Jalopy

24th December, 2008

It is Christmas Eve, I'm in the middle of Kenya and we have no power and I can only type until the battery runs out on my laptop. Actually, we haven't had power all day.

I slept much better last night probably due to the fact that I felt safe and secure but it could have been more to do with the fact I didn't sleep the night before and was dog tired. The alarm went off at 6:30am and I got up and unlocked the door of the Clinic. It was bright outside but very quiet. The calm before the storm!

I went back to sleep and got up again at around 7:30am. The kids came over to bring me my tea which pretty much forces me to leave my room. Otherwise, one child turns into 50 and I can't stop them all playing with my stuff. They are curiously destructive. They don't mean to be, but they are just so inquisitive that they need to see how something works. Case in point being the light bulb yesterday.

I played around with the kids for a bit then met up with Moses. I talked to him about modernising a few things and growing the revenues of the facility. He enthusiastically agreed with me but I could tell he didn't quite get it. Still it is a better attitude than the French who will disagree and resist with any change even if they understand it and can appreciate the value of it.

I showed him the website that I had created for keeping track of children's records. I think he started to get it but it's going to take a bit more work. At about 9:30am Joe Jenga turned up. Joe is an IT guy introduced by Mike. He actually grew up in Cura and went to the old school. Joe is a booming man in terms of personality. He is average size, average height but his enthusiasm makes you think he is bigger. Joe had come out to work with me on laying the ground work for the installation of 30 donated computers later in January. We talk about how we will get the facility connected to the internet which to be honest is very limited. The only real option is satellite which is going to be expensive.

Joe and I examine the room next to mine in the Clinic which is planned to be the temporary site for some of the computers until the new one is finished. We work out that we can probably get six computers in this room. With only one power point though, it's going to be a challenge.

We need the keys for the new building so while Moses is getting those, we examine the old Church. Joe had originally proposed that they put the computers in part of this. I look around the place and can certainly agree with him. There are nice high ceilings and three big flat walls that can be used for projection if needed. This would be ideal as it is also quite secure. Whilst we are examining this we are joined by the local pastor George. George technically controls this building so we talk to him about our idea and he is okay with it. It will need a new wall built but George says this can be done in less than two weeks. You've gotta love Africa. In France the pre-meeting to discuss the organisation of a meeting for preliminary planning of the idea couldn't be done in two months let alone two weeks.

The organisation is building a multi-purpose hall that will house the computers. I'm concerned that the hall actually more closely resembles a prison with thick concrete walls, small and infrequent barred windows and low ceilings. While you can slop on some brightly coloured paint to make it a bit less penal, the thing that concerns me the most is the low ceilings. Putting 30 old computers with 17 inch monitors is going to generate a fair bit of heat. As much as I'm concerned about the comfort of the students and teachers, I'm more concerned about the computers. Running at high temperatures is a sure way to cause them to break down and IT support is a little further away here than it is for about 99% of the rest of the world.

We toss around the pro's and con's and one of the main things going for the new building is the abundance of power points. We decide that it's best to make use of this and if worse comes to worse we can add in some extractors to suck the heat out. (If we make the solar powered that will be even better!)

Having worked out what needs to be done in the short and medium term, we have deserved the cup of milky sweet tea that is provided when we get back to the Board Room. (i.e. the room next to Moses' office). We chat a bit more about Kenya, the internet and some of the things we can do to promote this place. George is very enthusiastic about my ideas and seems to get it so we will definitely have a supporter here.

Joe needs to go to Wangige and Moses wants to do some banking and I want to do some shopping. We catch a lift with Joe and then head into the bank. Unlike the other day when we went, there are two soldiers out the front with machine guns. It takes about 20 mins for Moses to get served and once he's done we head back out to the main section of Wangige. Now we need to get to Kikuyu, the big smoke. Moses directs me over to a small mini-bus that would normally seat about 8 people in it back home. This jalopy is old, rusty and beat up. It certainly wouldn't pass any safety criteria in Australia or even France. I cram in with the 18 other passengers. Considering how hot it is, and how jammed in we all are it is surprisingly free of body odour. I'm pretty sure though that this has more to do with the carbon monoxide and exhaust fumes that seem to be vented back into the vehicle and out the windows rather than the customary tailpipe method. When I think we can't get anymore people in, two conductors step onto the running board, bang on the roof and then simultaneously wedge themselves in whilst closing the door, all as the driver grinds the gear lever into the gears and we jerk off down the road.

About 15-20 mins later we have arrived in Kikuyu. Moses heads to another bank, this time an impressively clean Barclays bank with two female soldiers out the front armed with machine guns. Never underestimate what power the female touch has to making a place more inviting...

After banking, we head to Moses' favourite fish restaurant. To be honest, I'm more than a little apprehensive but will try anything once. The fish is surprisingly good. Moses is served Ugali while I'm served chips. I think we are each happy with our side dishes. We then head off to an internet cafe as Moses needs to send an email (I suspect his first ever), and I need an internet fix.

There are around 12 computers jammed into the smallest of spaces each with a tiny carol around it. The lovely young lady working in the place who is a friend of Moses' and a Cura resident herself is very helpful. She helps Moses with his email and also helps me plug my laptop into an empty desk at the back. After struggling to get connected we eventually work out that the DHCP settings are not pushing out DNS entries (that actually means something which less than 0.01% of my readers will understand) so once I manually configure those, we are right to go. The internet is surprisingly fast.

I upload and download a few emails, publish the first few episodes of this blog and then I'm ready to leave. As much as I'd love to stay there for a couple of hours, Moses has finished so I need to leave. We buy a few more supplies for me, mainly toiletries, on the way back, plus some lollies for the kids (Alan Liddle you owe me €2.26).

We come back and Moses and I create the little gift bags for each of the kids. A red AXA nylon bag, AXA cap, AXA balloon, AXA pen, lollipop and a toy car, are probably not on the top of most kids Christmas lists but I think the little ones will be happy when we give it to them tomorrow.

I then go outside an play with the kids. The two smallest ones, Munyara and Peter constantly climb on me. They are joined by others. We play a few games including a Kenyan version of dodgeball and I do a few magic tricks for them. Okay, they are not real magic tricks but they call them that. Their favourite is when I put a stone in one hand and get them to guess which hand it is in. I then have 30 Kenyan children screaming "this one" as they point to a hand only to have them roar with delight when they get it right or wrong. We play this for more than 15 mins and I can't believe they are still excited by it. By the end of it, I'm completely filthy. The kids are just covered in dust all the time, and having them climb over me pretty much left me in the same state.

I guess I must show it a bit more than they do, as when Moses saw me he instructed one of the house mothers to fetch me a large bucket of hot water. He's subtle like that.

I have just about perfected the art of washing from a bucket of water without getting any on the floor. It feels great to get all the grime off me. I do regret bringing a white washcloth though as it is a dirty red by the time I'm finished. After my "bath" Mike calls and we have a brief discussion on what I've been up to. He was worried that he hadn't heard from me since dropping me off. I should have told him the same thing I tell my parents, no news is good news.

I'm then presented with yet another appetising meal of Ugali and Sukuma Wiki (White clay type of paste with green spinach type vegetable). Hopefully, the image will appear below in all it's glory...

Whilst I'm eating my dinner outside in the dark, a friendly young man in a white cowboy hat comes by and we start chatting. He informs me that there is a service on tonight at the church from 10pm - midnight. I tell him I probably won't go. He asks why and I tell him because I don't believe in god. Probably not the right thing to say in a population that is more than 90% Christian but I do so anyway. For the next 15 minutes we are both engaged in a deeply philosophical discussion about life and religion. He is not offended just curious. It's an extremely mature and level conversation that is unlikely to happen even in less Christian countries like the US.

At the end, he says, "Well come on over anyway as there will be lots of Christmas carols". I decide that I will go over as I do like Christmas carols and I'd love to hear them sung by an African choir. I suppose I can sit through an hour of god-bothering for that. (I'm taking my iPhone though...)

This was a good day.