Ricky's Musings

Don Carlos

2010-08-18T12:17:00.001+03:00

It's taken me a while to get round to writing about this, but finally I have done. A few months ago I went to an open air concert featuring Don Carlos - a hugely popular West Indian reggae artist. It was held in Nairobi, is part of a regular, yearly, reggae festival, and in theory should have been great. And for the most part it was.

The concert was funded by a number of donations from large organisation (you can see the list of sponsors in the photos), and because of this, it was free entry. It began in the morning, and started off with a really nice, relaxed (stoned) atmosphere, with good music. However, later, due to it being free entry, large gangs from the Nairobi slums came into the park and basically terrorised the crowd.

What would happen is that a gang would pick someone who looked like they had money, pin them down on the floor, take the wallet, then go onto the next person. And this continued all afternoon as there was very little security (and none in the crowd). Occasionally, people would realise the gang are going for them and start to run, which would create a massive stampede, causing a different problem. During the day I saw at least a dozen muggings, and far more stampedes. At the end of the day there were quite a few bloodied people stumbling about.

I wasn't mugged that day, as I did a sensible(!?) thing of hiding when things started getting scary. We thought about leaving early, but because there was fencing all the way round, and only a small exit, it would have been far riskier. So, I just hid till the very end, when the gangs had gone.

So, good start to the day, very scary end. And the solution? Charging a small entry fee so that hundreds of people who aren't interested in the music don't turn up.

A Swahili Wedding

2010-08-02T11:25:00.003+03:00

Over the last weekend I went to my friend's Swahili wedding.

As to be expected in Kenya, it was a brash, extravagant and thoroughly fun affair. I turned up on the Friday, where drummers led the wedding guests and Groom from the Groom's house to the Bride's, where the Bride was then picked up, and led back to the Groom. Then back again. And again. All this involved dancing in the street, which stopped the traffic, and lots of food and dancing at each house. Eventually, after prayers (which was the actual point Ali and Saumu got married), photos with the couple and more dancing, the warm-up wedding party moved to a local hotel. And as it was only a warm-up it finished at 6:00am, so at least while it was still dark.

The next day involved a relaxed biriani lunch, then the full wedding party. This was the party everyone was excited about! I got my fancy new Indian outfit out, and my girl mates got dressed up in their new Indian outfits too. Check out the impressive henna tattoos they had done specially for the wedding in the photos. And also the weaves they are wearing! A weave is either synthetic or human hair, tied into your natural hair, a bit like a 3 week wig. It looks very cool!

So, the second all-night party involved lots of presents being given to the couple, lots of dancing, lots of drinking, and a big band with lots of trumpets. Lots of things which equalled lots of good fun. And a very tired Ricky.

Miraa

2010-07-27T12:04:00.004+03:00

Miraa, or khat, is a plant grown in Kenya, that when chewed get a user stoned. It's common throughout East Africa (Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia) and Arabia (Yemen, Oman, Saudia Arabia etc).

To take miraa, you take the fleshy part of the shrub and chew, forming a green pulp of plant flesh in your mouth, about the same size of a golf ball. Then keep chewing, releasing the amphetamine-like stimulant. The eventual feeling is that of excitement, a buzzing, with lots of excess energy. You can tell people have taken it by their eyes being wide open, and that nervous energy you get when high.

It's illegal in many places, such as USA, Netherlands and France, but not in Kenya or the UK. However, as the stimulant compound degrades quickly, it is generally only used in places where the plant is grown.

Recently, after wanting to try it for several years, I had an day of miraa. And you need a day, as it takes a while for the effect to arrive, and it then produces a long, slow high. There were a few false starts ("Don't eat it - chew it!") but once I finally worked out the technique, and overcame the horrendous taste, it's actually a nice high. You find yourself bouncing on you feet, babbling like kids to each other, with crazy dinner plate eyes. And it also makes you experience every emotion very quickly - everyone would go from euphoric to grumpy to stubborn in the space of a few minutes. And when taken with alcohol, miraa makes everything happen so much quicker - it really makes an evening lots of fun and gives people the energy that is sometimes lost when drinking.

Power Outages

2010-07-20T10:11:00.002+03:00

It's fairly frequent to have outages here in Mombasa. Water disappears for a few days every few weeks, and electricity disappears for a few minutes most days. However, recently a large part of Mombasa lost it's electricity for the afternoon, and on into the evening. This left me sitting in the dark in my flat, all alone. A pretty depressing existence.

So, to fix this I got a few of my mates over, we bought two bottles of tequila, a bottle of brandy, a scrabble set and some candles, and turned the night into a weird scrabble drinking session.

Which I lost. Very, very disappointing as I lost to people who's English is either their second or third language.

Some songs....

2010-07-19T20:48:00.009+03:00

Some popular songs in Kenya. Most are not Kenyan, but are actually Nigerian. And dancing to them is almost the opposite of mzungu (white person) dancing - it's all in the ass movement.

And some Luhya (a tribe) songs:

Fry na chapati

2010-07-09T14:12:00.002+03:00

One of the first Kenyan dishes I tried to cook was chapatis (the flat, unleavened indian bread) with fry. Fry is a stew based dish, usually made with beef, tomatoes, peas, peppers and any other spare vegetables going. It's an easy dish to make. Both are common along the coast, what with the large indian influence.

This was also the first time I've made chapatis and it's great fun. Sitting on the floor, getting covered in dough and flour, making a tremendous mess and listening to Pendulum - it really couldn't be any more fun.

To make the chapatis, you mix flour with salt and boiling water, then kneed for ages (and burn your hands in the process). Then separate out in small balls, and then roll each out flat. Finally, cook on a hot plate with a little oil, turning every few seconds with your fingers (burning your fingers again) and then finally you have 12 spectacularly soft chapatis.

Easily the most satisfying meal I've had in Kenya yet!

The Constitution, Nairobi bomb, and election violence

2010-07-08T15:43:00.001+03:00

On the 4th August, Kenya will have a referendum on a new proposed constitution. A constitution is a legal document that sets the function, and limits the powers of government.

The current constitution, which was created in 1963 after independence from the UK, has been amended lots of times, so a new one has been created and proposed. The vote will only have one question - "Do you approve the proposed new Constitution?"

There are a number of contentious points in the new constitution:

Despite not changing from the original constitution, abortion has become an issue, which the Church fear may allow it to be easier to have an abortion.
Kadhi courts, again something which has changed little since the original constitution. Kadhi courts are courts based on Islamic law, and within Kenya operate between Muslim to Muslim disputes on items such as inheritance, marriage and divorce. If either party is not a Muslim, then the case cannot be heard at a Kadhi court. Again, the Christian Church are against this, despite it being in the current constitution, and in theory it will not affect Christians. They fear is it is moving Kenya away from a secular society.
Land reform. This is actually the main reason why prominent politicians sush as Moi and Ruto are wanting a No result. Both have gained vast amounts of land, through dubious land deals, which they will have to start paying for after the new constitution is implemented. Interestingly, they are both being very vocal about the Abortion and Kadhi Court aspects, which neither have any 'real' interest in. This isin an effort to disguise the real reason for them wanting a No vote.

Over the past few months there have been almost daily rallies where MPs push either Yes or No. At one of these in Nairobi recently, a bomb killed 6 people, and injured over 100 people. Nobody is sure who planted it, or the motive, but it highlights the knife edge that Kenyan politics lives on.

With the tribal violence that followed the 2007 General Election, there is an expectation that this referendum could lead to violence too. It would be a shame if it does, as one of the reasons for the new constitution is to reduce the risk of future violence at elections.

So, watch this space.

PS. Despite most countries having a single constitution, the UK doesn't. Kenyans are astonished when I tell them this.

PPS. I'll put up more party photos soon......

Walking with Wilson

2010-06-19T15:26:00.004+03:00

Wilson is an absolutely lovely maasai chap, employed by SAFE Maa in Loita, to protect the camp when I am on site. He is also an actor in some of the shows. Protection is from leopards, elephants and stuff like that, though occasionally in the past pots did go missing. He is 22 and getting married in August - I am desperate to find the 6 days free in my diary so I can get to the ceremony and share in the celebrations.

While I was in Loita, Wilson looked after me lots, and we'd often go on long walks through the countryside. One of these we wandered into Tanzania, which is just over the hill. It felt naughty entering without a visa, but hey, there were no guards at the border, which was just a carved stone!

While with Wilson we would wander round and visit the bomas in the area. Quite bizarrely the majority of bomas had not seen a mzungu (foreigner, or most commonly westerner), and the few that had, had not seen one turn up on foot (they turn up in jeeps usually).

On entering a boma, greetings follow a particular pattern:

"What's the news?"

"Cattle are good."

"Ok."

"Goats are good."

"Ok."

"Family are good."

"Ok."

"Relatives are good."

"Ok."

....and so on.

And this greeting about news would occur in each house visited. It's actually quite fun, and despite my basic kimaasai (the language that the maasai speak) I was able to take part, much to the delight and giggles of the children and Elders.

In each house, we would also be offered tea, which is probably 60% milk, 20% sugar and 20% water with tea leaves, and stewed over the fire all day, with just new ingredients being added as the pots runs down. If tea wasn't available we would be offered fresh, warm milk direct from the cows. Initially, this made me gag, but after a while it was an enjoyable drink, and made a nice change from the diabetes inducing tea.

The maasai houses are all small, with the the fire inside, and the windows small. This results in a very hot, very smoky house. On entry, I certainly stumbled into unlucky people I couldn't see, and on one occasion almost sat in the lap of someone! The reason for all of this is to keep warmth in, as night can get quite cold, and secondly it's to keep the smoke in, as this deters the flies and mosquitoes.

Despite all this cultural stuff, boys will be boys, and very soon after the last two photos were taken, myself and Wilson ran down the hills as fast as we could to the low ground. Which was awesome!

The Maasai

2010-06-19T15:23:00.002+03:00

The maasai in Loita live in a 90% cashless economy. The majority of the food they eat, whether it is beef, goat, corn or maize, is grown by the family or boma. Compared to other Kenyan tribes, the maasai are trying hard to keep their culture - in Nairobi and Mombasa it is common to see the maasai still walking about in their shuka (red blanket they wear over the shoulders) and carrying a panga (foot long blade) around the waist. Apparently the maasai are only 2% of the population, but it feels like more as they are very visible within society.

The maasai have different stages of life, each with a different role, with ceremonies taking place as they go through each. Essentially, they have the children, then the Warriors (15ish to 30ish), Leaders (30ish to 50ish) then the Elders (50+). At a basic level, warriors do the work, leaders plan the work, and elders are carried by society. It is almost opposite to the UK, as family responsibility here is with the young, and is lost as you grow older.

All very romantic, but they do have issues. Despite HIV rates being low within the maasai, it could spread quickly and viscously due to the sharing of wives (I'll post about this later when I get my facts correct). They also practice female circumcision (aka FGM - Female Genital Mutilation). Other issues include an almost total lack of healthcare in the Loita area, and the (historic) abuse of alcohol by the Elders.

The last two problems were highlighted to us, in dramatic circumstances, late at night. To arrive in Loita, I turned up with Dan (the driver) in a Toyota 4*4, one of few vehicles in the area. So, when a drunk elder attacked his son with a panga (the long blade), but managed to slice the son's wife's head and shoulder down to the bone instead, it was to us that the maasai turned. The outcome was a drive of several hours to a known kenyan doctor, who managed to save the wife's life by stopping the flow of blood and stitching the wound.

I do not know the outcome of this incident, but do know that the police are not being involved. As we left, the local Leaders were getting together to decide what to do with the Elder - it is most likely that he will be banished out of the area and told to start his own boma in another maasai area.

Camping in Loita II

2010-06-19T15:19:00.003+03:00

I've just spent 7 days camping in Loita with the Maasai guys. Luckily this time it was far drier than last and so there was no ridiculous off-roading to be done. Bliss.

As usual, the camp is situated a few hundered metres from the nearest boma (maasai 'village') to allow us, and them, a bit of privacy. And as camping goes, it's lovely and back to nature - the water to wash and cook with comes from the river, the fuel is wood from the forest, and some of the food eaten is grown or grazed nearby. It's also back to nature in some less than perfect ways - to go to toilet you dig a hole in the ground, and to wash you try and find a few bushes to hide behind. However, these are tiny issues compared to how lovely it is to forget about time, dates, civilisation and the World Cup.

The picture with lots of maasai in is the weekly market, held so people can sell and buy cattle and goats. Naturally, people come from dozens of miles around with their wares, so I felt it was necessary to help the local economy by buying a fat goat for 2300ksh (around £20), which we then turned into kebabs and goat pilau for 15 people. Alive to in my belly in 75mins. This would have been even quicker had I not been learning how to ride a motorbike for the first time, and because I found it so much fun I kept refusing to get off and eat my lunch. I'm sure you can appreciate how much fun riding a bike is if it almost made me miss my lunch!

Finally, some things I learnt while camping in Loita:

- Do not leave the fly sheet of your tent open, even for a few mins, as inch long ants take up home in your bed.

- "The Growing Pains of Adrian Mole" by Sue Townsend is a great book about an adolescent boy growing up in the Midlands. However, it is not a great tool for killing inch long ants.

- When putting on trousers that were hanging up to dry, check the legs aren't being used by a family of daddy-long-legs.

- Make sure you mark buried poo well, otherwise you accidently dig up a previous movement.

- Do not have a long toilet (maasai term!) at dusk, when the insects are most active, otherwise you get a very bitten bottom.

- The maasai are more shocked at seeing a hairy white bottom being washed, than the bottom owner is after being caught out while having a bucket shower.

It finally had to happen.....

2010-06-09T22:55:00.001+03:00

After a few people have asked the question, I have to finally write about what work I am doing out here.

Currently, I have a long list of tasks, which I am slowly working through. This can be seen in the piccie of lots of red blocks turning into green ones - success!

My first task was to provide some IT training to the staff in Mombasa, Nairobi and Loita. A basic level to all should be complete in the next couple of week. The aim for this is to provide staff with the skills to help the charity function more efficiently, plus also making it easier to contact other partners or those in need of SAFE help. This has only been possible with the donations of laptops that people have generously provided to myself and SAFE - THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Hopefully after the training there will be more people who love spreadsheets as much as I do....

Further down the list of tasks are: ensure that the financial procedures are being followed, and improve the process where needed; roll-out changes to the HR policies; improve internal and external communication (difficult when an office is 4 hours from a mobile signal!) and general Project Management guidance. All with the aim of allowing SAFE to grow as an organisation, and reduce overheads so more "good stuff" can be done with donated money.

Finally, one stretch goal is to teach people how to write "Disease" on a flipchart.

Sorry about how dull this post is, but the next one will be more interesting as I'm off to camp with SAFE Maa (the Masai guys) again, and finally see one of their shows performed to tourists and other tribes in the Masai Mara NP.

So, off into the wilderness without TV, electricity, phone and internet for 10 days. See you the other side, hopefully with England still in the World Cup.

Belle Vista

2010-06-01T14:41:00.003+03:00

Belle Vista is the local drinking hole of choice for the office. And it's actually a great place, not just straight after work, but on throughout the evening, into the night, and till the sun comes up.

These are some of the people I work with. Who can tell they are actors...they are so shy and retiring.

Lunch

2010-06-01T09:31:00.002+03:00

First of all, sorry for not posting in a few days. It's because a) The social scene has been too much fun (I'll write a post about all that soon) and b) About a dozen muggings (which I'll post when I get the photos). So...lots of fun recently!

In the meantime, these are some piccies of my lunches at Joanne's Cafe, next to the SAFE Pwani office in Mombasa.

Top-Left: Matumbo na sima. This is a stew of beef intestines, usually served sukuma wiki (the cabbage-like veg) and sima (ugali), which is a solid maize porridge. Most kenyans love sima as it's the staple carb food and very common, while most westerners hate it because it tastes of polystyrene. The matumbo looks horrid, smells horrid, but tastes great.

Top-Right: Githeri. This is a bean and corn stew, served with cabbage in stock.

Bottom: Matoke. Matoke is a banana stew, served with a small amount of beef. It's meant to be a snack, and kenyan mates can finish off bowls of the stuff. However, I can barely finish one bowl...eating several bananas for lunch can be hard work.

Mombasa Old Town

2010-05-25T18:51:00.003+03:00

My flat is in Mombasa Old Town, an area where "Salam Aleikum" is the common greeting rather than "Sasa" or "Mambo", due to the Indian and Arabic influence. There are lots of arabic architecture, indian food, and small, densily packed building.

My flat is in a typically old town building. My bedroom window is on the right building, 1st floor up, furthest back. It's ok that my window is very close to the neighbours as they are a very smiley family. As yet they haven't passed me food through the windows, but I'm hoping they do soon.

Kenyan Pop

2010-05-17T21:05:00.004+03:00

This song can be heard everywhere in Mombasa at the moment. Currently I still like it, but it won't be long till it starts to get on my nerves!

And this is the guys in the office working out a routine for the same song. Annoyingly, they are great dancers.

Off-Roading

2010-05-17T20:43:00.002+03:00

Now, I've never really done much off-roading before. A brief morning of it years ago, then a couple of hours being driven about in a desert outside Dubai is all that I've done. So, 7 hours heading to and from Loita was a shock.

On the way their it was just myself and Sophie, plus two frequently used tyre grip mats (you can see these on the top of the pickup in my previous post, and are used for extra grip by sticking under the tyres).

I have never been so muddy before, after lots of slippy, wet mud caused the heavy pickup to slide sideways and backwards into ditches. The muddy part came as I had to carry and move the tyre grip mats every few previous metres we gained. Despite the hard work, it was actually great fun. And we did enter the Masai boma (village) we were heading for with two Masai guys running ahead of us providing directions. A better, and more surreal, way to enter a village I couldn't imagine.

The return trip was if anything harder, as more rain had caused the rivers to flood. The photos above show us trying to get up the sandy side of one river bank. Thank goodness that we were providing lifts to four Masai dudes as they were extremely useful in pushing the pickup out.

Camping in South Kenya

2010-05-17T20:14:00.006+03:00

For the best part of last week I have been camping in the Loita Hills. This is a very large area, bordering Tanzania, with no tarmaced roads, and very few people. In Loita, there are only 40,000 people (sorry, haven't got time to work out the size, but it's big) of which the majority are Masai.

Myself and Sophie (Programme Director, who is based in the UK but came out to Kenya for a couple of weeks) went down to Loita to catch up with the third office, SAFE Maa.

Loita is very remote, possibly one of the remotest places I've ever been. It took 9 hours from Nairobi, of which the last 7 hours were off-roading. And this was serious off-roading.

However, despite the long and very bumpy trip, it was a fantastic time. It did involve frequent heavy rains in the evening, which caused me to bail out water from my tent during the night with a cup, but that was more due to me pitching my tent on a slope which quickly turned into a river.

The week involved a series of meeting with SAFE Maa, first in shelter v0.1 (top-left, meeting Sarah and Amos) that was used until it collapsed under the weight of water, then more meetings and meals under shelter v0.2 (top-right and bottom).

As an introduction to Masai culture it was ace. And I'm sure they appreciated my lecture on the structure of an atom, with diagrams on the misted up windscreen.

I'll blog more on Masai culture on my second trip there, which will be in a few weeks.

The slums

2010-05-09T19:52:00.003+03:00

I was taken round the Mathare slums in Nairobi today by two actors from SAFE - Kamau who used to live there, and Erosh who still does.

If you haven't been to a slum before, it really is eye opening. The number of people leaving in such close proximity, the filth compounded by livestock living and sharing the same space as the slum dwellers, the sheer size of the slums as they stretch for miles in every direction, and finally the overpowering smell of shit.

The landscape photos were taken on top of the highest point in the slum, known as The Hill of Shit. This is because it is too steep for people to live on, so it is now the slum toilet.

Living in a slum is a horrid way to survive.

Eritrean Food

2010-05-09T19:46:00.002+03:00

It seems the first time I've ever thought of Eritrea was when I went to an Eritrean restaurant in Nairobi.

Turns out that the food includes red lentil dal, spicy salsa, pickled veg and potatoes all served on bread which resembles the love child of a dosa and crumpet.

The drink is a layered juice of pawpaw, then avacado with mango on top. Very poncy.

Jimmy Somerville

2010-05-05T17:48:00.002+03:00

I started at SAFE this week and it has been brilliant fun. On Monday the 'thespians' were rehearsing a new play and were absolutely awesome. So much energy, great fun, great laughs and very skilled. I couldn't believe that after being told a scene should be cut from 10 mins to 3 mins, they were able to do it after a 30 secs chat and lots of good improvisation.

Tuesday was understanding how the programmes are rolled out, and preparing some training which I will deliver to the office.

Today I have mostly been pushing Jimmy Somerville's back catalogue just to see if the office would like him. They don't.

So, after a good start to the week I'm off to Nairobi tomorrow to see the SAFE Ghetto people. After that I'll head onto the South of Kenya to see the maasai workers at SAFE Maa for a bit of camping. Back in 11 days, hopefully with a few cool photos on safari and me looking ridiculous next to the maasai.

My local(s)

2010-05-02T12:25:00.004+03:00

I've been here a week now, acclimatising mostly, but also finding my local services.

So, Top-Left is my local beer place. Beer is cheap at 500ml for KSH120 (95p). It's also the only place with air-con that I know, although it's a bit too cold - must be getting used to Stupidly Hot.

Top-Right is the pakoras that a guy down the street sells. It's a very nice snack at 4 pieces for KSH10 (8p). His pakora shack also sells half-decent books - I assume he's following the Waterstones/Starbucks model.

Along the Kenyan coast the Swahili culture is common - this is people of Arab, Indian and African background, with a common Kiswahili language. One thing that has been brought across from India is paan. This is a digestive made by wrapping spices and stuff in a betel leaf. It's real tasty after strong tasting food. Luck & Joy is my local seller, where they cost KSH30 (24p) each).

Finally, the local rubbish dump. This is a corner of the Mosque car park next to the flat. I'm not entirely sure what happens to the rubbish, but it's where all my waste ends up.

Where I live

2010-05-02T12:20:00.003+03:00

So, after finding out that Alan isn't a psycho, and him finding out I'm not either, I decided to rent his spare room.

It's a small flat, cool location in Mombasa Island, wicked for shopping, food, beer and fun things. And it's also close to where I start work tomorrow.

Address is the Middle Flat, Block of Flats Past The Big Puddle, Up The Alley With The Tea Stall, Opposite The Post Office, Makadara Road, Mombasa.

Two lessons I have learnt.

2010-05-01T11:16:00.003+03:00

Being hungover in the tropics is far worse than being hungover in the UK. I can just feel whatever moisture is left in me being sucked out into the hot air.

And having 40% proof blood doesn't stop the mozzies biting you if you collapse on the mosquito net rather than getting inside it.

African Electrics....or how to make things worse.

2010-04-28T20:30:00.002+03:00

A while back the fuse for the flat I am in with Alan was stolen. This was promptly, but rather scarily, fixed by the landlord. Rather than replacing the fuse, he cut a segment of grey wire that connected a black box with a white box, on the outside of the fuse box. With this bit of wire he then used it to replace the stolen fuse. So, everything worked, but I'm fairly sure it was dangerous.

Therefore I went out and bought a new fuse. We then removed the wire and tried to put the fuse in, but it doesn't fit. Unsure what to do, and without the necessary skills or tools to put the wire back, we gallantly gave up and have resorted to using candles and a head torch for light. My laptop battery will die soon, the fans don't work, our fridge is turning the milk to cheese, but at least we tried.

Science Policy in the General Election

2010-04-28T20:05:00.003+03:00

Thought I'd post these useful links from The Guardian science site about the science policies of the parties for the general election.

The questions are set by clever people like David Nutt (ex drug guy), Brian Cox (my nemesis) and Simon Singh (professional being sued guy).

The answers are here:

Tories

Lib Dems

UKIP

There doesn't appear to be a Labour response yet. Also, the UKIP response is a giggle, they appear to want to ban beer, cigarettes and coffee.

Grub

2010-04-28T13:18:00.003+03:00

So, for lunch I am having nyama choma - barbecued meat. It is generally goat, very gristly, boney and tough - it will smash your face in if you spill it's pint.

Oh, and it's fantastic!

The call to prayer

2010-04-26T13:10:00.002+03:00

Next door to the flat where I am staying, is a mosque.

They may not have realised I was turning up, or could have mis-set their alarm clock, but I certainly don't appreciate the muezzin calling muslims to prayer over loud speaker at 4:30 in the morning.

If it lasts a few more mornings I may need to have a word with them.

Acclimatising

2010-04-26T12:57:00.004+03:00

So, the first few days in Mombasa I am staying with Alan, an Irish guy who is doing some VSO work for a hospital. He very kindly put me up in his spare room, and has been showing me about the place.

In an afternoon of wicked fresh fruit, buffet food, ice creams and beer, we also went for a swim in the Indian ocean.

Location is dubious because of sewage outlets, but if you swim at high tide, and the water doesn't smell, I'm pretty confident I won't die. However, a cool swim in the afternoon heat was exactly what I was after to stop me melting.

The heat

2010-04-26T12:52:00.002+03:00

After a nice, uneventful trip, I've arrived in Mombasa. And the first thing you notice is the heat.

Unfortunately there is no common measurement of heat, so I will have to invent my own:

Hot --> Very Hot --> Stupidly Hot

Mombasa is Stupidly Hot.

I'm leaving, on a jet plane.... (urggh)

2010-04-24T11:24:00.001+03:00

So, I'm finally off today after the Bond style vocanic delays.

In just over 24 hours I'll be in sweltering Mombasa! Yeah!

Airspace closure affects Kenya....

2010-04-20T17:23:00.001+03:00

Quotes from a paper:

"1m kg of fresh produce is normally shipped out of Kenya every night. On the main highways linking the capital city, Nairobi to Rift Valley and Central provinces where this produce comes from, large trailers carrying fresh produce head to the airport every afternoon. Eighty-two per cent of this produce goes to Europe."

"With most European airports closed, farmers over here have been losing millions of dollars a day. Flower farms that employ thousands of people have started laying off workers as roses, lilies and carnations wilt. Vegetables, such as baby corn, courgettes, broccoli, green beans and carrots have been left to rot. Some are being fed to cows. With no local use, most flowers are now being thrown into the compost pit."

"..... the horticultural industry is losing an average of $3m a day"

Will I fly today?

2010-04-20T11:04:00.002+03:00

From the Virgin Atlantic site:

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We have been advised by UK National Air Traffic Services (NATS) of the possibility of UK Airspace being reopened at 13:00H (UK Local

time) on Tuesday 20 April 2010. The situation is changing and is still not yet confirmed therefore please DO NOT go to the airport, in the hope of boarding a flight even if you have a confirmed reservation for flights departing after this time.

If UK Airspace reopens we hope to operate some flights from London Heathrow, on Tuesday 20 April 2010 as follows:

VS17 to Newark departing at 20:25H
VS601 to Johannesburg departing at 20:30H
VS 671 to Nairobi departing at 21:00H
VS300 to Delhi departing at 22:00H
VS400 to Dubai departing at 22:00H
VS651 to Lagos departing at 22:20H
VS200 to Hong Kong and Sydney at 22:30H

Where am I going?

2010-04-19T14:17:00.000+03:00

I will be mostly based in Mombasa, but will need to travel to the theatre troupes in Nairobi and Loita.

Who are SAFE?

2010-04-19T13:48:00.001+03:00

SAFE are a Kenyan based charity with headquarters in the UK that provide informal education to disadvantaged communities on issues relating to the prevention of HIV/AIDS. SAFE work with local actors and community groups, public health workers and outreach works to target different Kenyan communities including Massai tribes, people living in slum areas and in urban centres to deliver education on HIV and AIDS through drama, film and theatre.

SAFE have three offices in Kenya:

- SAFE Pwani who are based in Mombasa and tour the Coast Province.

- SAFE Ghetto who are based in Nairobi and work in the Nairobi slums.

- SAFE Maa tours through the vast Loita region performing traditional stories and songs amended to include material relating to HIV and other health issues.

Check out the video to see a theatre performance!

All dressed up and nowhere to go....

2010-04-19T13:07:00.000+03:00

So, I'm all set for my departure to Mombasa, Kenya. The jabs are all done, tablets are in my belly, bags are packed, but I appear to have been thwarted by Iceland.

My internal flight in Kenya from Nairobi to Mombasa has also been cancelled, so at the moment I'm stuck in blighty. However, it could be worse - it could be wet and miserable outside!