CHILDREN'S GARDEN AND HOME SCHOOL

NAIROBI KENYA

This school, garden and home is typical of many places where children are educated, fed and housed around Nairobi.   There are over 200 children that live here, all coming from circumstances that are difficult and sometimes tragic.    It is a place filled with laughter, education, animals, music, dancing, sports, gardens and poverty.   

We found this place through the International School of Kenya's service program.   Each student at ISK from grades 6-12 must complete at least one semester of service, and there are over 20 programs from which they can choose to participate.   Sam chose this project because he heard they were planting a vegetable garden and he also knew there was an opportunity for playing some soccer.   

I decided to volunteer for this program in order to find out more about what is going on in other places around town and to get out of the "bubble" of ISK as well.  I really wanted to work with children and this was a good start to find out about the community outside where all the "expats" live.  About 20 ISK students get on a bus on Wednesday afternoons - early dismissal on Wednesdays! - and head out to the school, which is about 20-30 minutes away.   We drive through farmlands and villages and even the U of Nairobi agricultural school campus to get to the school.

On first glance, it looks like an apartment building.   There is a car wash outside along the side the road, as well as a little farmer's market and corn mill.     You really don't notice that there is a school.   But once you get behind the building where all the children sleep - see photo above - you can see the rest of the school environment.   

When we first arrive each week, we usually spend about 30--40 minutes reading to the kids....Sam and I both had our favorites!   

Helen and Antony were both very good students and they would love to read with us.   Antony especially liked to hear stories about other parts of the world and he told me he wanted to travel a lot when he grew up.   He would love to come to America to see Washington DC.  He worked very hard on the word puzzles that we would bring and he loved his pencils to be very sharp.  Only the best behaved of the 200 kids were able to join us on Wednesdays, and Helen and Antony were always there.   They really have so little but they have an amazing intelligence and aptitude, and Helen would like to grow up to be a scientist.   Their warmth is surprising, engaging and a little contagious!...They both made Christmas cards for Sam and me....

Antony!

Helen and Antony

 After we were done with the reading portion, we would usually help plant a piece of the garden....

Planting mango trees

Field of Dreams

By the end of the semester, this garden was full of spinach, tomatoes, kale, corn, beans and peppers!  But I wonder if you can guess what this plant is below.....   It was hard to recognize at first but it is one of the best fruits in Kenya....

Beautiful bananas with flower on bottom!

Also, at the school, there are several animals living among the children.   They have cows, rabbits (we brought a few dozen with us one week and it was fun to see the kids' reaction), dogs, etc.   The kids take care of the animals as part of their daily chores.   This poor dog was hit by a car the day before one of our visits...We were not sure how it was going to do but he healed pretty well, and he had a ton of love from the kids!

On one of our first visits, some of the older students, Beth and Boniface, gave me a tour of the entire compound.   I was really impressed with all of the environmentally friendly and sustainable projects  they are doing.   They never throw anything out and they use everything and re-purpose everything that is used at the school.   They have this fabulous "community cooker", where all their trash is put in a huge container and they burn it, but the heat from the fire is channeled into a system that heats their stove and the water that they use for showering.   

I was surprised to hear that none of these high school students had read the "Harry Potter" series of books.   They had only seen one of two of the movies.....So, I couldn't help it and had one of our friends that was visiting from the US bring a set of the books.   The head librarian at the school was almost in tears when we gave her the books and the kids were really excited to sign up for reading them.   I am hoping to have a book club with the older kids next semester to discuss Harry Potter....It would be a treat for me and hopefully a good experience for them.

Beth and Boniface

Community Cooker dedication..

The Community Stove

So, sometimes after planting the kids just dance!   We have had several dance parties where some of the Kenyan kids show the ISK kids the traditional tribe dances and they are very serious about their dance moves.   Then, the ISK kids join and it is truly amazing to watch!

  

Sam's dance moves:) And Lily joined us too!


Another cool project for the kids was the tomato planting project.   A donor from China gave them a greenhouse, and the kids put together a tomato growing project.   As the semester wore on, I took photos of how the tomatoes were growing.   The kids started out with 2 bags of seeds that cost around 700 Kenyan Shillings (about $8.25).   Now, in January they have a whole greenhouse filled with tomatoes and plants - apparently you grow tomatoes alongside hot peppers and garlic to keep the bugs away.   They will be able to use some of the tomatoes and sell the rest for quite a profit.   This money will go toward food, clothing and books for the children.   Very enterprising!

Simlaw Seeds are the best!

The seeds planted in September

The seeds have sprouted!

Now filling the greenhouse!

This Children's Garden school is very different from ISK, where Sam and Lily go every day to school, but the kids are much the same.   They are smart, and they really want to learn.   They are amazed by the littlest of things that we take for granted.   On one of our visits, some of the smaller boys were fascinated by Sam's watch.   They were practically climbing all over him to play with it because it "made noises".   It was just a watch alarm, but they were so curious and were asking so many questions.   It was an interesting experience for Sam, who is unaccustomed to all that attention, but he understood it was a big moment for the children of the school.....

The kids love Sam's watch!!!

If you want to learn more about the Children's Garden Home School, you can check them out at www.childrensgardenhome.org.   It may be worth the click!

WATAMU

 WATAMU TRIP OCTOBER 2013

Blue Bay of Watamu - view from the Kikapu house

I have to consider that we were very lucky that our nice neighbor in Providence, Gray Horan, introduced me to a wonderful family here in Nairobi before we even arrived.   The Cress family has been tremendously generous with their time and information on how to settle in Nairobi since we met them via email way back in May 2013.   Thanks Doug and Sandra!   We were lucky that Gray connected us....

So Sandra introduced me to another fabulous person, Belinda Biggs, whom I have never met personally but have skyped with a few times and we correspond now from time to time.   The Biggs family were leaving Nairobi for the US this past summer and they had several items for sale, so Sandra told me that it would be a good idea to get in touch with them.   So, we did.   Now we have a nice car, washer/dryer, misc kitchen items, a full liquor cabinet and a fabulous housekeeper!!!  And we have new friends in the US for when we return!

On one of Will's many trips to Nairobi this past summer, he had dinner with Belinda and her husband Geoff Biggs, who gave us some more great advice on Nairobi....but better than that, they recommended we try Watamu, Kenya for a vacation spot.   Of course, we knew we wanted to head to the beach for the kids' one week October break....we all kind of felt that we cut our summer short when we departed for Nairobi in mid August.   School starts in Kenya too early as far as we all are concerned.....

So, Belinda gave me the perfect contact information and from my beach house on Cape Cod in July, I booked our first beach vacation in Kenya!    Watamu is on the north coast, a little south of Malindi and enough north of Mombasa.   It is a sleepy, little,  honky tonk beach town that has mostly European tourists, beautiful beaches and fabulous seafood.

Other inhabitants at Watamu include the "beach boys".   They are a bit tricky to handle, but we realized they are more interested in the Italians than the Americans so that helped a bit.   They want to make friends to "guide" you to certain places and they will happily take your money for "services".   Whatever that means....What is interesting to me is that these guys speak about 5 different languages....they seem pretty smart and canny, and maybe they would find something better to do.   They didn't bother us too much, but a few of them "guided" us into town one day, which ended quickly because we had a lunch date on the other side of town...I can't believe I didn't get a photo of any of them...

So, we were lucky to book this "Kikapu house", a cute but spacious 3 bedroom cottage right on the beach with a view of Blue Bay, which is around the corner from Turtle Bay, the main outlet to the Indian Ocean.   It was a dream come true!

A few initial photos:

View of pool from cottage

View of cottage from pool

View of cottage from pool

Path to private seating at beach

Path to beach from cottage

So, we really felt like we were in paradise.   We had a great staff at the house, including a chef, house guy and pool boy.   The only job we had was to relax!   So, we were able to take some nice walks along the beach, we went snorkeling, we went swimming out to the big rocks that you can see in the top photo, and we did a few excursions into town.   Lily and Will are working on their scuba diving licenses, so they did a bit of that as well.  

We knew a few people that were also staying near us during the week off from school, so we had some folks to the house for sundowners....we are getting pretty good at making gin and tonics!   That was a fun night Lindsey and Steve....I know we will have more....

We took a nice walk along the coast further north one day and we came across these really cool cliffs.   A dude on the beach told us that they were made mostly of volcanic rock but were terribly damaged from the Tsunami that occurred in Phuket, Thailand a few years ago.   That means that crazy waters travelled from Phuket, Thailand all the way across the Indian Ocean to create these cut outs in the rock on the ocean.   That's wild....

We were lucky to just hang and relax by the pool as well....very nice!

 

Beautiful flowers and views!



So, it was hard to leave but we had fun and everyone relaxed!

Trying and failing for the holiday card photo:)

Will, after jumping off top of snorkel boat!

And gardens...

Our Kwetu:

                         

Kitisuru Rd house

When we moved to Nairobi, we mostly brought the clothes we needed, along with one bag of toiletries, medicines, lotions, sunscreen, tea, etc....mainly stuff I thought we wouldn't be able to get once we landed.  Prior to moving in August, Will had brought an extra bag of mostly linens, towels, etc. on each of his monthly visits that started in April, so that was a big help, and at it did get us started.   So, at the airport we checked 10 items, which included 8 luggage bags, the wrapped up glycee we had just bought of Long Nook Beach in Truro,  and the kids lax sticks.   The lax sticks did not make it through security so those became checked item #10.  That was it.   The rest of what we needed, we were going to get in Africa.   Many people asked me when we arrived when our container was coming.

No container.   Just one piece of art.

Hearth in living room with the Long Nook glycee

So, I became the procurement agent for our family.   The photos above show the house we moved to on September 19.   There is a very long and crazy story on our first house but I can't write about it yet for legal reasons.....but it will be a doozy!   I might even have to change some names to tell it right.

Of couse the first few weeks of school were a bit nutty, trying to acclimate to all things Africa, but Ken, our driver, and I went on some interesting trips to furniture stores, etc. to find items for the house.   The beds were ordered before we arrived so they showed up on time and we started a really nice relationship with a local "fundi" (carpenter) named Bernard.  He is an avid soccer fan and as I write today he is at the national championship soccer match where I am pretty sure his team will win.   Apparently if his team wins, they kill chickens in celebration and have a big feast.   I just saw on the online local news station that the fans for his team have already stormed the gates before the game has started....but I digress...

They make a ton of stuff by hand here and some of the furniture shown in the photos was hand made by Bernard.  I will write more on Bernard later, but, his prices are pretty good and it is interesting to see his work as compared to what is in the stores.   There are many places called "Furniture Palace" and "Imperial Furniture",  but they kind of remind me of Bob's furniture but more expensive.   

Lots of shiny stuff!

But there are some interesting places to see off the beaten path.  I walked into a nice place called "Odds and Ends", and this dining room table was calling my name.  I actually was looking for something very light and modern, but I could not escape this table.   It was very cool, but not light.   It is actually a framed door from Mombasa, a coastal Kenyan town, that has legs and a glass top.   It was more expensive than what budget,  but Ken, the driver, started bargaining with the salesman and we finally came to a mutually agreed upon price.   We actually had to walk out and come back 3 days later in order to get the right price.   But I realized that everything was going to be a negotiation here.   And I was figuring out the plan....I would see something that I liked, and then Ken would make the deal.

The table at home:)

         Close up of the table                


If the table could talk, it would have quite a story, but how it finally made it home is part of the mystery that remains a secret until ........

Anyway, the living room is huge and I am really happy not having too much stuff here.   It is very liberating!   Since it took me almost 4 months to pack up the house in Providence after 12 years of living, I am not going to do that again, but we did need a place to sit.

Before...empty...

But really nice and open

I think I figured out that Kenyans love curtains.   I do not.  And I know my landlord is wondering why I haven't covered the windows yet.   But the views are so nice from every window and we really can't see the neighbors (or they can't see us) so I have been reluctant to cover the windows in the main living areas.   I have put curtains up in the bedrooms, but that's it.   

I did finally find a few things for seating because we were literally going from the dining room to our bedrooms at night because there was nowhere else to sit!   That was happening for almost 4 weeks but now we have plenty of seating and we can actually have people come to visit!

Comfy by the hearth

Great for cocktail hour:)

Still looking for furniture for the family room.

We added the TV and a few pillows but that's it! 

The weather is fantastic right now.   They say this is the time for the "short rains" now, so it rains a bit at night and sometimes there is a shower in the evening.   Beautiful double rainbow yesterday afternoon that was stunning.   I'm waiting for Lily to send me the photos from her phone.  Very nice.  So we are spending quite a bit of time on the veranda.   I actually can access the internet so I am writing from here now.  There is a beautiful breeze and I probably will spend most of my winter writing from this place:)

My daytime workspace - lovely!

And the view from the veranda is nice too....

So, the initial procurement phase is over and I'm glad for that.   After having to purchase the stuff for the kitchen, which is of course a story for another time, I am tired of buying and really want to enjoy living here.   So, that is what we shall do!   Off to the "bizarre bazaar" at the Karura Forest...

                                                              Westgate Shopping Mall:

                                       (view of Westgate Nov. 2, 2013 from roof of the Sankara)

Westgate mall is still closed, reopening TBD.

I'm not much of a mall person, so there was probably no danger of being in the Westgate shopping mall at noon on a sunny Saturday afternoon in September.   We were busy that day....Sam had soccer practice in the early morning, Lily was headed to her "service learning" project at school from 9-12, Will and I were trying to figure out how to get some exercise before we all had to be back at ISK (International School of Kenya) for a back to school picnic by 12:30pm or so.

Will had received a call from his banker on Friday and she wanted him to return to the Barclays bank at Westgate to re-sign some documents because they didn't like the signature on a wire transfer.   We realized we just didn't have time before the picnic so we decided maybe we would get it done afterwards....Will had to head to the office later anyway because he had a special project happening there and we would stop at Westgate on the way....

The Westgate mall is very similar to the Providence Place Mall.   Three levels of shops, but only anchored by the Nakumatt, which is the Target of Nairobi.   It really has everything.   I probably went to Westgate about 3 times a week in the first weeks here....Not because I like the mall, but I could get all of my "stuff" done in one stop.   Banking, grocery shopping, get Will's almond milk at the health food store, and buy pretty much whatever I needed.  I was furnishing a pretty empty house, and needed kitchen, bathroom, bedroom accessories, etc.  We had been in Nairobi for about 4 weeks and I was finally feeling like I knew where I was going!

So, the week before the attack, we had dinner on Wednesday night at the Art Caffe in Westgate to celebrate the signing of the new lease for our new house,  moving on Thursday.    Will had a meeting with someone on Thursday night there, and I was there on Friday afternoon, back at the bank, etc.

While the craziness was starting at Westgate, we were about 5 miles away enjoying the picnic at ISK.   Lily was singing with the chorus....

After the performance of the Middle School Chorus, the head of school told the crowd that there was a disturbance at Westgate and we should avoid the area....Most people were whispering that it must be a bank robbery....So, we enjoyed the rest of the picnic.   The kids both went to friends houses afterwards because we were heading to the office.   But we decided that the bank document signing would have to wait.

Will and I headed to the office and there was a group of teachers there, judging the essays for the eKitabu digital essay competition.   The International Nairobi Book Fair was taking place the following week and we were planning on announcing the winners and awarding the scholarships to the winners as part of our event promotion.   eKitabu was sponsoring the first ever digital pavilion at the event, which was taking place at the Sarit Centre, about 2 city blocks away from Westgate Mall.

While in the office, I decided to send a brief note out to my US friends on facebook that we were fine and that there was nothing to worry about.   Then, I started seeing people contact me saying that the US news was caling it a terrorist event.   That is not how Kenyan news was handling it at all.   So, I told the group in the office that the news outlets in the US were viewing the Westgate situation in a very different light.   So, we stopped the judging and gathered in one of the conference rooms and hooked up a TV feed and watched for an hour or so.   Our office is not that close to Westgate, but as we realized exactly what was going on, we figured out that Lily was at a friends house that was quite close to Westgate.  

At that point, I saw a friend of mine on the TV, running from the mall.   She is a beautiful Swedish woman whom I had met about 2 weeks prior at another friends house.   She has an 8th grade daughter. They were stuck in the parking lot of Westgate for 2 hours, hiding in their car.   They were able to escape because they were patient and brave and they stuck together.

We left the office and retrieved Lily and went to a friends house for dinner, mostly stunned at what had taken place that day.

We found out the next day that a 9th grade girl and her mother were victims of the tragedy.   She was with Lily on Saturday morning at the "service learning" project, helping kids with autism play games, etc.   Although I did not know her, I knew that this 9th grade girl was beautiful, a great athlete, and a fabulous student.   Apparently she was half Muslim....

So, there is no rhyme or reason to any of this senseless violence.   We know it exists in many corners of the world.   I am sad to read in the news about the LAX incident and the NJ mall drama that took place a few weeks ago.   I struggle with the idea that these people have a religious faith that mandates such drastic measures, or that violence is the answer to any of our issues today.   I do know that living through these things is not easy and I wonder what effect it really has on my children.

Lily and Sam both understand that this craziness exists but both Will and I know that they believe they are safe with us.  The school has been tremendous with all of the support and care they have taken with this situation.   They opened the school Monday thru Thursday that week, just so kids (and teachers) could be together and commune.   They closed the school that Friday because everyone was just fried and we all kind of took a day off to enjoy our families, etc.  They had a beautiful commemorative service for the victims and the girls JV basketball team cheers for their fallen teammate at every game.

We made this move to Nairobi with the knowledge that anything can happen on any given day.   We have discussed this with our colleagues here and US embassy people and friends that work for other embassies as well.   I have attended meetings at school and the US embassy regarding the incident at Westgate and what the future brings....But we have made Nairobi our home for now and we are happy and secure here.   It's kind of like the Washington DC of Africa.   There are so many interesting people here who have a global perspective....We are learning so much every day, and we are committed to building our little company eKitabu.  

PS:   Lily's chorus is no longer wearing the scarves you see in the photos for their costumes....They were dropped because they looked a little too much like el Shabaab.   They are now going to wear beautiful hand beaded Masaai necklaces for their next performance.   Sometimes change is good!