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Musing #9 - TCP: A Review

This is a ‘conclusive’ review of the work undertaken by our group during our time at the Turi Children’s Project in Kenya - ironically written by the person who was voted as having done the ‘least work’ ;-) The majority of our efforts were concentrated on the construction of a chicken hatchery (that colossal wooden monolith depicted further below) and other projects which included the levelling of ground, repairing playground equipment, repainting of the main TCP building and the restocking of the wood store. 

Chicken Hatchery 

Mahatma Huxtable once said “Sustainability is meeting the need of today without damaging the prospects of tomorrow”. This was the point of the chicken hatchery: sustainability. Up until recently, the TCP’s work was almost entirely funded by through donations therefore the construction of a chicken coop and the subsequent collection of eggs will provide an additional source of income which should make them more independent. Sustainable! 

The chicken coop under construction featuring Mr. Rowson. 

Ground Levelling 

“I bless the rains down in Africa” - Toto

Yes. It rains in Africa. Heavily. This became very apparent to us quite early on in the trip with our first evening in Turi being marked by a violent thunderstorm. Although rain is fundamental for farming etc. it also happens to make land incredibly muddy and therefore dangerous - I suppose we still retained an element of ‘Health and Safety’ on our travels. We basically transported a large volume of dirt from one end of the TCP site to the other and dumped it on the ground to get rid of the more significant ditches. An honourable mention goes out to Corey for taking the lead on this one and ensuring that we levelled the ground to a sufficient degree. 

Here’s Peter being Peter. Skrrt.

Painting

Ah yes, what better way to mark our presence than a fresh lick of paint. Some of the more steady handed members of the group undertook the challenge of repainting the interior of the TCP a much more suitable white and purple - thus relegating the god awful pink to the footnotes of history. Many group members will recall painting fondly - how could we possibly forget how one of us managed to paint a wall for 30 minutes using paint stripper and not paint, and how another managed to paint everything in sight apart from the actual wall, including himself! . 

Chris and Jean hard at work.

Wood

To write another paragraph about wood would literally kill me. So I wont. Instead I wrote a haiku:

Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood.

Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. 

Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood.

Musing over. Ciao.

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Musing #7

Days in Kenya: 4

Sunday. The day of ‘rest’, or in our case: ‘incredibly early mornings’. Cold and half asleep we piled into three separate buses under the cover of darkness. These buses would take us to Nakuru National Park on a safari trip. Admittedly, the majority of the day was spent within our buses which had retractable roofs allowing us to hang - somewhat precariously - out of the top of our vehicles.

Perhaps this trip would be best described using the numerous pictures we took of baboons, rhinos, impalas, giraffes etc. and so I’ll do my best to get them online in good time. However, one particular occurrence deserves an honorable mention: that was of course a certain (I'm sworn to secrecy) teacher thinking that whales were part of the Big Game Five. They’re not. Sorry.

That’s actually it. Musing over.

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Musing #6

Days in Kenya: 3

Our third day in Kenya was perhaps one of the most challenging so far as the vast majority of us came to terms with the reality that is ‘manual labour’. (Nota Bene my use of the term 'vast majority’ and not 'entire team’ because some team members are still- quite frankly - useless 😉😉) This was also the first full day we spent at the Turi Children’s Project which is more popularly referred to as the 'TCP’ and work included landscaping and the large scale cutting of logs for the chicken hatchery

Whilst some of us relished a morning of arduous toil in the glorious Kenyan sun, a small group consisting of myself, Chicken, the Le Maitre’s and Mr. Rowson embarked on the first homestead visit. The aim of these visits was to distribute supplies such as cooking oil, rice and beans to families who are deemed to be 'most at risk’ by the TCP and so after having spent the first half of the morning packing about a dozen individual hampers we packed into a less-than-roadworthy Subaru from an era gone by and headed off into the Rift Valley. (We left health and safety back in Guernsey)

The day before we left for Kenya I posted 'Musing #3’. Admittedly it was quite abstracted and didn’t make a lot of sense at the time (hence why it’s sooo appropriate for tumblr 💁) but the point was: 'Kenya’s largely a mystery to us’ - and in all honesty none of us were entirely sure of what to expect on these home visits. This was in essence our first great 'mystery’.

Ultimately we visited three separate families who were all in very precarious positions. We met one family with over ten children who were being cared for by an elderly woman and another who were under constant pressure to keep up with their rent payment. I could attempt to write about the profound effect these visits had upon us… but one word renders such a task impossible: “Us”. The people we spoke to and things we saw affected every member of the group in different ways. It’s nothing less than impossible for me to communicate a general sentiment, an overall feeling or formulate anything other than a generic sentence to describe the experiences of everyone in our group. Frankly, I can't do it justice on a blog post, it’s a story best told in person. :-)

My hot chocolate’s no longer hot. Musing over.

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Musing #5

Days in Kenya: 2

Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood. Wood.

Frankly, I could end it there. It’d be a pretty fair summary of the day’s events. But for the sake of elaboration and padding the blog I’ll go on. Essentially we spent the day loading one year’s worth of fire wood onto the back of a large truck which we then transported to the Children’s project.

This particular task of ‘picking up copious amounts of wood and carrying it across a yard’ was interesting in the sense that it really emphasized the presence of the weak amongst us. Obviously, a shout out goes to Bazza Gill for being an absolute machine as he dragged bag after bag of wood with what can only be described as Herculean strength. Yet I must acknowledge - albeit indirectly - that some people were more content to watch… You know who you are.

Clearly, with the truck we arrived in full of wood, we would have to make the return journey by other means. We planned to use Kenyan public transport which involved us waking through the centre of Elburgon (the town where the saw mill is) to a bus stop. I know a few of us like to think that we 'turn heads’ but we were 'head turning’ to an unfathomable degree. We were however received very warmly and to extend that into a much broader, thought provoking point (which I hope I can end on because I need to wrap this up) we owe all the people of Kenya a certain degree of thanks for their hospitality in these past few days.

I’m done. I actually am. Musing over.

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Musing #4

Days in Kenya: 1

“It’s about the journey not the place”

I stole that off tumblr. Sorry. But these ‘unhallowed’ words could not be more relevant. We spent today driving across the Kenyan heartlands which admittedly weren’t particularly inspiring (on account of the vast majority of it being an arid wasteland) but throw in a portable speaker and Adam’s quality playlist and you’re good.

We travelled from our lodging in Nairobi to St. Andrew’s School which is located somewhere in Turi. We arrived in 'good time’ and we were soon greeted by our guide, John (I use this term cautiously) who gave us a rapid tour of the site as well as the Turi Children’s Project - where the greater majority of our efforts would be concentrated.

Of course, I couldn’t end this post without mentioning the weather, because it was bad…very bad. Perhaps one would assume that 'Africa would be hot and dry’ and indeed that had been the case for the past month, John informed us that the region had been suffering from a draught. It seems fitting therefore that a bunch of British delinquents should bring with them horrendous weather marked by torrential rain and thunderstorms. Now, although it was abhorred by us, it was a blessing to them and given that the 'good’ weather coincided with our arrival, the term 'blessing’ was extended beyond meteorology onto us. Yes. We too were considered a 'blessing’. Interpret that how you will.

That’s it. Musing over.

(I’m conscious that this is somewhat late but I swear I already uploaded it)

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Musing #3

Days until Kenya: 1

Tomorrow. We’re leaving tomorrow. The reality of the trip has certainly started to dawn on us - and with it comes the curious void that is the ‘unknown’. Granted, we have our itineraries, our plans, a vague idea of what we’re doing on a day to day basis... but there it is. Vague. Kenya’s still largely a mystery to us, and rightly so. We’ll make of it what we will. The challenges, the triumphs, the ‘where’s Gabriel?!’ moments... and I suppose that’s all you can do in life: take it in your stride. There lies the enticement. 

This musing really was a musing... of the existential kind. Bye. 

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Musing #2

Days until Kenya: 12

“We’ll be in Nairobi before you know it” quipped an unassuming team member. Indeed, he was right, it isn't long until we embark on our great African adventure.

Preparation for the trip is very much underway; we received an overwhelming response to our appeal for shoes which we are very thankful for - all team members will be taking several pairs to distribute to people whilst in Turi. We were also very fortunate to receive a donation of safety goggles and gloves from local firm Norman Piette which we will use in the construction of the hatchery. 

Team members have also been preparing to deliver their group lessons. Each group will be teaching three 45 minute lessons at one of the local schools on a subject of their choice.  Lessons seem to include biology, statistics and something to do with hexi-flexigons. Whatever they are. 

In other news, our EC Kenya hoodies and polo shirts have arrived - many thanks to Peter for making this happen (although c’mon, deadlines Pete?!) A spiffing picture of Jean-Luc sporting one can be found on our Twitter - along with an interesting comparison to a permanently stoned sea turtle. Some say you see what you want to see...

Anyway. Musing over. Bye. 

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Kenya Quiz: A Review

A crack team of Lower Sixth egg-heads assembled on Friday night to take part in the annual Kenya Scholarship Quiz. The quiz itself is part of a charity set up by OE Sam O’Neill who himself ventured to Kenya and having been moved by the people out there was compelled to set up a charity which aimed to provide funds to allow a number of local Kenyan students to attend secondary school. 

This year’s lower sixth team consisted of Kenya team members; Adam, Peter, Don and James, and were joined by Bowsh and Grimmy. Hosted by Upper Sixth students the quiz covered (in the opinion of the team) the most obscure aspects of sport, literature, geography and music. One particular highlight being “How many reincarnations of the Dalai Lama have there been?” - to which we were only out by a factor of ten.

Ultimately however victory went to a staff team - and we may therefore conclude that it was absolutely fixed (!), although it must be said, the Lower Sixth team managed a respectable 5th out of 9. I should also note that we named our team “Ken’ya Beat Us?” ... to which the answer is yes, you probably can.

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Musing #1

Days until Kenya: 31

With Kenya only one month away, team members are busy getting immunisations, organising lessons, and - of course - constructing the all important ‘Kenya Playlist’. 

We have so far raised over £2000 with the help of Guernsey’s generous local community which will be invested into the Kenyan economy through the purchasing of local books, stationary etc. which will hopefully provide a boost to the local economy whilst also benefitting schoolchildren in the area. 

Planning is also underway for our team project, which will perhaps form the centrepiece of our efforts in Kenya. Projects in previous years have included a climbing frame and a computer suite. This year’s team members are hoping to carry on the success of previous years through the construction of a hatchery - this will allow the local community to become more self sufficient. Team members have also started the planning of their individual lessons which - so far - seem to cover the sciences, branches of mathematics, and what promises to be a real hit: ‘Fun with Flags’. 

That’s it. Musing over. Bye. 

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Don pulling his weight in bag packing - raising money for school supplies