Blogs from Africa - page 2689

MUZUNGU, MUZUNGU, que significa "hombre blanco" son las palabras que escuche por parte de decenas de chavitos cuando atravesaba por el barrio de Mshomoroni para llegar al orfanato a hacer mis labores. Es como cuando nosotros llamamos gringos a los gringos..jaja! Pues la últimas 2 semanas las pase trabajando con huerfanos, algunos de ellos con HIV. La mayoría de estos niños quedaron huerfanos debido a que su padre o mandre o ambos murieron a consecuencia de sida. Se dice que alrededor de 20% de la población total de Kenia esta infectada, que fuerte, no? MIS LABORES *Profesor de ingles y social studies *Profesor de computación para los maestros *Entrenador de Futbol (En el partido que tuvimos vs otro orfanato nos golearon 5-1, pero se me hacen que traian cachirules, algunos de sus chavitos de trece años ... read more

Finally, after much anticipation, the newly formed Nsinda ‘Blue Bloods’* (Formerly known as Nsinda Vocational School) kicked off in their first match of the new ‘Dry Season’, away to Nsinda Secondary. If you thought travelling to Old Actonians was a nightmare, you ain’t seen nothing - this was a ‘local derby’ and it still took us over an hour in two much needed 4x4s, and the pitch, best described as bush, made Old Stationers 5th team pitch look like a bowling green - a good one. We were in our red away strip, Nsinda Secondary in their customary white - When I say ‘strips’, what actually happens is all 22+ players line up and we try and mix and match the most common colours as best we can, old school style. - Today its red and ... read more

One of the things that strikes me is how run-down most of the areas of Cairo look - there is trash everywhere, as well as dung. Cars share the road with buggies pulled by horses or mules. Camels are all over. Outside the city, there are areas where there are lush palm trees all over, and fields of farming - very pretty. We headed into the pyramid of Titi, which from the outside doesn't look like a pyramid, but instead a huge mound of sand and stone. This is one of the first pyramids to be inscribed inside. Inside we first went down about 20 meters and the first chamber is beautiful - light colored walls with two entire sides of the wall covered in hieroglyphics - simply beautiful. The second room has a ceiling full ... read more

This morning, we were up at the crack of 7:00 to get ready for breakfast with the Browns. It was a bit of a struggle, after the after-midnight signoff last night! We met up with the Browns about 9:00 and headed back to the Tygervalley Center, to the Mugg and Bean. I had a "South African" breakfast--full farm with borewors!! We had a chuckle about the "American" breakfasts the boys were having--complete with baked beans and large french fries! After we'd finished, we collected Ruth and Fabes and headed to Betty's Bay to see the penguins. Owen rode with the Browns, and the 2 youngest Brown boys and Ruthie rode with us. Boy, was that a hoot! Dean was full of energy, and Chad was full of questions. ("Granny, how do they make curry?) The drive ... read more

Hi everyone, Well here goes for another entry. I'm sorry I haven't been on more often, and especially sorry I haven't replied to messages as quickly as I'd have liked but the honest truth is that I have just been so busy. Work is going really well. I'm doing something different everyday. Highlights of the week have included teaching the patients Welsh, in exchange for them teaching me Zulu. They are, I have to say much better at the Welsh than I am at the Zulu, surprise, surprise. They have very good ways of working phrases out too. For example, "Syt wyt ti?" has become "Sit and wait". I've also been to a convant, Japanese gardens, made home visits, helped with staff training, been to a board meeting and help develop a mother and child education ... read more