Back to school

It feels a bit more normal over here now that all of the children are back at school. I arrived during the last week of the school holiday so it was a bit quiet. The start of term in Kenya is a significant event. Rather than talking about “going back to school” we are opening for the new term. It's good to add a bit of gravitas to the first day back. It always gives us an opportunity to encourage the pupils with a pep talk.  The children looked keen this morning and I was pleased to see that they are still enthusiastic about the maths project that we started last term. Josephine and Rose (the two teachers who have been coordinating the project) gave me some very encouraging feedback about progress so far.

We had our monthly visit from the guys from the water management department this morning. They arrived in a very nice four wheel drive pickup and carried out their usual tests (water table level and quality of our water). The rains this year have pushed the water table up to the point where the floors of some of our neighbours' houses are very damp now. Just before travelling out to Kenya I received an email from our management team informing me that we will have to pay a small 'water extraction' fee from now on and that the first payment would be back dated for some years. It wasn't a huge amount of money but it's never very good hearing about new expenses. The guy who was in charge this morning was very helpful and advised us that we should write a letter to claim exemption from the charge. It's good to know that we have someone on our side.

We are going to have to replace our trusty Landrover very soon. The water management team's driver seemed quite knowledgeable about second hand vehicle costs and said that he would see if he could find a suitable vehicle for us. He was a very nice guy and took my number so that he could contact me with any news. I guess the more people we have looking out for a vehicle for us the more likely we are to find one.

We do need to buy it fairly urgently. Parked next to the government pickup our Landrover looked in a bit of a sorry state. It wasn't new when we bought it and it has seen some miles in the last ten years. Getting stuck in the mud last night didn't add much to it's appearance. Every once in a while we are asked to carry a 'patient' to one of the local hospitals. This is usually OK but it's a bit of a difficult request to respond to very late at night, as happened yesterday. One of our neighbours came to the gate at about eleven pm last night, obviously very worried because his elderly relative (one of our children's grandmother) had 'fainted' and was very sick. The nearest hospital that provides affordable care is not very far away but it isn't on the main 'road'. One of our night guards was willing to drive the lady and her carers to the hospital so they set off to pick her up.

It's hard to appreciate how difficult it is for members of the community when a serious medical problem strikes. The lady's home is not easily accessible so she had to be carried to the nearest point of the main road to be picked up by Leonard in the Landrover. Once the vehicle had departed I went back to bed. When I got up this morning I noticed that the Landrover was still missing. The road was so bad that it didn't quite make it to the hospital and had to be towed out of the mud this morning. Poor Leonard spent the night guarding it for us. We heard later that the lady had pneumonia. I hope she makes a good recovery.

Apology

My apologies for not putting up a post last night. Unfortunately my Internet connection conspired against me. Despite being up until very late last night working on my mark book system I was unable to make lasting contact with the World Wide Web. It was very frustrating as it was the first time I've missed a day on the blog from Kenya since I started it.

The sound of a local funeral provided an interesting backdrop to my work last night and lasted well into the small hours of the morning. The soundscape was made even more interesting by frogs, crickets and the alarm on our solar power system which had obviously run out of sunshine! Maintaining the positive approach, the wildlife sounds are often very musical. They make an interesting soundtrack to the early morning.

I was also kept awake last night by the intransigence of the spreadsheet system I started on Friday. I’m glad you can’t get pizzas and energy drinks (the probably apocryphal mainstays of computer programmers) over here as I’m sure I would have been feeling bloated and wired if they were available. It’s worrying how easy it is to get hooked on solving computing problems. I think I have at last broken the back of the spreadsheet design now. Having written copious notes about the various design issues and solutions to them I've got the first prototype of the system running and will show it to some of our teachers tomorrow. It’s part of a plan to monitor the children’s progress in school more effectively by using time saving tools. I hope we can avoid the well documented drawbacks of being ‘driven by data’ but I do think it’s important that we have accurate information. The children we teach only get one shot at education so we need to make sure they are on target for as much of the time as possible.

The weather is a linking thread in many of the things that are happening out here at the moment. Most people cannot remember a time when it rained so heavily for so long and there are already dire predictions about the effects of the rain on the next harvest. Our solar system is struggling to deliver enough power because of the unusually cloudy weather that we are experiencing. It started to get quite gloomy and rained heavily at about three o’clock this afternoon, a good three hours earlier than usual. We are having to run our small generator to keep the lights on for long enough for the children to do their homework in the evening and to give the solar system time to recover and do a deep recharge. It’s only really the frogs who like the rain. It’s a shame that they choose to give voice to their happiness when the rest of the world wants to get to sleep!

The rain also made getting into church this morning a bit trickier than usual. The church ‘building’ is just over the road from our place. There is usually a trickle of water running down the far side of the road that is easy to step across. The run off from the hills close by have turned the trickle into a little stream and somebody has thoughtfully put three small stepping stones across it. I was reminded of more biblical river crossings watching the children crossing to go back over to our school classrooms for Sunday school. I’m sure it was just a coincidence that our Pastor, Kennedy, chose the Israelites crossing of the Red Sea as his main text for the sermon this morning.

Geek

One of the interesting pledges that Uhuru Kenyatta the new President of Kenya made on his election campaign was to provide school pupils with solar powered laptops. This proposal has provoked a mixed reaction in Kenya, ranging from out and out condemnation on the grounds of being a colossal waste of money to admiring acceptance of a brave initiative that will put Kenya on the map as a go ahead nation. The truth probably lies somewhere between these extremes.

On the grounds that ICT is likely to figure significantly in the world of education over here for some time I’ve been brushing up my skills and thinking of ways to be of assistance to our local education department. Having spent twenty years or so as an educational ICT specialist I’m looking forward to seeing how it develops in Kenya.

Keeping up with new versions of familiar software is one of the perennial problems facing ICT users. I’ve always enjoyed creating ICT systems and spent a happy day today wrestling with the most recent incarnation of the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet. I always thought that designing and documenting spreadsheet and database systems were the most demanding requirements of ICT courses at A level in the UK (taken by eighteen year olds prior to university entrance). I haven’t set up a proper spreadsheet system for a while and was surprised how challenging it was to build in features that I would have created very quickly a few years ago. That said it was good fun and I will, I hope, end up with an all singing and dancing electronic mark book for our teachers and for their colleagues in the wider community. The major benefits of such a system would be to put an end to the school shut down that often accompanies compiling exam marks and an associated enhancement of teachers' ability to use exam data effectively.

None of this would have been possible without my DIY dentistry yesterday. (See yesterday’s post). I’m happy to report that my tongue is now pretty much back to normal now. The facial contortions that often accompany creativity and concentration when tackling an ICT project would have been impossible with the tooth problem I suffered from until today.

Sharp tooth

Regular readers of the blog may remember my attachment to the 'multi-purpose gadget' that I have out here. Used most successfully on fixing electrical problems in the past the gadget (a copy of the famous Leatherman multi-purpose knife) was instrumental in providing an answer to prayer this morning.

On Tuesday I managed to chip the tooth on the bottom left of my jaw, creating a sharp edge which my tongue instantly developed a fascination for. I’m sure many of you will be familiar with the problem. When I woke up this morning my tongue felt like it was on fire every time it went anywhere near the tooth. My only strategy to deal with the problem has been to try wearing the sharp edge down when eating. I’m convinced it would have worked eventually but am equally sure that it would have involved a lot of pain. Having a strong belief in the efficacy of prayer I prayed to be delivered of the tooth problem this morning. I’m not really sure what I was expecting to happen. Sudden miraculous end to pain and remodeled tooth would have been good.

Within minutes of praying I brushed my teeth (again) and was struck by a sudden inspiration. The handle of my toothbrush has lumpy bits on, to improve grip. It occurred to me that if I used the handle of my toothbrush a bit like a file I could wear the sharp edge down. I decided to give it a try. The toothbrush handle was, unfortunately, not really up to the task but it did inspire me to look for a small enough file to do the job. Enter the gadget which has a blade that doubles up as a file and fish hook disgorger. Not being sure how clean this blade was I ‘ sterilized’ it with boiling water then set to filing the tooth.

My first attempt with the gadget was successful enough to be encouraging but didn't fix the problem. I found it difficult to make sure I was filing the right bit of the tooth. Using a torch and mirror helped me to pinpoint the critical bit of tooth. Emboldened by my early success I filed away quite vigorously and managed to round off the sharp edge. The relief from pain was pretty immediate. As the day wore on I became more confident that my amateur dentistry had been successful. As I type (11.00 p.m.) my tongue is still very sensitive but nothing like as painful as it was when I woke up. I’m hoping that a good night’s sleep will give my tongue time to heal. If it’s still sensitive in the morning I'll have another go at developing my skills as a dentist.

I don’t know if it’s the kind of thing that the gadget manufacturer would want to include in future publicity. It’s a peculiar kind of testimony really. Hardly earth shattering news. The timing of my inspiration may seem co-incidental but, as I've said before, when I don’t pray the co-incidences don’t happen. God certainly moves in mysterious ways!

Here comes the flood

It’s great to be back in Kosele. I arrived just before lunchtime today after travelling through evidence of an excess of rain pretty much everywhere. The rice fields along the route to Kosele are clearly thriving in the wet weather. The last eight kilometers of ‘road’ to our place obviously aren't. The road doesn't seem as bumpy as it has it the past. Many of the potholes have been filled in. The flooding at the bottom of hills and the mud by the side of the ride still make it a slow journey though. I felt very sorry for two ladies who were travelling on a motorbike in the opposite direction to us. They were obviously going somewhere important as they were dressed up in every nice outfits. The guy who was driving the bike was clearly concerned for their finery as he made them get off the motorbike and walk round a very large puddle while he drove slowly through it. It looked like a fairly perilous walk in high heels.

Things seem to be going well at our place. The children are enjoying the end of term holiday this week and will be returning to school on Monday to start term two. It will be good to see the teachers again and take the next steps on our journey of educational innovation. As I’m planning to be here until December I’m hoping that we will be able to achieve a lot this year. Isaiah (our High School Principal) and I have already started planning for the new classrooms we are hoping to build this year.

That said I think everybody is hoping the rain will ease up soon as it is making the land very waterlogged. The unpredictable weather patterns that we are currently experiencing makes forward planning quite challenging. If the land doesn't get a chance to dry out a number of our plans may have to be modified. Farming especially looks like a fairly straightforward activity until you start doing it. Talking to Duncan, our farm manager, on the journey here from Kisumu, it soon became obvious that too much rain has the potential to stress our crops as much as too little. The rain today has been torrential. It started at about 3 p.m.  and has continued up until now (7.30 p.m.). The ditch that runs beside the road that passes our place turned into a torrent which, I’m sure, would be dangerous to small children. I've never seen the ditch look so swollen – it looked more like a small river.

Weather aside I can’t wait to get started on the rest of this year’s work. There is much to plan for and lots to do. Joseph, our carpenter and woodwork teacher, is busy making bunk beds for the visitors who will be joining us in July and planning for building a new training workshop. I hate to add to his to do list but I’m thinking we might need to find plans for a large boat. 

I might have used the link below before but it’s still a good song. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vb7htoJAK7g

Not yet alien

I had a somewhat frustrating time in Nairobi this morning and am, as yet, not yet fully an alien in Kenya. My registration card still isn’t ready. Even if it had been I would still have had a frustrating morning because of a paper work issue. In keeping with my positivity policy (outlined in yesterday’s blog) I will not dwell on the downside of the situation. The guy who issues the cards was very apologetic about the problem and said that he wished the process could be made more flexible.

I was able to make it to Kisumu this afternoon and am writing from St Anna’s guest house (a previously advertised establishment). I’ll be travelling to Kosele first thing tomorrow.

It’s been a fairly slow news day from my point of view today so I thought I would share a couple of snippets from The Standard, one of the national daily newspapers. This might take some time as there is a power outage locally following some recent work on an electricity pylon and the generator that the guest house is using keeps tripping in and out.

Snippet one is about a fairly common occurrence in Kenya and a cautionary tale for any would be thieves. This is from the Quick Point section of the paper.

The headline reads “Gucha Suspect burglar lynched. A suspected burglar was lynched by the public in Ogembo town, Kisii county, while two of his accomplices escaped narrowly. (Kisii is a town about 45 minutes drive from our place). The suspect had allegedly broken into a house belonging to a policeman in Ogembo town and stolen eight chicken, sugar and bulbs. The officer is said to have woken up the following morning only to find the poultry missing. Residents later recovered the chicken from the suspect’s house before setting him ablaze. Gucha OCPD (Officer Commanding Police Department) warned Gucha residents against taking the law into their hand.”

The second snippet is a spelling mistake that is probably an accurate reflection of the current graduate employment crisis that the world seems to be facing.

The headline reads “Coffee fund unveils new employment initiative for youth………..The idea entails establishing coffee shops in major urban centres. This will assist in expanding the local labour force market by targeting young people to work in the outlets. ………. The various jobs to be created in the coffee shops include coffee barristers who prepare and serve espresso based coffee drinks.”

If these young people can get away with charging the same hourly rate as lawyers they should be set up for life!

Looking forward ......

It’s good to be back in Kenya again. Post-election Kenya seems much the same as pre-election Kenya and I’m hoping that the work we have to do this year will go smoothly. Talking to our friend Sam (owner of the Rusam Villa where I am staying tonight) in the taxi to the Villa from the airport it sounds like there is a good deal of optimism about the prospects for the future. It remains to be seen how far the new government is prepared to go in advancing a new kind of democracy in Kenya but I feel it is important to be positive. It’s easy to dismiss politics in much of Africa as corrupt and ineffective but that would be to marginalise real potential for change. From the perspective of most of the rest of the world Western political practices don’t exactly look squeaky clean. The plank and the speck parable springs to mind.
 Anyway. I am determined that this year I will look for the good in everything and everybody and try as hard as I can to avoid dwelling on anything negative that would spoil my outlook. I’m booked on a return flight back to the UK on December 15^th and really want to make the most of the rest of this year. Having faced numerous challenges in my family circumstances last year I am upbeat about the task ahead of us. My wife Judi is thriving post-cancer treatment and is looking forward to joining me in Kenya in July at the end of the academic year in England. She will then retire from her paid employment and join me in ‘volunteering’ full time for Hope and Kindness. I can’t wait and neither can Judi.

I will be in Nairobi tomorrow hoping to obtain the alien registration card that I applied for last year. I’m praying that the procedure at the immigration office goes smoothly tomorrow so I can head for our place as quickly as possible and avoid being stuck in Nairobi for a few days. I will be interested to see how the card is presented – it will be something of a novelty being a legal alien. (First musical link of the current blog below).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d27gTrPPAyk

I hadn’t planned to write much tonight as I’m very tired. I always find it difficult to sleep on overnight flights so have been up for quite a long time. Those of you of the praying disposition might like to pray for Judi as she manages being in England on her own for a few months keeping home and family together. Being in Kenya always adds a sense of urgency to my own prayers. Depending completely on my own wit and sagacity out here is a spectacularly foolish thing to do.

I hesitate to make too many predictions about the next eight months. Our difficult year came full circle early in March this year when my Dad died very unexpectedly. The blog has one less follower now. Dad always encouraged me to do the right thing and was an indefatigable optimist. His spirited approach to life and belief in a better future rubbed off on me in many ways. When I was at school he cheered me and my team mates on from the sidelines of the rugby field. He continued cheering when Judi and I started Hope and Kindness and we were always able to count on his enthusiastic support and counsel.  He and I would stay up until the small hours of the morning sorting out the world's problems. It would be unbearably dull if the future was completely predictable. Faith and a spirit of adventure would be the first casualties of such a state of affairs. That said I do hope the road ahead is fairly straight and that any potholes are clearly signposted and are, ideally, avoidable.