The people I have known

It’s always difficult to pick up writing again after time away from it. Simply too much has happened in the last 3 weeks for me to give anything more than a flavour of it here; but I do seem to have met some interesting people:

In December, when Albert and I were at Mombassa airport waiting for my brother’s delayed flight to arrive, my voice was overheard and an Englishman came and introduced himself. He turned out to be Richard Trillo, the writer of the Rough Guide to Kenya. He was also waiting for his family to arrive having been travelling for several weeks already putting together the next edition. Of course we gave Arocha and Mwamba a big plug. Although we were already in the listings for accommodation some of the info was out of date so Richard, who was staying at Turtle Bay, said he’d pop by in a few days and get the latest details from us. He turned up a week or so later at the end of a very busy day but Aaron and I managed to make ourselves look professional, I think. My only regret was that he wasn’t the writer for the Lonely Planet (although of course I didn’t tell him that) – they haven’t listed us yet and their website isn’t very helpful. Anyone know how to get listed in the Lonely Planet?

Around the same time as my brother arrived, Robin, another guest came to stay. She amused me by marching in 2 days earlier than she was booked, nearly walking right by us and then double backing with "Where do I pay?" I responded, maybe not very politely with "Who are you?" but I can't have offended her much because she’s still here! A single woman from New Hampshire, USA (it’s difficult to guess her age but I’d say 40’s) she’s loved this place from the moment she got here. She’s been working with Medicine Sans Frontiers the other side of Kenya on the shores of Lake Victoria but although she’s been next to the water no one can swim there as the water is full of…something(?) which makes it unsafe – so living next to the ocean is just what she’s needed. In an effort to save money she moved onto the roof top after a few days where she’s been camping out ever since. She’s one of the most content and grateful people I’ve ever met, she complains about nothing, always loves the food no matter what’s on the menu and is happy just wandering up and down the beach and whiling away the days reading books from our little library. Despite our protests that she’s a guest she’s started to help out around the place and even cleaned the windows yesterday. A testament to how familiar she’s become was Aaron’s declaration when I got back from Lamu on Thursday, “We don’t have any guests at the moment, none at all”. Robin was on the roof at the time and amused to hear this.

My knowledge of Medicine Sans Frontiers was patchy but they always seem to me to be working in the worst disaster zones around the world – I suppose that’s where people need doctors – so I’ve always held them somewhat in awe. Robin is not a medic she’s actually an accountant and worked in the logistics department; and although they do work in difficult places (Robin’s considering another assignment this time in Darfur) they work in peaceful places like Lake Victoria too. Her job was with an AIDS programme which treats in total about 13,000 patients, 9,000 of which they’ve got onto antiretroviral drugs. Not everything Robin said about MSF was positive but these are impressive figures - as she said - more than any other NGO is doing in that area.

Another interesting personality this Christmas was Peter Johnson, a Kenyan who likes to use the English names his parents gave him because he can keep his tribal identity a secret from other Kenyans. At least that’s what he told me. What can I say about Peter? He reminds me of so many other people I’ve met but no one person in particular. He’s a people person, someone who gets things done, he laughs a lot, he’s great with children, he likes to talk about himself but the more he says the less clear you are about who he really is. He has two houses in Nairobi and runs a charity working with boys from the wrong side of the tracks, he’s also on the board of another charity and has fingers in a number of other pies I’m sure – and he makes films. He’s given me his contact details and hopefully when I’m in Nairobi I’ll visit his charity and, he’s promised me, some parts of the city I wouldn’t normally see as a tourist. I’m keeping an open mind.

Then there's Swiss Philip who's working in Nairobi for 6 months and came to Mwamba for the weekend back in November just after I arrived. He liked the place so this time he's come back with his girlfriend. He's an environmental engineer and knowledgeable about all sorts (he was the one who told me the reef here was so damaged). He's involved with a project where they've discovered that you can purify water if you leave it in a plastic bottle in the sun for long enough. Seriously! We didn't believe him either but if you go to www.sodis.ch you can find out more.

The people who’ll I’ll miss the most from the last few weeks though have to be the children – so many of them! There have been times of absolute chaos especially when little Martin and Chiko (earlier referred to as Nalius) were together. Both were only about 4 years old and too young to speak any English (or even Swahili in Chiko’s case) and both were on holiday without their real parents and at times in desperate need of someone to look after them. We took turns taking them to the beach, supervising Chai time (jam and bread all over the place) and laughing with them. Chiko was definitely the toughest, no amount of falling over could reduce her to tears and despite not being able to swim she often went into the water up to her head. The only time she got upset was watching people leave in cars and Tuk Tuks without her. This was not because she missed them but because she was obsessed with cars and wanted to go too!

There have been plenty of others too but no time to mention them now, I haven’t even begun to talk about Rachel, she’ll have to keep for next time. Here’s a few pictures…

Chiko and Martin

Peter and Chiko

Keziah, Chiko and Rachel making a cake on Christmas day...