We've been in Mutumbu now for just over 2 weeks, and the last week has gone by pretty fast...I can't believe Christmas is only 4 days away! We're coming back into Kisumu on Christmas Eve and will stay the night, then have breakfast here and after that we will be back off to Mutumbu to spend the afternoon at Rangala, which is where the baby orphanage is. I think they wake up from their afternoon nap at about 3pm, so I think we will probably be having Christmas dinner there. The kids range from pretty much newborns right through to about 5 years old and from what I've heard they are unsupervised an awful lot of the time and they are quite physically underdeveloped - it will be hard but I'm sure we will have a great time with them. Then Boxing Day is Dan's birthday, I think we're planning a big cricket match and a barbeque at the compound for that, so that'll be fun. And lastly, New Years Eve is still being decided, whether or not we'll stay at the compound in Mutumbu or if we'll head back into Kisumu for the night - I'm not really fussed but if we are in Kisumu we will have to be constantly aware of the people around us and no doubt will be hassled all night long, whereas in Mutumbu we can all just get drunk together and be safe and not have to worry about anything. So we'll see what happens. If we do go to Kisumu, that means the 31st December will be my last day in Mutumbu, which is going to be sad, I think it will be really hard to leave.
So what's been going on the last week? Oh Kakamega, that's right - well it was supposed to be our weekend rest and relaxation break...didn't quite turn out that way for me - we arrived on Saturday afternoon and there was nothing much in the way of facilities there - outside showers and drop toilets, but it was our huts that really freaked me out...the roof was made of dry straw/grass in a huge upside down cone-shape, supported by timber, and the spiders obviously love it because there were huge white spiderwebs everywhere. Then that night I had just fallen asleep and one of the girls came in and there was a big spider in her mosquito net, so I totally freaked out and was shaking for hours after that! Then we were up at 4:30am on Sunday morning for a pre-dawn walk - that was pretty amazing, we were walking through the forest in the dark and then walked and walked and walked and at the very end up a very very steep and pebbley hill....and all of a sudden we were high above the forest canopy and we could see Kenya in every direction. It is indescrible, but one of the most beautiful sights I have ever seen, completely breaktaking. The hike was about 18km return, so pretty far! Then we went for another 8km walk that afternoon. The wildlife was great, a few different species of monkeys and there are tens of thousands of them, lots of birds, we didn't see any snakes though but many snake holes! No spiders on Sunday night, but I was so uncomfortable in the hut, I couldn't really relax. I'm glad we went though, it was incredible.
This week we only had Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the site - and there wasn't that much to do because they had run out of funds to complete the project, but on Thursday we found out a person from Adelaide donated quite a bit of money and I think we now can finish it, but whether or not we'll have time is a different story - we only have 3 or 4 full days there left. Last weekend the fundis finished the roof and plastered the outside, so it really looks like a building now. This week they finished the floor and put on the windows and the door, which is great to see. I think we still need to plaster the inside and hopefully paint inside and out. We were busy this week making a big veggie patch and digging out the fenceline. We are going to try and do a bit of the garden out the front as well, and I think the plan is to get 10 eculyptus trees and plant them - each tree representing one person from the group. I guess on a typical day if we are working on the site, we are up by 7am, get to the site by 8:30am, have lunch at 12pm and we usually finish by about 3pm - they are pretty long, hot days, but satisfying. Except I've been having a lot of trouble with my skin the last few days - as soon as the direct sun hits my arms they start to burn up and get really itchy and sore, I'm pretty sure it's just from the malaria tablets but it's causing me quite a problem because I have to try and keep in the shade, and there isn't much on the site at all!
On Friday I did some teaching with 2 others at the existing community centre from 9am to 1pm, so 4 hours which was pretty long to keep kids occupied! But they were wonderful and their English is fantastic, which made things much easier. We played things like find-a-word and hangman, and we also did some hand tracing and had the kids write about themselves inside their hands and what their dreams were for the future. They took awhile to catch on, but once they did they really enjoyed it - a bunch wanted to be teachers, some doctors, policemen, engineers, pilots...it was great to hear what they want to be. From what I can gather, education over here is very formal, straight from the book, and creativity isn't really encouraged, so I think the kids probably had a great time doing something a little different.
Where we live at the compound, the inside is like a big square with a patch of grass in the centre and rooms around the outside (of the "inside") - so the 10 of us are there, 2 to a room, and also Fred (our in-country coordinator) and his family and a few other locals - they have just done their massive twice-yearly harvest of corn so there is corn all over the compound on big mats - the last two days I've sat out there and helped pull off the kernels from the cobs of corn. We all sit on one of the big mats and a bunch of local kids come too, and we sit there and chat and pull apart all this corn - it is such a simple thing but it's so special...the time flys by and all of a sudden it's 7pm and I've been talking with Odongo (Fred's niece) for hours. Even when I'm sitting there not talking to everyone, I can just sit and listen to the locals chatter in Luo or Swahilli and not understand any of it, but love it all the same. I am really going to miss this place, and I hardly have any time left. Oh and yesterday I had another ride on a boda boda (the push bikes) and it was wonderful - we were riding through the back of a very small town to get to a medical camp. The road wasn't too bad, a bit bumpy, but it was completely different to my ride in Kisumu, there were no mutatus or tuk tuks flying around all over the road so I didn't have to hang on for dear life, I was just there, with my feet on the pegs joined to the back wheel, and holding on to the small bar under the "driver's" seat, enjoying all the scenery around me, it was fabulous and so relaxing, I loved every minute of it.
Anyway I'm off now to do my secret santa shopping and then we're going to stop for lunch before we head back to Mutumbu - I'm SO looking forward to sitting down for a nice meal! Will be back again on Christmas Eve, so take care until then! Miss everyone lots xoxo
