Hello everyone, greetings from Kenya.
I really appreciate your comments both on here and on Facebook, it’s nice to hear what you’re getting up to as well! (Small plug for an excellent blog here by a very wonderful lady - www.justkissmyfrog.wordpress.com)
I am currently typing from the COWART office in Kiptere, where they have power, for the moment anyway! Around the corner of the office door 3 small children keep peering at me and grinning. Once again the Mzungu celebrity status returns!
So I will give another little run through of what I’ve been getting up to, it’s unlikely that I’ll keep this up over the weeks but maybe I’ll try! It’d be nice to leave Kenya with a written reminder of my ICYE year but I’m perhaps not that dedicated. I’d also like to get back to doing some creative writing (Kathy you make me feel guilty for not writing anything, especially when your blog is so great!)

Wednesday 27/1/10: The mobilisation meeting did not go so well. Unfortunately the guys don’t really understand my English and so it had to be translated. I tried to play some improvisation drama games to get them motivated but even Fortunately/Unfortunately (Fortunately there were 12 guys working digging drainage/unfortunately only 6 of them were actually doing anything etc etc…) didn’t work. But I live and learn, next week it will be better!

Thursday 28/1/10: Today I arrived at the Kiptere office to find no one here, at 10am I left to go to the town office to wait for Weldon to come and get some work done. I did some research on street theatre techniques but there is very little online, so if anyone has any good ideas they are very much welcome! I also made a start on writing an Easter play for Eland school but without meeting the kids I don’t know what they are capable of doing in English so I will have to wait and see. Weldon had gone back to Kiptere to pay our ‘cash for work’ guys and said he would return to show me the way back to the town house. In Kenyan fashion, the plan fell through and I had to take a Boda-Boda (A motorbike taxi), the guy’s name is Minister and he drives like a crazy thing! I would feel a little more comfortable if he watched the road a bit more but he is definitely a skilful driver since he can negotiate the ‘interesting’ road surfaces around here. We arrived home and he had decided that the price was 100ks, I knew for a fact it was double what it should be but for this once I couldn’t be bothered bargaining and I let him off. Next time I will only pay 50ks! Staying in the town house means that I can get a real shower (even if it is cold) and maybe watch a DVD, so it’s actually quite a luxury!

Friday 29/1/10: Today was my day for stupid things!
First we were walking into town to go back to the village and we have to go down a valley, cross a river and up the other side to get to town. It involves jumping some very muddy gaps in the track… the final one of which I managed to slip and fall into! The mud covered basically my whole left side splattered up to the shoulder! Well, I say mud, use your imagination here, it’s not quite just mud. So you can guess that I was not too impressed, the Kenyans however found it hilarious!
One positive thing of the trip in town is that I have managed to get a new mosquito net (minus huge holes!) so hopefully I will get bitten less now. Mostly I think it’s bites from whatever interesting creatures our 10 dogs are carrying and not mosquitoes so I guess that’s a bonus on the avoiding malaria side of things but not so pleasant either. Probably no one wants to know about my bites but there you go, I can’t help it if every biting insect thinks I taste good!
Then we were walking up the other side and I discovered that an opportune thief must have spied the matatu fare that I was keeping in my back pocket. It must have appeared after the slip. So it rapidly disappeared! It was my own stupid mistake and luckily it was only 100ks which is around £1 so other than being annoyed at my second stupidity it was no real tragedy. I was due to start teaching the music and drama today but because we had some visitors from USAID and Mercy Corps (the sponsors of out Cash for Work project) I will have to start in the school next Friday.

Saturday 30/1/10: Mobilisation Day! I arrived at 12pm to discover that the boys had been dancing since 10am and they were doing a very good job of attracting attention. The only problem was that we had gained some members; we can only pay 10 people for the day but had ended up with 16! In the afternoon we did some short skits and competitions. Our VCT counsellors tested over 40 people and then ran out of test kits! So I would say that it was a very good day! I didn’t get home until after 7pm so was very tired.
Sunday 31/1/10: Today I had to be up at 6am to get ready to be picked up by the main road, Sister Lucy came by in her car to take me down to mass. Which starts at 7am! We got to the church just in time for a cup of tea. It was a really nice mass, the words were in English but the singing in Kiswahili. It is attended by the 2 local schools and there was a lot of dancing whilst they were singing. I got to meet Sister Imelda who is one of the other nuns here and also the head teacher of a primary school she has set up here. After mass Sister Lucy introduced me to some of the congregation and to the priest. She proudly stated ‘This is Laura, she’s a Catholic from England who’s here for a year.’ I think she’s just a little pleased that I have come. So much for a break from church things hey! We then had breakfast and she drove me back to the track where I walk home. Then at about 11am Memo said that it was time to go to her church, it is very close to the house in Kesainet primary school. I arrived to be stared at as usual, (you get used to it) and then near to the end of the service (which was all in Kalenjin) I was asked to come to the front and introduce myself. Really this means preach but I had been warned and so only just went to tell them who I was and what I’m doing here in Kenya. The rest of the day was a restful one thankfully but sadly I have now finished ‘The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society’, if you get the chance to read it I thoroughly recommend it! I think that I will even read it again fairly soon. I’ve moved onto ‘Into the Wild’ (also very good with a film of the book for those who don’t like reading!).

Monday 1/2/10: Today I lead the COWART club in St Frances Girls School on myths and facts of HIV. However the session could only last 15mins because the school were prepared late and I had to head into Kericho town as soon after 5 as possible. I think it went pretty well for the time we had. Memo and my brother Kimutai came to stay in Kericho as a treat before they go off to boarding school this week. The four of us (Piia, Me, Memo and Kimutai) played a game of scrabble in the evening. We played in English and I lost spectacularly only achieving about 65 points while the others all scored over 100! Losing to a Finn and two Kenyans who’ve not even started secondary school is a little embarrassing but I can cope, especially since I seem to lose every game we play here!

Tuesday 2/2/10: Today we were supposed to be working on proposals and plans for our work in Kiptere but Weldon had to go into town to get paint for the ‘Cash for Work’ boys who had randomly decided to work today instead of Wednesday. So when he arrived back at the house we took Memo and Kimutai to the matatu to go back to the village and we then went to visit Kericho Youth Centre. They have a new manager and outreach coordinator so we went to discuss what work we will be doing together. The meeting went well and I think we have managed to organise some Peer Educator training for later this month. Back at home after making some tea Weldon and I worked on the documents we should have done in the morning and mostly we have now finished them which is good. It’s really nice to achieve something concrete, makes me feel like I’m actually doing something useful!

Wednesday 3/2/10: I managed to get a lift back to the village with Sister Lucy and arrived at around 2:30pm. I had organised to assemble my 10 mobilisers for Saturday and to plan some kind of programme for the afternoon. This week we are only doing skits and dancing from 3-5pm since we have a board meeting in the morning. The meeting actually went really well this week, (well compared to last week anyway!) We now have some kind of plan of what is going to happen and will meet again tomorrow to rehearse some of the skits. (Again any ideas always welcome!) When I got home at 6pm my other sister (Chelangat) was just starting to wash up the lunch things so I joined in to help. Everyone seemed very surprised that I had not even rested after walking from Kiptere but I just wanted to join in on family activities and be useful so it seemed only natural to help! Later Memo and I were to peel the potatoes for dinner and there was equal surprise that I knew how to peel. I do quite enjoy creating these surprises, that I know how to wash clothes, wash dishes, peel potatoes etc. It makes up for the many things that I don’t know how to do! Still not had another chance at milking the cow but on the plus side I have been taught how to pluck tea, even if I am incredibly slow at it!

Thursday 4/2/10: It’s now the day after I started writing this very long blog, I hope you don’t mind reading about my days. If you’re getting bored then tell me!
This morning it rained!!!
Excitement everywhere in the village because it has been dry for almost a month. Later I will work with the mobilisers and tomorrow I will go to Eland School to start the lessons (if everything goes to plan this week!)

Things are still going well and I even have acquired a slight tan, well really I’m just ever so slightly less white than I was when I arrived. Not been sun burnt yet so that’s a bonus too!
Now I want to know some news from those of you with enough time on your hands to read my ramblings! Some sarcastic comments are also very welcome, there is none of that here and I’m starting to miss it! Also there are no hugs here, only shake hands at every opportunity. I think when I get home I will not remember that hugs are part of daily life with you guys but I will go around just shaking everyone’s hands!