Friday night, party night

We are in the midst of school discos again here and so last Friday evening I spent a very happy hour and a half with friends in the school bar whilst Matthew and his friends had a great time inside the hall. In fact we chose to sit on the terrace outside both to enjoy the warm evening and also to keep out of the smoke - weird how quickly smokey bars have become a dim and distant memory for me. And then I bundled 8 kids into the car and dropped them at their various houses, sitting quietly to enjoy their post disco analysis en route. Apparently the screaming was a reaction of horror to Justin biber being played.
This Friday was Katie's disco and she has been so excited all week, not least because its the first outing for the party dress granny gave her as a belated birthday present when we were in the UK.




Tim and I also had a party to go to too so I'd thought we might have a rare bit of mum and daughter time between school and putting on our dancing shoes for brushing hair, choosing frocks and other girls things. But Katie had different plans and wanted to be independent and sort out her stuff on her own. Which was lucky really as Jamie came home from school announcing that we needed to bake biscuits. Apparently he'd been voted cricket captain on a mandate of providing cookies for the team each week - he's clearly learning about voter incentives from the Kenyan pre election debate. Inevitably, he announced this 90 minutes before we had to leave with Katie and as the first match is an early saturday morning start my princing and titivating was replaced by mixing and baking.




So cookies cooked, daughter delivered to disco, pasta prepared to feed hungry boys, it was finally time to put on my own party frock and shoes. And relax.....




Anne

Autumn colours

Autumn is one of my favourite times of year. I love the colours and the crunch of falling leaves, collecting conkers, picking blackberries, cooking up all sorts of things with windfall apples......so I wondered if i would miss it in this world without distinct seasons.

It has been a bit strange starting a new school year with a cricket season. And although a straw pole of my female friends last week revealed we are all still sleeping under winter weight covers (its pretty cool here at night and early in the morning when our days all start, with houses designed for the heat rather than built to be cosy) it has definitely been getting much warmer over the last couple of weeks. The sunflowers we planted when we moved in in June are certainly thriving.



We are also enjoying our own "autumn" harvest of bananas, tomatoes nispora (lumquats) and the occasional avocado. And with the flame trees, tulip tress and jacaranda in full flower we are getting our very own burst of Autumn colour, Nairobi style.

Anne

Back to school

We are well and truly back into the school routine and, other than a few minor snuffles after 10 days or so exposure to new germs, everyone seems to be thriving. Uniforms are labeled, new shoes have been bought - an entire set for Matthew as his feet appear to have grown at least 2 sizes in the last six months so lucky that I have a job now - pencils sharpened, hair washed and, after some effort, detangled and body clocks slowly adjusting to a 630 start to get ready for the school day.

Our packed lunch efforts are not yet the drama I had feared, although they have added an extra layer of complexity to the already mad scramble to get us all out of the door and they mean a whole new set of things to be left/ mislaid or lost at school. As does the school's commendable safe sun drive this term which has added sunscreen, hats and water to the list of essentials that each child must have every day in their ever bulging back packs. I struggle to remember who needs what and having a cuppa with a friend this weekend I was pleased to see that I am not the only one who has made a wall/fridge chart with details of which child needs what on any day. Tim tells me that when I was in Kampala for work at the beginning of the week, jamie carefully checked everyone's school, swimming, pe bags against our chart - he is taking his year six responsibilities very seriously!



This is of course one of the relatively universal aspects of family life where geographical location has little relevance (other than to provide the backdrop - check out our tasteful tiles!) and where I have lots to learn from my other mum friends who generally manage to get most of their children to school with the right books, kit, underwear and sustenance most of the time and without too much demand on early morning vallium/ gin (if plenty of need for strong coffee). And I think that's a pretty good aiming point and one that I've successfully managed our children's expectations to accept.


Anne

R is for riots, religion and rustling.

I have thus far tried to stay clear of mentioning religion as history, and the recent attacks on US Embassies, show it is far too often a source of friction and a topic where it is so easy to cause offence. But its a central part of life here and its been a particular theme over the last couple of weeks so I thought I would throw caution to the wind and give a feel for the various ways it touches us here.

Kenya is a deeply Christian country, with church a big part of weekend family life. On our own occasional family Sunday strolls in the local park or the karura forest in the North of Nairobi we find ourselves in the company of crowds of churchgoers out for post Sunday service walks or picnics in their Sunday best. We have also made some very good friends amongst the Christian missions here (and I've learnt how to adjust my cake making to successfully bake at altitude on the guidance of an ancient American missionary cook book - a big impact on our life!). Whilst the boys are neutral on their own position on God (baking aside), Katie is adamant that he doesn't exist and quizzes her church going Kenyan friends about why they bother to go since God isn't real. They in turn wonder if she is a ghost and her teacher last year, faced by Katie and an equally committed second English 6 year old atheist, concluded that C of E members believed in nothing.

But alongside this predominantly christian (with a fair bit of tribal tradition mixed in) culture, there are also some long established Muslim communities, particularly on the coastal area in and around Mombasa, where the trading links have traditionally been with gulf countries across the sea rather than Internal African neighbours. As Kenyan politicians build towards elections in March, the coastal region has an important part to play in negotiating various power alliances. Quite how big that role will be has been a particular subject of discussion in the last couple of weeks after some serious disturbances in Mombasa, triggered by the shooting of a local cleric. As ever, there's a complicated back story and the riots were not simply bubbling up of inter-faith tensions. But they did reveal some of the problems that are pretty close to the surface here.

And whilst the riots got international press coverage and tragically killed at least four people they were contained relatively quickly. Further along the coast there is a much less internationally reported tension between nomadic pastoralists and farmers in the Tana river delta. For the last few weeks there have been seemingly relentless attacks and counter attacks between the 2 sections of the community and over 100 people have died so far, not to mention the numerous people left homeless after houses have been torched and without livelihoods after cattle have been stolen or destroyed in the violence. The Kenyan parliament has been debating this crisis at length and various people and politicians have been lamed for inciting hatred. But the main thing I am left feeling is that, as with Mombasa, there are some pretty entrenched tensions between communities here, with violence often close to the surface. And right now, with national teachers and doctors strikes added to the mix, it doesn't feel like the road to Kenyan elections in March is going to be very smooth.



Anne

Food, glorious food

A summer spent with full access to UK shops and supermarkets and the chance to bring back supplies has made us all reflect a bit on what we eat and like to eat. We all enjoyed the choice in the UK and making the most of things we can't easily get here - each with our own treat: different cereal for us all, smelly cheese for me, trays of sushi for Jamie, blackberries and mango chutney for Matthew, gherkins and elderflower squash for Katie (not all at once). But there were no demands for me to find luggage space to bring anything in particular back as our diet here is pretty varied and seems to suit us.

I did find a small corner of my suitcase for the full green and blacks range and popped in a few packed lunch treats in anticipation of a major lifestyle change as, after years of resisting pleas for no school dinners, I have finally given in. My main argument against packed lunches (other than the additional work load it brings, which carries little weight with the kids) has always been that they need a cooked meal when it's cold. Evidently this no longer holds when living on the equator, even if it was very much jeans and fleece weather yesterday. Accepting this and then being told by Katie's teacher that she's not eating and I should make her lunch, gave me little room for debate and I'm convincing myself that cheese and pickle sandwiches are probably just as balanced a diet as the school alternative. And we will add in the variety at home, including with the various things we are trying to grow in our garden. Tim is growing chillies, katie has planted French beans, Matthew (still in his Brazil kit!) has taken charge of our fruit production and was thrilled with his first harvest of bananas today.



Meanwhile Jamie is positioning himself as the cook. He has learnt to start a fire with a magnifying glass and to hack banana leaves down with a machete to use them as plates, dishes etc. These may be useful life skills but they aren't entirely relaxing development milestones for a mum! He's also getting to know the guys at the fruit stall at the end of our road and has lengthy chats with them about fruit and veg we don't recognise and how to eat it.

All 3 kids have always enjoyed cooking and have collectively decided that they will take charge of breakfast at least one day at the weekend. It's not a fast or mess free experience but we aren't usually in any rush at the weekends, and knowing that I have help to deal with the aftermath makes me more relaxed about the trashing of the kitchen. And the results are pretty good - Mango and passion fruit Smoothie with masala omelette.


Anne

Home sweet home

After putting about one and a half thousand miles on the clock, living out of bags for a while and enjoying an almost entirely rain free summer catching up with friends and family in the UK we have all been back in Nairobi for a week now and it's very good to be here. Having only been in our house for six weeks or so before we set off for the UK it's now definitely home (although there are still boxes to unpack and a few things that have yet to find their place, which to be fair has been much the same wherever we have lived). The kids have settled straight back into life here, enjoying the space for football, volley ball and other Olympics inspired activities. We have already caught up with friends, met some new arrivals and Tim and I are getting beck into the routine of working. So the normal pace of family life is gently being re- established.



July and August are relatively cool and overcast in Nairobi so whilst we have been away the garden has greened up a bit, although the cricket net that Tim is patiently creating is not yet established enough for the boys to really test it out - I am not convinced its actually for them!





And the river/ stream at the end of the garden is now home to a symphony of bull frogs (no idea of the correct collective noun but you get the picture) who come alive at night and keep the cricket and birds company. The birdsong and nighttime insect noise is one of the things that most quickly reminds me that we are in Africa. I've learnt enough from our various Birds of East Africa books to spot the kites flying overhead and the weaver birds darting about our garden but I am a long way from identifying the majority of noise makers. I do, however know that they are clearly not the "pesky chickens" that Katie claimed had roused her too early on her first morning back.


Anne