Hi All,
Just watched Senegal and Cameroon in back to back world cup matches here on tv! So fun. Me, Nicole and our friend George sat with all the guys who work at our guesthouse in the dining room and we cheered and cringed all together (for both games). And kudos to the African teams cos they're all very well supported here in Kenya, and well, probably everywhere in Africa and they've been doing pretty well. People took off an afternoon of work here to watch the Senegal vs. France game - so you know their priorities are just right.
We met George last Saturday morning because he was our driver/tour guide for the trip we were taking to Lake Baringo National Park. We had a great time driving north and out of Nairobi (much prettier and smells better) but when we stopped for a break in Nakuru we just decided to stay there. We found a hotel and then went out to Lake Nakuru National Park for a small safari.
Wow! I can't say that enough, cos it was so amazing to see african animals in their real setting. Lake Nakuru is a sulphorous lake and the road to drive on j
ust makes a long loop around the lake with some smaller roads to take you to other places off the beaten track. I don't remember which order we saw all the animals but here's a list: monkeys, gazelles, giraffes, zebras, baboons, ostriches, water buffalo, flamingos, pelicans, wart hogs, and a huge turtle and a peacock crossing the road. I'm sure there were more too. The weather was perfect (it has been since we got here) and the sun lit the acacia trees just so. The flamingos were amazing because there were thousands of them! All crowding along the edges of the lake, and this is a big lake. And from a distance you could just see this pink edge along the lake front and when you got up to it there were flamingos and pelicans flying and standing and eating and all making noise. Incredible.
Click here to see more photos from Lake Nakuru
We talked a lot to George, a 30-year-old Kenyan originally from that area of the country, and he became a really good friend of ours. And after a few hot and dusty hours out at the lake we got back and relaxed at the hotel bar with a few rounds of pool and Tusker beer (the national favorite) set us right.
The next morning we had breakfast, and a few more games of pool, and left that afternoon back to Nairobi to our new accommodations in a different part of the
city. This brand new bed and breakfast was found by the organization, ICRAF, that Nicole and Rebecca are working with here. And we thought we'd give it a try cos we'd be the only ones staying there and the owner gave us a deal. George dropped us off and we immediately were met by Beryl, a woman who works as the caretaker there when the owner is not there, which is usually. We unpacked and got situated and started making dinner at this beautiful place. After talking the whole evening Nicole and I became fast friends with Beryl, who's also our age. She introduced us to the two other people who live there with her, Helene and Kambale, a mother and son who are originally from the Congo, but are living in Kenya to escape the Congo while they wait for a visa to canada which is where their husband/father lives now (in Ontario, actually). We had many fun exchanges cos Helene speaks french and swahili, Beryl speaks english and swahili, Nicole and I, speak english and french and Kambale speaks all of the above (in addition to a congolese language, a rwandan language, and now he's learning german)!! Anyway, it was fun to speak french again and there was lots of good translating while we got to know each other.
Monday I went in to work with Rebecca and Nicole to see the place and meet the people there. They work at an organization called ACTS, I forget what it stands for, but it does work with environmental bioethics in Africa. Very interesting people and place, it's on a gorgeous campus with a couple of other organizations and right next to the UNEP campus. One of the people Nicole sees alot is the public relations officer for ACTS, Harrison, who asked if I would help him photograph the next day when they were welcoming a new executive director of ACTS and had a conference and party planned for her. He was very nice to get me involved, cos our documentary is really separate from the work Nicole does there.
The next day conference was pretty dry, but there were more interesting people that showed up to welcome the new ED. They had a cocktail party afterward and I got to talk to a professor from the University of Nairobi, a couple guys from USAID, and a couple people who do resolution conflict for Africa (wow!).
We got back pretty late that night but ended up having a great discussion with Helene and Beryl about STUFF. We were making a meal (ugali) and just ended up talking until the w
ee hours about immigration, families, and language. Not that we didn't know this before, but Helene is a fascinating person and we're thinking of doing a separate documentary just on her! She grew up in the Congo when it was idyllic to be there, but then saw the turnover of power through Lumumba and Mobutu and the subsequent downslide of the country. And her grandmother would tell her stories about the country when it was King Leopold's colony.
Wednesday we got up early to meet George cos he took us
to a rural town (Thika) where his aunt lives so we could begin meeting people for our documentary. He'd heard them talk before about free western medicine and temporary clinics and thought this might be a good lead for us. He has a bunch of relatives in that town and when they heard we were coming for a visit a lot of them turned up to welcome us! We all sat in this huge sitting room in their small house in rural Kenya surrounded by tea plantations and discussed medical testing! They were a wealth of info and although I'm not sure anyon
e there's appropriate to be a subject of the project they gave us a lot of leads and good ideas to go on. But really the best part was eating chai and various treats that they grow on their farm - sugarcane, arrowroot (yum!), Macadamia nuts, a fruit called white supporta (sp??). Then they showed us the farm, with goats and a cow, banana trees, apple trees, loads of flowers. Then they took us on a short tour fo the surrounding areas, the tea fields, a church under construction, and the nearby dam that supplies Nairobi with water. So hospitable and nice and interesting! We had a fabulous time - George has a wonderful family and we'll definitely go back to see them in July.
I say July because we've had a bit of a change of plans - Nicole and I are now going to Zimbabwe for 3 weeks!! We've been in touch with the head of medical research there who Nicole was originally supposed to work with. He's very interested in our documentary and in his position he's the guy in terms of contacts and direction so we can work on it as soon as we get there! And the situation in Zimbabwe is much better - we've asked a bunch of people who've just returned from there and although the economy is bad there are no real safety issues. plus, it would be better for the project to included people from two African countries. So we leave on Monday and will return to Nairobi on July 1st. hurray!! I really want to go to Zimbabwe and I think this will be a great opportunity.
I'll write from there next week and let you know how it's going.
Keep e-mailing! Thank you for all your responses.
- Marta
June 6, 2002 • Nairobi, Kenya
Click here to see more photos from Lake Nakuru
Click here to see more photos from George's family in Thika