As the situation in Kenya is not getting any better and it is really not a safe place to be at the moment, we have decided that the best thing would be for me to come home. I am going to spend my day today at Nairobi airport, which is very safe and out of the areas of trouble, waiting for my flight home. I will be leaving late tonight and arriving back in London very early tomorrow morning.
I will post more about how I feel about this soon. It is a very difficult and sad time thinking about what has happened in the place where I was living, which this time last week was full of people going about their every day lives.
Tuesday, 29 January 2008
Monday, 28 January 2008
Being in Kenya...
This time last week I had just arrived in Kenya. I had thought I would be in Uganda for sometime longer but there was a sudden change of plan. Last week we were not sure whether we would be able to travel to Kenya at all.
An election took place in Kenya on 28th December to choose the president of the country. In many African countries this can be a difficult time, and this has been the case in Kenya. Most African countries are made up of lots of different tribes; these are ancient families that have traditions and rituals of their own. Today in Kenya they no longer live together in one place but are spread throughout the whole country. Most of the time they live peacefully alongside one another, however during a government election, tribes will vote for their own candidate, somebody from their own tribe.
The election here didn't go well. Some people believe that it was "rigged" meaning that the results were not the truth, but were changed. The winner of the election was a man called Kibaki, the same president as before. This caused people to become upset and angry with each other. Since 28th December there has been some violence in the towns and cities where different tribes live together.
Because of these problems we had cancelled our trip to Kenya because the British Government had said it was not safe. Last week, things had calmed down a lot and so the government told people it was ok to travel, but sadly, this weekend, things have become dangerous in Naivasha, where I am living.
I am safe in the Sunshine Boys Centre, which has gates and good security at all times. The British Government here in Kenya are telling people not to go out of their houses at the moment, so for now I am staying in.
My new house, Sunshine Cottage, was built for me by the Kenyans. When I arrived here to move in I was amazed at how big it was - they have done a great job in making it really cosy as well. Here is a picture of me outside my front door, with Colin Bloom, the Chief Executive of Mission Care, and Simon Kinyanjui Chege, who is the director at the Sunshine Boys Centre.
An election took place in Kenya on 28th December to choose the president of the country. In many African countries this can be a difficult time, and this has been the case in Kenya. Most African countries are made up of lots of different tribes; these are ancient families that have traditions and rituals of their own. Today in Kenya they no longer live together in one place but are spread throughout the whole country. Most of the time they live peacefully alongside one another, however during a government election, tribes will vote for their own candidate, somebody from their own tribe.
The election here didn't go well. Some people believe that it was "rigged" meaning that the results were not the truth, but were changed. The winner of the election was a man called Kibaki, the same president as before. This caused people to become upset and angry with each other. Since 28th December there has been some violence in the towns and cities where different tribes live together.
Because of these problems we had cancelled our trip to Kenya because the British Government had said it was not safe. Last week, things had calmed down a lot and so the government told people it was ok to travel, but sadly, this weekend, things have become dangerous in Naivasha, where I am living.
I am safe in the Sunshine Boys Centre, which has gates and good security at all times. The British Government here in Kenya are telling people not to go out of their houses at the moment, so for now I am staying in.
My new house, Sunshine Cottage, was built for me by the Kenyans. When I arrived here to move in I was amazed at how big it was - they have done a great job in making it really cosy as well. Here is a picture of me outside my front door, with Colin Bloom, the Chief Executive of Mission Care, and Simon Kinyanjui Chege, who is the director at the Sunshine Boys Centre.
I have already done and seen some amazing things while I have been in Africa. While I was in Uganda I went to Jinja, and saw the source of the Nile. The Nile is the longest river in Africa, and passes through Sudan and Egypt. You may have learned about the Nile at school if you have studied the Ancient Egyptians. At the end, the river flows into the Mediterranean Sea. Uganda has the biggest lake in Africa too, and the source of the Nile flows from this lake, which is called Lake Victoria. There is a spring, which is an underground source of water which causes water to shoot out from beneath the Earth's surface. The spring makes the water in the lake begin to flow, and from the source of the Nile in Jinja it takes three months for the water to travel into the Mediterranean Sea - it travels a staggering 4000km. Here is a picture of our boat at source of the Nile:
Maybe you can leave me a comment with any facts you can find out about the Nile or about Lake Victoria. I would be interested to hear what you can discover about them as they are both truly amazing.
I also went for a drive to Nakuru National Park where I was really excited to see lots of animals in the wild - wildebeest, warthogs (like Pumbaa in The Lion King!), zebras, giraffes and even rhinos to name a few of the things we saw.
I am now hoping that the police and the Red Cross can sort things out in the town of Naivasha, where people have been fighting, so that it is safe for me to continue my work with the people here, especially the boys at Sunshine.
Friday, 25 January 2008
Arriving in Africa...
My flight on Sunday night from London into Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, took just over 7½ hours, it was a night flight meaning I was supposed to sleep, but I watched a film.
Moving out for seven months meant my bags were very full, so full that my hand luggage was almost too big to fit in the overhead locker on the plane, I really had to force it in.
The first two days here in Uganda were spent in a rural town called Kanganda; Mission Care will be working in this village hoping help the people there who are very poor and needy. I met some of the children here, their clothes are dirty, torn and shredded and most have no shoes. Lots of the children were smiling and laughing but they were malnourished, which means that they don’t eat enough and have a poor diet. They can’t afford to buy food like we can.
Moving out for seven months meant my bags were very full, so full that my hand luggage was almost too big to fit in the overhead locker on the plane, I really had to force it in.
The first two days here in Uganda were spent in a rural town called Kanganda; Mission Care will be working in this village hoping help the people there who are very poor and needy. I met some of the children here, their clothes are dirty, torn and shredded and most have no shoes. Lots of the children were smiling and laughing but they were malnourished, which means that they don’t eat enough and have a poor diet. They can’t afford to buy food like we can.
We were there to survey the land, measuring it before we can build on it. We had some very odd equipment that I didn’t know how to use, but Andrew, Mission Care’s architect, knew what to do and I helped him. While we were there it rained very heavily, and we had to run for shelter. Since they have little clean water in the village I took a picture of a rain collecting device one man had made. Very clever!
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