from Nairobi to the mara

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First off, thanks to everyone who helped get my entries back, you've helped me so much! I can't even remember the last time I wrote here so I'm just gonig to sum up everything that's been happening in the past month or so.

I left Saikeri at the beginning of August and had a very stressful last few days as the library only just got finished in time. The chairs and desks and cupboards all arrived, so I spent my last day moving all the books, newspapers, magazines and past exam papers into them and organising some sort of a system. I really wanted to see the kids start to borrow them but the holidays had just started so all the teachers had gone home. But I'm planning to go back in a couple of weeks so I can check up on the progress then.

My last supper was awesome, my family cooked a big feast (rice, chicken, chapati, cake and fruit!) and invited a few people round. Speeches were made and gifts were given and it made me feel a little sad to be leaving as saikeri had been my home for 3 months.

After lugging all my bags (its amazing how much stuff I've accumulated) into Nairobi, I arrived at the Monari's house (which has been my 2nd home over these past 6 months), where I stayed for the rest of August. I worked at a local small school for 4 weeks, doing some one on one maths tutoring with some of the students who were falling behind (quite alot of them). It was exhausting work, but alot more fulfilling than the teaching I did in Saikeri, as I got to know each student individually and worked on their weaknesses. It was very fustrating at times, like when I found out one of my Std 8 students (the highest class in the primary school system) couldnt even tell me her timetables, or when I was trying to explain negative numbers to a Std 8 boy and it took him over 3 weeks for it to click. But there were definitely rewarding times, when the student suddenly gets it and cries "ooohhhh!!!!". It was pretty intense work, tutoring each student for 1 hour straight, so I ended up only being able to work up until lunch time, but i think some of the kids definitely benefited from the one on one work, since they rarely get it in class.

Last week I was lucky enough to work with a vet down in the masai mara who was innoculating all the masai dogs against canine distemper and rabies, because they were passing it onto the hyenas and jackals who then passed it on to the big cats, and many wild animals were dying from it. The work was awesome and I learned so much from it. We would go around from boma (hut) to boma, innoculating 5-10 dogs and puppies in every place, and occasionally go to the town centre so the men brought all their dogs to us. I'd then record all the names of owners and dogs and it was hilarious to hear what the masai had called them - Ass, a male called Jessica, 2 or 3 females called Jimmy, alot of Simbas, Socks, Madam (not always female), 4 eyes etc. It was a bit shocking to see the way they handled their dogs - usually holding the puppies up by their necks, strangling the dogs so that they stayed still, keeping 10 puppies in a sack, laughing or kicking them when they yelped at the pain of the injection, so Asuka (the vet) has also been trying to teach them how to handle their dogs properly. It was so amazing to be out in the mara (on the border of it), with zebras running across the road in front of us, elephants just behind the house and wildebeests dotted all around the mara.

I arrived back in nairobi yesterday, immediately wanting to be back in the bush, checked into a hostel and waited for Sadha to arrive from Dar es Salaam. She ended up arriving at midnight, and we've just spent today at the movies (had a bit of a splurge) and 2nd hand clothes shopping (getting a bit sick of wearing the same thing for months and months), and we're getting ready to go on our 4 day safari (back to the mara!) tomorrow morning, and then we're off to Lake Turkana for 8 days!

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Comments

[Dad]

At last!!
It was really good to hear from you, Hannah, to know you're happy and well. Good to hear you're helping these kids too and I'm glad you're getting some vet practice, although I'm sure it's very different from what you'd get here. Please don't leave it so long to let us know how and where you are. Lots of love from your (very relieved) Dad