Happy new Year from Kenya

Jambo jambo!

A happy new year to all my friends and family!

 Peter and I spent new year's at a beach north of Mombasa, surrounded by locals, african music and a million stars.

Today, we made it back to Nairobi, welcomed back by Rev Wasike and his family. He and his four kids picked us up at the airport. We used a bus to get to his neighborhood. Bus tickets (30 Euro-Cents) are paid per seat, so the four kids shared two seats. Alternatives to buses are so called Matatus (Mini buses with 9 seats). They are everywhere, crisscrossing all the roads. You simply stop one and hopp on. As Rev Wasike told us, there as been a new regulation as of today: Matatus are not allowed to drive into the city center anymore. Instead, travelers from the city boundaries are supposed to switch to bigger buses to reduce traffic in the city. Sounds clever, doesn't it? Only caveat: nobody thought about where to get the additional buses required to pick up all the Matatu-travelers, leading to too little connections from the city boundaries into the city center. Only option at the moment: WALKING! Welcome to Africa!

After a 20 min ride and a 15 min walk we arrived "back home", where a lovely meal was waiting for us (rice, potatoes, beef):

After lunch, we started with the first preparations for the Kimilili time (starting on the 4th of January, after Alex' arrival in Nairobi on the 3rd of January). Preparations included checking and giving basic instructions to all the computers and other electronic devices donated. Again, Rev Wasike mentioned, how useful the electronic devices will be for the Kimilili Community. He explicitly asked me to pass on his 'Big Thank you" to all of you.

Peter will be leaving tonight, I'll be spending the next two days with further preparations. Highest priority for our stay in Kimilili is to get toilets for the children. These are requirements set by the local government, otherwise the school will be shut down.Best option are so called "dry toilets", a system that does not need any water. This is important for the Community as Kimilili does not have a sewage system. Hickups are, that people in Kimilili are not qualified to build these kind of toilets, so we will either have to look elsewhere (more expensive) or train the people ourselves.

Second priority is to teach the CBSM members on how to use computers so that they can start writing reports. This is essential as most of the members are scattered around Kimilili and other places, so communication among each other and to the outside world is a real difficulty.

So far for today. Alex, we are waiting for you! Have a very safe flight, we'll be waiting for you at the airport!!!

All the best to all of you. May 2011 be a happy year!
Agnes