outside with a cup of rosey watching the sarts in the night sky. Its pitch black, exept for the glow from my candle. The birds, the bats and the crickets are the only source of noise. There is absolute peace and tranquillity in this rural oasis away from the booming matatoos (buses) and drunken shouts which creates the soundscape to Kisumu at night. It really makes me think I should just pack in everything and move here!

After chai and a chillout I head over to the long drop (with my head torch), grabbed my sheets of the washing line. When inside my house I light a few candles and sit down to have a scribble in my note book, then off to bed, it really is another world.
[reading this back, I realise how mushy, deep and icky all this is….i think the country side does strange things to my head!]

Earlier on today I enjoyed categorising and sorting out all Rogers medical gear. It was like a little test to myself to see what I know and recognise from the reading I've been doing, first aid training and first had experience in the hospital of the various needles and devices I've had poked at me. I enjoy learning about medicine, first aid, drugs, dressing so much. So I really found it fascinating, reading everything I could and asking as many questions as I could when Roger was around.
Sitting here jotting this in my note pad in my little tin house, I really feel a millions miles away from home.

June 24th
The matches on my table have become a tally of how many nights I've been here, every night I light the candle when I get back to my room. I just found myself brandishing a deodorant bottle and torch to go and investigate the strange noise coming from the other room in my tin house. It turned out to be a bee tunnelling into the wood, pesky things are everywhere, I'll block up its hole with gaffa tape in the morning he he he

June 25th
Today was the first working at the clinic. It was a pretty eye opening and I learnt so so so much. Patients came in with the same kinds of problems again and again. So much of it comes down to bad hygiene and a lack of money for what we take as simple medicines. The majority of people drink water directly from the river. Many use something called "waterguard" which is a load of shit. People don’t use it correctly and think its magic, so many germs, bacteria and organisms can still be in that water even after using waterguard. I found it so suprising to find that women with babies and young children were not boiling the river water first! It leads to so many ilnesses you can see why there was the outbreak of cholera in kenya as a whole and indeed the village of Magina where I was.
As to people not being able to afford medicines; if I was at home and head a headache I would grab a paracetamol and know that I probably hadn't eaten or drunk enough that day. Here the money is just not available but also the knowledge of what causes illness and bad health.
There was tonnes of calpul given out to kids, a couple of millimetres at the clinic and they we filled there bottles (chilpa in luo) and I made sure that the mother knew how much to give the child by pouring I into the lid of the bottle. There was tonnes of bad coughs, colds and eye problems and this is all definitely down to the dust which comes up from the road. It also spreads so much airborne disease especially TB!
We gave out tonnes of worm pills to kids that had signs of worms or that were more at risk of getting the. The government have supposedly done a countrywide de-worming at schools but it obviously hasn’t reached this village. What surprised me was the amount of ring worm that had developed into a nasty open wound/abysses that put (usually kids) in a lot of pain. Many of these just needed to be washed with water and soap and be kept clean, but again this knowledge just doesn’t seem to be out there. Kids with bad ones carried there own population of flies that circled the open wound, all laying eggs of course. The treatment for this (which I must of done sooo many times) was to clean it up with antiseptic and then put an iodine solution on to also clean up the cut and keep the flies off. I then used an antibiotic cream and covered with a breathable dressing. Oh and ofcourse some anti-worm pills to kill any they have and prevent kids from picking it up again.
Did I mention that for the confidence of the patients they called me doctor, which was wicked. It was like the best acting part I've ever had.
One patient, an old guy, came in who complained of an enlarged stomach even though he wasn’t eating much. Roger took a look at his stomach and you could see that there were three huge lumps, so roger gave him some paracetamol and sent him on his way. Cancer in its very late stage, Roger thought that he only had a couple of months left. I guess Roger doesn’t have the expertise to tell the old guy and be 100% certain but also the guy wont be able to afford to go to hospital so why worry him. It’s a completely different world.
We saw a range of different things during the day, as it went on it began to get really hot and tiring being on my feet, working straight through without a break made me starving.

The wrest of my time there
The wrest of my time in Magina consisted of bits and bobs around the site like putting up fencing, making gates and just little jobs. I played some football and circle games with the kids at the orphanage and spent time reading with them. Two were ill for some time which did involve me getting up in the night a few times to give calpul and see to them.
There were also more clinics, one of which a girl came in with leprosy which is one of those things I always just skimmed through when reading medically books as it wasn’t something I ever thought I would come in contact with. It really is a horrible condition. As it is the girl was showing me an absys from ringworm which needed cleaning, covering and packing with antibiotics. I assume she had gone to the hospital at some point about her leg, but she wasn’t taking any medication and no action had been taken. Hospital is expensive and so are drugs, most people out in the village, or even in the city, just cant afford it.
Almost a third of her leg had turned white with thin red veins in it, but the flesh had sort of been eaten away by the condition leaving it feeling like bone or wood. To feel it and see it made me ill, not because I was squeamish or anything. It made me illl because I could see just how bad the condition is and knew very well there was nothing she could afford to do, the feeling was just this over welming feeling of helplessness. For the wrest of that day I was in such a daze with that feeling. I asked Roger to stay in touch about the girl if I can fundraise or help at all from the UK. I really wanted to chat to someone from home but even after I walked half an hour to charge my phone because of the time difference no one was home. The walk did me good anyway.
One of high points of the clinics for me was when a mother brought in her baby who hadn't been eating at all and was vomiting or had dihrea. Now, communicating with patients is not easy, the translator often misunderstands you and what you're trying to ask. So we find that the child has been treated for some other illness or malaria or something. Straight away I said to Roger that I thought the baby was on antibiotics as this is a classic side effect of an antibiotic. He thought it wasn’t the case and after a difficult 15 minutes of miscommunication it turned out that my diagnosis was right, the baby was indeed still on antibiotic. One that was probably to strong anyway, so that baby was to come off the drugs and come back to the next clinic. Felt so good to work out what was wrong, like a puzzle. You ask the right questions, look for signs and find out about the environment and situation then try and work something out.

Coffee in Nairobi

Nairobi 14th June

After 6 hours on the coach, the bus arrived into Nairobi City centre. I felt like a kid from the country going to the city for the very first time. Kisumu and other more rural areas are my view of Kenya, so to see roads with tarmac, paved pavements, lines, traffic lights, buildings with big glass windows that stretch up high, traffic jams, business people, Mercedes and new landrovers driving up and down the streets was a huge shock. For that day I was in complete culture shock! A dinner at a cheap thai restaurant was a great Idea and was the perfect way to end a pretty tiring day of travelling. That night sleep was the worst for a long time, worse than the huts in Gokarna India! The mosquitoes buzzed around my head all night making me sooooooo stressed out plus the fact that when I woke up I had about 60 bites from bed bugs.
Monday morning consisted of having a mooch around Nai and grabbing some awesome coffee from Javahouse (not the best coffee, the best is to come). After that we had a great meeting with the interim board of governors for the school I am trying to register. So to be sitting on the board is pretty cool lol.
Basics of the meeting:
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Current Situation:
The two classrooms and offices are painted, finished and looking fantastic. They are great sized rooms and each have many windows allowing the classroom to be nice and bright. (I have attached some photos, there are more to come!) Furniture has been designed and a quote been put together. It was pointed out that an extra piece of wood should be added to the front of the design of the tables to provide some privacy, this shall be added to our quotes soon. Good sturdy chairs and a locker for every student are also a part of the basic furniture that is the initial stage of equipping the classroom. I will forward the list of the books that have been chosen as the best for each course, if Veronica or Benta have a differing opinion on any publishers for a subject please let me know. All of these things are ready to go and simply waiting for funding. E-merge has some specific donors for this project that are helping to fund, I am also in discussion with my own private donors, but cannot make any promises as yet.
Through UGEF some resources will be donated, which will be an excellent tool for the resource centre and to the educational experience of its future students. Also Beatrice mentioned donating some books to the school which shall be an exciting supplement to curriculum education and hopefully stimulate self motivated reading learning.

The plan:
To have the classrooms opened as a resource centre for any form 1 students in the area to come for help, read books or just have a quiet space for learning, reading or constructive activity. This could be run by volunteer students from Nairobi University, possibly with a permanent member of community or staff member to oversee and provide some consistency.

What needs to be done:
The school needs to run for one year with a minimum of 1 teacher and 10 students. Teachers will need to be appointed and finance found for this initial year before it is registered and taken on by the Government. We discussed the positive effect of having volunteers coming to help at the school, but also concluded that permanent teachers would be necessary. This will be the responsibility of interim BOG to interview, appoint and find funding.
The usual student application process shall need to take place which should include some promoting of awareness about the school in the surrounding area. We had discussed having half the class as students that had not had the same educational opportunities or were in other way disadvantaged and the other half to consist of students coming up through Lifunga primary and other surrounding schools. A definition of the two types student will need to be made and a way of selecting students that apply should be completed, presumably through the standard way. (which perhaps Benta or Veronica could explain about to myself and the BOG).
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It really couldn’t have gone any better, a really great dynamic bunch of people from different areas, plus the meeting wasn't too formal at all! that night Ty, Kevin and myself went to Habesha (a really cool Ethiopian restaurant). Now it wasn’t the food that made the meal however the giant platter of meat stews, curries and veg which you eat with your hands and dosa type bread was pretty cool! It was the coffee at the end that stole the show. They bring tiny little cups with the Jah lion from rastafari culture, special incense that burns on coals, a ancient looking tea pot made of a very dark ceramic and sitting inside that is the darkest, strongest kind of aromatic, bitter and deep tasting coffee you will ever taste. This was the best coffee I have ever had, and I've had some pretty good coffees.
After our meal and good few cups of Ethiopian rocket fuel, Kevin took us for a night time tour of Nairobi. "Never walk in Nairobi at night!!" most people say…. Well like any place it had its dodgy areas but felt pretty safe in the hands of Kevin. Walking around the city was great, especially being given a tour by someone who has lived there their whole lives. Friggin awsome!
The next day consisted of more wondering around the big city, at about lunch time we decided it was about time to have another cup of the worlds best coffee. We sat in the restaurant for a good 3 hours (maybe more) chatting to the manager, eventually I ended up buying one of the pots. I was adamant to get a used one so it would be seasoned and have a great taste already.
That evening I got to go to Carnivore, which is something I have wanted to do for a long time. Unfortunately a lot of the game meat the restaurant used to serve has been banned. I was really looking forward to eating zebra and Gazel (my theory is if its good enough for a lion, its good enough for me). This aside it was a great meal. You sit at your table with a fecking hot plate while people walk past with big swards with half an animal carcass on it. They cut some off on to your plate and the next waiter comes. I ate chicken, turkey, spare ribs, pork, beef, lamb, alligator (or crocodile?) , ostrich and pretty much every other animal you can eat. I think Elliott would have loved it, infarct he may have to come to Kenya just for that restaurant one day lol!
A last night in the bed bug ridden bed at the KYMCA wasn’t too bad, we left early and got a matatoo (pimped out school bus) back to kisumu. A great few days