"Well, my life just carried on.." Russell Brand, when asked why he wanted to write a second book

Life carries on

Here's a little glimpse of how life in Nairobi is 'going on' - as usual were are 'going on pretty well' thank you,.. except for the fact that it is...

Hot and dry

It's hot, hot, hot.  I don't remember it ever being this sweltering in Nairobi.  Thank goodness that it is a dry heat.  The earth is cracked, parched dry.  There's not a cloud in the sky.  My lovely new (christmas present) phone (that I'm still having problems operating - my kids are better at it than me!) tells me that it is going to be between 88 and 90 degrees every day this week.  Phew!  My little office in the eaves of the house is causing steam to appear from my ears.  My middle daughter just handed me a portable, battery operated fan that I think dates back to our days of living in Dar es Salaam. 

And we have Comms Failure

We've had a problem with communicating with each other and the outside world this week.  The internet has either been down, or slow and emails stalled in a million outboxes all over the region.  Why?  This is a good one!: - a month ago, a ship in Mombasa that was illegally parked, dropped anchor onto submarine fibre optic broad cables - cutting the lines and affecting comms in 4 different countries!  I think that a 'rescue' eMarine tech boat has now arrived at the port and they are undertaking repairs - which is causing further disruption.

"the cut occurred when a ship that was docking, dragged its anchor on the cable, four kilometres from the Mombasa landing station on Saturday, affecting a significant proportion of the international fibre capacity in and out of the country."

Click here to read more

In the meantime, local phone providers have had to re-route via other cables and use satellite links - which has been costing them a fortune.

Does this explain why Airtel are sending me notification of missed calls (with accompanying adverts) via SMS and calling me up with pre-recorded advertising messages - or is this more to do with the fact that they made calls so cheap during their price war (calls currently cost 1-3 shillings per minute!) - that they are now trying to claw some revenue back? (pole sana)

And Building Work Imminent

We've been planning building work on this house for a gazillion years.   Now that we have all the permissions, plans, estimates and quotes - we finally met up with the contractor who was absolutely horrified that we intend to stay in the house while work is carried out.  Now call me old fashioned, but this is the English way to do things.  Live in the dust and dirt - dig down to find the kettle to make some builder's tea.  I'll give you an example.  My sister-in-law had her 3 children sleeping in a row on the dining room floor a couple of years ago while her house was torn to pieces, then put back together again.  Situation normal. 

Not so in Kenya.  Since the building boom began, everyone's expectations seem to have gone up - including the contractor's (and ours - otherwise we wouldn't bother modernising our house!).  More used to building 15 luxury town houses in one go - the thought of us 5 paddling round the property in amongst 25-30 builders is turning everyone cold from the architect to the foreman.  I have to admit that I too am now nervous...

The proposal is to completely screen off two ends of the house with corrugated iron - leaving us to live in the dust cloud middle bit that remains.. which crucially does not include a kitchen (of course a new kitchen is my priority!).  I am now desperately thinking of alternatives for cooking for 5 for no less than 4 months.  Am thinking of relocating the kitchen into the garage somehow.  I thought of a 'bush kitchen' tent type of set up for 5 minutes, then realised that we're supposed to be heading into the long rains!  Ideas on a postcard please.
We start in 2 weeks.  There goes Easter..we'll be packing up boxes.  What sort of a mess are we getting ourselves into?

Oh yes, and Fire

Last night my eldest called me to her bedroom window.
"There's a really big fire at the bottom of the garden"
I didn't come straight away.  'Whatever?' I thought. 'probably a bonfire - but it is tinderbox dry out there, so possibly an ill advised bonfire.'
"No Mum, it's really big!"
Interest piqued, I strolled over. Yes, the flames were leaping rather high, but I knew that there were no houses nearby, so it wasn't too deadly.

To give you some background, we sold a bit of land on our property ages/years ago (too soon as it turned out, - the price of land has quadrupled since then) and the area has only just been cordoned off for building this year.  There's a large corrugated iron fence across the bottom of what was our garden and a private security company has been employed to station a guard on site every night.

While I was vaguely peeping through the curtain, I gather from reports that came in this morning - that in fact all hell was breaking loose in the staff quarters behind our house last night. 

Gladys, who lives on our plot was wondering why somebody was banging so hard on the metal (mbati) fence. - She thought someone was stealing the iron sheets so decided to stay indoors.  Meanwhile Jared, who also lives on our plot was frantically/heroically trying to help the nightwatchman who was stationed on the other side (with no water or tap whatsoever), handing buckets of water over the 12 foot fence (the mind boggles - Jared is not tall)

After testing my daughter on her history topic (The Crusades), then wandering off back to my computer to browse through the gossip column on the right hand side of Daily Mail online (guilty pleasure - except I hardly know who all these UK celebrities are these days) - she called me back again.

"Mum, there's a fire engine in our garden now"
"Oh" I said, thinking - now this is hard to believe.  But sure enough, there were the blue flashing lights.

I wasn't too concerned.  Everyone seemed to have got the situation under control, the flames abated and it was somewhat reassuring to know that functioning fire engines (albeit privately operated ones) with actual water on board do exist and can be called out in an emergency.

To put this into context -  to see a previous post on a bungled fire fighting experience that appeared on Kenyan news.  Click here 

In fact, having done the relocation guide - I learn that there are good emergency services (at a price)  the trick is knowing how to figure out where to find phone numbers and who to call.

As I'm feeling helpful - I put a few here and late will post some more useful info on the 'page' tabs above.

Emergency Phone Numbers for Nairobi

Ambulance

AMREF (Flying Doctors) http://www.amref.org/  020-315454/600090.  Cell: 0722 314239/0733 639088

Africa Air Rescue (AAR) http://www.aarhealth.com/ 020-2717374/5/6. Cell: 0722 314394/0733 636617

St John’s Ambulance www.orderofstjohn.org/kenya 020-222396/224066

Emergency plus Medical Services E-Plus (Subsidiary of Kenya Red Cross) http://www.eplus.co.ke/ .
020-2655251/2/3.  Cell: 0700 395395. Or dial 395 from landline or cell phone

Fire

Nairobi Fire Department 020-222181/2/3. 020-335060/999

KK Security (fire engine and ambulance) http://www.kksecurity.com/ 020-4245000/4445090.  Cell: 0734 622226

Ultimate Security (fire engine and ambulance) http://www.ultimate-security.net/. 020-3875475/95.
Cell: 0733 778410/0722 725310

Hospitals

Nairobi Hospital, Argwings Kodhek Road hosp@nbihosp.org 020-2845000/2846000/2722160. 
Cell: 0722 204114/0733 639301 (also a  new, fully equipped satellite on 2nd floor Galleria Mall, Langata)

Aga Khan Hospital, 3rd Parklands Avenue akhn@akhskenya.org 020-3662000/020-3740000

Gertrude’s Garden Children’s Hospital, Muthaiga http://www.gerties.org/ 020-7206000/3763474.
Cell: 0733 639444/0722 898948

MP Shah Hospital http://www.mpshahhosp.org/ 020-3742763/4/5/6

Police

The Kenya police Control Room (254-20) 2714995/2724154.  Cell: 0729 100712/999

Central Police 020-222 222

Well, I think that's all for now...

Masai cricket - loving the photography!

Meet the Maasai Cricket Warriors: The colourful semi-nomadic cattle herders promising to brighten up the sport

By Lee Moran click here for:  link to original article

PUBLISHED: 13:38 GMT, 13 March 2012

These are the Maasai Cricket Warriors - the semi-nomadic cattle herders vowing to brighten up their sport.



Ditching traditional whites for their colourful clothing and body decorations, the Kenyan tribesmen are in serious training.



Donning pads and armed with bats, the men from the Laikipia region this week left their tiny village for the Mombasa Legends Cricket Nursery.

Colourful: These are the Maasai Cricket Warriors - the semi-nomadic cattle herders vowing to brighten up their sport

Out there: They ditch traditional whites for colourful clothing and body decorations

Beach time: The players are aiming to be role models in their communities where they are actively campaigning against Female Genital Mutilation, early childhood marriages and are fighting for the rights of women

They now hope to travel to the Last Man Standing 2012 World Championships in Cape Town next month - the crowning event of the global eight-a-side amateur Twenty20 cricket league.



The players say they want to be role models in their communities by campaigning against traditional female circumcision and child marriages.


And through their cricket they also try to promote healthier lifestyles and spread awareness about HIV/AIDS among tribal youth, they added.



An online appeal for donations on the Maasai Cricket Warriors website said: 'By developing cricket and sports amongst Maasai youth and children the aim is to empower the youth in Maasai communities while enhancing their participation in community development, allowing them to become healthy, productive and well-adjusted members of society.'

How would this kit go down at Lords? A batsman shows off his sportswear



Inspirational: Through playing cricket in regional communities they are trying to promote healthier lifestyles



Silhouette: The Warriors hope to play at the Last Man Standing 2012 World Championships in Cape Town next month

Warm up: The Maasai Cricket Warriors seen limbering up on the beach during a training session

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2114373/Meet-Maasai-Cricket-Warriors-The-colourful-semi-nomadic-cattle-herders-promising-brighten-sport.html#ixzz1p1LVFWAY

Relocation to Nairobi, Kenya - the trials and tribulations of settling in

Ant Carnage

Only 3 ants in my coffee this morning. I think I found the nest in the kitchen at the weekend and fortunately still had the dregs of an imported bottle of ‘Nippon’ powder –( as in - imported via my suitcase one summer in a moment of extreme foresight, or else brought in by a kind friend or member of my family). – I have never found a good ant powder in Nairobi, but a friend of mine said that her house help brought her something once that she called ‘chalk’ which apparently works a treat.

Before tackling the problem, by Sunday morning our abandoned looking dirty washing-up that was sitting in the kitchen sink, was heaving darkly with a gazillion ants. The children squealed when they saw it. Throwing the dirty plates into my ‘pride and joy’ mini dishwasher was a fairly revolting tasks. I was up to my elbows in drowned ant carcasses. Others were still furiously running about.

****

Photo from Telegraph article on expats settling-in (see link below)

Thoughts on Relocation and settling in

Apologies for the long absence. I’ve been writing a comprehensive Nairobi relocation guide and it has been a big project (currently running at x120 pages). I do know that if I was presented with a document like that on arrival I’d run and hide, so I’ve tried to liven it up with jazzy photos and coloured fonts in my characteristically ‘low tech’ approach. Never done desk top publishing.. it’s more a case of cut and paste.

So it has been 3 weeks of long days sitting on my butt with just the occasional break, to get up and stretch or emerge squinting into the garden for 5 minutes before turning back inside – plus a few incidents of getting to 3pm and realising I haven’t brushed my teeth yet or – skipping lunch etc. And now the guide is nearly complete with all-you-need-to-know info on everything from; what to do at weekends, how to open a bank account, how much do international schools cost, which hospitals, how to find a house, stuff to do with kids, where to shop etc. Test me, test me – my mind is still racing...

This guide (and of course the Africa Expat Wives Club forum – which is still active I might add!) has concentrated my mind on relocation and how people really feel about moving to Nairobi.   It reminded me that it really is an emotional journey.

How does reality measure up to expectation?

Personally I was thrilled to move here in March 9 years ago. This had a lot to do with the fact that we were coming from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Nairobi is a lot less hot, not humid, no malaria, far fewer bugs or snakes. Plus there were novelties such as an open fire and joy of joys, you can buy things like fresh mushrooms! But after the building boom of the last 10 years and with horrendous traffic getting worse by the year, is Nairobi really still the ‘Green City in the Sun’ that it was once famous for? Let’s face it, nowadays apartment living is more the norm.

I think what often comes as something of a surprise after all the excitement of sorting out the logistics of the move - is loneliness. Going to live in another country, suddenly divorced from your former life, friends, family, far from your support network (and in the case of the trailing spouse, also your job, which is always bound up with personal identity, sense of self-worth etc) – can be immensely lonely. On one hand you are supposed to be grateful for all the spare time on your hands, your friends back home are jealous – more often than not someone is doing the housework for you - and perhaps you are grateful for a while - but the novelty of being in a new country soon wears off.

The only thing to do is zip up your boots and give it your best crack. Having children in tow always makes life easier because of the school network and some companies are more supportive than others, but in the end for everyone, the only way to tackle this loneliness is to get enormously resourceful –

Top Tips

 Go along to terrifying groups and meetings even though instinct tells you that you’d rather poke your eyes out with knitting needles than stand at the back blushing. In Tanzania, I joined the Hash House Harriers for goodness sake (hate, hate, hate running – singing in public and beer (especially warm Safari) – but I have to admit, it could be fun once the embarrassment subsided!

 Learn some Swahili. I know you can certainly get by without it as everyone speaks wonderful English in Kenya, but if nothing else – by learning the language you learn something of the culture and knowing a few words helps you feel included. Plus, encouragingly the effort to speak Swahili is always appreciated (unlike in trying to speak French in France where people deliberately pretend they haven’t the faintest idea what you are trying to say).

 Apply for a job (your own embassy is always a good start – the pay is lousy but it’s a mini support network nonetheless). Find out from them about any informal meetings/groups that you could join. Voluntary work is admirable, but it’s hugely challenging here and in my opinion only really recommended for people who have been living here for some time and are fully settled.

 If you don’t want to work, think of doing some online training in an area that you’ve always been interested in – teaching, web design, writing, do an MA/PHD? Working alone at home is not going to help much with loneliness, but it does help with self esteem.

 Join a gym. Exercise always makes you feel better and it gets you out of the house.

 Get creative. Start making things, in Kenya you can even get things made for you because we are surrounded by fabulously skilled artisans (fundis) who charge comparatively little for their time (furniture, clothes, leather belts and bags) – either for gifts or you could even send them back home for friends to sell?

 Pursue anything that you are interested in with dogged determination. You may be disappointed by a lack of formal sports facilities but there will always be an informal group of like minded enthusiasts gathering somewhere, be it motor biking, playing football or hockey, bicycling, stamp collecting – whatever. You’ll track them down in the end.

Hope this doesn't all sound too patronising.  The good news is that Nairobi is a hugely cosmopolitan city, absolutely chock full of other people from other countries both from the region and overseas, many of whom might well be feeling exactly the same as you.

Once you have settled in, I’ve noticed that people (myself included) wear those early, harder experiences of being new in the country, like a sort of badge of honour. Horror stories of misunderstandings and awkward situations get rolled out over dinners and coffees, new friends bond over them.

If anyone else has any tips on how to get settled as quickly as possible, knows of networking groups for newcomers (I know that there is one Facebook group who meet regularly) or even if you just have a story on how it panned out for you – then please do share it by commenting – it might help.

Click here for Telegraph article: 'settling-in is expat's biggest worry when moving abroad'.