Kenya photodiary -Ol Jogi

Part 8 and the final part of my Kenya photodiary!
It’s been emosh.

Towards the end of our placement we planned a trip to a village about 2 hours away from Nanyuki called Doldol. On the way there we wanted to visit a safari park called Ol Jogi.

We’d had loads of drama leading up to the trip; not all of the volunteers being able to afford the trip, seasonal rains causing floods, general volunteer behaviour (towelgate dun dun duuuun) and not being able to book the safari. Eventually it all came together and we managed to go! We were a little disappointed when we arrived because Ol Jogi wasn’t exactly a safari, more of a sanctuary. Oh well, I was happy because we’d all seen loads of rhinos and giraffes by the side of the road a few weeks before. And I was lucky enough that Ngare Ndare was safari heaven.

Simba – Lion
Bear – kubeba

This was apparently was Africa’s only bear 😦 He was rescued from a Russian circus.
Cheetah – duma

Check out this crazy canyon thing!

We loved seeing literally the most random animals (they had dogs, a very tame looking cat which apparently wild, mice, rabbits etc etc) but the main attraction were the 3 elephants. A mum, baby and huge dad. I’ll never get bored of seeing African elephants, they’re just so beautiful and majestic.

Elephant – Ndovu

This is it for my film photos but I have plenty more updates which I will either publish on here or on my Facebook – Girl Got Lost. Go give it a like if you wanna see more Kenyan adventures and pics from the places I’ve been!

Kenya, it was real. Until next time.
hadi wakati mwingine

Maz

Kenya photodiary – Twende town

part 7.

Twende town – let’s go to town

I said twende (let’s go) a lot when I was in Kenya. Kenyan time is real. Everything is at snails pace, something I have to get used to every time I go to Africa. I’m very much a get up and go kinda gal. I don’t have the patience to sit around for hours doing nothing so throughout I was there trying to get people moving; let’s go, let’s do something!
Most lunch times we’d head to the market, just out of the town centre to eat at Connie’s place. Connie was a host mum/sister to Andrew C and Lucas during the cycle and was so lovely and sincere. She always made us feel welcome at the little restaurant she ran and her food was amazing. I became the kind of person who woke up in the morning already excited for a lunch of cabbage stew. Cabbage and beans!
Trainers for days. All around £2 a pair. Nike, Addidas, New Balance – the lot
A quiet day at the fruit market. Mountains of mangoes, massive avocados, fresh bananas, huge watermelons, pinapples, paw paw (papapya) and so much veg. Nothing compares to fresh fruit for about 20p a piece.


Sofas were made on the street in front of you from scratch. Wooden slats cut from a tree trunk, assembled and then covered in different fabrics.

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Our little family, minus Stanley.
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
The whole VSO team. UK and Kenyan volunteers plus team leaders

I wish I’d taken more photos in town as it was such a vibrant place on market days. It was filled with all sorts of characters (not that I’d ever photograph them, people really don’t like having their pic taken) but they kept us entertained. There was the crazy fiddle man, warlord looking dudes, Antony the pineapple man, beady Steve, fabric Tina and BOB MARLEY BOB MARLEY man who would slap us while we walked past.

Kenya photodiary – Tuko nyumbani

Part 6.

Tuko nyumbani – we are at home.

I arrived at my second Kenyan host home about a month into the placement. Late to the party as ever. My mum, Peris is the househelp which means she cooks and cleans and generally is a great mother figure. My host dad, Stanley is a retired beekeeper and now an advocate for people with disabilities as well as helping the community access clean drinking water. They are both some of the greatest people I’ve ever met, let alone live with.

It’s not until I really think about it that I realise how many crazy good people there are in my life. Success is measured in different ways and I would class both Peris and Stanley as extremely successful people. They took me in as a ‘volunteer refugee’ and made me feel like I’d always been in their little family unit.

We had bees that lived in the walls of the house because Stanley ‘liked having them around’ and he’d happily let them sting him because apparently it helped with his arthritis. When the honey was processed, towards the end of the program, we helped to heat it, separate it from the cone then Jonathon would assist with the packaging. This meant a house full of honey and happy Mary and Sophie in the mornings when we could just help ourselves to as much as possible. Peris would sometimes just scrape the bottom of the barrel and feed us with a spoon like a bird feeding her chicks. GOOD TIMES.

I didn’t get any photos of Stanley with my film camera because he was always busy with the bees or community projects. But this is Peris.
Check her out, separating the maize she’s picked from the shamba (farm)

This is the fire room where we’d heat water for our morning showers. We did have a fully functioning normal shower connected to the main water supply but it was broken half of the time. So not really functioning then. Andrew and I both loved this room; it was so dark, dingy and cold but the perfect place to sit and chat when there was a power cut. It’s also where we sat and stirred honey in the evening.

If you hadn’t guessed yet, I’m a dog lover. My best mate in Makutano was Shifter. When I arrived, his paw was split in half because he’d got it caught on barbed wire so Andrew and I bandaged it up using our first aid kit supplies. Unsurprisingly the dressing was gone by the next morning but luckily it all healed up well. Dogs are not domesticated in Kenya and the idea of your dog sleeping in your bed or even coming in your house is a bizarre thought to most Kenyans.
Shifter’s mum. Nameless

Shifter’s little sister. She was underfed so resulted in eating 7 baby chicks. Her owners were not happy
Say Jambo to a few of our friendly cows.




Post run death. Running in Kenya was like a rite of passage for me. I knew the altitude would be a problem (1905m by the way compared to a modest 122m in Hertfordshire) but I didn’t realise what a massive problem it would be. I planned to attempt 10Kms a few times a week. I managed about 2Kms at a time. Oh well, at least I didn’t pass out or anything.

That’s all for Makutano home life. It’s a beautiful thing that we can be so adaptable to move countries, houses and families and feel so at home so quickly. That’s one of my favourite things about Kenyans, is how hospitable and welcoming they are.
2 more posts to come; Ol Jogi safari and Nanyuki town

Kenya photodiary – Sijui

Part 5.

We’re nearly through with my film photos. This collection is just random snaps from out and about. (Sijui means ‘I don’t know’. I said this word a lot during the cycle. Or ‘Mayolo’ which is the same but in Masai)

You never think about how much you do during a space of time like 3 months until you get home and reflect – mainly by retelling stories 3 hundred million times. People then say ‘wow you did a lot!’. Yeah I guess we did manage to squeeze a lot in even if it felt slow and laborious at the time.

Before starting our placements, we stayed just outside of Nanyuki in Bantu Lodge. Bantu was beautiful. There was a lake, baboons running around, horses, little boats to sail, giant swing sets, a bar, a campfire – basically everything we needed for a few days of training and getting to know each other. The days did go on a bit but most of the sessions were really engaging and interesting. Marketing, international aid, global development, personal branding, health and security and loads more.

I stayed in a room with Elsie (UK vol, 18) and Betty (Kenyan vol, 21). Betty was very quiet but Elsie and I got on so well from the start. We both kind of had the same reservations and worries about things and she was good shoulder to cry on when things weren’t going too well (I was basically a big soppy mess at Bantu. Girl probz)

The boys next door to us washed their clothes and left them on the bush to dry. Casual. Oh and at Bantu we all saw how some of the Kenyans like to brush their teeth with a stick.

Check out my main man Max! This little pup belonged to my host cousin and was only a few weeks old. He slept in a little tin barrel and loved chasing the chickens. I was the only one to pick him up and cuddle him like a baby because rightly so, everyone feared he had fleas. He definitely did have fleas because I was itchy for days after. So worth it though. No regrats.

Thanks boys for making me look like the super keen one while you’re all just chilling giving me weird looks… I promise you that these guys are my mates. Jonathan, Daniel and Peterson. This was taken at the end of our clean up of Majengo slums. It was a weird day; the rain kinda drizzled on our plans and some of the team joining us weren’t too bothered about actually cleaning up the slum but more for the instagram opportunity.

We stumbled across these camels in the slums. Random I know. Their legs were tied up and no one was about to explain what the situation was; they were literally just 2 camels in the middle of a field in the middle of a slum. The next day we were talking to a guy who lives nearby and he told us they were preparing them for the slaughter house. Very grim thought but I’d rather they were about to die than being tied up any longer. Weird logic? Ebony villa. Our home for 2 days over MPR. Emily, Sophie, Lynda and I stayed in this lush apartment while we did our mid-phase review, which is basically summing up the work we’d done so far, facing the problems we’d encountered and coming up with solutions for the future. The weekend involved teaching the Kenyan volunteers how to toast marshmallows (they kept setting them alight) and doing traditional dances around the fire. Some of the sessions were absolutely hilarious (Danielle had us playing counterpart Mr & Mrs and using Kenyan food as buzzer words ‘Chapati!!! YES!’ ‘Calvin, chapati is not the answer!’) and some sessions were beyond awkward. We had a group discussion between country groups and wrote down all the problems we all had with the other country group. Cue a presentation saying ‘you’re patronising, rude, you don’t know how to wash, your clothes don’t even match!’ Ouch!. Luckily we somehow managed to see past these petty problems and I do think we grew a lot closer for it. It was like burning down bridges to rebuild a stronger foundation I guess. Look at these LAAAAADS
‘LAADS’ has somehow been a running joke from sixth form, then in Namibia, Cape Town. It seemed to be missed with the frenchies and spaniards but fear not, I took it to Kenya! ‘Everyone say LAAAAAAAADS’

And I’ll finish off this post with a cute sunrise pic. Mountains and banana trees; what more do you need in life?

Hapa Kenya, hakuna matata
Here in Kenya, no worries.

Kenya photodiary – Walking safari

Part 4.
Ngare Ndare was surrounded by forests and mountains and best of all ANIMALS!!!! I love me a safari I really do Safari in Swahili means ‘journey’ so technically when you go and see these bad ass African animals you’re just going on a standard journey. This is what my cousin Collins and I did on my last day in Ngare Ndare. We took a motorbike (shhh don’t tell VSO) up a little hill about 10 mins from my house and walked through herds of sheep. We were just going for a leisurely stroll and hoping that maybe we’d see some of the Big Five. 5 mins into our walk I saw a little rhino sleeping in the grass. Over the next hour we saw 2 giraffes, a herd of zebras and more rhinos. Which really aint bad saying we were so close to home. All for free! //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js (There’s a rhino in there I swear.) //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js //embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js

Passed this Masai guy on our walk. There are so many Masais in Ngare Ndare but few are willing to have their photo taken (there’s a weird belief that it takes away your soul..). Check out his stretched earlobes and trousers over his shoulder from George, Asda. And the cheeky giraffe in the corner.

Kenya photodiary – rafiki na familia

We’re already onto part 3!
This is my Kenya photodiary filled with my film camera snaps from 3 months of volunteering with VSO.
I’m going to share some of my favourite photos of my friends and family in Ngare Ndare.

The most important friend you can ever have is your dog. This is Scotty. He was nameless before I arrived. He’s understandably not allowed in the house because he’s totally flea ridden and feral but I love him loads. VSO told us not to touch any animals while we were away but that’s a ridiculous and unrealistic task to ask from us.
We had another dog called Bob but a few weeks after I left I got a text from my sister saying someone had poisoned him. He was foaming at the mouth, his eye had turned green and he couldn’t stand up. He was dead the next morning. Why would anyone do something so heartless? Poor Bob 😦

 

 

 

Sharlene. Oh boy, where do I begin?! This was my brother Moses’ daughter, I think she was 2. And a massive ball of unrelenting energy that no amount of games or dancing could calm. Like my Mama, she didn’t speak any English but she was the perfect tool for me to learn some Swahili.
Kuja – come
Kuja hapa – come here
watcha – stop
kwenda – go
habari gani? – how are you?
kwa nini? – why?
wapi? – where?
nakunpenda – I love you

We grew so close and I missed her big time when it was time to leave




Kianda life

We lived on a dirt road in Kianda and when I arrived the kids from neighbouring roads they screamed ‘Mzungu!!!’ (white person) then hid in the bushes. I swear to God they were terrified of me. Even some of the adults couldn’t quite meet my eyes when I greeted them. Over time it got easier and I think they realised I was pretty normal (well….) and wasn’t there to hurt them.

This road outside my house was where I spent most evenings and all day Sunday. There was a group of about 15 kids who became my own mini cheer team. I naturally gravitate towards kids because we’re on a very similar maturity level. Seriouly, these kids were awesome. Always singing and dancing and when I gave them a few skipping ropes they were occupied for hours. As the evenings grew dark I’d tell them ‘nenda nyumbani’ (go home) and try my hardest to shake em off me.
Little Mary (omg twinz!), Vinnie, Ronnie, Mercy and the others were some of my closest friends when I was in Ngazza Ndazza. 

Kenya photodiary – Ngare Ndare home life

Jambo readers.

Part 2 of my Kenya photodiary series.

Let me share some snaps from my first placement and first Kenyan home in Ngare Ndare – or Ngazza Ndazza as I referred to it…

My first counterpart, Betty, and I travelled 2 hours out of Nanyuki to this tiny rural village surrounded by forests and giraffes and elephants and waterfalls. Sounds pretty blissful right? Well, I did love Ngare Ndare but the ‘ooooh rural Africa’ novelty wore off pretty quickly when the reality of living in the middle of bloody nowhere with zero work to do set in. Our work supervisor was crap so there was nothing to do. I really did try to be resourceful and upbeat and get on with something but it was near enough impossible. We were there with the UK’s biggest voluntary organisation and instead of having a clear work plan and contacts, we were told to wander round the village (which was an hour walk away btw) and look for women who looked like they were beaders. Seriously?!!?!?!? These women didn’t even speak English or Swahili so we were 100% stuck.

Aside from the failure of our placement I friggin loved my host home. I loved our little hamlet of Kianda and the kids and animals and all day sunny weather. I really thought of it as home and even went back to visit weeks after we’d left. So Betty and I called the little wooden cabin ‘home’ for a month before I relocated to Nanyuki town and Bettz headed to Ngobit.

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Our neighbours house

//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
We owned a few farms so would collect kales, onions or fruit before dinner.

Our Masai family consisted of our Mum, Joyce. In Kenya the mother is named after their last born child (or any other child) so sometimes she was Mama Joyce, other times Mama Makena and occasionally Mama Stella. Kinda confusing. Mama didn’t speak any English so that was a massive obstacle. She had her middle bottom tooth missing as part of Masai tradition and always dressed beautifully. Although we couldn’t verbally communicate, we always had a laugh together and she taught me loads. She exclaimed that she saw Betty and i as her real family which made my heart burst with all the feels. I was also mega lucky to have 2 gorgeous host sisters; Makena, 18 and Stella, 21 as well as a very cool and calm brother, Paul, 13. Our little family was completed by the 2 dogs; Scotty and Bob who were actually nameless when I arrived(?!). Oh and we had 2 cows, one was pregnant, both very cute.

Look our cute little house! The walls were lined with newspaper and water would get in when it rained. Our bedroom was crawling with insects and the nights were so cold that four layers of clothes and 2 blankets weren’t enough. Our house didn’t have electricity or running water but that didn’t really bother me. We heated water on the stove and had a bucket shower in a little shed outside and went to the loo in a drop toilet (super smelly but healthier…)
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
In the mornings we’d wash pots and pans (sufurias) outside. It was a nice time to chat and enjoy the morning sunshine.
My brother Paul. Arsenal for life. Surprisingly good Scrabble player. He walks 2 hours to and from school. He was in charge of collecting milk in the evening.
//embedr.flickr.com/assets/client-code.js
Masai Life
Mama and Paul
Sister Stella

Work sister Betty

As you can see, my family are absolutely gorgeous – inside and out. I loved being part of the Masai culture for a few weeks and they taught me so much. I miss our evenings watching crappy telenova La Gata until the TV’s battery died and we’d sit in the dark playing Scrabble by torchlight. We cooked together and ate together every night and always had something to chat about; boys, politics, sport, funny village people.

Next post will be about my crazy niece Sharlene and the kids in the village.
Kwaheri (bye) bishes

Kenya photodiary – Makutano.

Hey, Jambo, Habari.

Welcome to Girl Got Lost (formerly ‘Mary’s Project Year’ – but I’ve kinda stepped over the year mark, sooooo….). I’ve just come back from a crazy 3 months in Nanyuki, Kenya, where I was volunteering with VSO. More about the actual work later; for now, let me share with you some of the photos I took with my film camera. I love using film but it sucks how expensive it is and how valuable my camera is. So I mostly used digital in Kenya and took crappy videos and didn’t care too much for the outcome and saved my film camera for the safety of my home or garden. But now I’ve had the films developed I wish I was more adventurous with my photography and taken more pics at large community events and cultural ceremonies. Oh well, it’s definitely inspired me to take more next time I’m in Kenya/Africa/anywhere!

I’ll try and group the photos so expect a few posts.

Boda Life
This was taken from ‘Makutano’ which translates to junction in Swahili. So each town has their own area called Makutano but this was Nanyuki’s. We lived 10 mins from town and a further 15 min walk from the tarmac road. Although it was against VSO’s rules we used to travel by boda boda almost everyday. Thats the motorbike you see in the left of the pic. That small seat could carry around 2 or 3 passengers but we’d all seen bikes carrying 5 or 6 people, babies, goats, sofas etc. One time I even saw a bike carrying a cow. It’s legs were folded underneath it and it’s face was as puzzled as mine. Despite 2 near death experiences (seriously, Sophie and I almost had a head on collision with a lorry and another time my driver had to swerve off the road completely because of an oncoming vehicle) we all loved our boda rides. Especially during a night out, getting from bar to club at ridiculous speeds, nothing beats it! Plus it was dead cheap; about 30p for a 10min drive and one time I travelled for a full hour on a boda through forests, past giraffes and on a mud road for the equivalent of £1.60?!

Muddy Makutano   Our rural-town mix house was down a muddy path past a tiny church (you could really hear them screech out those hymns on a Sunday morning), a few grocery shops and guys welding on the street. Welding with zero protection equpiment may I add. Hardcore. I loved where we lived and the twice daily hilly walk because we were away from the bustle (and sometimes danger) of Nanyuki life but close enough to still get in and out quickly. We were down the road from Liki slums where we heard stories of petty crime and a woman getting beheaded. Our team leader also gave a passionate ‘don’t ever go to Makutno’ speech… Eeeeer we live there mate. But at the end of the day we stayed safe and the biggest drama at our compound was that someone stole our neighbours chicken. 50% of the time the road back home was fine, the other half was hell. The rain washed away our hopes of getting home quickly and cleanly. Seriously the path became and fast flowing river and we’d be ankle deep in thick mud. Our host mum would sigh at the state of us when we eventually reached home and would proceed to clean our boots with a machete the next morning. One evening I feel right on my bum because of the slippy road. Another time we saw a snake slither straight past our feet through the water.

Mount Kenya

Some mornings I would wake up at 5:30 am and there wasn’t much more to do than go for a run. And this was my view. When I used to live in Cape Town I could jog while checking out table mountain and now I had the glorious Mount Kenya to see in the mornings – not bad. The sun would rise from behind and you could see a clear outline of the mountain for a few hours before the clouds would come and hide it. On a really clear day you’d be able to see the snow and glaciers at the peak.

(run recovery on the grass. Soon to be covered in excitable dogs and subsequently muddy paws on my face)

Hopefully this has given you a little insight into Kenya and my experiences. I’ll have a few more posts on home life, cultural dress and lots of photos of my beloved cows. Crazy times.

Tuonane baadaye. (see ya laterrrr)