After 15 days in Kenya, I have finally managed to get access to internet, so there's a lot I have to catch up with! We are currently staying in a lovely coastal village called Msambweni where we will be for the next month, we are currently working in the local primary school, doing construction and renovation work in one of the classrooms, along with teaching and other jobs. We are living in a lovely little house which has become a home to us, we have already become really close to the family living with us and to all the kids who go to the primary school and from the village.
Anyway enough of that, I need to update you on what we've been up to so far so I will start from the beggining...
So we landed at Jomo Kenyatta Airport in Nairobi early morning on the 8th February after an awful flight with no sleep. The 23 of us on our trip were taken by minibus to a town called Karen where Nigel Smith the AV kenyan rep lives. We were then taken to Lake Navaisha where we would be staying at the Fish Eagle Inn for the next 3 nights to do our orientation course which was really useful, we learnt all about Kenya's culture and customs and we were taught some basic swahili. It was great getting to know everyone in the group! The food was lovely, and so was the weather, we spent a lot of the days sat around the pool relaxing which was really nice!
We then split off into our groups of 8. Our first project is down on the coast in Msambweni so we had to get an overnight sleeper train from Nairobi to Mombasa which was a living hell, the bedrooms were cramped, stuffy, uncomfortable, you could barely move anywhere, the food we got for dinner and breakfast was awful, but apart from all that it wasn't too bad, it took us 14 hours on the train altogether so I was glad when we finally arrived in Mombasa. We were then taken by a matatu for a couple of hours to the village of Msambweni which feels like home to me now, we were welcomed from the very beggining. As soon as we pulled up at our house for the next month, the kids were there to greet us, they were so excited that we were there! We have a gorgeous beach which is only a 2 minute walk away from our house which is stunning so we went for a swim basically straight away with all the kids and I think we have done every day since we arrived here.
So we started on our project on the Monday and we all really got stuck in, making cement and plastering a blackboard, which turned out to be a lot of fun! It was very hardwork but fun and rewarding when you can see the results of what you've done. We spent the next week doing very much the same, we planted some trees around the school (which were then eaten by the goats!), and we did some teaching of English, Maths and Science which I really enjoyed, so we've got lots more planned for the next few weeks, I can't wait! We had out first free weeekend also so we decided to go a little further down the coast to a slightly more touristy village called Shimoni, we did a snorkelling trip which was really good fun, we saw some dolphins, the sea was so rough though.. it made me really ill! It was so hot and sunny everyone got really burnt so we've all agreed to stay out of the sun for the next few days. We even went to Wasini Island to see the work that previous AV's have done there. We went to a lovely bar for some chips and drinks, I've even found a love for tusker beer! Overall, it was a really good weekend. Oh and I forget to mention one thing... Samson! Our Kenyan guide, there are no words to describe him, hes actually awesome and has really helped us to settle into Kenyan life and really emerse ourselves into the culture here, he is so funny and we've had such a good laugh with him!
So before I begin to go on a bit, I will finish there, we have got another week of hard work on our project but this weekend we're going to Mombasa to the waterpark which should be really good, I can't wait! Really missing everyone at home but having the time of my life, will post again very soon hopefully!
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