Blogs from Nairobi Province, Kenya, Africa - page 10

Today was Sunday, and that usually means church. Speck and Caroline did not go for 2 reasons, Speck speaks no Swahili and the water was off, delaying showering. Junior is expected to be back and provide transport at noon to downtown Nairobi so that Speck and Caroline could catch up with Bilha Muthoni, aka, Caroline's sister in law. Caroline grew impatient when at 12:30 Junior was still a no-show and she and Speck walked to the bus stop and took the Double M bus into town. This was Specks first experience with Kenya traffic and he found it very similar to Panamanian traffic. Two lane roads had three lanes of traffic, stop lights are suggestions, and pedestrians are nearly fearless. Bilha was found quickly even though her cellphone was dead and the identification she had provided ... read more

Speck's travel challenge begins the night before as he woke up at 10 pm to squeeze in one last shift at work before absconding for 25 days. After his 8 hour shift, during which he checked travel weather reports, printed terminal maps for the airports he would pass thru and checked to see if there were any changes in flight status, Speck rushed home for a shower and to make sure Caroline was awake and ready to climb into the car. Lights were staged, all cabinet doors opened so that pipes would not freeze (it was -1 f), thermostat turned down to 60, bags by the front door and Caroline stressed for the strange reason of she is not used to being ready on time or early. Mama Speck arrived in the van and Speck schlepped ... read more

I'm getting used to the daily life and routine here now, up with the cockerel, 6am, and greeted by a chicken on the bed. Breakfast is a slice of bread and chai (tea). Fetch water which is heavy work. An apple or banana for lunch at 2 and then we have dinner at sunset at 7ish. Dinner is usually cabbage tomatoes and onion cooked in loads of oil served with either rice maize or chapattis. Apart from the oil, it's actually quite nice. Our evening meal is eaten in torchlight only which is hard to get used to. I did try and cook an early meal one day so we could eat in the light but they prefer to eat at sunset. I'm usually in bed after a thorough bug search by 9pm exhausted but still ... read more

I've had a busy time since I arrive back in Nairobi. The work continues at the office to complete the accounting and get the company in order to be able to sell and so there has been little time to do anything else! However, on the weekend in the mornings Dad and I took a break and went to do some touristy things! We went to the Kenya Wildlife Services orphanage where animals that are rescued as babies are hand raised and then looked after for the rest of their lives. Although, it looks a lot like a zoo the men that look after the animals have a very personal relationship with each one of them. Each animal has a story associated with them and one was a baby Mangabee monkey from the Congo with a ... read more

Although I have now been here an entire week, time moves so slowly it feels like it's been much longer! I am heavily focused on the task I have of working for my father and have established a routine of getting up making (exceptional!) coffee, driving into the office and working steadily with the only break a nice lunch. Even when we drive home we often work into the evening. I work at a hangar belonging to a company that controls insects and birds populations that put food crops at risk. The hangar is dusty and busy at all times with the administration and maintenance of the plane fleets for multiple companies. It is fascinating to have a view of the runway and watch the helicopters and planes passing by and I learn more about aviation ... read more