Life as a Teacher

Posted on May 11, 2013 by thewildcreanberries

I really enjoy teaching. Whether it’s one on one or in a classroom.

I actually wanted to become a teacher but became a youth worker instead. Where we lived the nearest university was at least an hour away. I was married and there was no way I was leaving my husband just to do what I wanted. Then the kids came along and it never happened.

I home schooled our girls and there were a few extra bodies along the way. Now looking back I would do things differently but at the time you do the best that you can. When we moved to Australia in 2002, I gave up the schooling and the youth work as we needed the money and Sydney was way more expensive than Christchurch to live in.

As I’m writing this I’m overseeing 15 students who have completed a 6 week business skills class that I’ve taught. These are young men who only a short while ago where living on the streets of Nairobi. They didn’t finish primary school, but they could be great businessmen if they believe in themselves.

It’s kind of weird how everything from the past 25 years happens just for that moment. I mean, we moved to Aussie, I ended up working in a high school and then went on to working for a university. I got my MBA (Masters of Business Administration) and we started our work in Africa. I’m tutoring kids here and teaching classes. In the next 5 years we’re looking at building a boarding school.

I didn’t even finish high school.

I dropped out at just before my final year. In those days you just walked into a job, not like now.

But I’ve also become the student again.

Each Monday I have Kiswahili lessons with Judy, she’s a whizz at languages, I’m not. I’ve taught English as a second language and decided I’d much rather be a teacher than a student. I’m envious of these Kenyan kids, they have to learn at least 2 languages throughout their school life.

I’m 44 and yet feel like a 4 year old trying to learn Kiswahili.

I’ve heard people say that you can never stop learning. Heck, move to a country like Kenya and then you have the right to say that. I was wanting to get my Masters in Development some time in the future, but every day here in Kenya is a classroom.

Society here is our teacher and she’s not always nice or patient.

Sometimes I don’t want to hear what she is saying and some times I just don’t care. Sometimes I just want to go to a movie and forget that I’m in Africa.

The fact is though that we are here and we do have to learn. As someone told us ‘Coming to Africa shows you what’s really inside of you, how big a capacity you have’. I thought I was a big person inside but discovered that I’m not. I’m too judgemental, opinionated, narrow-minded and set in my own ways – thank you very much!!

While life is a schoolroom, we have to be willing to learn.

I’m always telling my students that attitude determines altitude, now I have to take my own medicine. While the medicine might not taste great, it is good for us.

Uganda

Posted on April 24, 2013 by thewildcreanberries

This past week Pete and I had the privilege of traveling to Uganda to look at many of our water projects there. Because of the generosity of our Board we were able to fly the 40 minutes and not the overnight bus which takes about 14 hours. Liz stayed behind because she was heading to Australia, so there was a lot to do to organise two totally different trips.

Downtown Gulu

Going to Uganda was great for us. It’s been a long 5 months adjusting to life in Kenya and as they say, a change is as good as a holiday.

A holiday it certainly wasn’t.

Our vehicle to get around Northern Uganda – much needed!

We traveled long hours with our driver Rodney, who had been kidnapped when he was a child by LRA soldiers. We got to meet his dad as we drove around Northern Uganda.

Uganda and Kenya are like chalk and cheese in many ways.

A deep bore well about an hours’ drive from Kitgum

The roads are way better in Uganda than in Kenya. However, Kenya is more developed economically. In Kenya you can get around $400 out of an ATM, in Uganda it’s only just over $100. Imagine when you have to pay everything in cash how many international bank fees you’re paying!

And Uganda is about 5 degrees warmer than where we live in Nairobi. One of those places that as soon as you’ve had a shower you are bathed in sweat again and ask yourself ‘Why did I bother?’

One of the many memorials around Northern Uganda

Alice from Pader stirring lunch for hundreds of girls

There was a real downside to going to Uganda and that was we had to rush from one place to another. Next time I would love to spend time just taking photos, especially of the Northern Ugandans. Of all the people I’ve seen in the world, I really love their faces. Their eyes are deep, they say everything just by looking at you. You see their pain, their history, their hopes.

Got to love the kids!

For the first time we weren’t staying in $10 a night guest houses or hotels. Not that we went overboard but it was great to get a decent nights sleep without paperthin walls. Mind you, I told a friend up north that $80 was the most we were prepared to pay for a room, so he put us in a $15 place. It had no water or a door on the toilet, but it did have electricity, which was surprising.

Alice and I under the tree she started her work in Pader

We visited hospitals, schools, churches and remote communities. While I was there 18 months ago, it’s been 4 years for Pete, so he was really excited about visiting the friends we had made.

Pete and a mate at the school opening at Kituso

In Kampala at the opening of the water project

Seeing all of your hard work of organising water projects is a real highlight, but more so, meeting the people whose lives are changed forever. That’s why we are here in Africa, to change lives.

Uganda was great, but now it’s time to get back to work.

The Challenges of Living in the Third World

Posted on April 3, 2013 by thewildcreanberries

I hate the wording ‘Third World’ it seems so second handy and demeaning. I’ve been living and working in Kenya for 5 months. While it’s early days yet, there is no time for putting one’s feet up and enjoying the scenery.

There are some big challenges here though:

1. Language

Just when you think you start understanding Kiswahili, you try and enter a conversation and you’re blocked out. On top of that there’s the different languages in different areas and then the slang called ‘sheng’ which is the street language in Nairobi. Having lessons is like going back to school. I’ve taught English as a second language for years, now the teacher has become the student.

2. Electricity

Or the lack of it. When we travel to the farm, an hour away, it’s in a rural setting. You expect the power to go off there and brace yourself for heating up water on the gas stove and use the headlamp to get around. You don’t expect to be in the city and have no power for days on end. So, you have to compensate by using solar, making sure everything is charged when there is power and know where the torch is. I’ve got my laptop down to 2% just before the power returned.

It’s amazing how having lights and access to electricity can change your mood. Sure, we have a TV and an office on solar power but to be able to work in the light makes you feel better.

3. Internet

Where we are living there is wireless internet but for no apparent reason it just stops working. This usually happens just when you urgently need to find something on the web. I’ve resorted to getting a plugin modem that I can use anywhere. $2.50 of internet can last for weeks, so it’s rather handy.

It’s amazing that you can be in the middle of nowhere, and you run across (as opposed to over) a Masai warrior dressed in traditional clothes and there he is on his phone Tweeting about events in the field. I’m off to Uganda next week so here’s hoping I have no hassles in getting the internet there. Not that I;m addicted to the internet but without it I can’t work.

4. Clothes

The clothes shops in the malls are so expensive, I’m talking about label price for something that isn’t. There are plenty of places you can buy cheap second hand clothes but I don’t have the time nor the patience to go hunting for them. Pete refuses to buy second hand, it’s below him. Import duty here can be between 75 – 125%, uping the prices hugely. We bought enough clothes to last us a year but now I realise that most of my tee shirts are black. I’m not a floral person (I do like flowers) and a lot of clothes have flowers on them. I hope to head to Sydney in February next year and I sure will be shopping there.

5. Being Forgotten

We made the choice to come to Kenya. Nobody forced us, no one twisted our arms, we came of our own free will. I totally understand that everyone’s lives are busy but it’s frustrating when your old friends don’t keep in touch with us. It is true that when you are out of sight, you’re out of mind. In our online world no one has an excuse to not keep in touch. I remember the CEO of Compassion years ago saying that the thing that breaks his heart is that so many sponsors don’t write to the children. I totally understand this. Not that I’m expecting a letter but the odd SMS, email, hi on Facebook goes a long way. I work about 90 hours a week and sometimes the work is overwhelming. Then, I get an SMS from a friend just to say hello and it encourages me to go on.

To me, relationships are the most important asset we have in life.

All the other things like terrible roads, limited money, distance from family, long hours and still not being in our own home pale in comparison to the opportunity we have in impacting the lives of young people here.

Challenges are here not to break us but to make us into better people.

Well, that’s what I keep telling myself anyway!

Me and the girls

Liz and the Dogs

Video

I Don’t Support Piracy

Posted on December 27, 2012 by thewildcreanberries

Over here in Kenya you can buy very few legitimate DVD’s and CD’s. For Christmas we bought our daughter a CD and they physically showed us that it was a new one and that it wasn’t just burned off a computer. When we put it in the first time, iTunes wouldn’t recognise it and said it was empty. ‘What a waste of $6’ I thought. The second time it worked but wouldn’t bring up the artist of song name. That was bought was a real music store.

Anywhere on the side of a road there will be people selling all sorts of things from kites, to DVD’s to fruit. When Skyfall came out at the movies within a couple of days the DVD also came out by a very friendly salesman not far from home.

For most people, they think nothing of spending $6 on a pirated DVD or illegally downloading something off the internet. To them it seems okay to photocopy whole books for their schooling. We had two overseas students living with us for 2 years in Sydney and they saw nothing wrong with spending $10 at a shop downtown photocopying an entire book. Neither did they mind copying and pasting stuff off the internet without giving reference to the author. In one assignment I saw that they hadn’t even bothered to change the font from the source to what was in their assignment!

I don’t support piracy because it’s stealing, just wrapped up nicely. One could say that it’s keeping people employed. Do we then buy drugs because it keeps people employed?

Stealing is stealing. I’ve told my girls off several times for illegally downloading things via sources like Torrent. You can justify it as much as you like but it’s still taking something and not paying for it.

I tell you who pays for it. It’s the artists, musicians, writers and actors who have put their time, effort and skills into creating something we love to watch or read. I was watching the making of Inception (on a genuine DVD) and the writer took 8 years to create the story. Eight years of developing and sacrificing to bring forth a story that entertains millions, only to have it sold illegally for a couple of dollars.

It’s also the buyer that pays for it. Why do you think they cost so much?

As a Christian, I refuse to buy illegally made software, DVD’s, CD’s etc no matter how ‘real’ they appear. It’s against the rules people!

I have plenty of musician friends who I am proud to support by paying for their songs. As a photographer nothing grates you more than when people use your photos without permission, and don’t give credit for the source. Sure Instagram has given a lot to the photography world but it doesn’t make you an artist.

While lots of people say there are no copyright rules in Africa, that’s simply untrue. Everyone complains about corruption but here it is on the ground level. If we continue to support piracy we have no right to complain about officials who are doing the same thing but in a different form.

Pay the price and keep your conscience clean. Support our artists and show people we don’t have to scoop to illegal acts just to get what we want.

Why I endorse Neways Products

Posted on December 14, 2012 by thewildcreanberries

I very rarely endorse anything because there’s always pitfalls, people are only human and will let you down, or some things are just a fad.

However, I’ve been on the road for a few months now, and based in East Africa for a few weeks more. I’ve lived in several homes, motels, units and even tents in that time.Now we’re actually settling down in Nairobi, I’m able to start setting up home. In reality, we’re only in our transformed container cottage for another 5 weeks and then we house sit for friends for 5 months, but a sense of home and belonging is important. The day we can stop living out of a suitcase will be a day for celebration.

While there are a few supermarkets here, there seems to be a myriad of household and personal products. That is except for a scrubbing brush for the dishes and some good quality things like shampoo and conditioner. In the past few months we’ve been to 6 different countries and I’ve yet to find anything that measures up to the Neways products.

Either the shampoo leaves your hair feeling like straw, or just about every personal product has aluminium or palm oil in it. That’s not good for our bodies nor the environment. You know that stuff like moisturiser is watered down and unless you are going to pay through the roof prices you can’t get anything decent.

After only 3 weeks of being in Kenya people are asking ‘So, are you ready to call it quits and come home yet?’ Quite frankly, we are home and although we’re short of the few comforts of life, it’s not that bad. It all comes down to attitude.

However, I am darn sure to get some good quality healthy homecare products from organisations like Neways. Their toothpaste needs no water, their shaving gel means less razor use and the shampoo actually is good for your hair and the skin cleaner actually works. Unfortunately I can’t get them delivered to Kenya but have friends who can pick up some goods for me and wait for someone to come through.

If you haven’t heard or tried Neways before, contact my friend Ginny Parker (ginny@aslanassociates.net) and she will help you out.

Surviving Week One

Posted on November 21, 2012 by thewildcreanberries

So, we’ve made it to the end of week one of our new life in Nairobi. It certainly has been an adventure, especially since we spent nearly 3 weeks in the States dashing from one place to another. I will be glad not to have to pack and get back on a plane for a long time. Actually, tomorrow we pack to go to Tanzania on a 7 hour shuttle to climb Mt Kilimanjaro and then fly home.
But we’ll forget that for now and let you in on some of the challenges / pleasures of the week.

1. Accommodation

We were pleasantly surprised to have a cottage to ourselves on our arrival. Okay, it’s 2 shipping containers transformed into a cottage but it has two rooms and a bathroom. We were expecting the 3 of us to be put into one small room and try and not fall over each other with all our baggage.

2. The Team

We’ve joined the team from Afri-Lift and they have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. There was even a fruit bowl and food in the fridge when we got here. They’re happy to give info on how much to tip, how much we should be charged for either a matatu or motorbike ride to the mall. I even have my own desk in the office!

3. The Weather

I could easily get changed 3 times a day here. Shorts are not what you wear to the office but I’d be more than happy to wear them if I could. Things really heat up here late in the morning and jeans are a killer in it. I spend a lot of time in an office so can get away with it, but am really over them. In January it gets up to 30 degrees, so I’ll be clothes hunting for something that doesn’t look daggy but not expensive. We’ve noticed a real price hike since being here last year.

4. Transport

We don’t have our own car yet, and won’t for a while so are catching pike pike’s (motorbikes) and matatus (mini vans squashing in 14 people). They are super cheap, only about 45 cents to go to the mall. They also move really well through the traffic. Congestion is an understatement here. It can take 2 hours to get back from the airport, for what should be a 20 minute ride. We’ve also been doing a bit of walking cause that’s what the locals do and a lot of the time it’s faster than driving short distances.

5. Security

Our neighbour had her handbag stolen out of her car as she was stopped in traffic. Sure, she should’ve had her door locked and window up but she’s a visitor and wouldn’t think that thieves work in teams. We take as little money with us as possible and even on the compound keep everything locked when we’re in the office. Security is something you can’t take for granted, especially here. You have to keep your wits about you. You also don’t go out at night very far, so for us we catch a taxi. We’ve got someone we can call upon and we can trust to not rip us off too much.

6. Technology

Technology is great when it works, but when it doesn’t it’s a pain in the butt. For some reason my Aussie phone won’t send or receive anything even though I’ve topped it up. When you go from one side of the compound to another you have to log into different routers. Last night we had our first power cut, when Pete was in the shower, which we thought was really funny. When it’s dark here, it’s really dark. Most of the time we have the internet, our local phones work and life isn’t harsh for us, just sometimes inconvenient.

7. The Food

After 3 weeks of eating crappy US food (sorry guys, but so true) it’s nice to get back to normality. Gone is the idea of steak on the barbie, instead it’s often chicken. Pete’s discovered a charcoal BBQ and it cooks chicken really well. I’m surprised that the supermarket up the road has some gluten free items like cereal but I miss a few things like rice crackers and the New Zealand cheese. I’m sure I’ll find them somewhere, well, not the cheese! Pete is loving the Kenyan coffee and there is plenty of fruit galore. We’ve got a small bar fridge so a big weekly shop is out of the question. We send Liz up to the supermarket each day but she is still not confident on crossing one of the busy roads.

I think once we come back from Tanzania we’ll be more settled and in the swing of things. But then we have a camp we’re involved in so who really knows!

Travelling in a Group

Posted on November 15, 2012 by thewildcreanberries

We’ve just finished spending three weeks in the States on our way to Kenya. It’s the super long route to take, but since one of the kids was paying for it, who am I to object. We went to LA, San Diego, back to LA, Houston, New York City and Washington DC. Getting to Nairobi took 8 flights. Because we were moving country we had baggage galore. While we are on the road for 2 months of the year this certainly was quite different, going from hot summer days to places where it was snowing.

Here’s some tips for travelling in a group:

1. Number all of your bags.

It’s very easy to lose one or two small items like camera or video bags. At least when you get off a bus, train or plane you know which number is missing. Simply put a tag with a large number written on it.

2. Put things back in the same place.

Jetlag is a killer on the brain. When you put the passports or travel documents in the same place every time you won’t be stressing out where they are. It’s bad enough trying to find a pair of socks let alone the passport.

3. Make sure everyone knows what’s going on.

This is especially so if you’re the one who has put the itinerary together. You might know what’s happening but don’t assume everyone else does.

4. Double check info before leaving home.

You may thought you booked a hotel in LA, but accidentally put in Louisiana instead. While the taxi driver might like the fare, it could lead into all sorts of problems with your team. Also check the distances from your hotel from the airport. That way you won’t be shocked at the price.

5. Get the cab drivers number

Once you find a good taxi driver, get his number so that when you need a ride you don’t have to wait around. Depending where you are in the world, negotiate the taxi fare before getting into the car.

6. Print out everything

If you’re travelling to lots of places, put it down on an Excel sheet and print it out. Then print out all the tickets, motel addresses etc so you’ve got it in hard copy. Put everything into order so you’re not fumbling through a zillion pieces of paper to find the right one. If you need to, put them in plastic sleeves or in a small folder.

7. Pace yourself

If you’re on the road for more than 2 weeks you’ll be exhausted if you’re on the go all the time. Try and pace yourself so one day you do an activity and the next you spend gazing at shops or at the beach. While everyone is entitled to a bad hair day, it’s a bit harder in a group to hide it and it can spread like wildfire. When everyone is exhausted it can make things 10 times worse.

Happy Travels!!

Excess Baggage

Posted on October 30, 2012 by thewildcreanberries

There’s nothing worse when you’re at the airport and you hear those bitter words ‘you’ve got excess baggage. What’s crazy is that if you take out a few items like books and take them on as hand luggage, it’s allowed, yet it’s on the same plane.

When we left Sydney a week ago the airport staff let us through without weighing our hand luggage. We spent a day in Fiji before heading on to LA but the lady at the final checkout section was not going to let us through with the same gear. We had to go all the way back to the main counter, hand over one bag not more than 4kg’s and go through the whole thing again. It was such a hassle, when all we had to actually do was take out 2 books, but we were so tired we didn’t even think about it.
We’ve been at the theme parks in Los Angeles for a few days and I’ve found myself in a similar dilemma. Firstly, it’s so easy to over indulge in the less than healthy food available, because it’s so cheap compared to what we pay in Australia. You see the results of unhealthy lifestyles all around you when there are thousands of people walking around Disneyland. Their excess baggage is caused by too much self indulgence.

Even though somebody else paid for our tickets to get in, it was difficult to get pass the fact that what was spent on these alone was more than some families in East Africa would earn in 3 or 4 years.

While we came away with a few momentos, I refused to buy things that will either end up in the bin or become useless dust collectors. Although America is in a recession you wouldn’t think so looking at the amount of money people were spending on their preschoolers to make them look like a princess or the overpriced Disney tee shirts that you wouldn’t wear in the normal world.

Excess baggage doesn’t just have to be at the airport, or a theme park, it’s very easy it be in our day to day lives. We’ve been given this life to enjoy but it doesn’t mean having all the ‘stuff’ we accumulate and then eventually throw out. Each country has amazing parks, beaches, scenery, wildlife, trekking routes and the such that we can spend time with our families at.

Recently a survey in Australia showed that children from less financially able homes were just as happy as those from well off families. It wasn’t the lack or abundance of money that made a difference. It was simply being together with friends, hanging with family members and learning to be happy with what you’ve got.

I know Walt Disney wanted Disneyland to be the happiest place on earth but the whole idea started out by him taking his daughter on dates each Saturday.
Let’s get rid of the things that we don’t really need – negative attitudes, ungratefulness, over indulgence, intolerance, selfishness – as well as having to have the latest thing that comes out on the market.

Travel light, live light.

So, Where Are Those Passports?

Posted on October 8, 2012 by thewildcreanberries

It’s always an interesting time when you move house. Some things magically disappear no matter how organised you are.

It happened this week at a really important time. Someone posted on Facebook that they had their ESTA (US) visa to go to the States on holiday. It suddenly hit me that we hadn’t applied for ours yet. Liz, our oldest daughter is paying for the whole family to go to the US for a holiday on the way to moving to Kenya. It’s our 25^th wedding anniversary soon, so we’re heading to Disneyland, San Diego Seaworld, Houston, NYC and Washington. While it’s done on a shoestring it will be an absolute blast.

We’d moved out of our apartment in Dee Why by the beach to Turramurra, in the bush a couple of weeks ago. Our good friend Jill allowed the three of us to move in so we could save some money and wrap up a few loose ends. From there, we were repacking before sending off a shipment of our stuff to Kenya.

While it’s easy to loose a hairbrush, how does one loose and important document like a passport, in fact, three of them!! It seems that the complexities of being on the road are just beginning. By the time we get to Kenya we would’ve not been in a real home for 2 months. Suitcases just don’t replace a set of drawers. I like to be super organised, everything has a place, so this is driving me crazy!

Thankfully Pete found them, in the very last box we used when leaving our home, which is great because they’re all new. Replacing 3 passports would’ve cost us around $700.

ESTA visa has been applied for, boxes are ready to send, passports are securely in the bedroom – all is well once again.

While our beloved passports have been found, I don’t know where the hairdryer has been left in our travels.

thewildcreanberries

Our Adventures In Kenya & Beyond

Category Archives: Travel