A day filled with sadness and thrill

The last days in Kenya,
Waking up, opening my eyes and turning my head to the left, I see Jimis sad face with tears falling down his cheeks, I realize with sadness that today is gonna be our last day here in our own little paradise.
Our trustful driver "Andy" drove us to the finnish embassy in the morning, and we heard short presentations about their work and the situation with the relation between Kenya and Somalia (Al Shabaab). Some of us also pre voted for the presidential election we soon have in Finland.
Before going to the embassy our teachers told us to dress up a little as we were visiting a little more official place, so the most of us was wearing our better clothes. After the visit though we suddenly were, dressed up, just outside of the gates of Africas biggest slum, and after paying 4 armed guards (one of them wearing garfield socks) and a guide, we entered Kibera.
The experience was breathtaking. We walked in muddy allies filled with garbage and sewage water, among steel house wrecks and some even built of their excrement. Our group was lucky enough even to be able to visit 2 different homes and listening to some touching real life stories. After the visit we find our way actually to a local Kibera slum school. Talking about a breathtaking experience! The school was surrounded by fences and gates, and inside there were about 270 pupils taking lessons, divided into 8 classes. We gave them some gifts, and they showed their appreciation by dancing a little.

Coming back from the slum, we felt so dirty and exhausted, that we greased our bodies with disinfecting agents, and jumped straight into our pool, enjoying ourself just like it would be our last day! :)

/Gabbe, Fanny & Jimi

more pictures!

Muzungus on the road again!

Today as we woke up in wundanuyi we discovered that it had been raining during the night. Our guide Ken told us that he had never seen rain in january, so we really got to experience something special. The locals were really happy about it because rain is always welcome for the farmers, but on the other hand it was a bit concerning because it REALLY shouldn't be raining in january in Kenya. So while Finland didn't get any snow for christmas, Kenyans got rain in January during their dry season. It might have something to do with global warming?!

After driving slalom 250 km between broken down trucks and camels for about 10 hours we finally arrived back to Scriptura Mission in Nairobi. After a long trip with only snacks and soda we got some REAL food (fishschnizels). Some of us decided not to let our full stomachs and the darkness prevent us from taking a refreshing dip in the pool.

After an exhausting day of not doing anything we are all now heading to bed.

Usiku mwema! (good night)

/Fanny, Sophia, Gabriel, Matias and Wille

Last night at Wundanyi

Tuesday

Today was the last day of our stay here in Taita. After the everyday morning routine, eating breakfast, packing our bags etc the bus took us up the hill for one last visit to the Canon Kituri Secondary School were we today, for the first time, we actually got to attend to their classes!

One lesson is 40 minutes long and they have 2 of these 40min lessons a time. Then they get a 15min break, followed by the next ”pair” of lessons. All of us got to attend to 4 of these lessons, visiting which ever class wanted. Speaking on behalf of ourselves, we experienced the lessons quite ineffective and low standard, but in general it felt great to see what a standard leveled school in Kenya really is like.

After the school visit we headed out to the rainforest, there we saw a lot of different endangered species and plants. After all it looked a lot like a Finnish forest and not as exotic as we thought, although we saw a mother-tree and some monkeys. We walked about an hour in the rainforest until we stopped to rest on a cliff with a beautiful view of the whole valley below. After a short brake we headed back to the bus and drove back to our headquarters.

Later some of us visited an old cave that was used by the freedom fighters during Kenyas independence war just down the road. For example Kenyas first president stayed there hiding back in the day.

We have a long trip ahead of us tomorrow driving back to Nairobi, so now the boys will go and enjoy one last sauna here in Wundanyi (Taita).

/ JWG (Jimi, Wille, Gabbe)

pictures!

First two pictures are from Icipe ( bug place) and the following three pictures above are from Paradise lost ( the coffee place). Then we saw a very surprising thing when we noticed that there are ads on the houses: from condoms to cellphones :D In the last two pictures we are doing our laundry! Who says that men don't do laundry!?

A quick tip 2

A second quick tip: don't take sun in Kenia! Reallyreallyreally use the suncream all the time, even if the sun doesn't shine or you're going to look like Onneli (the picture above)!

Susanna & Onneli

Canon Kituri Secondary School

We woke up and ate breakfast at 7.30. Then we had about an hour to prepare before we took off to Wundunay village. Some of us visited a local slaughtery on the way (some of us had no interest in seeing any part of it). In the village we had some time to roam around by ourselves and explore the market. Four of the boys had the courage to try a local restaurant, which inspite of the menu only served beans. From what we heard it didn't taste too delicious.

When we returned from the village, some of us relaxed in the sun, which led to sunburning for many of us. Then we took off for the main event of the day : Canon Kituri Secondary School. We drove five kilometers uphill and found ourselves surrounded by school students our own age. The students waited for us in their dining room and when we introduced ourselves, we felt very welcomed. We had some time to get to know each others in small groups, and share pictures and tell about our families and lifestyles. They were thrilled abour the gifts we gave them : a laptop and a projector. They wanted to show us around, which we were excited about. But they seemed even more excited and were eager to take pictures of everyone and everywhere. Then it was time to say "see you tomorrow" because we're going to spend our day with them tomorrow as well.

Now we're sitting at the terasse and eating excoting froots in the moonlight and just enjoying ourselves in the middle of the rainforest.

/ Emmy & Riina