Saturday 29th May

Well my second week is just about over and I am starting to get very familiar with the area around the school. I can now walk by myself to Shanzu where the cyber cafe is and I am starting to recognise the shop keepers and parents who live in this area. The guys at the cyber cafe make me very welcome - I think I am becoming their most regular customer. The cafe belongs to the local catholic church and the building also houses an IT training centre so plenty of expertise to draw on if I need to.

I have now sat and observed all of the classes in the Kindergarten and on Friday I was back in MR Reubin's class. I now have a good understanding of what the children are learning and what materials would be useful to bring out from the UK. Mr Rubin has some of the older boys and their day is from 7am until roughly 4pm - a long day for the kids but they do get around one and a half hours off in the middle of the day to let them go home for lunch.

We are still working on getting my entry permit sorted out to allow me to volunteer. The school chairman went to emigration on Friday and came to school with a form for me to complete. I need a passport photo so Grace and I went to Ntwopa (the nearest town) to a digital photo shop and got some pics taken - that involved another journey in a matatu - never a dull moment. We were hurtling along the road to some Bob Marley reggie - surreal really but I love it. lol

Grace describes Ntwopa as Sodom and Gomorrah (not sure of the spelling here :-) but you'll get the general drift when I tell you it appears to be a favourite spot for white men and beautiful young Kenyan girls - and little old white ladies and beautiful young Kenyan men!! Anyway it does have it's other uses and I got my pics.

My sweet tooth has been giving me the gip - lack of chocolate and cakes etc - so we bought some cakes to take back to school. As luck would have it by the time we got back only Obadiah and Reubin were left plus a handful of kids so we al had a kind of inpromptu cake fest - it was great and the kids loved it. I think I might be encouraging the start of some bad habits around the school with my love of suger - and of course whatever I buy I have to share - no complaints so far.

Today I went along to the White Sands Resort to swim and see how the other half live - and my do they live! Thank you Maureen for suggesting I come along here (they are also letting me use their Business Centre to update my blog) I've had a really nice day relaxing by the pool - and no Claire this is not where I am going to be spending every weekend lol - but it has been a lovely day.

Tomorrow morning I am meeting one of the KG teachers at 9am and am going with her to church. Really looking forward to the experience and the singing - not mine I hasten to add!!

Then Monday back to school to spend more time with the children and teachers. Tuesday 1st June is a local holiday in Kenya and I've been invited to Mama Lucy's house for the day - Mama Lucy is one of the ladies who cooks lunch at the school. I've also found out why Mama Lucy - mums take the name of their first born and that then becomes a 'familiar' form of name greeting - that would make me Mama Claire lol

Well that is about 6pm and my taxi is due to take me back to the village. This has been a nice interlude - but not Kenya as I have come to know it - it has also made me even more aware of the difference in living standards within a 4-Kilometre radius.

Omani said to me last week "you know Jo-an in Kenya the rich get richer and the poor get poorer - I think he may be right.

I told him that in Belfast we used to say "the rich get richer and the poor get children" We had a laugh at that one!!