Day 4 – 32km – That Mountain was ‘Summit’ else…

It was 2.30 am when I had to get up today and 0 degrees!  I slowly dragged myself out of my sleeping bag and slipped my boots on, considering the temperature I had decided to not get undressed before I went to sleep so I didn't have to much to do to get ready other than wash my face and teeth and down a cup of coffee.  At around 3am Nicholas and I left to climb to the summit of Mount Kenya.  As soon as I stepped outside I was astonished at how dark it was compared to England at night and the sky was unbelievably clear!  I felt like I could pluck the stars out of the sky as the seemed so bright and close.  My vision was extremely restricted during the initial stages of the day’s ascent, and all I could make out for the first hour was my guide’s feet with my head-torch. 

Now I don’t mean to boast (well I do actually) but I didn't feel any altitude sickness whatsoever and managed to rocket up the mountainside in 2 hours! It normally takes 3.5; according to Nicholas I was the fastest Englishman to climb it in his 12 years of being a guide! As we approached the top it was starting to get light so we sat and waited in -5 temperatures for the sunrise, I have to admit this was possibly the most amazing thing I have ever witnessed!  All around me was a carpet of clouds with small peaks poking through, as was the glorious sun as it rose.  

It was so cold and windy that my camera refused to turn on but luckily I managed to get this cheeky snap from my mobile phone. I considered this lucky as otherwise I would have had no proof I made it!

Once I saw the sunrise and took my picture I decided I wouldn't hang around as I was starting to lose the feeling in my feet, so Nicholas and I belted down the peak twice as fast as it took us to climb!  I suppose the thought of breakfast and a quick rest aided in our enthusiasm to descend.  Over our breakfast Nicholas told me that we were 2 ½ hours ahead of schedule so I suggested that rather than walking to our first camp ‘old moses’ and camping the night there, that we should just mission it all the way back to the start considering my time in Kenya was fairly limited and I didn't want to waste any unnecessary time.  He looked at me like I was crazy but in the end agreed that it was a fairly sensible idea so we packed our stuff up and made our way back, and after 22km we arrived at ‘camp old moses’ for lunch. 

Once my stomach was satisfied and I had comforted my overly sore feet we embarked on the final 10km to where we had began. This last section was possibly the most exciting of the whole trek as the wildlife seemed to be rife! At one point we were surrounded by literally 50 baboons acting like a bunch of drunken teenagers on there first holiday! Needless to say I was rather anxious but I was reassured that they were more scared of us than visa versa (Yeah right!!!).  I was also stopped in my path by some female bushbuck, these are basically African deer but with some interesting marks and stripes. A little further down our path and after 4 days of hard graft I had completed my challenge!  I was overjoyed and rather proud of myself and was very much looking forward to finally having a shower and a well-deserved Tusker! (A Kenyan beer).

JOB DONE!!!.

P.s.  Just for fun I decided to trek the whole day dressed as a monkey! Needless to say every guide and mountaineer I passed laughed at me. (And yes they are clouds casually blowing past).

Cake Sale

We set up a stall this morning selling cakes and also some of the African bits and pieces we have including jewelry, wooden animals, key rings, letters openers...  we made £145!

Thank you to Lily, Kirsten (mum), Millie, Ruth, Leanne for making such lovely cakes and also for manning the stall (also Ralph & Cameron).

Mount Kenya continued...

Day 3 – 7km – The Temple and Lake Michelson…

Today was another early start, getting up at 6am in order to leave by 7am. We had to leave this early in order to complete the day’s hike before the weather turned ugly, and being the same level as the clouds we were the first to know if the rain/hail fell!

So as I put my coat and boots on my guide gave me a pair of gloves and told me to wear my hat!  Being in Africa I was slightly puzzled but once we were outside and I saw that everything was covered in deep snow I understood. Our first task was to climb almost as high as the summit in order to veer off for out detour, but for someone like me at 7am and considering the weather I was less than enthusiastic! However Nicholas ensured me that this was the best thing to see in the vicinity of the mountain, and coming from someone who has climbed it for the past 12 years I felt inclined to believe him. So we started to climb and after about 1.5 hours we turned left and found somewhere to rest for a moment and Nicholas pointed out a cliff in the distance past miles of vast, white, rocky landscape. From where I was sat it looked cool so I couldn't wait to get nearer, so with my rucksack back on we honed in on this awesome piece of natural architecture.  It took another hour or so to reach the top of ‘the temple’ but I was enjoying the relatively flat and downhill landscape considering my AM climb.

The view from the top of ‘the temple’ was immense at every angle but especially when I looked over ‘Lake Michelson’, which led onto the ‘Gorges Valley’ – talk about postcard material!

Nicholas asked if I fancied climbing down the cliff to the lake, of course I wasn't going to say no but in the back of my mind I did wonder how we might get back up! Heading down to the lake was the most fun I’d had so far as the descent was a near vertical drop and the shortcuts Nicholas insisted on taking made me feel like Indiana Jones. After 30 minutes of clinging on for dear life we reached the lakeside…. WOW!! 

If you could set up camp anywhere in the world this would definitely have to be the location of choice. The water sparkled like diamonds reflecting off of the blistering African sun, and was surrounded by American canyon looking rocky peaks. The opposite side of the lake from where I was sitting looked like the gateway to heaven as it was past a golden lake to the valley that was covered with clouds for as far as the eye could see. On the rocks behind me about 50 meters up I spotted a large eagle which Nicholas told me was an ‘Argur Buzzard’. I must admit I did try and scare the bird in order to see it fly but my screeching had nowhere near the desired affect!

The day’s euphoria was short lived as I then realized we were about to embark on a 4km climb back to Camp Shipton and to make matters worse I was dying for the loo! 

The way back to camp seemed a completely different world as by now all the snow had melted and all the rocks and obstacles were now visible. The climb back wasn't all-bad as every time I turned around I was blessed with fantastic views and lizards were constantly shooting across my path which was pretty cool. After a couple more hours we reached the point where I first saw ‘the temple’ and I knew I only had to travel downhill from now on, which made my legs and my bottom very happy…

School Uniforms

Rose texted very early his morning! - "The uniforms have been delivered. Only a few girls' skirts need alteration then everyone will be shiny as new pins!  Wait for pics. It's raining so hard we have to transport all the kids after classes otherwise they'd be so late! My flu is gone! Give my love to all xxx"  So pleased Rose is feeling better and that the children now have new uniforms.

Sheep

Rose wrote today: "Today was my luckiest day. I received presents from your mum and one of the sheep has given birth!  Nicholas reckons by the end of the year they will have doubled.  I'll visit them and send photos.  Its still raining gumdrops!  Give everyone my undying love xxxx".

Just to let you know Nicholas is Rose's brother and looks after our sheep, which we while in Kenya.

Send A Child To School Scheme

Rose wrote this morning: "SOS !!! Hi everyone. I am appealing to all our friends and well-wishers to come to our rescue. I have no money for the children's food and transport to school. We may be forced to close school earlier than normal."

I have sent some money this morning from our fund-raising "pot".

Club Rafiki are launching a new project - 'Send a Child to School Scheme'.  We would like you to sponsor a child - this can be paid monthly, termly or even yearly.  Their school fees, transport and food would be covered from this amount.  

This is now quite urgent so if you would be interested please contact me: evecoles.kenya@gmail.com

Mount Kenya Blog

Harry Minter: Man vs. Mountain

Mount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya and the second highest in Africa, after Kilimanjaro. The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (5,199 metres (17,057 ft)), Nelion (5,188 metres (17,021 ft)) and Point Lenana (4,985 metres (16,355 ft)).  Mount Kenya is located in central Kenya, just south of the equator, around 150 kilometres north-northeast of the capital Nairobi.  Mount Kenya is the source of the name of the Republic of Kenya.

Mount Kenya is a stratovolcano created approximately 3 million years after the opening of the East African rift. Before glaciation, it was 7,000 m high. It was covered by an ice cap for thousands of years. This has resulted in very eroded slopes and numerous valleys radiating from the centre. There are currently 11 small glaciers. The forested slopes are an important source of water for much of Kenya.

There are several vegetation bands from the base to the summit. Different types of forest cover the lower slopes. Many alpine species are endemic to Mount Kenya, such as the giant lobelias and senecios and a local subspecies of rock hyrax. An area of 715 km² (276 sq mi) around the centre of the mountain was designated a National Park and listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. The park receives over 16,000 visitors per year.

Day One – 11 km – en route to ‘Old Camp Moses’

After ensuring that both my bag and belly were fully packed, I set off to Nanyuki Prep School to meet my guide to escort me up Mount Kenya. Nicholas arrived around 10 am in a taxi that was to take us on a 45 minute drive to the base of the mountain and the start of our ascent, and whilst the bags were being loaded into the car all the children from the school came to wave me off which was rather nice yet a tad embarrassing.

It was about 27km to the beginning at ‘Sirimon Gate’, so I used this time to get to know my guide and ask some of the many questions I had. Before I knew it we were entering the national park and entrance to the mountain, although I wasn’t sure we would even make it due to the fact our beaten up old saloon was being torn apart by large rocks and boulders on the worst road I have ever seen. I doubt the same car would be picking us up. Sirimon Gate stands at 2650m above sea level and is where I started my journey after showing my passport to the park ranger; we then set off on our 10km climb to ‘Old Camp Moses’.

This part of the walk was relatively easy and I was able to ask Nicholas about possibly every plant, animal and bird I saw. About 15 minutes in I stumbled across what I though was a bail of hay but turned out to be elephant dung! I quickly took a picture and moved on. 

My mind was constantly active today as a vast, dense forest full of activity constantly surrounded us. At one point I heard monkeys shrieking and was informed that they we Baboons fighting. 

After lunch we continued up the path towards our resting place for the night and it wasn't long before we were investigating elephant tracks and the trail of flattened trees and bushes from where the elephant had  muscled through.  Not long after we arrived at our destination, ‘Old Camp Moses’.

Day Two – 16km – en route to ‘Camp Shipton’

Today I had to wake up at around 6.30am, so I decided to get up and get some photos of the sunrise, as I was surrounded by views.  I then went to freshen up and stock up on energy for the day.  Breakfast consisted of Uji, followed by pancakes, sausages and eggs!! After whopping down this mammoth meal I got my things together and we set off at 7.30am.  The first task at this early hour was to climb a gradual slope to the Kenyan Weather Station which stood at 3550m above sea level, being as full as I was this wasn’t as easy at it sounds. Although once I reached the weather station and turned around it was already worth it as the view was spectacular and definitely something I’d consider getting out of bed for again.  We then started to descend towards a small stream (this is actually the river that flows past where I had been staying), and I thought YAY this is great! Until I reached the bottom and was informed that we would be climbing up the other side which was steeper and much higher than what I had just happily strolled down.  As I climbed up the other side I was startled by what seemed to be a glittery blanket, which appeared to cover the majority of the surrounding landscape.  Nicholas, my guide told me that millions of years ago Mount Kenya used to be a volcano that is now thankfully extinct and that these little stones, called Quartz were left embedded into the mountainside.  We carried on clambering up until we reached the top of this little valley and were greeted by another view! Except this one took the biscuit! The peak’s stood tall and proud to the left, Nanyuki and surrounding villages to the right and the unique ‘Mckinders vally’ in between.  We now had to follow the valley to the base of the peak’s and our next camp.  So we continued down towards the floor of the valley with the peak in constant view and after walking for about another hour or so we stopped for lunch. Whilst eating my instant noodles and baked beans the temperature suddenly dropped and I realized we were surrounded by clouds actually close enough that I touched them, Nicholas didn’t seem to be bothered but I was far to excited that I grew child-like and began running around in them with my arms gesticulated.  After lunch we continued along the river towards to mountain, which gave me more opportunities to take photos of the wildlife such as the Malachite Sunbird and the Rock Hyrax, which to me looked like giant Guinea Pigs.

Eventually I reached ‘Shiptons Cave’s’ which were fascinating to look at and marked the start of some real climbing. Reaching the ceiling of these caves was a huge leg burner as most the way up my calves and quads were actually on fire, but with the promise of our camp only 200m vertical I found the determination to keep going at a steady pace. Once at the top of the caves at approximately 4150m above sea level I was able to look back over the 6km valley we had just hiked along which was amazing and gave me a bigger boost to reach the summit. 

After taking pictures and resting my legs for a second we then set off to complete the days journey by climbing about another 50m to our camp. After a 7 hour, 16km trek we were greeted at our camp by a ridiculously heavy hailstorm!

New Uniforms

Rose's latest text - "We've just finished taking measurements.  So in two weeks, we'll be wearing shiny new uniforms! :) xx"  

School strike is over

Rose sent a text to say that Kenyan schools have re-opened after a three week strike.  So now all the children are back at school for the rest of term.  Great news!

The return!

It is Sunday morning and we are heading for Nairobi after saying our tearful goodbyes in Nanyuki. 

Visiting Rose

On Saturday, Kevin and I went to visit little Rose and her Grandmother in their home.  We took food, clothes and a few other things.  Rose's grandmother was really pleased to see us as was Rose.  They are still living in the same place where we moved them two years ago.  Club Rafiki will now be sponsoring Rose and paying her school fees.  Education is so important her so if anyone is interested in sponsoring one of the school children by paying their school fees which includes food please let me know.  We have also sponsored 8 other children for a term with funds raised.  Thank you so much to everyone who did this, you have no idea how great and needed it is. 

Football shirts for orphans

On Saturday we all went to the orphanage (CEDC) and handed out 70 football shirts, toothbrushes and sweets.  The children drew us lots of pictures; once again Harry and Cameron played football and I learnt how to make a rope out of grass!  Lorraine and Natasha were busy with friendship bracelets while Abi made pigs and snails out of plasticine.  Kevin had bought along the DVD's of last years video recordings and the children watched them on their DVD player (yes, the orphanage does quite well with an Italian sponser who is currently building a new dormatory for the girls).

Buying a cow

Abi, Harry and I set off with Rose to buy a cow and a sheep as we decided this would be easier than goats.  With great amusement we watched Abi trying to get close to the cow as she trotted off across the field!  The cow is just over a year old, black and white with a little white star on her forehead and is just lovely.  Abi wanted to name her Oliver after her sponser's Ray and Julie Oliver (many many thanks to them).  Once Oliver has had a calf she will begin producing milk.  We also bought 8 sheep who will live with Nicholas (Rose's brother) with his cows.  Most of these sheep (hopefully all) are pregnant so we will immediately increase our stock.  It was Saturday afternoon when Oliver arrived on the back of an open truck which was a huge surprise as Rose had arranged it all.  On getting out, Oliver proceeded to wander around the garden to inspect her new home - the other 3 cows looked out of the pen with interest particularly the bullock.  The bullock was then led ot of the pen to meet Oliver and he herded her into the pen and she went in quite happily.  This morning before leaving for Nairobi, Abi wanted to get a photo of her holding a sign saying 'Oliver' next to the cow.  As soon as Oliver was let out of her pen the bullock jumped on her!  We did eventually get Abi's picture!

Nanyuki Sports Day

Abi had the idea of having a mini olympics for the children...and what a fun-filled day it turned out to be.  The opening ceremony consisted of Rose running up from the cow pen with an inflatable olympic torch.  The children were divided into 5 teams of 10 and competed in various relay events.  We used rice bags for sack races which was hilarious and tomatoes for the egg and spoon race which bounced all over the place as the children dropped them.  Lorraine took charge of the scoring, Cameron was a leader for his team while Harry, Abi and Natasha ran around controlling the children.  Kevin and I captured the event through the lens.  The children were very enthusiastic and enjoyed every minute.  We ended up with the younger ones running races around the house whilst the older ones competed in a 'mini marathon'.  In this event, Harry and Cameron joined in with Harry falling at the start and Cameron getting lost!  Lots of sweets and colourful pencils were given as prizes.  After their lunch we handed out lots of clothes that we had bought with us.

Desks and books

We have bought 5 desks and 5 chairs for a new classroom.  "You never pay the price they ask", Rose was persuasive and convincing on her negotiation; "I only have this amount of money from the sponsers (us!) so to pay the extra I'll need to use the cabbage money". Needless to say Rose got them for the price she wanted and they will be delivered tomorrow.  We then went onto buy 2 boxes of exercise books and several boxes of chalk.

Maasai Rafiki child project

Rose and Muhoro have a partnership woth a local Maasai tribe to promote and develop education for children in that tribe.  Yesterday we met the children and their homes.  The Maasai men may have many wives and each will build a separate house for her and her children.  Males aged 18 to 28 are the protectors of the community after this time they are allowed to marry.  Men also draw and paint original art to sell to raise money for the project.  All the women and men wore traditional clothes - they certainly like bright colours and jewellery.

Happy Birthday Esther and Wangari

Birthdays yesterday and today and both are 20.  Wangari is Rose's daughter and Esther is her adopted daughter from the orphanage.  The typical African gathering of 20 plus people filled the sitting room as we all shared vegetable cassarole, samosas, cabbage salad and roast potatoes!

Kangaita

Kangaita - Visiting the children at home.  Many of the children live in a slum called Kangaita next to the quarry where many of their parents work (and the children when they are not at school).  A pretty setting by the river, a series of mud and stick homes reminds you of the middle ages in England.  We talked to the families, visited homes, climbed the muddy paths alongside sheep and cows.  Although in poverty and naturally would like 'something more', they are grateful for "two rooms in the house instead of one".

Kitting out for school

The funds we have raised will provide school uniforms for all 70 children.  For this we visited the materials shop to measure out the fabric for the shirts, trousers (this includes zips, buttons and elastic), we will then pay a local tailor to make these.  Next is school jumpers in red from a store that sells everything from mattresses to thermos flasks to clocks to potties!
The bag of jumpers was the size of a person and a perfect fit for the boot...except where is the key?!  A car full of people, a boot full of air we strapped our bundle somewhere!  We had to stop several times on the way home to retrieve escapee jumpers from the road!

Tuesday - The Lion King

The children turned up nice and early again. Natasha attempted to teach the recorder and lots of recorders and similar things to blow were handed out to the children - so lots of noise rang around the garden. Lorraine and Alex did a hair and make-up session with the girls and Cameron helped the children with origami whilst Harry did some drawing.
Kevin taught some karate and managed to teach Simba, a kata. Abi and I went to the bank and then started to spend some of the the fundraising money - 50kg maize, 50kg rice, sugar, salt and oil. Vegetables we brought from a market - 20 cabbages cost 200 shillings (approx £1.60). Back at Rose's lunch was prepared.

Abi decided to roll out paper across the garden and allowed the children to put their hands and feet into paint and then onto the paper - what a mess! But what fun! I continued with the letter writing once I had cleaned the children. We made chapatis for dinner while Harry and Cameron chopped wood for the fire.

We ended the evening watching The Lion King :)

Monday - Garden party

Monday's blog. Yesterday was our day of rest so we decided to take the opportunity to see Africa's animals and went on a safari. We had a brilliant day seeing lions, cheetahs, elephants, zebras and giraffes. When we arrived home, Harry was there having completed his Mount Kenya climb in 4 days - what an amazing achievement.
Today Rose's garden was turned into a school as the Kenyan Government have

put a ban on schools running in holiday time. The usual activities took place and then all but Kevin and I went to visit a local charity run pottery place and made some pots. Kevin carried on entertaining the children while I picked, washed and prepared vegetable for their lunch. Unfortunately another storm arrived and so all the children had to shelter in the greenhouse (not glass and very large). After lunch I had 10 of the children write letters to their penfriends. Lorraine, Alex, Cameron and Natasha went to get some shopping. Cameron even managed to continue his love of afternoon naps in the supermarket when he found a sofa! The first car arrived to take some of the younger children home and after a while I went to check the greenhouse and discovered 26 children still there as the driver had not returned!

We had a blocked toilet in the evening caused by the children (some of whom had never used a western toilet) all wanting to use it during the day - even if they didn't need it! With the toilet blocked we had to use the garden; Natasha shrieked when she found out but her and Lorraine went off to go only to find on returning that the toilet had been fixed and nobody had told them!

Day 7 - A quick update

Tragically 8 children died in a fire at a school in Kenya today and as a result the Government have banned children from attending school during the school holidays.  So tomorrow all the children at Rose's school will be coming to her garden instead as it is important they are fed.

Harry is back after his mountain climb and he made it in 4 days instead of the usual 5 - what an achievement.  People can still sponser him, any money raised will help so much.

Saturday - Flintstones!

After cooking Rose and family a full English breakfast, with most of us in the kitchen - talk about too many cooks...! We all set off to the quarry.  As it is Saturday the children also work in the quarry.  We came across quite a few of the school children - Daniel, Beatrice, Rebecca, Nancy (the children start here young as Rebecca and Nancy are only 5!) and the whole family are involved.  They get paid for what they sell so it's a matter of all hands on deck.  1 tonne fetches 700 shillings (approx £6) and probably takes a week to get.  Women on their own have a hard job as they can't get to the lorries as quick; the men often buy it from them cheaper and sell it on for more, unfortunately the women don't have much of a choice but to do this.

Lorraine, Natasha and Alex all had a go at bashing the rocks.  Cameron got stuck in with actually extracting the rock from the quarry wall.  All this work is done by hand and they work all day and every day.  One old lady sitting breaking the rocks was over 70 years old!  We met a penfriend for Alex - Mary who is Nancy's sister and they had a chat as they strolled through the quarry.

After this we went to CEDC (orphanage) and on arrival we found some of them making chapatis.  Lorraine, Natasha and Abi ran a makeup session with the girls and Cameron played football.  Another raging storm arrived late afternoon - we had torrential rain which lasted a couple of minutes but the thunder remained.  Harry has texted to let us know he is still going strong and he will reach the top tomorrow morning to watch the sunrise.

Friday - Monkey antics

No kids today - just monkeys!

With the school closed we took a trip to the local animal orphanage.  It's a wonderful place for housing orphan, sick, injured and rare animals.  The animals are not here permanently , they are re-introduced to their natural habitat when fit and healthy.  Residents include cheetahs, crested crane, bongo, warthog, ostrich, pygmy hippos and different species of monkeys.

 A few special guests, the first is a 150 year old tortoise with whom we all took turns to clamber on his back and ride him - I don't think he even noticed us on him!  The other is a rare 35 year old Zebroid which is a half Zebra, half horse.  The monkeys, of course, are always entertaining and this was no exception.  We had to impersonate a tree with arms outstretched holding corn, the monkeys then leapt on us.  One climbed onto my rucksack and managed to eat the feet off my camel hanging on the back.  Hysterical screaming came from the girls, though Alex, not keen on monkeys made friends with a baby buffalo.  The colobus monkey which sat on Lorraine's head matched her hair - we weren't sure where the monkey's hair ended and Lorraine's began!

The late afternoon bought yet another storm this time with torrential rain.  No news from Harry, we were warned that he would have no signal - if he's lucky he might get some on his third day of climbing.

We have all been enjoying Rose's cooking - she works wonders with a cabbage and the avocado salad is exceptional!

Day 4 - Beginning the mountain challenge

Rucksack packed and Harry is ready to climb Mount Kenya.  We then walked to school and Nicholas, Harry's guide, arrived.  He had a great send off as all the children gathered round and clapped.  We all waved as he disappeared down the road.

Activities continued in the school - lunch preparation, games including making friendship bracelets, badmington, ball games and drawing.  I recieved a text from Harry just as a storm arrived bringing lots of rain, it said 'We've reached Camp Moses which is where we shall be staying the night, bit lonely tho, writing and taking pics of the wildlife around'.  A later text read, 'wet and freezing! wish I had gloves.  Tomorrow is set to be a long walk although we will be seeing some rare plants and some valleys and the river that goes past Rose's house starts here'.

Unfortunately most of our phones are not working and internet is very touch and go so if any parents are wondering why they haven't heard from their offspring that's the reason and they are still all alive and kicking!

Day 3 - Cows to kids

Everyone was up bright and breezy this morning despite Lorraine falling out of her top bunk!  Rose had been teasing us about milking cows so Lorraine and Natasha disappeared in the direction of the cows followed closely by Alex.  Great entertainment was had by all as they proceeded to milk and proved that all are great milk maids.  Natasha is a complete natural, and Alex and Lorraine did a great job; Abi decided she didn't like cows udders as they are soft and squishy and the boys (other than Kevin who had a go) kept their distance preferring to spectate from outside the pen.

Arriving at the school we were set to work with the children, each disappeared into a classroom except Cameron who remained outside to organise a game of rounders.  Alex had all of her children drawing pictures of 'Queen Rose' as we have renamed her and the children managed to convince her to dress up in a school uniform.

Lorraine and Natasha had their group doing some colouring, Harry was teaching magic and Kevin was teaching them how not to play cards!
There was a lot of laughter coming from Abi's classroom and on investigation we discovered they all had their arms covered in wet slimy cornflour!

I was on cooking duty and admired the new cooker that we bought last year with some of the money raised.  The children had ugi mid morning and rice and cabbage for lunch.

We walked to an orphanage I hadn't been to before - this one had babies.  Some of them had been abandoned at birth and we all found this a very emotional experience.  I held a 4 month old baby in my arms who had been abandoned and found it very hard to put her in her cot especially as she began to cry and hold onto my top, I found this very hard and Alex became very upset and tearful leaving one of the babies as well.

The orphanage also has a farm and is fairly self sufficient but does need the water tank fixing as it leaks.  Harry is very keen to use money from his Mount Kenya climb fund to do this.

We then visited the orphanage I am familiar with and it was great that the children were pleased to see me a third time.  We spent a pleasant couple of hours getting to know the children.  Harry was soon weight training with the homemade weights.  A long trip home ensured everyone was tired especially Cameron as he once again fell asleep in the armchair.  It's strange because despite being very hot during the day we have an open fire in the evening.

Day 2: to the centre of the earth

We spent the morning at the school and as soon as we walked through the gates the children came rushing over to greet us with hugs and high fives.  They entertained us with singing before Harry and Cameron played football until they were too hot and exhausted to continue.  Abi played clapping games whilst Alex organised skipping and Natasha had her hair dismantled and then rearranged.

Lorraines bubbles casued great excitment for the children with them squeeling in delight.  Kevin spent most of the time taking photos of the children which they immediately wanted to see.  Rose and I disappeared to the shop to get food for the children and after they had been fed they attempted to teach Harry Swahili (he is now practically fluent!).

The younger children were then collected and taken to their slum...24 children in one car! 

We then all took a walk along a very hot and dusty road to the equator where we were shown the water going clockwise or anti clockwise depending on which hemisphere we were standing in!  On our return route we stopped in to see Rose's daughter Watare having her hair braided.  Lorraine now on home territory in hair salons joined in - Watch out Apollo she might get a job here!

In the evening Rose needed to go and pick Aloe Vera from the garden to soothe the burnt skin of the gang (I did warn them to use lotion), Cameron's arms, neck and face needed attention, poor Alex had to use Aloe Vera everywhere and Abi said Harry looked like a shiny tomato!

Karibu - Kenya!

Rose met us at the airport and it was so wonderful to see her again.  I introduced her to everyone and then we made our way to the waiting matatu.  Loading up the 17 suitcases we have got between us was no easy task but we eventually got on our way.  The journey from Nairobi to Nanyuki took nearly 5 hours due to several fruit stops on the way.  One of the stops caused Abi to screech from the back as the matatu became surrounded by hopeful vendors trying to sell us bananas as arms thrust through the windows waving their bunches at us!

Then the heavens opened meaning another stop to purchase a large amount of plastic to cover the roof where most of our luggage was.

Finally we arrived and once unloaded, Rose led Harry and Cameron to a shed at the bottom of the garden convincing them that this was their accommodation  - their faces were a picture but they took it very well!

On our way

Everyone is all accounted for in their Club Rafiki t-shirts at the airport and waiting to board our plane to Nairobi.  Rose and the van are already waiting for us to arrive and whisk us (200km down bumpy roads) to Nanyuki and our home for the next two weeks.

Nanyuki is situated on the equator and is in the shadow of Mount Kenya which Harry is planning to climb to raise additional money for the school and the orphanage we are visiting.

Please check back regularly to see updates of what we are getting up to.

Thanks for all of the support so far. :)

Getting ready

We are taking an enormous amount of luggage with us this year, although nearly all of it is stuff that people have so kindly donated to take to the children.  We have Christmas presents for the Club Rafiki children and clothes, books, school equipment and toys galore!  I have just about managed to squeeze a few clothes in for me as well.

We still have a few days before we head off and so if anyone has any last minute things for us to take please contact me.  We would especially like to take recorders with us this year if anybody has one not being used.

Please keep checking the blog whilst we away for updates on what we are doing.

Returning to Kenya