Extracts From The Diary Of Tony Knight
22nd February 2007
Departure day is here, last October it seemed a good idea, today I’m not so certain, can I escape at this eleventh hour, by pretending that I have contacted a contagious disease, probably not a good ploy with a doctor in the party. Don’t be a wimp just get on with it.
Holdall arrived intact from France and is packed with everything, except the kitchen sink, by the weight appears I may have inadvertently packed that as well.
Passport, money, credit cards, wallet, packed within small travelling purse. Books, purse, sun cream, sunhat etc in rucksack, ready to go then, no, just check to see if passport etc still packed, “new middle age” personified.
Meeting with the rest of the party at Church around 12-15pm, time now 12-00, time enough to re-check if passport etc still where they where 10 minutes ago!!
Arrive at the Church to find the travelling party, plus friends and relations who have come to wish us bon voyage.
We set off, more waving and blowing of kisses, I turn away from the window as tears come to my eyes seeing my family and friends disappearing into the distance, soon be back.
Journey to Heathrow uneventful, check in painless, but we encounter “new middle age” problems, losing passports/money, panicking, only to find them in another pocket.
Eight hour flight, three time zones later, we land at Jomo Kenyatta Airport, outside temperature not as hot as I expected, but it is only 6-30am.
Picked up at airport by Patrick from Mercy Care Centre. We will visit Centre later in the trip.
Machismo is the main trait you require to drive in Kenya, that and a complete disregard for other road users. Martin says most Kenyans “buy” their licence without passing a “test”, which, when you see how they “drive”, you can well believe.
Arrive “safely” in Nairobi at the Presbyterian Church and Conference Centre, where we are staying for one night. Sharing, with Ken, on full board, for the princely sum of £13.20 each.
Rooms include all facilities but unfortunately, due to water shortages, the shower only runs for two minutes. Shower failed to supply hot water, so I showered, a la the Holiday Centre in Skegness, in cold water. Ken [Horlesdon] managed to make the shower run hot water, don’t know how, a miracle?
Pilgrimage, to All Saints Church, along a route well nigh indescribable. Ramshackle, open fronted, “garden shed” type structures, for mile after mile, from which all manner of goods including meat, vegetables, three piece suites, live chickens are sold. All this commerce on bare dirt, near Nairobi centre and next to the main road, reminiscent of Britain in the Middle Ages.
Traffic is horrendous, nose to tail for miles without a break, no air conditioning, windows open to catch a breeze, all we catch are exhaust fumes, an asthma sufferers nightmare.
First two days over, paid our bill at the Centre and have an early morning call at 5-30am tomorrow for drive to catch 8-00am flight to Kisumu, then onto Happy Home Orphanage, one of the main reasons we are in Kenya.
Only ten more diary days to follow readers, wake up at the back, I will be asking questions on the Kenyan odyssey later!!
Flight to Kisumu where we are met by Kenyans from the Orphanage, never kissed/shook hands with so many people.
Loaded into a convoy of cars and taken, along dirt roads to our accommodation, for one night, St Anne’s Guest House.
Along the route are people selling anything to eke a living, one with 4 or 5 old sweet potato, another 3 or 4 newspapers, all this right alongside a pristine development with golf course, Animal Farm revisited.
Dumped by Ken, for snoring, so have a single complete with “wet room”. The shower is directly over the toilet and electrical shaver point. All ablutions undertaken simultaneously, obviously without any serious health and safety problems!!!
From the “shanty” shops, in Kisumu, we purchased local necklaces for around £0.80. Whilst there we attract vast numbers of 12/13 year olds begging, whilst sniffing glue, their number/hyped up manner very threatening.
Driving to Lake Victoria through villages, none with running water/electricity, where abject poverty/total deprivation could not start to describe their situation. Babies, asleep outside, on threadbare pieces of rag, chickens, goats, cattle walking over them. There are possibly hundreds of thousands living in this way and all we can do is try to ensure a small percentage have a better existence.
Am told by Lyn , daughter of Dorcas (main mover/shaker at Orphanage) that when your husband dies, his relatives can take all the widow’s possessions, even the house she lives in and she has no redress, macho society, no!!
Sally, because of the effects of her operation, decided to return to UK. Based on the roads, conditions we endured, she made the right decision.
