Now I really am half way through my assignment and we’re trying to figure out how we’ll fit all the things we wanted to achieve into the remaining 13 weeks. We won’t get to do the Mt Kili climb! I will use up all my “annual leave” with the trip to Kenya and then Serengeti with Liz and Sophie so we’ll be restricted to weekends. There are no public holidays I can take advantage of and we fly to London on Easter Monday.
Kenya was a very successful excursion - spectacular scenery and interesting animals. Steve’s Blog will tell you all about it. It was great to be able to walk in the forest at Castle Forest though we did have to keep an eye out for elephants! The waterfall was pretty. And wherever the British go in the highlands of East Africa they leave hydrangeas and fuchsias behind!
Ashnil Lodge Samburu at Buffalo Springs NR was very nice though it reinforced the thing I dislike most about travelling in Africa - the tipping culture. I never know how much is too much and how much is not enough. I always feel as if I’m disappointing someone! I saw all my favourite mammals and most of my favourite birds.
I found it interesting to look for similarities and differences between Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda. One that stood out to me was the number of churches in Kenya. The Roman Catholics and the Anglicans have mainstream religion sown up though the Methodists have a bit of a stronghold in northern Kenya. The RC and ACK churches and cathedrals were obscenely huge and ostentatious when compared with the very modest homes and schools around them. Both seem to be in the midst of an ambitious building program. The number and variety of pentecostal and evangelical churches was astonishing. Most were a combination of Full Gospel, Deliverance, Healing and Transformation with a bit of Grace and Redemption thrown in and were clearly of the prosperity theology persuasion. Huge tents for many of the pentecostal groups made me (uncharitably) think it was probably a circus inside! The “Jesus Winner Ministry” was quite widespread but Glory Christian Church in Nanyuki was perhaps my favourite - who wouldn’t want to belong to a place for winners below the slaughterhouse and next to the prison farm. I was also taken by a tiny corrugated iron shed that called itself the “Mega Church International” and another that was a “Faith Impartation Centre” rather than a boring tabernacle or cathedral or Kingdom Hall (yes, there are JWs as well as SDAs). The religion industry is doing very well in Kenya! There were fewer mosques than we were used to and the Lutherans were nowhere to be seen but no-one was going to miss out on the chance to worship on any day of the week.
The only disappointment was on the last day when we were exploited (robbed!) because of the colour of our skin. The caretaker of the public toilets near the bus station in Nairobi charged us Ksh100 ($1.20) each to use the facilities when I know the going rate is Ksh10. And the taxi driver who brought us home from the bus station in Arusha charged Tsh50,000 ($30) when the Tsh20,000 we usually pay is generous! The irritation this causes me is silly - we can afford to pay - but the attitude that we’re fair game for milking doesn’t sit well.
For me it’s back to work tomorrow. I have 3 months to encourage / cajole the teachers to have their curriculum and assessment documents up to date and accessible on the centre’s computer and to have the Business Management lessons and resources squared away. Other tasks will no doubt crop up but the ones I need to get finalised are the ones on the assignment plan so everyone can be satisfied it was a ‘successful’ assignment.
The short rains have been poor in many areas around Arusha and my organisation is helping several hundred families with money to buy food. Any crops that have had sufficient rain to grow won’t be ready to harvest for at least two months so the need is ongoing. I have been able to help with the administration of the program - using Mail Merge to make labels for envelopes. I have to type the Maasai names letter for letter as they are beyond my experience. Here is a sample!
We are so excited to have Liz and Sophie visit next week! It should be the subject of my next blog.
Belated best wishes to everyone for the New Year,
Love from Jenny
