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.

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Our little family, minus Stanley.
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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 – 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 – 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.

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Our neighbours house

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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…)
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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.
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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