Home Again!!

For the more observant among you, you will have noticed that the final few posts have all been entered in the last couple of hours ... and that actually we were back in the UK when we added them!!! We got home last night ... and head back to All Nations tomorrow!! - nothing like cutting it fine!! - we had an amazing 5 weeks ... and hope that you've enjoyed the snapshots we've been able to share through the blog!! - thanks for all your comments and emails while we've been away ... we will endeavour to be in touch in the next few weeks once we've settled back into life at college again!! This isn't the end of the blog completely ... but there won't be any more additions in the near future ... maybe we'll wait til our next adventure ... who knows!!! xx

Getting our hands dirty!!!

The idea of our final week in Kenya ... was to visit Lucy and Andrew and have a rest after 4 weeks working in Nairobi for our block placement! But things don't always work out as planned and we were very quick to get involved where needed as you'll see from the following pics!! - we did have one day were we vegged completely so it wasn't all work, work, work!!! We arrived early morning ... were taken to the weekly RUSH meeting straight from being picked up ... and then spent the afternoon taking the maize of the cob in the front garden!! - the maize is grown on the RUSH academy site and then used to feed the community throughout the year!! - Mark learned the technique of using another husk to get the maize off ... Jenny didn't ... and had sore thumbs the next day!!! RUSH build houses for some of the women who have been widowed etc within the community and so we helped with this on Wednesday! - First the men prepare the mud (with the women bringing up water from the river!!) - spot Mark, knee deep squelching in the pit!! Then the women carry the mud to the house and apply it to the walls by throwing with force!!! - there was already the wooden structure there with the basic layer of mud and a tin roof when we got there ... we were putting the outer layer of mud on all walls, inside and out! - there were about 25 RUSH men and women there helping with the building of this house! - they will have given up a days work and be provided with lunch! Here is Mark ... having finished with preparing the mud ... before he went inside to throw mud at the high spots that the short women couldn't reach!! Here is Jenny with Rosemary standing in the doorway of her new home! - as you can see on the left the final layer of mud has been applied but on the right it is still waiting to be finished!! - Rosemary lost her husband and 2 of her 3 children in an accident that left her slightly paralysed ... she is currently living in a house that could fall down at any moment ... and was SO excited to be having this new house! - it was a priviledge for us to be part of it!! We also sampled the local transportation system ... buda buda's ... basically hopping on the seat on the back of a bicycle! On the local roads ... you certainly feel every bump ... and notice things like a double chin, you didn't know you had, wobbling too!! - sadly we have no photographic evidence ... we were concentrating too much just holding on!!!

RUSH Project

RUSH stands for Reaching the Unreached through Self-Help and is a project that was the vision of Lucy Amukoa a friend of Jenny's who she met when working in Kibera slum on a 3 week project back in 1998!! - Lucy, her husband Andrew and their family moved to Kakamega 5/6 years ago and through Jenny's mum and various other fundraisers there is now a huge project going on there ... check out www.rushuk.org.uk for more information! Here are some of the first year girls in the tailoring school! - they are funded for 2 years and take a certificate at the end! Here is the new school building ... the roof has recently been added ... they just need windows and a concrete floor and then Standard 1-4 classes can move in!! With 148 children in the RUSH Academy on the current site ... it will be a welcome relief for some to move here on completion! Here are some of the results of the carpentry school ... 7 beds ... which we saw presented to some of the RUSH members at a service (along with shoes, mosquito nets, clothes etc!) to those members of RUSH who don't have these things ... they were all so excited to receive them ... some even did a little jig!! The current RUSH Academy ... lining up ... to wash their hands before receiving lunch! - none of these children would receive an education if it wasn't for this project ... and like the kids-to-kids programme Jenny visited in Nairobi ... the children would receive 2 meals a day at school as well as an education! Here are is a snapshot of a RUSH meeting ... all the women (the men were hiding at the back!) dancing, singing and praising God! - there is a real sense of community here, everyone looks out for everyone else!! Just a snap shot of lunch in one of the classrooms at the RUSH academy!! - it was beans and maize corn boiled up ... a favourite meal of Lucy's!!!

Mark's Birthday!

Mark's Birthday ... (was just over a week ago ... but we haven't had access to add anything til now!!) was really nice!! - we had a lazy morning ... then phone calls from home (the only time we were away!!) ... and then we went to the MEAT restaurant that we mentioned in a previous post!! - we had beef and chicken (nothing too unusual there!!) and then Ostrich Meatballs ... Camel ... and Crocodile!!! We liked the Ostrich ... the Camel was just like a dry beef ... but the Croc was our least favourite ... it tasted like fatty pork ... but had a very distinctive twang to it!! In the afternoon we went to the Masaai Market and had fun haggling over prices of various things ... Jenny didn't let them get away with ripping us off too much ... they got more than they bargained for when they tried to sell at too high a price to her!! When we got to Kakamega a couple of days later to visit our friends the Amukoa's ... Lucy and Andrew has organised a cake for Mark we had a little birthday celebration on arrival!! Left to Right - Andrew, Lucy, Mark, Carol, Sally and Elon!! ... and they also bought Mark a birthday African shirt!! Here's Mark and Lucy outside the Amukoa's front door!!

The MAF compound!!

The Guest House we stayed in on the MAF compound in Nairobi was on Argwings Kodhek Road and housed 6 different MAF families as well as the Guest House ... we got to know most of them quite well!! - they were all nationalities ... British, Dutch, Finnish!!! There were also Kenyan staff there ... who made our stay even lovelier!! Here is Benson ... the day guard during the week ... 'posing' at his post at the main gate! Here is John ... he looks after the guest house ... cleaning, changing the beds, buying supplies, fixing things, washing, ironing ... he's a lovely guy and when not at the guest house, pastors a small church in Nairobi! This final photo is of Michael who looks after the grounds of the compound and keeps it looking lovely all the time ... and cleaning windows and other things as well!!

Kids-to-Kids Programme

Jenny was able to spend a couple of mornings helping with the Kids to Kids Programme based at the Childrens Church near Westlands. Janet Reeh, whose husband is the MAF Operations Manager and Pilot, teaches phonics and reading to groups of the children and took Jenny along. There are 29 children at the school between the ages of 7 and 13 of varying abilities and they are split by ability, not age, into 2 classes, upper and lower. All the children are from the nearby slums and would otherwise not be given the opportunity of an education. The children were so well disciplined and studious ... appreciating the chance they have been given! The children are given both breakfast and lunch every day while at school, where they would be lucky to receive one meal at day while at home ... here they are queueing to collect their lunch (with the church building in the background!) Each child is part of this programme for one academic year being taught the basics they need to then be fed into the Kenyan public school system. When they finish their year, they continue to be sponsored for the first year they are in a Kenyan school and given shoes, a school uniform and bag ... and a desk and chair (!!!) which every child must provide for themselves to go to school!! - the primary education might now be free in Kenya, but it still costs to attend school! Here is a photo of Janet with Violet and Eunice, the two main teachers at the school ... they were both so lovely! Violet takes the lower class who Jenny helped out with and Eunice the upper class. This is a picture of the 2 classrooms used for the school ... they are both quite basic and the resources are limited ... but they are the means for a life changing experience for the children who go there!

Saturday tourists!!

This weekend is our last one in Nairobi before we head to Kakamega ... so we thought we'd do something a bit touristy and visit the elephant orphanage which is in Nairobi National Park!! - see www.sheldrickwildlifetrust.org for more information!! There were 8 baby elephants all together and a baby rhino ... and they were all extremely cute ... we were there for an hour and the keepers talked about them all and the care and attention they all get!! - the keepers even sleep with them so they have a 'mummy'!!!! - we thought you might enjoy a few of the many pics we took!! Tomorrow is Mark's birthday ... and we're off to a very meaty restaurant for lunch to celebrate!! - we will be trying all different kinds of game ... and will let you know how they all tasted!!!

The New Life Orphanage

This week, on Tuesday, Mark took the day off from the hangar and went to the Orphanage with Jenny! It is interesting to look at the noticeboards in the reception area and see photos of children who are on deaths door and HIV positive when they arrived ... and next to them to see photos just months later, looking healthy, happy and HIV negative!!!! In spite of protesting that he didn't need an apron because he wasn't going to pick up the kids ... Mark was quickly charmed by Clint and the two were inseparable for the whole time we were there!!! Here is Jenny with Blessed (left) and Stella (right) - Stella had recently had all her hair cut-off because of ring-worm ... but she's still a cutie!! This is milk at the end of meal time ... half of them are still in high-chairs but this little lot feed themselves!!! - it looks orderly in the picture ... but the reality is a little different! Here is Jenny holding Clarissa (one of the newer arrivals) with Eunice one of the full-time Kenyan staff who has been working at the New Life Home since it opened 11 years ago ... she's lovely and all the kids always want cuddles from her!!

Jenny at West Nairobi School

Finally ... some pics from the school Jenny has been working at 3 days a week!! - it's called West Nairobi school and is mostly American run ... but is an international school with many different nationalities amongst the staff and students! Here is a view of the lower school classrooms from Kindergarden through to 6th Grade!! Here is the 6th Grade Class hard at work!!! - Jenny helped with them each day! A view of the Library ... which has 2 floors!!!! - outside 2 of the teachers are sitting having their lunch!! - Jenny spent a couple of afternoons in the library helping out! Here are two of the teachers Angela and Sarah ... who gave Jenny lifts to and from school every day ... both American but grew up as Missionary Kids in Africa!! This is Daylan with Jenny, she is the 6th Grade teacher ... and Jenny spent 2 hours every day in 6th Grade helping Daylan! - Behind is the Banda in which lunch is served in shifts to the different age groups of the school! - it was great food! At the beginning of the school day all the lower school kids play until the bell goes ... this is them all lining up ready to go to class ... you can probably make out a handful of nationalities if you look close enough!

Lazy Sundays!!

Most Sunday's we've tried to chill out and relax ... to prepare for the coming week!! We have also tried to visit a different church each week too ... the first week we went to the Vineyard church in Karen ... very international ... you could have been in any Vineyard church anywhere in the world!! Week 2 we went to Mamlaka Hill Chapel ... very African, great music and a nice feel to it!! Today, week 3, we went to the Childrens church on the edge of Westlands ... again very different from the other 2 ... quite Anglican ... but all aimed more for the kids ... it even had mini pews!!! Sunday afternoons are all about sitting on the verandah of the guest house and reading a book or dozing ... here's Jenny, getting very practiced at it!! (for those of the more observant among you, you'll notice that she's even wearing a skirt!!! - shock horror!!)

Day out on a MAF plane ... the photos!!!

Here are just a few of the photo's we took when we went out for the day on Friday!! - First we flew over Kibera slum ... right next to Nairobi city centre! This just shows you some of the homesteads out in the bush!! - and some very dry ground ... all cracked up! Here is Jenny standing next to the plane on the runway at Wamba ... there really wasn't much there at all ... we even saw a camel wandering around along the side of it!! This shows us both at Korr ... at each stop a gathering of locals formed almost instantly!! Mark in the cockpit ... loving every minute of the flying (except when he fell asleep!!) - the first time for him in a small aircraft ... and one he'd worked on as well!!!

Safari Pics!!

Here are a few of our Safari pics ... in a completely different order to how they were meant to appear!!! - oh well ...

This first one was a cheeky monkey who had his eye on our lunch ... and everybodies else's!!!

Here are the some of the hippos ... right lazy bunch they were ... could imagine just eating, sleeping and lounging in water all day!!

A few of the zebra we saw!

This is how close to the giraffe we got ... not bad eh?!!!

Another Week's Gone By Already!!

Well ... time has flown by this week with little access to the internet ... sorry for those of you who have been waiting for an update!! This week has been as busy as the rest of our time ... but one bonus has been that we've been the only people in the Guest House for the majority of the week and so at the end of the day we can just fully relax!! - that all changes again on Monday though!! Jenny is enjoying school more and more ... this week she has been working with a few kids who have needed some extra one-on-one help and also as a general classroom assistant in the 5th and 6th Grade classes! - Her time in the Orphanage was also good as some of the kids recognised her and wanted cuddles straight away ... and she also spent some time with a younger age group too, those who've just started walking ... or who aren't quite there yet ... they were just as cuddly!!! - food time is when they need most hands-on help ... and Jenny either spoon or bottle-fed about half a dozen kids on Tuesday evening!! Mark continues to work in the hangar! - most of his time has been spent trying to get an Ethiopian Caravan back in the air again. Unfortunately we've been waiting for some parts for the windshield from Cessna in the USA and they still haven't arrived after two weeks. But this does mean that some other jobs that were going to wait till it was back home have now been done!! Next week Mark will be leading the morning devotion times ... for those who really know him ... you'll now be picking yourselves off the floor ... yes, I'm going to be speaking in public. The Monday to Thursday slots are just a short 5min time of reading a daily bible note ... but Friday is a more indepth look at a passage and he has to prepare this week ... and is already nervous about it!!!!! Thursday night the Bernard, the MAF Kenya Director popped round with a surprise for us ... he said that there were 2 seats on a flight the following day ... so we could go and see what a day for a MAF pilot would be like!! - we set off at around 10am (on a plane that Mark had done a little bit of work on!!) ... and stopped in 4 places before returning to Nairobi at 4.30pm!! First stop Wamba, a village by some mountains to drop off an Italian Nun (there is a Caltholic hospital and school there), then Korr, for a pick up ... it was really sandy/desert-like ... and there was a strong wind blowing sand into eyes, mouths etc etc (gritty teeth for a while after that!!!) Third stop Marsabit, where we collected quite a few people, it was more of a built up and 'green' area ... with our only non-dirt runway (apart from Nairobi!!) and finally even further North to Kalachi to pick up an AIM missionary ... where it was very hot 35 degrees!! - 4 completely different stops ... and a chance to see an Africa that we were much more interested in!!!! Well, we are now almost into our last week here working for MAF! The time has just flown by but it has given us a real good look at MAF and the way they work. On Tuesday 12th we will be flying to Kakamaga to visit some friends of Jenny's and a chance to see another part of Kenya - hopefully we'll be adding to this at least once more before we head there though!!

Mini Safari!!

Here's a pic of us on Safari ... it's not proving straight forward to add images to something we've already written ... so we're going to add them as a new post!! - enjoy!! Friday night we went out for dinner with a few friends to an Ethiopian restaurant right opposite our compound (it was the end of the week and we were shattered!!) It was great food and really cheap ... we'll be going there more often!! - it's even cheaper than going to the supermarket and doesn't require cooking or washing up!!! We had a day out yesterday ... we went out to Lake Naivasha on a mini-safari with some other friends!! - first on a boat trip (tiny boat!!!) amongst a whole load of hippos ... who were more interested in sleeping than in us!! And loads of different wierd and wonderful birds!!! Later on we went to Crater Lake Game Park, where the only predators are snakes ... so we got out of the car and wandered around right next to 10 giraffes and a dozen zebra!!! ... before you ask ... yes, we took photos ... it's not straight forward to get them on the blog though!!! Watch this space, they'll be coming soon!! Back to 'work' tomorrow for us both!! ... it's becoming a real routine thing now!!!

Hangar Photos!!

As promised ... some pics!! ... well just 2 for now anyway!!! Here's Mark 'posing' by the Ethiopian aircraft he has been working on this week!!! Mark with Oscar ... cleaning screws!!! - tough work eh?!! Oscar has been telling Mark what to do this week!! We promise to add more soon ... when we've taken more!!! - have a good weekend!

End of Week 1!!

Firstly ... we apologise for our picture-less blog!!! - basically we've not taken any photos yet!!! - we promise to get our acts together some point soon!! And for those of you who don't know what MAF is ... it's Mission Aviation Fellowship!! We're now into more of a routine ... and had quite a relaxing weekend as well which was much needed after a hectic first few days!! Mark's been working on the engine of a Cessna 210 and has helped service an Ethiopian Cessna 208 Caravan (for those that want to know ... or can make sense of the code!!) He has had a lot more hands-on work the last couple of days and so has enjoyed it a lot more! - He's also getting to know the guys who he's working with a bit more which is making work easier! One highlight was being taken to lunch by another mzungu (white man!) to the Palais ... where he tucked in to a meal of beans, cabbage, something green and flavoured water with chapati and ugali all for the rip-off price of 40 Ksh (Kenyan Shillings) ... there's about 135 Ksh to the pound!! Jenny's now spent a couple of days in West Nairobi School ... it's so American it's almost painful!! (sorry to all our US buddies!!) but the staff are nice and it's good to see the other side of education available in Africa! She's also spent a day in the New Life Home orphanage ... where there are 51 children from babies in incubators to toddlers (they move on to another orphanage when they are approx 3 or are fostered or adopted!) - the kids are gorgeous and love being cuddled and just playing together! Thanks for all your comments and emails about the blog ... we'll be on again at the weekend! - maybe even with the odd picture or 2!!!

Getting Acclimatized!!

Well ... we've survived our first week here!! On Wednesday ... we were introduced to nearly everyone in the MAF hangar where Mark will be working and took a little stroll around the area we're living in ... sussing out the shops ... where believe it or not, the supermarkets were bigger than those at home ... and you can even get a bunkbed with your weekly shop!!! On Thursday ... Mark started work in the Hangar ... leaving for work at 7.15am ... he was not impressed!! He is the only non-Kenyan member of staff working on the shop floor!! - Jenny visited the school she will be working in 3 days a week ... it's an amazing international school ... looks more like a holiday resort!!! - and then went into town material shopping with some of the other MAF wives!!!!! On Friday ... Mark (after another early start!) had another long day in the hangar ... which included sitting in one of the aircraft (that he had been working on) for a ground run! - Jenny went to the MAF ladies meeting in the morning (another MAF wife past-time!!!) and moved into the guest house where Mark has been since the start (there wasn't enough room for both of us when we arrived!!!) We've met loads of great people ... and every evening this week have been treated to a home cooked meal by a different MAF family as part of the 'welcome' hospitality while people find their feet ... we're on our own now and so visited one of the mega-supermarkets to stock up!!! Hope you're all well ... we'll be in touch again soon!!

WE'RE HERE!!!

Hi there, just wanted to say that we have arrive in Nairobi and are just settling in to the MAF guest house. We'll both be finding out exactly what we'll be doing tomorrow (Thur 17th Aug). Will post again when we know more. P.S. I know Jen isn't a Beckwith just yet ... but it won't be long!!