Anita in Kenya

Back home in Norway

29.04.2010 - 25.05.2010

The 29.04.2010, with lots of overweight and some delays on the plains, we arrived safely in Norway. At the airport we met Ragna and took the train to Stokke where we met all the other Norwegian participants and two of the participants who had been in Norway. The weekend was set for a homecoming seminar and debriefing. It was very nice to meet all the other participants again and hear their stories about their stays in Sri Lanka, Palestine, Norway and Kenya. We were based on Aarholttunet på Stokke, a place at the countryside in Norway, and dark brown bread, brown cheese, meatcakes, potatoes and strawberries tasted delicious after eight months in Kenya. After the weekend it was time to go back home and meet family and friends. I have really enjoyed my stay in Kenya, and so many nice experiences and memories will stay with me forever. And to meet my family and friends again was great, I have missed them and it felt so long since I have seen them. It is though strange how naturally it feels to be back and after beeing with my family and friends for a short while it suddenly does not feel like I have been gone for 8 months.... Now it is lots of new things waiting, I have moved back to Skien, my hometown (after six years staying different places) started in a new job, and we have some follow up work to do for KFUK-KFUM Global as the last part of the programme. It is also summertime, so this is just great :-).

I would like to give a big thanks to KFUK-KFUM Global and Fredskorpset for giving me this fantastic opportunity to attend this programme and be able to stay in Kenya for eight months.

This is it for now, thank you :-).

Posted by Anitastul 25.05.2010 10:29 Archived in Norway Comments (0)

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Some different stories

01.04.2010 - 28.04.2010

Mount Kilimanjaro
During eastertime many Norwegians like going to the mountains, go skiing, stay in a cabin and sit in front of open fire, eat oranges and chocolate, enjoying the sun that is starting to get warmer, relax and play cards/games with family and friends. This year I was going to celebrate easter in Kenya and I had never thought I was going to spend the easter in the mountains and even see snow, but I was wrong. Bjarne, his friend Leo and I had planned to climb mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. Kilimanjaro is called the roof of Africa. It is the highest mountain in Africa, 5.895 metres above sea level. The route we were taking is a six days route. We were a team with four, Bjarne, Leo, Joseph (a guy from Holland) and me, then we had two guides and ten porters. I have never been climbing any large mountains before and I have not done much exercise the last year so I didnt really know what to expect and if I would make it to the top.

The Kilimanjaro team

On the way to Kilimanjaro...

The first day we thought it started a bit steep, waklking for about three hours until we reached the camp at 3000 metres above sea level. The first three days was almost like this, hard but nice, walking from 3-6 hours every day so I thought this was going on well. On the fourth day the really hard work started. We started on the camp which was on the height of 3.800 metres above sea level and the next camp was at 4.600 metres. The last distance up to the camp was very steep, much steeper than the beginning and it felt like a very long distance. When we finally reached the camp I was so happy and we could relax for a bit. But since we were going to start walking the last distance to the top by midnight, we only had a few hours rest before we had to wake up and get ready to start to walk again. It was cold, but I was excited about starting the last distance to the top. It was steep, and we were walking, slowly or «pole pole» (as they would say in Kiswahili). On the height of 5.150 metres above sea level Leo suddenly fell down, he was fainting out because of the height and the thin air. He had to turn and go back to the camp again together with one of the guides. With Leo and one of the guides missing from our team we continued walking. I remeber asking the guide what time we were supposed to reach the top and he said around 6 am. At this time it was only 2 am, and I was even tired at that time, I was freezing and the thought of walking for four more hours, this steep, was just terrible. I didint say anything and kept on walking. We had a few breaks with some hot tea and snacks to gather some energy. When we reached a place called Stella point the sun started to come out, beautiful! We now had about one hour left to the top and even though I was exhausted, we were above the clouds, it was not so steep anymore and there was a beautiful view, so it felt like my energy level was rising a bit, knowing that we were almost on the top. When I finally saw the signboard «Congratulations you are now at Uhuru peak Tanzania 5895 AMSL», I was almost crying, I was exhausted, happy and proud of myself reaching all the way to the top :-).

Kilimanjaro :-)

After maybe 15 minutes on the top we started walking down again, the same route as we walked up. Walking down is almost just as tiresome as walking up, and my legs were so sore while sliding down the mountainside. It was almost three hours down to the camp, and it felt like all my energy was gone. But no other options so we just had to keep on walking and walking..... When we finally arrived the camp we got to sleep for two hours before we had to wake up, eat lunch and then start walking for three more hours to reach the next camp. I was wondering many times how I was going to make it.... You have lots of time thinking when you are walking like this, and on the way I kept on asking myself, what was I thinking, doing this voluntarily and even pay lots of money for it. What is the point?!

Even though it was very hard trip I am so happy that I did it, a real kick reaching at the top, beautiful nature, good exercise, good food, excellent servise and at least great company with Bj, Leo and Joseph. A perfect team and we had lots of fun all the way :-). The porters were carrying most of our luggage, making the tents ready for us before we arrived at the camps and cooking the food, what more could I ask for?! An experience I will always remember, really amazing!

Last days in Kenya...
Farewell in Kisumu
The last week in Kisumu felt long, I was stressed and sad. I was stressed up about leaving and taking farewell with everyone, friends, my host family, colleagues and the streetchildren at Interfelk. Staying in one place and with a family for eight months makes you get to know people very well, get good friends and you get used to the life there. I must say that I am really looking forward to come home to Norway, but to leave everyone here in Kisumu was hard. I am leaving and I dont know when I will see them again.... Last week they had arranged a farewell party with all the staff at Interfelk where we have been attached since january this year, they had arrangened a farewll party at YWCA with all the staff and officials, and the last day a farewell party at home with our hostfamily. I am so greatful for all the nice words and speeches before we left and I will miss so many people here. On saturday there was also membership day at YWCA so then we got to meet and take farewll with many of the members of YWCA before we left. I dont like to say goodbye, so I like the expression, «see you» or «Oriti» as they say in Luo.

We arrived in Nairobi on sunday and have been staying here the last days. Tomorrow morning Maria Louisa and I will start the journey back to Norway. And earlier today Lucy and Jenty started their journey back to Sudan. They will be travelling by road, so we came with them to the busstation to take farewell, another sad goodbye.... I wish them a safe journey back home.

Visit to Madare
Madare

Madare

On monday we went to visit the second largest slum in Kenya, Madare in Nairobi. Some boys that have grown up in this area was taking us around in the slum. There are about 4 million inhabitants in Nairobi and three quarter of these inhabitants are staying in the slum areas. Madere has an area of many square kilometres and I think around 600.000 inhabitants.
Madare

Madare

This area have only a few public schools and then some private schools. Most children are going to school but not all parents can afford to take them to school so some are staying at home during daytime. There is difficult to get a job, alcoholism is a big problem and many girls are engaging into prostitution from a young age to be able to sustain themselves. Many children find out in an early age that the family is not able to take care of them, so they start to find other ways of taking care of themselves. The sanitary system is not good and to use the public toilets you have to pay 5 Kenya shillings (about 0,50 norwegian kroner) each time. «Flying toilets» is also a used a lot in the slums. A flying toilet means to use a plastic bag as toilet and then throw it away. There is no waste management, so all the waste are just thrown around at the ground and you can see it all over. Sometimes they have public clean- ups, where the locals are helping out removing the waste. The electricity they are often connecting themselves direct from the power cable, so there is a big risk of fire. I would say there is many issues in these areas, but still the people seems happy and healthy, they are smiling and greeting us when we are passing by, and the children are shouting - «Mzungu, how are you?» and are running over to greet us. David, the boy who was taking us around had an expression, «there are only two tribes in Kenya, the poor and the rich». There is very big contrasts....
Madare

Madare

The river in Madare

Another story.... :-)
November last year I was invited for supper at the owners of Interfelks house, Jan and Anne. They were making lapskaus (a traditional norwegian dish) so i was looking forward to it since I had not been eating norwegian food for a long time. Jan told me that he had to Norwegian boys staying there too, Bjarne and Jan. Bjarne and Jan are also from Norway and they were working as vulunteers for Interfelk. Bjarne is from Siljan, which is just outside Skien, my hometown. Who thought that I was going to fall in love here in Kenya and even with a boy from my hometown :-). He left Kenya one and a half week ago, so I am really looking forward to meet him again back home in Norway. So this exchange programme has changed my life in many ways :-).

Posted by Anitastul 28.04.2010 15:35 Archived in Kenya Comments (1)

A small update

01.02.2010 - 30.03.2010

I am not sure when my last update was, so I guess you can call me lazy or whatever you want.... But even though I have not updated my blog, there has been lots of things happening here in Kenya, so here is at least a small update abouth what I have been up to the last months.

Streetchildren
It is 7.30 p.m. Som collegues and I are going to the town for a “streetwalk” to talk the streetchildren. Many of the children staying at the streets are now preparing for where they are going to sleep that night, they have used the last hours looking for money to buy something to eat for supper. You can see them in dirty clothes, a bottle of glue in their mouth and some are high from glue or other drugs. Many of these boys are running towards us when we are coming. They are asking for money or to buy them something to eat. We are not there to give them food, but we invite them to the rehabilitation centre the next morning. The rehabilitation centre are teaching them in school subjects, life skills, counselling if necessery, sport activities and more. They will also get breakfast and lunch which they are making themselves. Many of these boys have lost their parents, they have a diffucult time at home or they do not have anyone to take care of them so they dont see any other options than staying at the streets.

The next morning at 8 a.m. The boys are sitting outside the gate at Interfelk waiting to start the day. The day are starting with a morning devotion before they start the work with cleaning the compound, the classroom, toilets, making porridge for breakfast and wash their clothes. Some are working hard while others have to be reminded a few times to make them do their work so they will be ready for class a bit later, today english class.

After class it is time to go for the field to play football. It is unbelieveable hot out on the footballfield in the sun at noon, but this does not stop the boys. The boys are between 8 and 17 years old. They are all playing together and some of the youngest boys are really trying to defeat the older ones. I am also playing with them in the field. The football team at Interfelk

The football team at Interfelk

After one hour it is time to go back to continue preparations for the lunch. The beans are already boiling on the jiko with charcoal and the boys are bathing, washing the school uniforms and are making sure the classroom and compond looks nice and some of them are cooking the lunch.

Ready for lunch...

The afternoon session this day we were having dance and drama. One of the boys were playing on the drum while the others were dancing. One of the other boys were also starting to organize a small drama and was giving out characters to everyone. Everyone seems to enjoy. The afternoon sessions are containg different contents like for example education on Hiv/aids, hygiene, like skills, painting/drawing, music, dance, drama and more.

Suddenly the day is over and the boys are going back the the streets or where they use to stay. This is just a programme on daytime three days a week, and if they are following the programme for one year they will get sponsors so that they can start at school from next year.

In Kisumu there are many streetboys and also many organisations working to help these children. The government in Kenya have recently come up with some new ideas and they are trying to remove the streetboys from the streets. So during nighttime the boys are being chased by the policemen. Every week they will remove five children from the streets in Kisumu and take them to a juvenile remand home. From there they want the NGOs and different organisations working with streetchildren to come and involve these boys into their programmes.

As a part of my work for YWCA in Kenya I am also helping out with this rehabilitation programme at Interfelk.

Trip to Tanzania
By the end of february we had been staying in Kenya for more than six months so we had to reniew our visas. Lucy, Jenty, Maria Louisa and I went to Moshi in Tanzania to reniew the visas and at the same time visit YWCA of Moshi. We were taking bus from Siaya and Kisumu to Nairobi and from there a bus to Moshi. The road from Nairobi to Moshi was not very smooth, so I guess we can say that we got a real “African road massage” on this trip. Loading the bus we took to Moshi. A motorbike on the roof....?

Loading the bus we took to Moshi. A motorbike on the roof....?

We had one day to do some sightseeing and look around in Moshi and the next day we went to visit YWCA of Moshi and to see their projects.

YWCA of Moshi

YWCA of Moshi are working with people with disabilities, both children and adults. The organisation they are cooperating with is one of the first organizations in Tanzania working with disabled people. They have a home for children with disabilities, a school and they are also helping people with disabilities out in the society.

At YWCA in Moshi

YWCA of Moshi are also having a Montesorry nursery school, and they have a youth project with youth meeting two days a week for different activities. We were joining the youth group that day and they tried to teach us some Tanzanian dances and how to play the drums. It looks so easy when the africans are drumming and dancing, but believe me, it is not that easy!

MonteSorry nursery school at YWCA in Moshi, Tanzania

A child playing at the nursery school

In Tanzania Kiswahili is the official language and many people are not speaking very well english, so we got a lot of practice on our Kiswahili skills. At that time I wish I had been practising more for my Kiswahili classes.... Moshi is a town close to Kilimanjaro so when there was no clouds we had a nice view of the mountain. Kilimanjaro is the highest mountain in Africa. Kilimanjaro seen from Moshi

Kilimanjaro seen from Moshi

After two days in Moshi we had to go back to Kenya and luckily we managed to get our visas reniewed on the border, so we can stay here until we go back home the 28.04.2010. On our way from Tanzania to Nairobi

On our way from Tanzania to Nairobi

Workshop on behaviour change
Last week I was attending a workshop for youths at YWCA about behaviour change. This is a part of one of their programmes where we were taught about love and infatuation, gender and sex, sex ans sexuality, Hiv/Aids and drugs and substance abuse. About 45 participants in the age of 15-25 years from different youth groups in the areas around Kisumu were attending. The goal is that all the youths that have been trained will go out and train the youths in their community on the same topics so that the information will reach as many as possible.

In Nyanza province in Kenya(where you also find Kisumu), I heard that over 30% of the population are Hiv positive, so there is really a need of spreading some knowledge on these topics.
A workshop on behaviour change at YWCA Kisumu

A workshop on behaviour change at YWCA Kisumu

Gorilla safari in Uganda

The gorillas in Uganda

There are around 700 mountaingorillas left in the world, in a small area of east Africa. These gorillas are totally wild, but you can book a hiking safari to go and meet these gorillas in the rainforest in Uganda, almost on the border to Congo. They can only allow a certain number of people to visit these gorillas every day and only to stay with them for one hour. Bjarne and I went in a group of four people, plus one guide and to guards. We were walking into the rainforest for about 45 minutes before we met two other guards that had been walking before us to look for the gorillas. The gorillas were now close, a big family with 19 gorillas. We could walk close, but had to stay at least 7 metres away. But this was not even possible. As we were walking, one of the gorillas were running towards us and kicked Bjarne in his leg, not hard but just as he was passing by to say hi maybe?! A bit later we saw to mothers with one small gorilla each, around 6 months old, playing around in the trees and banging their own chests with their hands. One hour was going really fast and we had to move out of the area again to not interfere to much with the normal life of the gorillas. It was just amazing to come so close to these wild animals! The leader of the family is the oldest and biggest male gorilla who is always called silverback with a weight on 220 kg. The name is because of the silver coloured fur on their back. As I mentioned are the gorillas totally wild, but the human beings have been working with them for some time so they are now used to have people around, and the guards are strictly watching the movements of the humanbeings who are coming to visit these gorillas. These gorillas are actually as much as 98 % similar to the human beings..... If you are in this area, this is something you really should concider to do!

The gorillas in Uganda

The gorillas and me

Fruitsellers by the road

Uganda

This was just a small update about what has been happening here the last months. Now I have just finished my Kiswahili lesson for today and I am at the office. This evening I will be travelling to Nairobi and further on to Tanzania to walk to the top of Kilimanjaro, jippi :-).
Teaching the peaceclub at Lions High School

Teaching the peaceclub at Lions High School

Posted by Anitastul 30.03.2010 05:16 Archived in Kenya Comments (0)

Budget accommodation in Kenya

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Visit from Norway and a fantastic safari

21.12.2009

A couple of weeks ago Silje and Linn, two very good friends from Norway, came to Kenya and Kisumu. It was so great to see them! We picked them up at the busstation and they were happy to arrive after a very long journey and a bumpy busride. In the one week they had here in Kisumu we got to see and do a lot of things.

Hells gate, hot springs

YWCA
We went with some uf my colleagues at YWCA to visit a women group, a youth group and a Y- teens group in Kanyabola, a village outside of Kisumu. They are working as farmers, growing rice, keeping ducks and so on. We got to see how they are growing maize, rice, mangos and papayas. For me its the first time to see how they are growing rice, so a big moment. For others who have not seen it, it almost looks like how they are growing wheat, and the pick the rice seeds out of the green leaves.

The next day we went for graduation at King Jesus Nursery school where I have been teaching. The final class was dressed in graduation gown and, the baby class(my class) was performing songs and poems. They are just so cute. All the threes classes were all together singing the Norwegian birthday song, Hurra for deg! I must say I am very impressed by their performance and Norwegian pronunciation, so teacher Anita was very proud :-).

In the afternoon we went to Nyawita and Obunga to visit some of the members and beneficiaries for the projects of YWCA. One of the boys we were visiting are taking care of his family, mother, brothers and sisters. YWCA was boosting his business with selling Kerosene a while ago. His business has increased a lot and he is now doing very well and are supporting his family.

We also visited a grandmother with 13 grandchildren, all of these children have lost their parents, so the grandmother are now taking care of them wit some help from the neighbours around. The house of this granndmother are almost breaking down and she is now staying in the house of her neighbours for a few months when the neighbour is gone. What she is doing when the neighbour is back she doesnt know. The grandmother is a very nice and positive lady, and she was very happy for the visit that day.

Other visits
We were also supposed to go and visit Barack Obamas grandmother close to Siaya. Unfortunately I had not been well the last days and the hospital confirmed that I had an bacterial infection, so I had to stay at home and in bed the whole day. Silje and Linn left and they saw her house, but the grandmother, Mother Sarah, was sick that day so they were not able to talk to her. I have been there once before but the granmother was out that day, so we talked with Obamas aunt.

One day we went to visit my home where I am staying with my host family. They had prepared a nice Kenyan lunch for us and we were all having a good time.

We also went for a boattrip at Lake Victoria. The boat left at 6.30 in the morning so that we could see the sunset. We saw lots of birds, hippos, went into land seeing the fish market and visiting a family. A really nice trip that we ended at Kiboko Bay with a nice lunch and some time in the sun by the pool. Unfortunately we are not able to swim in the Lake because of bacterias and Bilhazia.

Safari
Silje, Linn, Bjarne and me had planned a five days safari and were really looking forward to it. The days before we left one after one was falling sick. Bjarne with malaria, Silje with stomach problems , Linn coughing and some signs of flu and me with a bacterial infection on antibiotics that did not work at all. Luckily we were all feeling much better the day we left and we were all excited about the trip. The first day we were driving to Hells Gate where we rented bikes and started to bike in the park. We saw lots of Impalas, buffaloes, giraffes and other animals in the landscape that was almost like in the fairytales. The giraffes was really close and it was amazing to se them when they started to run, so slegant but still they looks a bit clumsy with their long and thin body. Bjarne got a flat tyre and Linn fell and scratched her leg, but at least we made it to the point where we could go down the hills to see the hotsprings. On our way down it was like the heaven opened and the rain was pouring down. We got down to the hotsprings all soaken wet after the rain, so it felt nice with the hot water from the hotsprings. After all the «accidents» and the fact that it would be dark in a short while we were so happy when our driver said he would come to pick to us up.

The second day we went to Lake Bogoria to see some other hotsprings and lots of flamingos. In these hotsprings you can boil an egg if you want. We forgot to bring the egg though. By the water it was all pink and covered with hundreds and hundreds of flamingoes. After this we went to lake Beringo where we were going to stay. We had a beautiful and charming house with view over the lake. Close to this house they were feeding the hippos in the evening so we could sit and watch the hippos coming from the lake to eat. We were also having a stroll by the lake and while we were wondering if there could be crocodilles around we suddenly realized there were four crocodilles lying about 30 meters away from us by the the water.... I am happy we didint go closer to the water.

The next day we went to Maasai Mara for safari. The drive took almost the whole day so we arrived at the camp in the afternoon. And we went to visit a Maasai village, so we could see them dancing, their houses and ways of living.

Maasai Mara is a huge game park that also passes the border to Tanzania. We saw the big four. The only thing we missed out on the big five was the rhino. It was fantastic to see all these animals and so close up. The animals doesn`t even seem to care about the cars driving around, I guess they are vetry used to it. We saw lions, elephants, giraffes, hippos, buffaloes, leopard, impalas, different antilopes, different birds and much more. The animal that facinates me most must be the giraffe I think. That tall animal with long thin legs and neck and that small body, it is just amazing.

After two nights in Maasai Mara the safari was about to reach the end and we were heading to Nairobi. Silje and Linn were going further to Mombasa, while Bjarne and I were going back to Kisumu. I have heard so much about the train, so for the experience we decided to take the train from Nairobi to Kisumu. It is supposed to talk almost twice the time as the bus though, the bus takes around seven hours while train is supposed to take around 13 hours. We had to be at the train station at around five and the train was leaving at 6.30 pm. With our heads out of the window we got to see a lot on the way. We were passing the slum in Nairobi, many small places with children waving and greating us. The supper was very nice, and Bjarne even said it is the best meal he have been eating in Kenya. When I woke up in the night the train was standing still at the station in Nakuru(about halfway on the way to Kisumu). I fell asleep again and woke up before breakfast, when we realized that the train was still standing in Nakuru. We were asking what was happeing and it it turned out that the engine was broken so they had removed the locomotive to change the engine and we where waiting for it to come back. I have heard about delays on the train, but I was never expecting almost 10 hours delay.... But it was a very nice trip and we got to see alot along the road, so we were enjoying the long journey. If you are in Kenya and you are not rushing I for sure will recommend to take the train.

This was the end of our fantastic safari!

Posted by Anitastul 05:33 Comments (0)

Nairobi

25.11.2009

A few weeks ago we got an email with invitation to FK(Fredskorpset) Kenya network meeting in Nairobi. Even thoug a bit short notice the four of us managed to organize everything so that we could attend this meeting. And Iam really happy we did. We took the bus from Kisumu to Nairobi(Maria Louisa and Jenty from Siaya) and after about seven hours we reached Nairobi. We were trying to get a taxi driver to take us to the hotel and after bargaining to get a good price we were going to take the seats in the car. And we didnt really see the car before we had agreed with the driver. I dont know how old the car was, but at least much older than me and we were wondering if the car was still able to drive. After some discussions of going with this driver or not, we finally got into the car and we were supposed to leave. The driver turns on the engine and it is not starting, he tries again, and again and it is not starting. We ended up taking another taxi, and next time I think I will consider the car also before I make any agreements.

Seminar
The meeting was for current participants, previous participants and partner organizations for FK here in Kenya. And even the manager for FK in Norway and some of her colleagues was there to attend the meeting. We were working in groups, sharing experiences and also litening to different topics. I didnt even know that there was an organization in Kenya that were working with the participants and partners like this. We met so many people staying in Kenya like us attending different programmes, many who had been participants earlier in different countries earlier and different organizations. I think FK and the network in Kenya achieved their goal with the «network meeting», at least I got to know some people I will stay in touch with.

World cup qualification
Qualification to World Cup 2010 in South Africa was played in Nairobi when we were there. And being able to go and watch the match live at Kasarani stadium was amazing. We went with some local friends. We were waiting to get in to the stadium when we suddenly saw everyone running to the same place. It turned out to be Kenyas prime minister, Reila Odinga, who was arriving. I must say I was concerned about what was happening but it was just a welcome to the prime minister. In total there were around 36.000 people at the stadium. And even with so many people I managed, by a coincidence, to meet some American students that I met a few weeks ago. And on the seats in front of us there were sitting a group of other Norwegians. The world is really not so big!

Irritated
The trip to Nairobi was really nice and we had lots of fun, accept for one episode where my bag got stolen from a restaurant. Many people has been warning us about pick pockets and crime in Nairobi, but anyway I have to learn the hard way.... We went to the policestation to report it in the evening he was writing it down and told me to come back the day after. We went back the day after and then they said that the office dealing with this issues was closed in weekends so I had to come back next week. Luckily after some time he got convinced to at least help me with the police abstract when I was there. But even though he wrote the abstract he told me to come back on monday to pay a fee. Is it normal to pay fee to report a robbery to the police? I wanted the papers to be ok and went back on monday to the police station, and on the door to the office to pay it was written, «please come back tomorrow afternoon from two»....

Friends on visit :-)
Today Silje and Linn, two very good friends, from Norway came to Kenya and to visit me here in Kisumu. I am really looking forward to a great time with them here in Kenya :-).

Since my camera was in the bag that got stolen, I unfortunately dont have any photos from Nairobi. So I just found some other photos I have taken lately.
A man who works with sand <br />harvesting at lake Victoria