Kenya - the second edition

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Hi all,

So here I am on my second expedition to Kenya to work with World Youth International (not counting, of course, the fact that it's technically my third time here due to the infamous Cairo/England fiasco). This time I'm the assistant team leader for a group of volunteers who have come here to build some eco-toilets in the village of Odede, and also to build some more mud huts for people who desperately need it, as well as a free medical clinic to many people within the village.

I arrived in Kenya yesterday at 1.15pm and spent the rest of the day with my good friend Victor and his lovely (and gorgeous) girlfriend, Jane.

Can I just take a moment here to highlight the utter discomfort and annoyance of being squashed in a plane in between two people you don't know for 14 hours?! For the first leg, I had a man I dubbed 'sniffles' on the right of me (I say sniffle, but really mean gigantic snorts, retching back what seemed to be an endless supply of mucus and boogers every 5 minutes!!!). I had to hold my tongue so many times from yelling at him to blow his nose, but didn't want to sound like my father who tended to say this frequently to my brother when he was a bit sniffly. Then on the 5 hour stint between Doha and Nairobi, I had a lovely mother and gorgeous children sitting in front of me, the former of whom decided to change bubs' pooey nappy right before the plane took off and subsequently stank the whole front of the plane out for the remainder of the trip. Ugh!

Anyway, all of that aside, I'm thankful that I survived the plane trip with minimal turbulence and zero nosedives. All in all - great success!

Vic and Jane greeted me at the airport and travelled with me to Upper Hill Campsite, where we ate lunch and I tried to stay awake and entertaining - neither of which was terribly successful.

Today I spent the day with Vic again and visited his home in Ngong - a small town called Bul Bul. I met with a bunch of his friends, and his mama cooked me lunch. I also was fortunate enough to see where my friend Mason stayed when he was here, and let their mutual friend Bridget know that I'm a real person who is a friend of Victors, not a figment of his imagination as she had originally thought. I also got a fresh taste for being the only white girl in a small town, and was again treated as somewhat of a celebrity amongst the local people and children. I only had a few people hold their nose to imitate my nasal tones, whcih again was different to what I'm used to.

Tomorrow I meet the first of the volunteers who have been in Odede for the past 5 weeks. On Sunday I meet the gang who I will be living with for the next 5 weeks, which I'm uber excited (and slightly nervous) about. New challenges. New responsibilities. New adventures.

Kenya - what will you show me this time? :0)

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