ALL
KINDS OF EVERYTHING BEFORE AND AFTER THE HOSPITAL. , July 2012.
Sunday
9.4.2012
Church
Today
several people came at my door asking if I wanted to join church. The first
ones were daughters Karey and Lydia who wanted to join church at the nearby Nazarene
university where Karey studies. It is a protestant church. Kaso, sister to
Agnes, invited me to her church where they speak Kiswahili, so that’ll be next
time. Agnes joins again another church, the Presbyterian, and Kiboi is going to
a catholic church. Well, what do you think of that? So I went to the university
where we were met with a lot of music and singing. You were invited to come
along. After the music a lady asked who was new in that church and I had to get
up as well. That was not enough they also wanted to know who I am so I had to
stand up again. Then I recognized that the lady was Agnes who wants to have her
children at Steiner school. There were a lot of children that were welcome in
the first part and then some people took them along to do something together. A
pastor from Zimbabwe spoke and he had a lot of humor. I must confess that the
whole service was nice, without hysterical shouting what I experienced in
another church. The whole service took 1,5 hour and that is normal here.
In the
afternoon I visited Cornel and Fatuma and their little family. Little Natasha
was born in January, she is very cute. Nicole is four years old now. It took me
over an hour to come to them and that is in the same village! On Sundays
everyone is out and the traffic is even worse than on week days.
18.04.2012
FIRST
TIME TO THE OFFICE AT FOREST ROAD.
When I
was waiting for a Tukituki a car stopped and offered me to drive me to the main
road for the usual price: 30 bop. But it looked like a private car and I
hesitated. It seemed like the three ladies in the car also were paying and I
got in. But how can I know if it is a taxi when there is no sign?
Today I
got picked up from the main road by Cornel and two colleagues from the
organization he works ANPPCAN. This is an organization for children’s’
protection, website www.anppcan.org.
We were
dropped off at Forest Road. We entered an apartment building which houses the
office. It turned out to be a wonderful top modern office. The Agency for
Development and Research hosts Potrain and we can use their facilities. Gideon
who leads the agency is a clinical psychologist and looks very smart. He told
that he had Norwegian friends and was planning to travel to Norway in July. I
felt a little stitch of jealousy. The other people in the office seem to be
very nice so this is promising. We took a matatu to meet a colleague from
Cornel. As Cornel sat in the front he was not visible. A drunken man offered me
to pay for the trip which I friendly refused but he created some confusion as
the tout didn’t understand where the money was coming from. The colleague who
is a professional IT had found a good secondhand computer and that one looked
quite modern. The shop where we bought the equipment is not visible from the
street and many computers are piled up in a tiny room. We ate in a KFC
(Kentucky Fried Chicken, that Adrian is so fond of) restaurant. On the way back
there arose some commotion as I wanted to take a Tukituki instead of a car. And
then someone offered me to drive me alone in the Tukituki. Yeah I am a mzungu
(white person) and they will expect extra pay for the drive. So I refused
saying friendly that I can wait. And then they pointed out that the car was
first in row. Hakuna matata (no problem) I said and all had to laugh.
21.4.12.
FIRST TIME VISITING THE GROUP AT KIBERA.
Yesterday
I finally became a modem for the internet that Cornel bought and I am very
happy. Also the power came back and my shower is working again. So many
miracles on one day! Together with Cornel we were at the office and we were
using the new computer and we made a work plan and he showed me how to start
fundraising. Afterwards I was shown around in the Kibera slums for an hour. I
must say that there has been some upgrading. There were towers with electric
light, buildings with toilets and showers, and water stations. Human dung is
used for bio-gas. Agnes has such an installation with her café for cow dung and
uses the gas to cook with.
Strange
but true is that you get used to meet miserable situations. Every time it
shocks me how inhuman and unworthy it is to live in the slums but you cannot
think about that the whole time else you cannot be there. We met Victor who is
chairman of the group called Vision Pamoja (togetherness) that Potrain (the
organization Cornel has founded and where I will be fundraising for) has
inaugurated in the Kibera slums (see www.potrain.org
). The group counts about 30 members and they are trying to come out of
poverty. They started last year and meet every Saturday. They have come that
far now that they will start a business that sells chicken. The profits come
back to the group that will look for more projects. The ones who work in the
shop get paid for the work. The meeting was in English, they made minutes and
the whole meeting was very effective. A good meeting is a piece of art, if you
ask me. All the members told something about themselves and they were very
positive about this process and were very grateful for the chance they get now.
They have to pay Sh 10 every week as a kind of membership. That also means that
they commit themselves. They get money from a fund to be able to start a
business. I got the impression that this is very serious and that they work
hard. 14 Members were visiting a children’s home that day as part of the
project. I will attend the meeting as an observer more often and counsel on
different themes they come with themselves.
Sunday
22.04.2012
From the
newspaper 20.04.12: Man fined Sh 200.000 for digging up stump.
A man
who uprooted a tree stump in a forest was shocked when a Nyeri court slapped
him with a Sh 200.000 (= + kr
14.400 = + € 1800) fine. He will
serve a three year jail term should he fail to raise the fine. The Forest Act
prescribed a harsh penalty for such an offence. He was caught by guards in
Laikipia West Forest.
They are
planting million of trees all over in Kenya. Remember Wangari Maathai, Nobel
peace prize winner, with her project women planting trees.
As I
have not found a washing-up brush I bought a mini toilet brush to do the dishes
with. You need to be creative! Here they use such green Scotch Brite scouring
pad, washing up in cold water but I prefer hot water and then a brush does then
better.
Sunday
22.04.12.
Today I
visited Britt and Ngare and their two lovely little kids. They live in a house
in Ngong town. It was a 1,5 hour bus drive for me and they picked me up with
the road and it was still a long way up. Normally they live in Norway in a
place near Stryn and have been here for a half year now volunteering for a
school in the Mathare slums. I met Britt in 2002 when I was a student in the
psychiatric clinic where Britt was in 2000. She came back as a volunteer for
Strømmen Stiftelsen and lived in the same apartment complex as Odilia and me.
Last week they bought a house in Ngong town not far away from where they live
now and of course I was curious and we visited the house. It is a little
bungalow, very cute. The rain was threatening again so I decided to go home.
The rain causes very many damages just in that area. Britt told about a woman
who tried to cross the water in the street that became like a river because
there is no drainage. She didn’t survive and now they have made drainage there.
There is coming down a lot of sand and stones from the hills. And this is not
the only accident. The nature powers are very strong. The last few days we were
again without power after a storm raged over our house.
Agnes
told that they have observed lions right outside the house in the field where I
go every time I go to town. She told me not to turn, but slowly step backwards
if I should meet a lion. She told that they don’t attack people, but……… Later
on I heard about two lions coming at 11 pm to a plot at the end of the road
here, just between all the other houses, looking for dogs.
RAIN SEASON
APRIL 2012.
With the
rain all kinds of insects are invading the apartment. Sometimes there are many!
I sweep them away but it is nasty. They roll themselves up when you touch them
and they look like dead. When they go they fall aside or on their back and
struggle to get on their feet again. I found out that it is wise to close the
curtains so there will be no army attacking the living room. Also big spiders
are crawling on the wall. If you leave them they disappear, but I think that
the spider and me know exactly where the other one is. The rain pours down like
a curtain. Outside the road gets very muddy and the mud becomes like thick
cloths on your shoes and you need to walk a bit with wide legs else you make
yourself dirty. The cloths are flying around. Don’t think that you can stamp
your feet to get the mud off, no it is too sticky. But the rain makes
everything green again and the soil needs water. During May the rain will stop
again until October. After the rain season the balance was that floods took 80 people’s
lives, 40 were injured and many thousands homeless. In one place people were
bit by crocodiles when they went home in the water. Strangely enough there is
no storage of water for dry season.
BLACKOUTS
In the
news Kenya was called ‘the blackout country’. You have to be aware the whole
time that light goes off. It happens most in rain time and then it can stay
away for hours or even days. In spring it happened that two times the whole
country was without electricity!!! Can you imagine. Last autumn the
transformator in this road was stolen, it took a while when it got replaced but
the new one has not the same quality. So it happens that everyone around has
got power again except we and our nearest neighbours. People believe that it is
the Kenya Power workers themselves who steal the transformators! Every Thursday
in the rain season the power is off in Rongai, to save electricity. The shops
that have no aggregator just have no business that day. And everything in the
freezer melts. As electricity warms the water to the shower, no shower too. When
the power is gone for a longer time we have no water at all because that gets
pumped up (I live upstairs). Then I get a drum with water. Yes you learn to
cope with situations but else I live quite comfortable compared with most
people here. I am very grateful for May-Lisa’s idea about a head torch,
perfectly when it is dark. And there are always candles on the table and in the
bedroom - with matches!
LADIES
PARTY AND VISIT OF JAMILA – 01.05.2012
On the
first of May there was a chama at Agnes’ house. A chama is officially
registrated. Every time they meet (once a month) all the members pay a certain
amount which they give to the lady who is hosting them, they all have their
turn to be host. When you become a member you pay a certain amount. This money
is possible to loan against an interest of 10%. From this interest the group
gets its income. They help each other when there is a need, like with funerals,
weddings, hospital bills etc. Not only financially, they also support each
other when someone needs help in any way. Some ladies of that chama came to
visit me after the operation. There is a chair woman, a treasurer and a
secretary and minutes are written from the meeting. When you do not show up you
have to pay a ‘fine’, because you are obliged to come. There is good food that
everyone is paying for. There is fun, dancing and maybe a glass of wine. I am
invited as an observer. I appreciate that very much. Giving money every month
and receiving when you are the host is a form of saving. The meeting opens and
ends with a prayer. The money the host is receiving is also blessed by the
whole group. I get ideas of starting such a group back home.
It was
really fun being together about preparing the food. We started already early in
the morning and most of the work was done outside.
To my
big surprise we got company of a colleague of mine from Norway, Jamila. She
took along her aunt. Jamila is originally from Somalia and has relatives in
Kenya. The aunt is involved in an NGO working with Somali girls who are in
danger to get married off at a very early age. She is teaching them skills in
among others sowing so they can maintain themselves. Unfortunately, it took
Jamila and her aunt hours to come here because of traffic jam. We did not
expect that as the 1. Of May is a public holiday. It was very nice to meet them
and they joined the chama.
 |
| Kaso cooking chapaties |
Kaso, Moni and Dennis cooking outside
 |
| Delicious food that soon was gone |
01.06.12.
While I
was rehabilitating the nurse from the nurse agency Lydia came to visit telling
a horrible story. She does not live far from here. Last Sunday it started
raining while her son already left the house, leaving the house empty. He
returned to switch the security light on and discovered two dead bodies of the puppies.
He assumed that there was a big dog in the garden and went over. The dog
attacked him while he was running towards the house and wanted to take him in
his neck. He was protecting himself with his hands and got many bites. The
other dogs came to rescue him and he could come into the house. The next day
the Kenya Wildlife was informed because from the trails they could see that it
was no dog. The Kenya Wildlife first assumed that it was a lion but changed
that later into a leopard. The compound is fenced and still a wild animal could
come into the compound. It scared all of us because that is also possible here.
30.06.12
Today
the chama was at Moni’s place at the Diguna, a German mission, very nearby. Moni
is baking my daily bread which is lovely. It is baked in an oven with charcoal.
I was excited because I could understand many Swahilian words. As we were at
the mission there was no wine or dancing, but they did kind of children’s’ play
singing and dancing and I really liked to be part of that.
Afterwards
we were invited to a kind of wedding celebration in a children’s’ home nearby.
The daughter of the leader of the home had married an older German man six
weeks before in Mombasa and now they were celebrating with all the children.
But the man is married from before and has 11 children. His wife was sitting
next to the couple. Their youngest child is 16 years old and this new wife is
maybe 22 or 23 years old. Legally it is impossible to be married twice in
Germany. He told that he is a bishop in the Celestial (don’t know if that is
right) church and that he had a vision that God told him to marry this girl.
She had kind of the same vision. Well I think that I have a broad view on
things and can accept a lot but this was very weird to me and it did not feel
good being there.
