Fever pitch media reports, government travel advisories, insurance company warnings: it’s hardly surprising so many have taken Kenya’s northern coast off the holiday long list in recent years. Well, based on my experience, I can tell you that yes, it’s a very dangerous place to visit. Dangerous, that is, in that you just might find… Continue reading Lamu, dangerous? Too right…
Remembering my ‘attitude of gratitude’
One day last week, as I made my usual bleary-eyed early morning journey into town (I’ve started daily 7am classes at the Alliance Francaise and the mornings are a struggle), the cab driver was being philosophical. Out of the blue, he started talking about how lucky we were to enjoy another day: ‘how many would… Continue reading Remembering my ‘attitude of gratitude’
A beginner’s guide to the Masai
On my trip to the Mara recently, i got to see around one of the surrounding Masai villages. A brief glimpse one morning isn’t going to give me any real insight into a culture that’s such a world away from my own experience. But here are a few things I learned from the visit, that you might find interesting:
3 things I miss from home; and 3 I’ll miss when I leave…
Midway through my fellowship here in Nairobi, here are a few things I’m missing: plus some I’ll be sorry to leave behind. I’m skipping over the family and friends bit – of course, by far the biggest thing I’m missing (and Ryan Hanna, if you’re reading, I hope you note the order there!). But these… Continue reading 3 things I miss from home; and 3 I’ll miss when I leave…
The Dust of Africa
There’s apparently a proverb that says you can’t wash the dust of Africa off your feet. Looking at my laptop, I realise just how dusty a place Kenya is in October. My camera, my phone, my clothes, my shoes – everything seems to have developed a layer of grime that’s gradually getting permanently worn in.… Continue reading The Dust of Africa
First Impressions from Nairobi
One week in, I thought I’d take a minute to introduce the new organisation I’m working with here in Kenya. Plus a quick update on how I’m finding life so far. Nairobi (based on very brief experience to date) is living up to its reputation: hectic, exciting, edgy – and at times frustrating. The frustration… Continue reading First Impressions from Nairobi
Harare
I’ve spent most of my Zim blogs talking about life in the rural communities. So before I leave, I thought I’d try and give a quick picture of the city of Harare itself. Before I arrived, I’d (ignorantly) been vaguely anticipating something of the scale, bustle and vibrancy of Addis, where I’d spent time last… Continue reading Harare
A Journey with Camfed
And so, my three months with Camfed have come to an end. Back in January, everyone I met at Kiva HQ in San Francisco told me how fortunate I was to get the opportunity to work with ‘one of Kiva’s most impressive, and most loved, partners’. I now completely understand what they meant. The experience… Continue reading A Journey with Camfed
Will they pay back?
This is one of the most common questions I get, when I explain the concept of Kiva to people. And it’s an understandable response: isn’t lending money to individual borrowers, living in poverty thousands of miles away, enormously risky? How do you ever get the money back? If you look at the Kiva website, you… Continue reading Will they pay back?
Binga and the Batonga
My borrower visits in the past couple of weeks took me up to the northernmost regions of Zimbabwe, to the district of Binga, straddling the Zambezi River and the Zambian border. Binga is a six hour journey north of Bulawayo, a completely straight road with only one single junction (when you’ve got only one turn-off to… Continue reading Binga and the Batonga
Alan Rambling 