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Helen in Africa
Since I last wrote a lot has happened. We have managed to compromise with VICDA and will now spend the next two weeks working in an orpahanage in Kibera, testing and counselling the children there. The following two weeks will be spent with our mobile clinic in Saiaya, western Kenya. This has cut costs, which we were struggling with and also means I get to spend some time with kids, which I enjoyed so much in Nepal and have been missing here. So it's kind of the best of both worlds.
My week ended on Friday with a trip to the bank in town with another volunteer, Deirdre. The bank we were in was held up, thankfully just after we left. However, as we got further down the main street there was a shoot out between the thieves and the police. Two men were shot dead, one accidentally. It was pretty scary to be honest. Noone was quite sure where the shots were going so people were running about everywhere. We ended up trapped in another bank for half an hour. There are a lot of guns here. To top it off, I was charged almost 10 pounds when the police stopped our taxi, for not wearing my seatbelt. The police love it when they have a reason to charge you. At least with foreigners the look for reasons. With the Kenyans the just charge them for nothing and if they refuse to pay, they take them to a police station where they get charged an even bigger fine or get put in jail. Everything here is corrupt and it's the decent, honest people who suffer most.
Friday night was spent with the other volunteers at a place called Carnivore restaurant. It is one of the top 100 restaurants in the world according to... someone. It's a pretty amazing experience. In the middle of the room there is a huge barbeque with all different kinds of meat cooking including Camel, Crocodile and Ostrich. The waiters bring them to your table on huge skewers and carve them onto your plate. It's not a good place for vegetarians but if you like meat it is top quality. We finished the evening at the soul club next door where the male volunteers were very popular with some of the Kenyan ladies...
After deciding to save the coast for September when there are warmer climates, tomorrow we are all off to camp at Lake Naivasha. Apparently it's really beautiful and you can take a boat onto the lake to see Hippos and Flamingos. It will be nice to get out of the city and see some of rural Africa.
Take care. I'm really missing you all,
love,
Helen x
ps. Spade, the beer is good, it's Tuskan!
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