Sand, sea, surf, snorkelling and sun

We have just spent a really relaxing week on the coast for half term. Bliss. Animals, safaris and the landscape here are all pretty amazing but the ease with which we jumped on a cheap flight to the Indian Ocean was something else. Matthew has long wished for a beach holiday with palm trees and he wasn't disappointed, although he was a bit surprised when we landed in the middle of a tropical storm with the afore mentioned palms bending dramatically and we were completely drenched running from the plane. But that was short lived, the sun came out and we spent most of the rest of the week drenched from the sea and swimming pool.





We all love being by, in and under the sea and so have been thinking about this trip for a while. Tim and I had first thought we would rent a house on the beach - there are plenty to choose from all long the coast - but we were lobbied by the kids to stay in a very child friendly hotel and we decided that there would be much more for them to do (and so less or us to have to do) if we were somewhere with other kids. It was definitely a good call even if it does make it unlikely that we will ever be able to go anywhere else on the coast as my observations that there are lots of lovely places to stay are met with incredulity that I could think of anywhere else. The kids all made loads of friends and were so happy and occupied that Tim and I managed to read lots and do a couple of very gentle, lovely reef dives together.





And when we weren't hanging out on the beach or by the pool, we all went sea kayaking and snorkelling and looking for crabs and moray eels (grown fat on sausages taken from the breakfast buffet by every boy and most of the girls under 12) in the rock pools at low tide. High tide bought some great surf and we made the most of boogie boards, emerging one day where the waves had been particularly big covered in sea weed and looking like one of the characters in pirates of the Caribbean.

Our week flew by and all my plans to get out and about a bit and visit a snake farm and some ancient ruins and go for a tree top walk came to nothing. But at least we now have lots of reasons to go back to the sea - the kids are already planning a trip during the Christmas holidays. And I've tried hard this week not to be too post holiday smug - the shock of 615 starts, a gently peeling tan, 3 parents evenings in a row and Tim being away in Addis for a few days has helped but the post holiday glow is still lingering.

Anne

Money matters

In a month which has seen news of more financial doom and gloom in Europe and MPs in Kenya voting themselves a wacking $100k each as an end of term present I thought I would reflect on money. The MPs decision (which may not be delivered) comes at a time when teachers and doctors here are striking over low pay with major disruption for many kenyans. It has been widely condemned in the press here and will do nothing to improve Kenya's Shocking showing on the ratio of political leaders' pay to GDP per capita

Living here, the gap between rich and very poor is always very present. And whilst we all want to do our bit to help fill it, it can be a bit daunting working out how best to do that in a way that contributes to a longer lasting improvement. There are so many needs to meet.

So we are starting closest to home, making sure the small army of people we employ to help us look after our kids, house and garden are properly looked after and paid a decent wage. The Minimum wage for urban domestic workers here is currently around 8500 kenyan shillings a month which is less than £85, on an assumption of a 45 hour week. And the latest figures show 65% of under 25s as unemployed so one set of wages usually supports an extended family. Whilst some things cost less than in the UK, there has been significant food inflation and transport costs can eat up a major chunk of income. So money, and the lack of it, is pretty much a constant issue for the majority of Kenyans here. Puts some more colour on the MPs decision to further reward themselves.

I have quickly come to understand that its not just about the amount we pay in salary but also about how we pay that makes a difference and helps people make the most of their earnings. Paying weekly or monthly, paying some money in advance and balancing that out over time, whether or not to give loans, whether tea, sugar, flip flops for wearing whilst working, an apron to protect precious clothes, water, use of the washing machine, food, soap etc are included or not are all major issues for people living in real poverty.

And once found, there is a real fear of losing a job which can have an odd effect on the people dynamics. We saw this recently when our usually very cheery ayah Judith had to summon up courage, and seek advice from others, to raise an issue that had clearly been worrying her for some time about how quickly we were getting through washing powder. To be fair to her its about £10 a box here so half a week's wages for some and therefore to be used sparingly. Judith was obviously anxious that i would be cross with her for wasting powder (which she doesn't and i wouldn't have been anyway) but equally she didn't want to get into trouble with the various other people who work for us if she pointed the finger at them. We had the longest chat I've ever managed to sustain on the use of washing powder until she was reassured that I would handle this issue without ruffling any feathers in our domestic set up. Years of management courses and team building events haven't really prepared me for this!

The kids are clearly taking lots of this in. They can now, and do (unprompted) give uneaten food to "hungry poor people in Africa" just by opening the kitchen door after our meals or the car window when approached by street kids. They got very agitated and made protest posters when one of the Masai guards on the compound next door lost his job apparently after using his employer's electricity to heat food. And they participated fully in a dinner conversation with a visiting friend on micro financing and how you encourage saving and investment amongst people with so little. They no longer expect regular pocket money themselves and they seem less focused on consumerism as a hobby. I suspect that's more a feature of the limited opportunities for them to get things they want at affordable prices - electronic stuff is much more expensive here - rather than a significant change in their values. But it's very nice whilst it lasts.


Anne

We came, we saw, we conquered....and picked flowers

It's half term for us now so this last week has been filled with school activities and fun rather than any obvious academic drive. Matthew had Roman day today where his whole year dressed up in an impressive range of roman and semi roman gear (and one boy turned up in green camo gear suggesting that ancient European history doesn't necessarily reach across the multi cultural community here). His cardboard cutting for his costume was with scissors and supervision on this occasion! He spent the day in the pool (aka Roman baths), doing mosaics and having a roman feast and declared himself completely exhausted as he flopped into bed.


Its also been a week of sports and sports days for the boys - katie's is after half term presumably in the hope that the extra 2 weeks of training will help the younger children work out where the finishing line actually is. Both boys were victorious in their cricket matches if a bit sketchy on actual runs scored (usually a sign that there weren't many). Jamie spent most of a day getting to and from the match returning home tired and pretty dehydrated just after 7pm - 12 hours away from the house for 40 overs of cricket wasn't an obvious equation for me or our very nice neighbour/cricket mum who waited for 2 hours at school for their delayed return. Matthew had to drop out of the tug of war when the coach noticed that letting a small boy with a hand still bandaged from having stitches removed the day before pull on a thick rope was probably unwise. The tug was restarted with the great kine "now we have a team where everyone has 2 hands"....but his team won and he did fine in his running race so he was happy. Jamie also stood his own in the 800m race - although he's got a long way to go before he threaten's Kenya's record setting David Rudesia.




Katie celebrated the end of school for a week by getting on her bike and cycling along our road picking flowers. I think she was as interested by the jumping spider that rode in on one of the pointsetia (that grow wild here to over 3m high- not like the ones that bloom in houses across the UK at Christmas) as the flowers.


And now we are off to the beach for a week. Bags are packed, the kindle loaded, malaria tablets distributed, dive gear retrieved from the depths of our garage, the weather checked - sunny! Not sure who is more excited, the kids or me.

Anne

NHS Direct - East Africa style

Boards like this, nailed to roadside trees, are used to advertise all manner of services across Nairobi be it renting a property, getting your fridge fixed, sorting marital disharmony, finding love. You name it, someone with a mobile phone number will be able to help. This guy has a few boards on my route to work with long lists of how he can help - this is his summary - and claims to be able to sort out pretty much any problem, although not fridges as far as I'm aware.

I used these boards in my house hunting efforts earlier in the year but I have yet to seek medical advice via this route - we get a pretty good health package through work and thus far have avoided any major illness in the family although a couple of Tim's colleagues have been pretty unwell. But we had our first direct brush with Kenyan healthcare last sunday when Matthew's attempt to create a kitten house with his friends using only cardboard boxes and a bread knife ended in four stitches and 3 hours hanging round in a clinic. At least it happened whilst with friends from medicins sans frontier who took the blood in their stride, phoned a friend for local clinic details and generally kept me and matthew calm, even if the bandaid they produced wasn't quite up to the job!

To be fair to the kenyan private healthcare system, we only had to wait so long because, having been completely calm immediately after cutting his hand, panic kicked in when the doctor moved towards him with a needle and he kicked out, with a very well aimed boot to the poor doctor's groin. The doctor understandably retreated and gave Matthew plenty of time to calm down. But all was well after that, the hand is healing rapidly and Matthew is looking forward to resuming his cricket season next week. And our friends were relieved they only had bandaid available!

Prior to that our only near miss with a hospital was a couple of weekends ago when katie shoved a very large plastic disc up her nose for reasons that remain entirely unclear and then couldn't get it out again. Tim's patience and DIY skills came to the fore - it was however slightly more than our lunch guest had bargained for.

But whilst I haven't felt the need to resort to astrologers for healthcare I have picked up some local views on the best prophylactics and remedies for various ills that prevail In the region. I'm not qualified to recommend any and readers who choose to follow this advice do so entirely at heir own risk. But I thought I would share them with you anyway.

A diet rich in Camel meat and milk keeps malaria away according to some Somalis I was talking to recently;

Putting the kids' school sun hats in the freezer over the weekend will kill any lurking nits;

An Ethiopian friend told us all Ethiopians hate drafts and wrap up against them even in equatorial heat as drafts bring all sorts of disease;

A pretty standard Kenyan approach to treating fertility problems is to get an extra wife;

Sugar is a good and healthy thing and you can't have too much of it - 2 to 3 large spoonfuls is the minimum required for any hot drink. 7 heaped spoons is the most I've seen go into a single mug of coffee.



Anne