Journey to London (1st October - 10th October)

Mum met me at Heathrow. How weird getting on the London Underground again..it’s been a while!

Spent the weekend in Brighton with Shane! Was awesome! Ate out at Terre a Terre, had fish and chips by the pier, went shopping in town. Loved it all!

On the Monday, I had a meeting with Shona and Steph (from Fast Track) at GSK House. Shona is keen to keep the Run for Good event small, around 100-150 people. She wants to see this run in Eldoret as a pilot run, and if it’s successful this year, hold another run next year on a bigger scale. They also suggested running the event in the High altitude training camp in Iten, as Shona has met the manager, Martin, and suggested that it would be less disruption than holding the event on the streets. She will look into providing 330ml bottle’s of water, and lucozade boost on the day. They can provide caps for the volunteers at the drinks stations. They also suggested inviting GSK Nairobi, and charging an entry fee for those participating, and for those watching. Shona has asked me to provide a summary paragraph, including the charity that we are raising money for (i.e. which villages), how many people will be participating, when and where the event will be held, and the key stake holders.

Steph will post me a sample goody bag, containing the t-shirt, wrist band, medal and race number to my UK address, so I can take back and show the team in Kenya.

They also asked about health and safety, so I’ll need to confirm this with the team back in Eldoret, and suggested selling the wrist bands, which they will ship over to us.

GSK are also happy to provide flyers to advertise the event. We will also need to draw up a budget of the predicted cost of the event. Was a good meeting.

Went to see the rainbows after, and we took them to the park. It was great to see how Vicky was leading the group competently. Felt a little strange to be back, as there were quite a few new ones, whom I didn’t recognise.

We had a BBQ in the evening with Shane, Mum and bro. Was great to be all together, I realised how much I’ve missed this.

On Tuesday, I spent the day with Amy H. It was great. We couldn’t stop talking, we had so much to catch up on. I realised how Skype really makes a difference. With people I’ve been able to Skype, it was just like I hadn’t been away, but with some of my friends, I haven’t had the chance to Sypke, only email, or Facebook, and with these friends, we just had so much to tell each other. Alicia and Liz joined us later on in the evening. We went to a restaurant in Brentford. The whole way through the evening, I was just thinking how nice it was to be back with these guys again! I’ve missed this so much!

Wednesday was hectic. Felt I was running round seeing everyone. I met up with Jo in Waterloo, it was such a shame though, because it felt so rushed. We only spent an hour together, and then she had lectures. I saw Emily in Holborn, and we went for Mexican food in Abobo. Talked loads and loads! She looks really well, and was wearing a little badge to say “Baby on board”. I guess the next time I’ll see her, she will have a little baby..exciting!

Travelled over to see Cara in West London. Again, loved catching up and hearing her stories about Denver, and Churchill, her adopted dog! 

On Thursday, I travelled out to see V in Uxbridge, and had lunch at Weatherspoons. It was too short again, as she had to leave for a meeting at 2pm, but she mentioned about the tickets for Isle of Wight going on sale this week….hoorah – I’m in :) Ate out with Shane at Amico Bio...ummm!

Friday, left for the wedding in Ireland with Shane. Was fun, although, struggled to understand everyone’s accents :) (Plus I couldn't keep up - an Irish wedding goes on all night..different from us Brits!)

On Monday, I met up with Louise in Welwyn Garden City. Was so nice to hear about her wedding. I felt we hadn’t spoken in ages! Managed to get shopping done for my colleagues at the Global Network as they’d put in a request for English scones and pot pourri. It was frantic when I got back home – I found a dry cleaners receipt, and realised I’d forgotten to pick up a dress from more than 3months ago! I had 2hours to pack, get to the airport, and get all checked in! My mum’s a star, and collected the dress for me, luckily they still had it! Did some frantic packing, as was taking back clothes that Caroline and Frank were donating to the Sally Test Paediatric Center, then rushed to Heathrow. I can’t believe the week is over so quickly. I feel sad, but also rejuvenated, to start the final 3 months of my assignment.

UK, here I come and two new flatmates!

This day has finally arrived. I finished writing up notes from the stats classes and got them emailed out. I left at 1pm, not being able to control the excitement. I met my two new housemates (2 Swedish student nurses) when I arrived home. I tried to tell them everything that would’ve been useful if someone had told me when I first arrived in Eldoret, including the good places to eat, not to use ATMs on Mondays, where there’s a nice swimming pool, African time etc. They were meeting one of the Kenyan nursing students for lunch, who was very late. I had warned them about African time :)

Chris, the taxi driver, dropped me at the Eldoret airport. Grace (my housemate) uses him, as he’s the driver for one of her class mates. He doesn’t charge Muzungu prices – I like this guy!

When I arrived in Nairobi, I bumped into the other PULSE volunteers from Kisumu. I remember they mentioned about spending this weekend in Nairobi, but I thought my flight times were out of sync with theirs, so it’s nice I could chat to them (even though it was brief). Turns out poor Emma (Damian’s friend) hasn’t been well, and had to delay her flight. She was so sick, she couldn’t fly home yesterday. It’s such a shame that she got so sick over here, and was only over for a week. Here’s hoping she’ll get better soon!

Crazy queues at Nairobi airport! Took me ages to get through customs, plus the “queuing” system didn’t apply for many people flying...ergh! Was great just having hand luggage on the flight though. Saves so much time checking in.

Hint of new house mates….hoorah

I held the training session today, since I’ll be in London next Monday. I felt the training went really well, as we had a good discussion, and good feedback on hypothesis testing and confidence intervals. We had a Global Network meeting, and had a good discussion on the “Run for Good”. I have lots to ask Shona when I’m back in the UK next week. Went for lunch today with my colleagues Judith and Colleta at the Vegetarian restaurant.

My landlady was round to collect the rent, and it felt strange when she said I’m paid up until the beginning of November now. Time is passing quickly. My landlady said we have two new Swedish people arriving tomorrow. She doesn’t know anything else about them. She wondered if I’d be around to help them settle in,and of course, I’d be happy to help them settle tomorrow afternoon when I’m back from work, but have a flight to catch late afternoon. It’s weird, because up to now, I’ve been so insanely excited about coming home, and now I’m feeling a little apprehensive..I don't know why, I can't really explain. I guess I wonder whether I've changed? Will I fit back into my old life again?

Run for Good

We discussed the Run for Good at the EmONC (Emergency Obstetric and Neonatal Care )

meeting this morning. The team anticipate a really good response (around 1000 participants). They said any run in Kenya attracts many people. We discussed how any money raised would be distributed amongst the 8 clusters, and each cluster would write a report detailing how the money would be spent. Following the meeting, I helped Betsy summarise the challenges, difficulties and achievements faced by the clusters from the EmONC meeting in Bumula. Went out to buy gifts for people back home. There’s an awesome gift shop in town, called Roberts. He sells a lot of crafts and jewellery (must make quite a bit of cash - I saw some bowls which they'd been selling by the Equator for KSH1000, whilst he was charging KSH1500. He explained it was because his bowls were only made from the finest wood!). Also, made another trip to the Imani workshop – I love this place!
I took some photos of the workers below:

Judith is my colleague in the middle. The two ladies either side work at the Imani workship

I helped my house mate, Grace load Skype onto her computer, as she is also travelling back to Tanzania soon, and wants to keep in contact with the other students off her course..3 days and it's UK here I come!

Lake Bogoria and then home

Nora’s still not feeling great this morning unfortunately :(but she made it through the day - she's a star!

We were on the road to Lake Bogoria – final destination. We stopped off at the sign post for the equator and did the water experiment demonstrating the Coriolis force. 

The water swirls clockwise North of the equator, and anti-clockwise South of the equator. It was about a 3hour drive. We were staying in the SPA resort in the middle of the village. Lovely surroundings, and extremely hot. We had the afternoon for ourselves, and went and relaxed by the swimming pool. Had a quick swim too (we weren’t put off by the spider or bloated frog floating around in the water.)

Late afternoon, we travelled out to Lake Bogoria National Park. The Flamingos looked fantastic, surrounded by a sea of pink.

Saw little dik-dik’s too (deer). You always see them in pairs. Apparently, when one dies, the other dies shortly after from shock.

We stopped off at the hot geysers and springs, and saw where others had tried to boil eggs. 

We also saw the Flamingoes balancing on the hot springs.

After dinner, we had a game of 6 Take (German card game). Really good fun, but got eaten by mosquitoes, and they even attacked through my trousers - evil things! 

Monday 26^th September 2011

We left the resort at 9.30am. Alex, our driver, dropped me off at the road junction (105KM to Nakuru and 88KM to Eldoret). They were travelling back to Kisumu via Nakuru. Alex communicated with some of the locals there, who were able to get on the phone, to find out where the next matatu to Eldoret was. Turned out it was faster than I thought arriving..and only cost about 250KS (~1.70 GBP) for around a 2.5hour drive home.

Stocked up at the supermarket, and went for another run along the Uganda road. I’ve got to find a nicer route, as each time, I’m getting intoxicated with traffic fumes.

 

Lake Naivasha and Hell’s Gate

We left for Hell’s Gate this morning. The hotel was located near to Lake Naivasha, called Fish Eagle Inn. I highly recommend by the way! This was probably my favourite day of the trip – I loved it! We travelled out to Hell’s gate, and got our bikes sorted. David (our tour guide), took us out on our cycling tour. We were all given mountain bikes, which turned out during the course of our tour, to be a little unpredictable, like the gears not working, or one of the breaks broken, but we all managed fine. It was great to be cycling so close to the animals, in the open. We saw water hogs, Zebra’s, Giraffe’s, Buffalo, Impala. 

Michael, Yannik, Emma, Nora and Damian with David, our guide

We cycled past Fisher’s Point, and Damian had a small accident, where he fell off his bike. All ok though, just a few grazes to his arm. (Dr Michael had to ascertain that he had his tetanus jab!)

We made it to the Gorge, and climbed down into it, which was fun. We did a bit of scrambling too, which I loved. Of course, David practically ran up the rocks, and 3 of us followed a bit more cautiously behind. David explained it wasn’t too far from Centre Point, but we’d left some of the group behind, so it wasn’t really fair for us to go on further.

Damian showing his strength

Nora and Yannik balancing in the rocks

I'm so camouflaged with the rocks!

Damian and Emma

The PULSE volunteers with David

We returned via the route with hot waterfalls, and rode back on our bikes. It was a steep uphill climb most of the way back. 

 

Nora, unfortunately wasn’t feeling great tonight. She thought it might’ve been a bad egg she ate for lunch.

In the evening, we went hippo hunting. Sadly, we didn’t find any down at the lake. We bumped into the security guard on the way home, and he said he’d show us the hippos. He took us on a different route, and claimed he could see their shadows. I wasn’t so convinced (I think he might’ve just been after the tip!)

A trip to Lake Nakruru with the other 6 PULSE volunteers

Really noticed the temperature increase in Kisumu compared to Eldoret. I woke to the sound of the cockerel, and Muslim prayers at dawn. It was about a 4hour drive to Lake Nakuru. Passed through Kerichio Valley, and got some pictures of the tea leave pickers:

We’re staying at the Waterbuck hotel. Unpacked our stuff, and then set off for Lake Nakruru National Park, with some fresh pineapple to keep us going (hmm – hoping my tum’ll be ok, but it’s just too good to resist!). The first Safari was a great experience! We saw Zebras, Impala’s, Buffalo, White Rhino, lots of Flamingos, Storks, Thompson Gazelles (apparently, Gazelles have the straight horns, and Impala’s have the curly ones.) 

Disappointingly, we didn’t get to see any Lions though. The Monkey’s came and sabotaged our lunch, and got away with a few bananas, and the rest of our pineapple. After the game drive, we went back to the hotel for dinner. I was super tired. Think all the travelling has caught up with me. I was snoozing by 9.30pm!!!