Kenya

I'm not sure how i got the idea to go to Kenya in the first place... I was there just under a month... now i am the first to admit i did NOT cope well! I am by no means a luxury or needy person, but this was out of my comfort level. I stayed in a slum about an hour out of Nairobi and i lived with a family there. This family was so unbelievably KIND and beautiful, they went out of their way to look after me. Things like using some heating tool to heat up a bucket of boiling water for me, so i wouldn't have to have a cold shower (every 3rd day we could shower), showing me how to use the toilet (hole in the ground), and ensured i was picked up by a local kid to be walked to the orphanage each day (as i was the only white person in the community of 4 million they wanted me to feel safe).

The things that made this trip really hard for me was the food and health concerns. In the orphanage the only toilet for everyone to use had no plumbing attached... there was maggots and flies swarming the room, there was sewage in the streets. And for meals it was a lot of ugali (a cornstarch mix with spinach and bananas mushed in) and other things i was unsure even how to describe. I ended up rashening myself one square of choc for breakfast, lunch and dinner, from the chocolate bar i had bought at the airport. The family knew i wasn't eating well so said they would have a special treat of chicken... i sooo excited! The kids in the family then came in with bloody hands proud that they had killed the chickens ( i was so hungry i was o.k to over look this), then when dinner came.. my chicken breast meat was nowhere to be seen.... oh no apparently they sell the good meat down the street to the butcher with no refrigeration... our 'special treat' was chicken wing tips and necks - yes, what we would feed our dogs.

On the other hand the safari's i went on in Africa were very westernised and spectacular. We got to see the big 5, stay in the massive pre-set up tents with wooden floors and met some masi warriors. This trip was a lot of fun... just be warned cars in Kenya break down ALL the time... we had to get out and push start our van on several occassions - once near the lions arrrh!