Jambo rafikis

Here is todays top news :

Ipad blamed for poor spelling and grammar with English students and staff!

Mrs Stewart arrives in Mombasa.

No students were late today

Student promptness made futile by tardy matatu drivers!

Kenya 15 meet Big Daddy.......Alfie survives!

Kenya 15 begin planning for final assembly.

Mr Cheesmur fails to finish blog before time runs out for another day!

So everyone I hope you are fine, we are all fine here (including Rhys who is looking and feeling worlds better, though personally I am getting very bored of all of the looking after that is required with all the ointments and pills and chatter whilst said ointments are applied!).

Today was another good day for the Kenya 15 and staff. I realise I have not mentioned the staff so far really, I assure you they are all here and fine, sometimes I forget as I assume you only want to hear about your babies! I am truly lucky to be joined by such wonderful staff who devote almost all of themselves every day to ensuring that the boys are happy and feel safe. All of you that have commented on my blog to say thanks we really appreciate you thinking about us all, everyone of them brings something unique to our little Kenya trip family (take me for example I would be the moaning old grandad).

This morning after the mandatory pill check (regular readers will see what I did there, just thought you might like me to mix it up a little...though wouldn't mix the pills, that's not what I am saying...that is a peculiar moth crawling down the screen right now, thought you should know) we made our way to the school. It was good to see for the first time that no one was late, not even Mike! Then out to the matatus, which were late! Seems we can't win. Straight to the school and our arrival was greeted by Elvis and co who had come into school to do private study. Teachers are there early in the morning, but the students are alone from around 10am to continue with their own work. It was really bizzare to see the school still working for standard 8 even though no adults were around. A boy still rang the class bell, for example, at the end of each lesson. We bought our water and the boys got to planning their final assembly piece. At about 11:45 Mrs Stewart arrived, much to the delight of both staff and boys.

At around 12:30 we went for a walk to the Bombolulu workshop. In order to get there we had to walk through the slums and the boys got the chance to see some of the homes that our students live in. They are simple wood structures filled in with mud. It is strange because on one side of the road are pretty (for the area) nice looking houses, especially the local politicians. On the other are the mud huts. It is hard to imagine living there in the immense heat, no running water, electricity or toilet facilities. the boys were pretty quiet and thoughtful at this point. It was also I imagine quite hard for Mrs Stewart as she had only been with us for less than an hour.

Eventually we made it through to the workshops themselves. We met Ali, a partially blind man who acted as a guide (I can just imagine the puns and thoughts you are thinking right now). All of the workers here are disabled and was set up in the 1960s by an English lady. We saw the wood workshops, the jewellery workshops, the gardens, the houses that the disabled people lived in and the mobility workshop. All the kids were fascinated. They all then had the chance to buy goods in the shop. We then had sausage and chips (no comment there Victoria!) and some sodas. We payed our bill and then made our way to the crocodile farm.

At the Mamba Village Crocodile Farm we were shown round the multiple enclosures containing a grand total of 20,000 crocodilians of varying ages. The boys had the opportunity to hold a baby crocodile (they even asked if they could buy one and were told yes for 5000KES - have fun with that one Mrs Harrison) and also eggs. I got plenty of pictures of each one of them at this stage. Then we went for dinner. And so to the competition from last night. You will be pleased to know that all 15 students ordered the crocodile steaks. Therefore the small Kenya related prize will be coming to Mrs Harrison - Congratulations (I am told that this particular small prize will eat any meat and can live to over 100 years of age and can weigh more than 800Kg, which I am realiably told by your son is 20 times his weight). The boys on the most part enjoyed the crocodile (again maybe in 5 or 6 years you could try your own Mrs Harrison) and chips, it is quite a strong falvour with the consistency of pork. Following the tasting we then went round the botanical gardens and all of the boys got to see many fish, spiders and snakes. They all got the chance to hold a Python and no-one was injured. Again, I took plenty of photos.

We had booked the matatu drivers for 6:30 and were particularly pleased when they turned up only 1 hour late! Though I would say that their excuses were much better than Mike, Josh Collet and Louie's usualy are! 

Anyway, time on the computer is fast running out so just time for tonight's competition:

How many of our Kenya Kids will be up early for a swim in the morning which has been arranged for 7:30? To give you some perspective we are having a lie-in and do not need to be up until 9am. Good luck - we are going to the beach tomorrow so you never know the small Kenya related prize might be some of the crustaceans we usually see there!

Take care all.

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