Maggy and i had an early start to get to Mto Panga, though it’s only a few miles from Shanzu. We were met y Maggy’s cousin, Dominic, recently ordained priest and appointed to the parish here. After breakfast in the priests’ house we drove to the first of 2 outstations, newly opened above Tudor Creek.
The church is temporary, though it’s already not big enough for th growing population in the area.
The choir
The second outstation, about a year old and also crowded
One of 2 Sunday School classes
Father Dominic leads the service
The choir
A happy mass-goer
Back at the main parish church
The priests’ house
A new bigger church is under construction
After a fine lunch and a little snooze, I hurried on to my next appointment, Shanique’s 4th birthday party, hosted by Tina.
Shanique and her cousin Gloria
Cake time
I’m back in Mombasa again, and staying at Joe’s place in Majaoni where Meld and I stayed 3 years ago. It’s like coming home. though some things have changed.
For example, some building work has been started, I think this is linked t the rescue centre that Joe is working on.
Lydia took me to her shop a short walk away, where these children had been keeping an eye on things.
This is the shop.
On Saturday I took Maggy, Beatrice, Dorine and little Aidan to the Serena Beach Hotel.
Aidan enjoyed his sun bed
Alternative transport?
Our first farewell was to Joe’s new house, and the arrow commemorating the contribution in memory of Bill Haynes that paid for the roof.
The house looks good
Teddy cutting the grass
Deacon Joseph, Father Joe, Bridget, Steve and Teddy
Then to Shanzu, where at last we caught up with Joe’s brother Martin
He took us back to his house to see the family
Cecilia (Joe’s sister in law) at the fruit and veg stall.
And then to Barnabas, where we greeted each class
Bridget with Eva (in red gingham)
The cooks at work
Relaxing, waiting for lunch
Sadly our schedule meant that we had to leave before lunch was served. We met Eunice and went with her to Kiembeni where her friend Mary has “plarn” baskets for us to bring home – plarn is “plastic yarn” made from old plastic bags, crocheted into very functional baskets (and if you’d like one I have some for sale!).
And then, a not-too-quick drive to the airport, hand back the car, check in, a mooch in the shops, onto our flight. First stop was Kilimanjaro, where Bridget got her first glimpse of Africa’s highest mountain, then on to Addis Ababa where we hit the ground with a bump. A long chilly evening in Bole International Airport preceded a bumpy flight to Heathrow. At last, when we emerged from the terminal, the car was waiting for us, one signature and we were off, and soon home to do the laundry!
And finally – a couple of recommendations from this trip:
- We hired both our cars from Glory (www.glorykenya.com). They were in good condition, clean, and the service was excellent, and flexible. More expensive than back street, but well worth it.
- For the first time we used a Meet and Greet parking service (of airport) by DriveFly (www.drivefly.co.uk). Prebooked, we simply drove the car to the right place in the short stay car park and they took it away; when we returned we called them as we picked up our bags, and when we got to the same car park the car was ready and waiting and warm (and had done just 8 miles in our absence – I took a photo of the odometer before we left it). Cheaper and easier than long stay, will use them again.,
Our last full day took us to Haller Park, a zoo in a reclaimed cement quarry owned by Bamburi Cement (part of Lafarge)
Monkeys are everywhere
Giant Tortoise
Monitor Lizards
Regular tortoise
Butterfly
Fig tree
Green mamba
Black mamba
Baby crocs
Bigger crocs
Giraffes at feeding time
Water buck
Hippo
To be honest, Haller Park seems a bit dilapidated now, even compared to 2 years ago when I went there. Low tourist numbers mean low revenue, so many of the snake cages were empty, for example. But feeding giraffe is always good!
After this visit we went back to Cobba Cabana at Mtwapa, enjoyed a tasty lunch on the beach served by our friend Miriam, then we sat in the shade and read – a rare chance to just relax. When Miriam finished we took her to Majaoni where we both enjoyed her massage skills, followed by supper at one of the family of Boko Boko owner Yolande..
After Mass in Kikambala and an IT surgery, we drove to Cobba Cobana beach in Mtwapa, where Bridget was delighted to find a well-maintained pony for hire. She had 20 minutes of fun riding up and down the beach.
Then we enjoyed a soda.
Sisters with matching phones!
Bridget and Lucy photo-bomb Maggy’s posing
After lunch in Kikamabala, Daniel took us to a local cave where African Barn Owls live. The cave is amazing.
And then to North Coast for one last Passion Juice
Map of the Day
First stop was to visit Eunice who runs Okoa Jahazi
We then took a walk down to Mtwapa Creek
Canoes and mangroves
Mangrove nursery
Crab
Mangrove pods
Fishponds
After lunch with Lucy in Shanzu we visited Jacob and Lydia and went to Chalets Beach, swam in deep water, but Aid got stung by a jelly fish..
Map of the Day
Tina came with Shanique to do some laundry for us. Shanique is such a poser!
Then (with various stops on the way) we headed to Bombolulu Cultural Centre where we had a tour of the different homesteads of the various Kenyan tribes.
Giriama musicians
In the Swahili House
We then headed to Nguuni Tatu Nature Sanctuary, but the track to the picnic area was blocked!
Eland in the bushes
Sunbird
Baby giraffes
Ostrich showing off
Jumba la Mtwana – ruins of a Swahili town
Map of the Day
Buchuma Gate to Voi Wildlife Lodge
Elephants at Voi Wildlife Lodge
Afternoon Drive
Lions – honest…
Voi Wildlife Lodge
Bufallo at the water hole
Morning Drive
Leaving Voi Wildlife Lodge
Voi Safari Lodge
Voi to Buchuma Gate
Monitor Lizard
Hippo!
Map of the Trip
Today we said goodbye to our Kluger 4×4, which had served us well taking us on rough roads to Mivumoni, around Arabuko Sokoke forest, and to Kolewa church as well as being well suited to the local roads with their lumps and bumps. The Glory Car hire office in near the famous tusks, and Edu was with us as guide.
We then walked through to Marikiti (the market) where we bought a couple of kikoi. It was interesting to see the hustle and bustle, but a bit intimidating for B (and not a place to get a camera out). We ended up at Jahazi Coffee House where we lunched on biriani, then took a tuk tuk to the Holy Ghost Cathedral to met Fr Joe. This is the grotto where Joe used to celebrate mass with the youth when he was posted to the cathedral, and also where the late Archbishop Boniface Lele is buried.
After a visit to Kenya Wildlife Service offices to buy our tickets for the trip to Tsavo, Joe dropped us at Fort Jesus. There’s lots to see…
But Bridget is more interested in cats!
We paid to go round the fort, built by the Portuguese, taken over by the Omani Arabs then by the British.
16th century graffiti
The old Police Station from colonial times, still abandoned.
Typical Old Town architecture.
Map of the Day
We called in at Barnabas School. here I am talking to a Peruvian volunteer.
The kitchen
Selfie time
With Harrison, the head teacher
Bye!
Class 3
Lucy and her Class 1
Maggy and her KG2 class
The new Class 5/6 building
Smart new house opposite the school
Bridget and Imelda
Then at Shanzu we met Grace
and Gloria
Our friend Daniel (aka Ali) took us on a walk out to the reef. Here are some of the things we saw.
Bridget and Daniel.
Sea urchin – the reason we wore shoes.
Sea cucumber.
Bridget and her sub-aqua camera
Star fish
Crab burrowing into sand
Sea cucumber
The top of the reef.
Daniel at the ocean’s edge.
And us
Sea millipede
Looking back to Sun and Sand Hotel
It was a bit deeper on the way back.
Heron.
Me!
Another cucumber
Starfish
Underwater view
Living rocks.
Different sea urchin
Clam
Map of the Day
After a late night we awoke to the sound of singing from the church where Fr Anthony was celebrating the 07:00 mass. We had a lazy morning, then drove ourselves to Kolewa for mass in the mud-walled church here. It’s quite a long drive up onto the ridge, rewarded with great views into Giriama country.
Our trip to look over the edge was accompanied!
A huge mango tree
Heading to the church
After Mass (we were too involved to take pictures during the service)
After Mass we returned to Kikambala for lunch, then we drove to the Serena to swim from the beach, where we met Tina and friends.
After supper, Aid, Maggy and Tina went for a drink at Lambada in Mtwapa, had fun, and got home rather later than planned!
Map of the Day
We had a quiet morning at home, catching up with the blog. The girls did some laundry.
Chickens for Imelda!
Bridget loves Hibiscus
After lunch we went to visit Ngomongo Villages. After several attempts to find the place (no signs) we discovered it was closed because of poor tourist numbers (which explains the lack of signs). So we went to the nearby Shanzu Transitional Workshops for young disabled women, where they make goods (mainly bags) out of kikoi. They have a little sensory garden.
Bridget, as ever, found a furry friend.
From there we drove just down the road to the Serena Beach Hotel, and sat in their beachside garden watching things go by (and drinking passion juice).
Looking from the hotel towards the beach.
After returning to Kikambala we went to supper as guests of Yolanda who owns the Boko Boko Seychelles restaurant nearby, with wonderful food and a warm welcome.
Map of the Day
A long but quick drive to Watamu took us to Arabuko Sokoke Forest, where our guide first took us on a guided walk. This is a local fruit.
A black kite.
A pink Lucy
A praying mantis
The larva of a bug (anti lion?)
The larva sits in its hole and waits for prey to pass, then pulls them in with its jaws.
Maggy adding scale to a mahogany tree.
A baby baobab tree.
An ex butterfly, still pretty.
Land snail shell
A fungus
Flamboyant tree
A live butterfly – they were impossible to photograph.
Swinging on a tarzan creeper, our guide Johnston showed us how and we all had a go
Completing the walk.
Gecko
We all climbed the tree house.
An eagle over the swamp
B under a famous arched tree
Lucy at the view point taking a panorama on her new phone.
All of us
On the way back, we saw a mongoose ahead on the track. Not very close, but better than we’d achieve with the duiker and red-rumped elephant shrew we’d seen earlier.
The viewpoint was a long way (28km of bumpy track each way) so we were glad to be back on the highway and head back to Kikambala
Map of the Day
As we walked to the beach, we found a chameleon on the roadside.
The tide was not as high as we’d hoped, which meant there were many birds around still.
It was a little breezy as we walked along the beach.
Still We were able to wallow in the warm water.
As soon as we were in the water, Maggy wanted Lucy to take her photo
On the way back we found some Colobus monkeys.
Bouganvillea
Kikambala Village (restaurant, accommodation, beverages) was till being built when we were last here. Looks good.
We headed to Shanzu, where we called on Samuel’s family. Gloria and Shanique were playful, and liked b’s water bottle.
Map of the day
Another day, another cute puppy for B!
Lucy meanwhile is hard at work making breakfast.
Baby Mike and his teddy.
We visited the Franciscan sisters, and after tea and bread Sr Grace took us around to see their new fishpond.
The pawpaws are abundant.
Teamwork to pick a pawpaw – and yes, I caught it.
On tour
Pineapple
Baby pineapple
Freak pineapple with 5 heads!
Bridget found a passion fruit.
The two Mikes: grandfather and grandson
Mwanamkuu also liked a teddy.
Saying farewell to the family.
At Kikambala we attended the New Year Mass, after which the youth burn a figure representing the old year, symbolising a new start in 2015.
After Mass, before we headed into the house to toast the new year in Tusker (and sodas).
Happy New Year!
Map of the Day
After a good sleep, we were up surprisingly early, and Bridget loved all the animals around the place (the cattle get taken out after breakfast).
One of several cats.
The two puppies.
Mike took us on a tour of the shamba.
Blixa – used as a dye and for make up.
The famous mivuma trees that give the village its name.
I picked my first coconut (I was the only one tall enough to reach it)
Bananas!
Testing the pump at the new well near Lucy’s shamba; sadly it needs to be deepened as the water has dried up already.
Bridget spotted someone’s bathroom as we walked to the spring where they still fetch water from.
Butterfly.
Ndunge and her son Mike and one of granny’s teddies.
Bridget tastes her first madafu.
Bridget is dressed properly by her sister Lucy.
John gave the puppies a bath.
Lucy took us on walk round the village.
The catholic church
Bridget was loving the flowers as well as the animals.
The secondary school where most of our young friends were educated.
inside one of the classrooms – we hoped order would be restored before term starts next week.
The staff room, with its inspirational mottos.
More passion flowers.
At Maggy’s Bridget found more friends.
Leaving Maggy’s we met Mike and went for a Tusker, letting Lucy go home to help with the cooking. Another feast awaited us.
Map of the day
Here we go again! Bridget and I slipped away from the Christmas celebrations at home and headed to Heathrow. Having found our meet-and-greet driver and handed over Meld’s car we entered the newly-refurbished Terminal 2, checked in, did some shopping, and headed to the gate. The flight to Addis was uneventful except for me turning white and unresponsive, to Bridget’s alarm, but I was OK soon afterwards.
Addis was OK – we were in the modern terminal – but our onwards flight was an hour late. Approaching Mombasa from over Shimba Hills it was very bumpy, but we landed safely, got through the ebola scans, queued for ever to get a visa, then found our driver.
Map of the flights
The car was waiting, and we drove into town, picked Maggy by the Cathedral, and joined the queue for the ferry. Two hours later we were on South Coast and had an easy (fast) drive to Mivumoni, with a short stop for shopping at Ukunda. Soon after dark we dropped Maggy at her home then got the car a bit stuck trying to turn round! (We hadn’t found the traction control button a this stage).
Minutes later we rolled into Lucy’s homestead to a warm welcome, and a feast.
Map of the drive
We didn’t really do justice to the feast, we were so tired after a night with little sleep, and were happy to slip into our beds, Bridget sharing a room with her Kenyan sister Lucy.
As elsewhere in the world, an education is crucial to a Kenyan’s prospects in life. There’s lots of competition for limited poorly-paid work, and education opens up new opportunities as well as making a more-rounded individual. Most Kenyan youngsters are keen to learn, but education is not free – although Primary Education in state schools is ostensibly free, it’s only the tuition that is free and students need to pay for uniform, exam fees, books and miscellaneous fees. Even then, the government schools have huge class sizes and thus limited opportunity to do well (the teachers do their best, but we’ve heard of classes up to 100 children).
So many families, scraping by at (or below) subsistence level, cannot afford to send their children to school, certainly not to the school of their choice. This obviously includes families infected/affected by HIV/AIDS, for whom life is a real struggle, but there are many other families who work hard but cannot pay fees for school or college.
There are several organisations around who organise sponsorship of children and young people, but I can tell you about a few that we’ve had direct contact with during our trip.
As a general rule, these organisations prefer sponsors to commit to see a child through their education, so sponsoring a child just starting school could be a long-term undertaking, but shorter term arrangements or one-off donations are also possible. If you sponsor a young child you’ll get feedback from the organisation on their progress; sponsor an older child to high school or college and you will probably get direct feedback from the individual (Kenyans love Facebook!).
How much it costs depends very much on the “package”: paying uniform / books / exams for a child at a government primary school will likely be less than paying the same plus fees at a private school. School fees vary depending on the school, as do college fees, and transport may be required as well (or accommodation at/near school).
Imelda is here giving her time and energy directly educating Class 4 pupils at Barnabas; for the rest of us who can’t do that, sponsorship is a real way to help a child.
So here are my options for you to consider:
- Barnabas Children’s Center is the school in which Imelda is currently working. 90% of the children cannot pay fees and are educated for free. The school is run on a shoestring with money from donors around the world, and they also provide a home for 29 orphans and street kids. They need every penny we can give them, either to develop the school or to sponsor individual needy children.
- Community Light Programme, run by Edu and others here in Shanzu with support from overseas, aims to help families affected by HIV/AIDS and have an established process for placing children in schools and supporting them. I’ve seen this in practice with school reports being collected, scanned and e-mailed to the sponsors. Some of the children are at Barnabas and Fumathoka, the schools Imelda has volunteered at, others at schools around Mtwapa which I visited with Edu.
- Okoa Jahazi, run by Eunice and her committee, are similar to CLP but the Community Based Organisation is composed of people infected/affected by HIV/AIDS helping others in the same situation; they are based in Kiembeni, a few miles away. They too arrange sponsorship for children. Read Eunice’s Story to see what drives her and why she needs your help. She really is an amazing lady.
- As I mentioned, I’ve had a number of requests for direct sponsorship of individuals hoping to go to High School or College. These don’t fall under the HIV/AIDS umbrella of Community Light Programme or Okoa Jahazi, and are too old for Barnabas, but their needs are no less real. I’m hoping to get these youngsters to write about themselves, their aspirations and their needs so that they can seek sponsorship.
So there it is – there are hundreds or thousands of children here who need your help. You can’t help them all, but maybe you can support one and make a real difference to their life prospects. Do ask if you have any questions.
Our final hours in Kenya were spent… packing, doing the previous day’s blog, and relaxing. Joe arrived, having delivered Mary to school in Kaloleni. After a light lunch, it was time for farewells and to travel to the airport.
Bye, Flash
Bye, Shanique (and Tina)
Edu came with us to the airport and organised the bags.
We enjoyed a final drink with Joe and Edu, then we were on our own – into the terminal, balancing weight between bags (though we’d got it pretty close), check in, upstairs to departures, a few minutes to get the computer out… then we were called through security!
The flight to Addis left almost 30 minutes early (which was a pain, because at Mombasa we had internet and at Addis we had naff all!). 6.5 hours in Bole International Airport is a long wait, though there were beds to lie on and we had books to read.
The flight to London left on time, and arrived 30 minutes early. Luckily Mark, who was meeting us, was there when we emerged, and we were home soon after 08:30.
