Adventure time

30^th August 2011. Tomorrow we are going on our very first adventure outside of Nairobi. We’re heading up to the Ol Pejeta Conservancy near Nanyuki (at the foothills of Mount Kenya) for a long weekend away. I am so excited, it is going to be brilliant to see some of this beautiful country.

We are going with friends from Nairobi who are locals and specialists on Kenya, so we’re going to get so much insight into the area. We’re staying at Ol Pejeta House on Thursday night and then at Sweetwaters tented camp for Friday and Saturday nights. The conservancy has a huge range of game and also has a monkey and rhino sanctuary. Apparently one of the rhinos is so tame you can actually feed it! I will definitely be taking heaps of pictures and reporting back on our trip next week.

Ol Pejeta House

Sweetwaters camp

The last few days have been pretty busy too. We had our first braai on Sunday with friends. It was so nice to have a house full of people and kids, even if the weather didn’t cooperate that well. Mark’s ex-boss from his Gillette days, Michael Wood, also arrived on Sunday and will be with us until tomorrow. So on Monday we went out for Sushi and last night we had more people over for one of Mark’s delicious chicken curries. It is lovely to have him here & we’re hoping he spends more time in Kenya (and with us) going forward. Today is a public holiday here (Eid), so I’m having some time out while Mark is playing golf.

The long holiday also ends next week, with Evan officially starting his first year of school on Wednesday. And I did get a consulting job – Yayay! So I will also be starting my working life here for a couple of mornings a week at Destination Magazine. I’m very much looking forward to having some ‘grown-up’ work to do and will also hopefully continue to write for Mark’s company too.

Chat to you next week with news of our trip xxx.

Home sweet home

25^th August 2011. I am once again a bit behind in my blogging life! I’m really not that busy, so I don’t know why I can’t seem to manage putting my thoughts down more often at the moment. I will make it my spring resolution to be a better blogger. And as spring has so very much sprung here in Nairobi, it couldn’t be a better time to make that resolution. We are having a week of perfect weather – Evan’s been playing in his little shell pool thingy and wondering around naked in the garden, I’m in T-shirts and flip-flops and everything is just generally brighter and lighter. I’m such a fan of sunny weather.

So first things first. We are unpacked and officially IN our house. I was so happy to see our container arrive I was almost delighted to do the unpacking – not completely of course, as moving is never the ultimate past time. Anwyay, it took just short of a week & every box was unpacked, sorted and stored somewhere with pictures hung and knick-knacks arranged. Evan has been rediscovering his toys and loves having a selection both upstairs and downstairs and outside. I’m loving having more than 1 pot and 1 frying pan in the kitchen as well as a wider wardrobe selection and Mark of course is delighted that the big screen TV arrived in time for the start of the new Premier League season. Now we have a HOME and are only too happy to have our friends come to visit and stay, so come soon please.

My car is in Nairobi, but as we’re still waiting for immigration to issue Mark with an Alien card (not the UFO type) so he can get a tax number, we can’t get it released. They have to have that number for it to clear without paying duty – so we just wait. In the meanwhile, Clare got back from her holiday and I had to give her car back and the thought of being without wheels again was more than horrifying. So I have a little rented Toyota that is just perfect & I’m very happy just to be mobile and have freedom. I should add at this point that I have never ever seen so many Toyotas in my life! I think the whole world’s second hand Toyotas end up in Kenya – there are thousands and they have models that I’ve never even heard of, ever. Mark has his company car now and it is a Toyota “Klueger”, but there is everything from the “Platz” to the “Sharona” in every parking lot here.

Thanks to a little nepotism, I have a small little job writing some press releases for Mark’s company. Even though it isn’t a lot of hours, it is very nice to have something to do and to have deadlines to meet. I’m also hoping (so hold thumbs tightly) that by the end of the week I’ll have secured a two-morning a week consulting gig too. Will let you know the details once it signed and sealed, but it will be fantastic to have consistent work that doesn’t mean giving up time with my Evan.

Pizza Delivery Ambitions?

 Evan is doing really well. He’s got very tall of a sudden (jeans are hovering at his ankles or higher) and even put on some weight again. The super long holiday is almost over and he starts school (for real) the week after next for 3 mornings a week. We have been lucky enough to make friends with 3 other mums who have kids around about his age and have been getting together with them weekly for a playdate. Although this hasn’t improved Evan’s language skills at all, I think it has definitely improved his social skills as he isn’t stuck to the inside of my knee anymore and heads off to play either on his own or with the others. I have to say that I think one of the most amazing things about motherhood is the almost automatic connection it allows you with other mothers. The other mums are really fantastic women and real friendships are forging – an opportunity I probably wouldn’t ever have had if I didn’t have a child and would have been poorer for in the end.

Mark is trying to get more established at the golf club as he doesn’t have a regular group to play with and has to just try and join games that aren’t full on a Saturday. He is however playing well up here and even won a prize in the competition last weekend. He has a nice team lined up for a game on Sunday morning, so perhaps from there he’ll be closer to having a regular crowd to play with him. He is busy at work and enjoying having his own car (although the traffic is a disaster at times) and also settling in nicely.

We have decided to host an American girl from September for six months or so when she comes out to Nairobi on an internship with a magazine. We haven’t met her yet obviously but her profile sounds good & it’ll be fun to have a new dynamic and dimension to our home. I did just hear that she is a vegetarian … which thanks to my very meat-loving husband, isn’t a regular menu option in our house! My guess is that she’ll become very adept at throwing a stir-fry or omelette together for herself when she gets home in the evening.

Okay, that’s it for now. Hope you’re keeping well & look forward to chatting again soon xxx.

Africa is as Africa does

5^th August 2011. If you read my Facebook status in the last 48 hours, you’d know that our container did not arrive yesterday as promised and I was pretty damn upset about it.

Without going into too many details, the customer service rep that we’d been working with from the Kenyan removal company has led us on a merry chase over the last month. In fact, her service has been despicable on every level – not returning calls, not providing promised updates and worst of all, she outright lied to us on more than one occasion. When she called on Wednesday evening, about 16 hours before our container was due to be delivered to say that it was still in the port in Mombasa and she couldn’t tell me when it would be with us in Nairobi – my very last thread of patience snapped.

After a series of emails to both the director of the local movers, Worldwide Movers Africa and Elliot – who packed us etc. in Johannesburg that were very cutting, we finally got some action and the director of the Kenyan company took over our case personally. As I write this, our container is in the Nairobi warehouse and scheduled to be delivered to us at 9.30am tomorrow. So 48 hours after we whinged, whined and squealed, our container is in the same town as us, and ready for delivery.

What really bothers me is that it took threats and harsh words to just get what we paid for. And worse, I’ve seen this attitude in a whole heap of the companies that we’ve had to deal with since we relocated. Kenya is such a beautiful place, bursting with potential – then this 3^rd world mentality kicks in where “African Time” is a viable excuse for shoddy service and poor delivery. I am African (despite the fact that to some, the colour of my skin precludes me my heritage) and would love nothing more than to see this continent thrive and find success with harmony. But sometimes it sure is hard to be proudly African when the continent lets itself down by living up to it’s difficult reputation.

A strong case in point is the horrific famine that is currently plaguing East Africa. After the horrors of the 80’s when over 1 million Ethiopians died of starvation – it is just unthinkable that we’ve let it happen again. But despite this, I’ve read numerous local reports saying that in Kenya there is no fear of famine, just a very serious drought that is resulting in starvation in certain areas. People dying because they have no food – how does that not constitute a famine? Why are we Africans so scared to tell the world that we’ve hit some trouble? Why do we need to sacrifice our people before we put our hands up and admit that we need some help? Why is there always budget allocated to arms and never to food? Why does corruption dog every area of every government on the continent? Until we find answers and solutions to these very deep-seated issues, it seems that the same cycles of exploitation, deprivation and poverty are doomed to repeat themselves.

I pray that the victims of the famine (or drought) are given the help they need before they become another dreadful statistic. I pray even more that our people and our continent can rise above the excuses, the past and the mediocrity that has settled on us and create a spectacular future.

It is (almost) here!!

2^nd August 2011. This morning Evan and I went out on a play date – and it was only just in time. I’ve been on my own for over a week (Mark being in Nigeria) and not had any plans or seen anyone and was officially sick of my own company.

Evan and I have been on a few outings to play areas, the club and to feed the giraffes at the Giraffe Centre nearby – but considering he only has 4 words in his vocabulary, he isn’t much of a conversationalist. So it was perfect timing that a Finnish woman I met before we went on holiday was back from Finland and we met her and her two kids for some playtime this morning, saved me from complete isolation insanity.

But the most exciting news ever also came through on email this morning. Just when I was starting to lose faith in it ever reaching us, our container is scheduled for deliver on Thursday. Yeehaah, Yahoo and Yay! I cannot wait to have the house full of our stuff, to see our pictures on the walls, to have more than one pan to cook with, for Evan to be reunited with his toys, to watch TV on a big screen, to have a freezer – the list is endless. It is going to take quite a bit of work getting it all unpacked and sorted, but I cannot wait! Lucky Mark is getting out of unpacking as he’ll miss the delivery still being away until Friday evening

And then, to complete the picture, my car is officially here too. I’m not sure when I’ll actually get it, but at least is in the same city as me. Who knows, maybe by the end of the month after 5 months in Nairobi, we will actually be completely sorted out? It could happen…

That’s all in terms of news – just wanted to share my delight and joy with you all. Will send news and pics when everything is in and we have a proper home again.

Happy happy times xxx.