So it has been a long time since I posted on my blog. We spent the last month in Kenya visiting friends and travelling along the coast.
Before heading the Kenya the last few weeks in Hanga were a little frustrating. The students were taking national exams, and so our teaching work had ended. We were still showing up at the schools every day, but really did not have anything to do. We spent some time helping out in the gardens, played sports with the students every afternoon, and spent a lot of time reading. One exciting note, we found out we had packages waiting for us in the post office in Songea. After spending two hours waiting and talking the customs man to come into work on Saturday, we ended up with 5 packages (two for me, one for Al, and two for another American volunteer who had left and said we could take her packages if they arrived).
So our travels started with the long journey into Songea. The Peace Core Volunteers in the area had arranged a Thanksgiving celebration and invited us. It was great to spend an afternoon helping cooking (opening cans), talking about sports (one of the peace core members had received about two months worth of Sports Illustrated), and hanging out with Americans. The following day we caught a bus to Dar.
We spent one day in Dar, then caught a bus to Nairobi. The infamous Simon and Alex had changed volunteer sites from Sumbawanga to Nairobi in early November. We stayed with our fellow BVC members at the Amani Center about 20 minutes from the city center of Nairobi. They have a really cool work site, they are working with street children at a center that helps incorporate them back into their families, enrolls them in schools, and gives them a place to hang out and study. We spent the week exploring the Nairobi city center, hanging out with children at the center, attempting to watch Arsenal games, and sharing stories with Simon and Alex.
After a week in Nairobi Al, Alex and I caught a bus to Mombasa. Mombasa is the second largest city in Kenya with around a million inhabitants. It has been a very important port along the Indian Ocean for over a thousand years. The population is heavily Muslim, and has a strong Arab and Indian influence. We spent a day exploring Old Town, and then headed south of Mombasa to Tiwi and Diani beaches. After hanging out on the beach for 5 days we came back to Mombasa, said good bye to Alex (lucky duck is currently in the US of A). After a few days Simon came and meet us in Mombasa, and we all headed up to Lamu.
We ended up spending a week on Lamu. It is a small little island town just off the Kenyan Coast. It has a lot of upscale tourism on the island, with expensive resorts and beautiful beaches. There are no cars on Lamu, and many of its streets are too narrow for a car to get through. We spent a lot of time wandering around town, hanging out on the beaches, and exploring cheap local restaurants. Life is relaxed and slow on Lam, which we all enjoyed, but by the end of the week it was time to get back to the real world. We caught the bus back to Mombasa, caught a frustrating Arsenal tie, then a bus back to Dar. We spent a day visiting a student’s house, then a bus back to Hanga.
It is good to be back in Hanga.
