Arrival and Beyond

Hello from 4,500 miles away (or thereabouts). Having been in Kenya for a week now I'm sure you can imagine there is so much I could write about that it's hard to know what to leave out. I'll try not to overload you (or run up a huge bill in Dreamworld - Watamu's internet cafe).

My journey here was uneventful until I got to Nairobi. I found domestic departures easily enough then I was told that my flight to Malindi wasn't happening today and I should go to Mombassa instead. I'd been awake all night, I had big bags to carry and people I'd never met were meant to be meeting me in Malindi not Mombassa so I was determined not to go. However the check-in assistant was very accomodating and promised they would arrange a car to take me the hour or so's journey from Mombassa to Malindi free of charge so I assented and got straight on the plane as it was about to leave - no hanging about for me. Once on the plane I got chatting to an English woman. When I told her my change of plans she said "good luck with getting the car".

They did get me a car, I was very impressed when a man found me at the airport and had my name on a bit of paper and it was even spelt correctly! Then he waved me towards a taxi driver who was quickly walking away with my bags and I had to follow slightly nervously. I thought for security reasons I should stay awake during the drive and also because I wanted to see the scenery but I was asleep within a few minutes. The very nice taxi driver woke me up as we arrived at Malindi airport and for a minute I was worried. If you've ever been to Sheffield airport you'll know the size of the one at Malindi only it's slightly smaller and scruffier. However, it does have a TV showing CNN. Welcome to Kenya :)

A little while later a young white man appeared at the door with something resembling my name on a bit of paper. This was Aaron, he's another volunteer with ARK, he's Canadian, 22, a Menonite, he's been here for nearly 2 months already but going home about the same time as I am, he's getting married next May and he's obsessed with birds, as is Albert. Albert is in charge of research and monitoring for ARK and is a total dude. He speaks Swahili, English and German and has worked as a Safari tour guide. He drove us to Watamu really slowly (compared with my speedy taxi journey) and he and Aaron had their heads out of the window most of the time looking into the trees. Welcome to Arocha :)

On arriving at Mwamba I finally met Belinda who I've been emailing on and off since May, her husband Henry and their nine month old Ivy who is gorgeous. Julia was another British volunteer who was in her final week. Everyone was very friendly and I was told I could go to sleep in the afternoon if I wanted and I'd have several days to acclimatise before I had much to do. Despite the heat I went to sleep straight away.

What have I done so far?
I've been into Watamu on a shopping trip where Julia showed me what was where
I've been to a school on the edge of the forest to present a gift of some desks from a local church
I've watched a turtle being released back into the sea and visited the Watamu Turtle Watch centre across the road. And yesterday we watched a tiny hatchling battle his way across acres (for him) of sand to the sea for the first time.
I've found the internet cafe - yay!
I've re-ordered Mwamba's library (OK it's a book shelf)
I've met the rest of the ARK staff and those who keep Mwamba running and been to my first Monday morning meeting
I've got sunburnt - impossible not to if you do a beach clearing at 10am
I'm gradually getting my head around the IT infrastructure here and accepting how slow everything is and how often the computers break!
I've gone on a crow count (yep we actually counted crows as they flew past)
I've welcomed a guest
Done my washing by hand - not much fun
Been to a church service in Malindi
Enjoyed watching the Kenyan's celebrate 'Obama day' :)
I've had to say goodby to Julia after she'd been so helpful at settling me in :(


Ups and Downs
Although there is a big spider that lives on the kitchen ceiling (no Liming its not as scary as you described more colourful and spindly) that's not been the hardest thing to deal with so far and I'm actually quite enjoying watching the gheckos on the walls and the occasional crab that scuttles across the dining room in the evening. I've also been looking out for the monkeys who seem shy most of the time and then on Monday decided to surround our rooftop meeting in the trees and make a lot of squawking and were almost agressive. Turned out they were just trying to distract us while they stole a loaf of bread.

The hardest thing has been accepting the lack of efficiency in the office at Mwamba and getting my head around such concepts as 'wireless dial-up'. They really struggle to get wireless reception -possibly due to being surrounded by so many trees. The old landline is unreliable because the monkeys swing on the lines. This makes phonecalls and internet connection intermittent and slow. We have to take the wireless phone up onto the roof to get 2 bars. They could do with a big extension arial but this would cost them about 850GBP - about 68000 Kenyan shillings I think(?) Unthinkable for a struggling charity but they are trying to fundraise.
They also want to get more guests to stay and improve the place as a guest house but while they are trying to run it as a working environment it kind of pulls in opposite directions.

Saturday was the first time I was given any formal introduction to Mwamba and Arocha's work. There are understandable reasons for this - H&B only started a year ago and have been very busy. At the end of last December the violence in Kenya meant a lot of bookings were cancelled and volunteers pulled out or went home early. Then in January their daughter Ivy was born several weeks prematurely. By the time Belinda was back on her feet the director Colin had left for South Africa as his wife (a South African) was admitted to hospital there. She has a very rare condition where she has too much iron in her blood and could have died. Since last March Colin who is supposed to be in charge has visited only twice. So as you can imagine things are not running as they're supposed to be. On the plus side H&B are open to new ideas from volunteers and are a very genuine and sweet couple and Ivy is lovely.

For Those Who Pray
Please pray for me that I can encourage H&B without criticising them and accept the way things are here.
Pray for H&B that they get enough rest - they are going on leave in December and Ivy will meet some of her extended family for the first time.
Pray for me that I can cope with the facilities some of which are basic - made harder because I'm now sharing a room and with the creepy crawlies (Aaron enjoys anticipating with creature I'll see next, maybe a Whip-Scorpion this week?)
Pray for the work of ARK in general that they can raise enough money through eco-tourism to pay their costs and cover the Assets scheme (more on that later)

More next week!

rx