M and M

It’s been a busy six months for Murray, starting a new job, travelling to new places and meeting new people. I’m now managing water supply systems and other infrastructure development for more than 2 million refugees in camps in 10 countries across East, Horn and Central Africa. My first visit was to three camps along the northern border of South Sudan, where close to 200,000 refugees have crossed the border due to fighting in the North. I was involved in planning infrastructure for two new camps, and also upgrading infrastructure in the existing camps in the face of a Hepatitis E outbreak. I then spent time at HQ in Geneva meeting the management team and learning the new internal organisation systems. While in Geneva I managed to catch up with a couple of old school friends ... read more

Don’t you just hate goodbyes? I prefer “see-ya-laters”. Nairobi seems to be emptying out of our friends this past year, and the beginning of the year has seen 3 families dear to us leave. It is hard, it really is, saying goodbye, explaining to little ones that they won’t see “soo-and-soo” as they will now live in – pick one “Myanmar, Cambridge, Romania, Scotland, Australia, Chad, DRC, Finland, Dubai, America, etc, etc”. We have friends all over the world, and it is hard. So hard, I needed to escape from Nairobi, yet again, I headed to South Africa with a friend. South Africa doesn’t feel like the “Africa” I know, it’s so much cheaper than Kenya, the roads are smooth, the shopping is amazing, you can buy anything you want in the supermarket, clothes, house stuff, ... read more

We did our normal Christmas in Nairobi, dropping into the orphanage in the morning, and then opening presents in the afternoon. This year we even managed to be social with friends and had an amazing feast at my friend Katies house. The highlight for me this year was watching Hayley and Emma interact with the babies at the orphanage. Normally Hayley and Emma are both jealous of anyone I hold, and stick very close to mum. This year Hayley was getting toys for the babies and making sure if they cried that they were ok. Emma even ventured off my lap to play with some of the totos. As we left the orphanage to feast, and open presents, we were told one of the babies had passed away early in the morning at the hospital. What ... read more

Murray’s project with our organisation of the last 5 years has come to an end. It’s an end of an era really, and November has seen Murray say goodbye to the Nairobi and London offices. In our last days in Nairobi, I (Miriam) went to Switzerland for a training and a job interview. I really enjoyed the training, and enjoyed finding out who I was without being Mrs Murray or Mama Charlotte. Switzerland was beautiful in Autumn, and we even had snow on the first day. My French is worse than I thought, and often I didn’t risk it, as in the past Singhala or mixed English/Swahili is more likely to come out. I met some great people, and also have a strange bond with those who I experienced the training with. It was INTENSE was ... read more

New Zealand, Aotearoa, Land of the Long white cloud. I have to say, I shed a little tear as we started our decent to Auckland International airport, on a long white cloud. I love New Zealand, and as one of my very wise Kenyan friends said, "There is no place like home, wherever home is". We had a lovely holiday, spending some time at Mount Ruapehu before Mount Tongariro erupted. This was the kids first real snow experience. Charlotte went to snow planet in Auckland and Hayley went to snow planet in Dubai. The kids really enjoyed it, making snow people, making snow angels and tobogganing. Charlotte tried skiing, but preferred the toboggan. At one point, Charlotte was just lying in the snow, looking up at the clouds, completely at home. Murray & I did a ... read more