All kinds of everything before and after the hospital july 2012

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.