5th February 05

Kenya, Nairobi, KIbera

So here I am in Nairobi.., I feel very emotional right now, missing my hubby and missing the good condition I had in England.

My luggages were overweighted in England and they would charge me 600 pounds for it.. I was really running around re-weighting the stuff and begging the airport people..in the circumstance that "you have to run right now to gate 25, it takes you 20 mins to reach there and the flight will take off in 20 mins.." mean while I was still stuck with 25 kgs over-weights.. I was crazy and sweating and running with 2 huge bags and 2 hand bags..

Finally one staff let me go through.

I arrived Nairobi airport and had good feeling because it looks like Vietnam’s. However, only 1 luggage arrives, the other one with my media equipments, tripod, books, tapes.. is missing. I have claimed lost baggage and they suppose the bag is misplaced some where (other flights to other country) and will be send back tomorrow or day after. Many other passengers were in the same situation as mine, and there were many luggages with no owners as well.

I met the people who picked me up. There were 4 of them, one middle aged man, 1 young guy with disability, another young guy, and one young girl. They are the: father of the hosting family, Fred- the group leader, his fellow, and the daughter of the family. They were friendly but not as enthusiastic as I thought (hehe).. they were shy and I ended up shaking their hands. The father was very open and conversational. We walked towards the car and they didn’t let me take care of my bags, we walked at normal speed but after sometime I realized Fred is left far behind on his own, trying to catch up.

I didn’t have a chance to sit with Fred but the daughter. The father talked to me a bit and told me about the city as we passed through areas.. Finally we went to ‘Kibera" area and he pointed out rich houses belong to westerners or high profile officers in Kenya.. the houses are really big and beautiful.. The father also told me that right behind these bigs houses are slum area in total contrast. And he said "the rich and the poor live side by side".., we also went pass a bar/pub which looks extremely interesting to me because it was built with wood painted in red and white, with neon light and people drinking inside. The father told me this is where all rich people of this area come and drink and hang out, evidence was white cars in front of the pub. The car then stopped in a dark and empty land where Fredrick and his friend got down.. I felt extremely emotional because I always wanted to talk to Fred but we had no chance, and he just quietly got down from the car (with his 2 sticks) and so was his friend.. I had to reached out and said "Will I see you tomorrow?’ and he said "We will come tomorrow". As the car drove off I looked through the glass and saw Fredrick trying to catch up with his friend in to the darkness.. I wonder where they stay, and what that place is like..

Within a short time we arrive at the family’s house. The car was 16 seats car drove inside the yard. The house is of middle class, they have front yard and back yard with a well/concrete water tank and place to wash. I entered the house and was immediately over-whelmed by the tight arrangement of sofas and tables, seems like they have too many sofas and so they decided to display all of them. They were in red velvet with covering sheet in white embroided with red roses. The living room is quite small and remind me of a middle class Indian house where everything is tight and busy looking. I greated the mother of the house and she was friendly but just sat there by the door, while I continue to go into the inner part of the living room. I expected to be shown the room but the father just sat down and talked to me casual things, asking me why I choose Kibera, why TfD..etc.. He also put on TV where English series were on and really funny.

My head was aching and I needed a rest but the father just kept me busy by talking to me. He asked me if I wanted to take a bath and I said yes I’d like to fresh up. And he talked in Swahili to his family members .. and then again talked to me.. I was impatient and didn’t know if I was expected to ask or I should just wait, so I asked the father where the bathroom is and he said "Oh my daughter are preparing it for you".. and then I saw the girl boiling water in the kitchen, and after sometime take the the bucket up stair. My luggages were brought upstair by them as well. I was really curious what they were preparing and how my room look like.. Anyway after a long time, the girl came down and gave me a sign that it was ready. I followed her up stair and she showed me the bathroom which is about 4.5m2, full of clothes (1 metter tall) on the basin, and a bath tub with hot water bucket and cold water bucket. The bath tub is old and doesn’t seem to work. She then showed me "my" room, here come the main part: as she opened the door I saw 2 beds in a room of 8m2. On the beds there were pillows and lots of blankets. She said "This is where all the girl stay" and I realize this was intended to include me as well. I then asked her "what about you, where do you stay?" and she said: "here". I was a bit shocked and was trying to cope. When she walked out I stood there and look at the whole scene again, and realized those blankets on the king-size bed actually contained people underneath, sleeping. I looked carefully and realized there were 2 small children who might be the daughters. I then looked at the queen size bed right next to it, I saw 2 pillows placed each in 1 end of the bed. And I figured out I was expected to share the bed with the older girl at 69 position.

I felt shocked and overwhelmed and constantly told myself to calm down and relax, and that I am there to experience this. I walked down the stair and sat with the father again, he mentioned the monthly payment and we agreed at 150 dollars/ month. Later I checked with him if I were sharing the room and the bed with his daughters, and he confirmed it. I asked him to show me the place to keep my belonging and he and his wife took me up stair. He showed me his office, which is much bigger and nicer than the rest I have seen, he said I can use this to study and type things, and that he normally lock the room but he will give me a key to use it anytime I like. I then asked him if it is possible to open the window while sleeping because I imagine it would be sufficated with 5 girls in a room of 8m2 (there was another girl as well). He said yes and also told me I am welcome to even sleep in the office if I like.., so some how we looked around and I mentioned I don’t mind just a sheet of something put on the floor of the office and sleep there. He thought of buying a folded bed but I said no need for that. He checked if I would feel comfortable to sleep on the floor and I said of course. The mother immediately went and brought to the office a queen sized mattress, blanket, bed sheet, pillow.. and we quickly arranged and now I am typing this on my new bed in the father’s office. I feel very comfortable here and glad I have a space of my own.

The father explained about how I will have to heat water in the kitchen and then bring it upstair if I want warm water.. and that I can cook for myself, or teach the girl Vietnamese dishes, or just tell them what I like to eat or what I can’t eat and they cook and I will eat with them… So far so good, a part from initial shock I feel quite trusting and safe here with this family. They said the kids looks forward to meeting me and they will be very excited tomorrow morning. I mentioned wanting to learn Swahili and they said the children would be the best teachers.

6th Feb

This morning the children’s voice woke me up. I had to think for a moment to realise that I was in Africa. I didn’t know what time it was but it was lovely weather as I can see through the window, there was a banana tree and beautiful sun shine. I heard the children voice and I wanted to interact with them so I quickly got up. After looking at the clock I realised I had only slept for 3 hours. It was 7am. The children are like angels, they are very curious but they love being with me, so I spent the morning playing with them on the bed, they are very "clingy" and always love to find comfy spot to lean on me. All the 4 kids (smallest 2yrs, then 4, then 5, then 6) love sucking their thumbs and they are really cute! Now the first Kiswahili words I learnt today was "Funga macho", told to me by the 3 year old, meaning "Close your eyes"… how cute… she loves doing tricks!

The mother sorted out place to keep my belongings, I start to feel comfortable of interacting with 5-6 people in one room. The mother told me she moves me back to the shared room because Proffessor (father) sometime works until late night. This time however, I have my own bed, next to the other one. The weather was lovely and beautiful sunshine with cool pleasant breeze reminded me of the time I was on the beach!!! This make me miss Dave my husband very much, because he is now on the beach chilling out!

I finished typing 3 more pages and the computer in the shop shutted down. So I will be quick: the children love me, they are of different ages, 2, 4,5,6. I played with them whole morning and was fascinated to watch them play as well. The first words I learnt were from the 3 yr old baby "Funga macho" meaning "close your eyes"…

Breakfast was at 10am, yummy, it was more like lunch , with rice, pan cakes, red chicken gravy, bean, sandwiches. Fred came at noon and we went out for a walked even though his original plan didn’t include me. I was curious to see the surrounding area so I asked him to let me come with him. The 5 yr old boy wanted to come along and silently followed us, holding my hand very tight, ofcourse.

Later the baby was tired and I took him on my back, it feels less invasive when I walked around with a local baby on my back. The area was beautiful, pleasant sunshine and nice breeze reminded me of the beach. We later waked to Kibera slum area and there I started to get nervous as people seem more intense and things look more busy here.

Then we visited Fred’s house, small one just like other little mud-straw house in the slum area. Then we went to the office of the Kibera Community Youth Program, also in the slum area. The room was just big enough for 15 people running around, the floor was concreted but broken and dusty, surrounding area is very noisy with music and all that.. Anyway, I was told they get used to the loud music and just ignore it. Plus point: high concentration trained, I will need to catch up though.

Then we came to this cyber café where after 1 hr of typing everything got shut down.

Tomorrow I will go to the city centre to change money and buy basic stuff, then visit the group and may be play some games..

That’s all for now, bit frustrated about the shut-down. In short I am happy and very [popular among the children in the family now.

Love

Ly



PS: the luggage was found and has arrived safely at the home I am staying.



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