Northern Bound

Mid July saw my life in Kenya shift again. I said goodbye to another great friend, and the loss of Kim was going to be as big a shift as the day Sinead headed home. I was clearly finding myself drawn to the Dutch girls out here, with one small problem, they keep leaving. Kim had become the person I turned to, to pick me up when I was low (it is impossible not to smile when Kim is around, her positivity and laugh being quite simply infectious), the person who shared insane amounts of food with me on nights when we felt like indulging, and the best person around to have a gossip and girly chat with. Losing her was going to make life significantly duller – thank God for the internet and Whatsapp!

But losing Kim came at a time when everything was shifting, both in life and work – and resulted in a small bit of fortune for me logistically... As Kim left the house in Mtwapa she and Marloes cancelled their contract. Kim headed back to The Netherlands and Marloes moved in with her boyfriend, and this meant that their furniture was up for sale, and with a new house in Kilifi to fill I was happy to take things off their hands.

So with another friend departing, I found myself moving to Kilfi to a new house, with a new car, and a new life to be set up. Luckily I had a couple of friends already there, and with Kilifi being just an hour from Mombasa the move went smoothly. The next few weeks were possibly the most hectic of my whole time in the 4 months I was there, but as they say – if you want something done, give it to someone busy, for these were not only the busiest, but also probably the most productive.

Outside of work I set up my home, began making new friends both in Kilifi and Vpingo (including Seb, a new friend who was always there for a few drinks at the end of the working day and dinner in some fairly dodgey places). I learnt a few things about kitting out a new home in Kenya... 

1) What you can get at a second hand store is limited, but can be good

My second-hand dining set

2) Kangas make great curtains

My new room with Dutch bed, and Kanga curtain

And in particular...

3) Getting a decent comfy sofa on a budget is not simple! It turns out it is common for Kenyans to pack the back and arms of their sofas with card and other packing materials, the effect being that you are stinning against an odly shaped, rather uncomfortable rock! So my mission was to get a fundi in Kilifi to make one, but stuff it with foam instead. After much haggling We managed to agree on a full set for just under £15,000 (the equivalent of £150). It took a few weeks, and when it was done I realised my first big mistake... Never, ever, ever tell a Kenyan fundi to pick out the material for your home furnishings. I simple said dark, normal sofa materal (thinking the plain cotton covers we get). What I got was shiney green vlvet sofas! It turns out the amazingly synthetic shiney velvet is the standard material of choice for Sofas in Kenya, and boy was it special. Mistake number two became evident that night as I sat on my “sofa” – I hadn’t checked what Lenny would be stuffing my seat cushions with. When I sat it appeared the foam he had used was of such a low densit that after a couple of minutes I was sitting on the wood below – not comfortable. The next day the fight began. When I took him the cushions, and got his staff to confirm that the foam was the cheapest, worst stuff around, and was basically pointless, Lenny informed me that we had agreed on the sofa and not the cushions. I pointed out that a sofa without cushions, was in fact not a sofa, but a bench with a posh back! There was a fair amount of back and forth, including accusaions of con men (a little dramatic, but boy did it work), and me being informed that I was making this poor man very pink! I was more than a little confused, if not simply because I realised that I wouldn’t be able to tell what colour this man was going under his amazingly dark ebony coloured skin. After a while, I had to resist the urge to laugh when I realised that he had misused the English phrase of seeing red when one is angry! I decided we both needed to calm down and come up with a solution rather than the large amounts of yelling and pink making that was going on. We finally agreed that I would not pay the full cost for new cushions, but that I would pay the difference between the cost of the cheap ones, and better ones, and Lenny would just have to re-coup the costs for the cheap ones elsewhere, or use them for someone else. A few days later I finally had reasonable comfortable, incredibly ugly, fantastically static sofa set of my very own.

Super special Kenyan Sofas!

I still occasionally made it to the Wednesday night volleyball in Mombasa, and found a new weekly highlight – Kilifi may not do Wednesday night volleyball, but it does do free oysters and lunch at the boatyard on a Saturday, which isn’t a bad trade in my books (turns out Kilifi oysters are famous, and for very good reasons I can tell you).

Kilifi Boatyard

In work I found that things suddenly began to move at phenomenal speeds. I still didn’t have my visa, but I did have my research permit, which gave me the ability to start putting things into motion. I had copious meetings with governmental officials around the areas where I would be doing my work, I met with some of the local youths and found two wonderfully bright and motivated young adults who were happy to help with the project and eventually we started to pilot the questionnaire.  Over the next few weeks I found myself heading back and forth to Nairobi, visiting both the immigration office and in the attempt to find existing data. By the beginning of August I had field work going ahead, data from the botanical department of NMK and promises of data from the national bureau of statistics.

I was soon counting down to the day where I would be heading home, and my last week proceeded in true Kenyan fashion. 8 days before I was due to head home I finally got my visa, I picked up over 90 questionnaires for processing, and went out with true Coastal style... One night as Jane Jetson, a final volleyball session, and a night of crab sandwiches, champagne and sunsets on the beach.

My Student Pass (my visa) - I waited 4 months for a stamp and squiggle!

My re-entry permit

Dressed as Jane Jetson - using cardboard, Kikoy and many safty pins

So there it was, a fair number of adventures and new life underway, and I began to make my way home. It seemed like the most ridiculous time to be leaving just as I was beginning to get everything in place, but there were plans to be make, things to be sorted, and so much to be done in the few months I would have back home. As I sat in my room in Nairobi the night before flying home, I couldn’t help but think of how crazy life in Africa really is, and with both excitement and trepidation I thought of the life I would be having over the next couple of years. But for now, the thing that filled my mind the most was the thought of getting home to my family, revelling in a few of the comforts that life back home would bring, and the joy that for a little while I’d be able to drink some half decent milk, eat lots of very good cheese meat and chocolate, and for once not start to sweat at the thought of a good cup of tea!