Starting to get ready

In the last couple of weeks things have really started to get a bit more 'real'! I have booked my flights to Nairobi, gone through all my travel stuff what gear I have and the condition it is in and sent off my research permit application, bit as with everything in life it has been slightly more complicated than I originally thought...

First I had to get my visa application sorted, which involved: 5 copies of the application (which was about 10 pages long); 5 copies of my literature review (which I hadn't yet written); 5 copies of the questionnaire I am going to use (which I hadn't written yet); 5 copies of my CV and funding letter; as well as 3 passport photos and a copy of my passport...

So of course panic set in. I had to do things one step at a time, and the first was to get my literature review written. For me this isn't the simplest of tasks, as I find reading difficult and then processing information and putting it into comprehendible sentences is even more difficult. So after a couple of weeks getting not too far in Canterbury, I decided a trip to Oxford would do me and my brain some good. It is incredible what catching up with good friends, eating good food and being surrounded by incredibly intelligent people will do for ones work. In 4 days I got nearly 6,000 words written and the first draft of my questionnaire completed. I then topped my detour off with a weekend at home, primarily to look at flowers and discuss decorations for Alice’s wedding, but I also managed to get the rest of my literature review finished.

I grabbed all my gear from home, went through my injections list and realised that rather than being pretty much covered as I thought was the case in fact I am due for every single injection again before I go, which means yet another thing to add to the list!

Once back in Canterbury I managed to get all the other paperwork sorted and finally had a wodge of over 300 pages to send to Kenya. The only slight problem being that the application details wanted me to send $400 USD cash in the post with the application – not the greatest idea. So after a couple of hours on the phone to some interesting governmental personnel in Kenya I managed to arrange to transfer the money across, but at the cost of a $200 USD ‘affiliation’ fee from the department who will process the payment and complete my paperwork. So I am finding myself having to pay people off already and I’ve not even got to Kenya yet! Once I got that sorted I posted the application (for the meagre sum of £25), with the information that it should get there in a minimum of 5 days, but they can’t guarantee when or if it will get there... Great.

Once all this was sorted I managed to get on with the rest of the organisational stuff... So my flights are booked – I fly to Nairobi on the 10^th April; my hotel in Nairobi  is booked, I think I have accommodation in Mombasa – thanks to a lovely woman at WWF Mombasa; most of my gear is ordered (which has cost a fortune); and I have both a dentist appointment booked and my injections organised.

In all honesty it is starting to get pretty scary! Having all this stuff to organise is keeping my mind busy, but in reality when I think about it I am very aware that I am about to disappear to Kenya, with no one to guide me, or tell me what I should be doing. The joy of being able to do my own research however I wish is definitely shadowed by the knowledge that it is entirely up to me and there isn’t anyone to hold my hand or tell me what to do. If I’m honest, I quite like that security.

For now though I have to get everything else sorted. I am giving a presentation on Culture and Conservation tonight, which is an overview of the rationale behind my work and what I aim to achieve, so hopefully I’ll get some positive feedback. Then it’s a case of making sure all is in order before I go. I can’t believe that in just 7 weeks I’ll be in Kenya.


Emma xxx


P.S.  For those of you who wanted to leave comments previously but couldn't sorry! I hadn't set things up properly, but hopefully you can now do so. For those of you who aren't sure how, if you are on the home page click on the bit that tells you the number of comments (just below here), then it should open up a box where you can type your comment. If you are on the page for the individual post it should have the comment box below - please let me know if it still isn't working. I look forward to hearing from you all. xxx