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.
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