So we returned last night at nine o'clock tired and unwashed from 4 days in the wilderness, and what is the first thing we do? Like true pampered westerners we headed straight out for some sugar rich food. After four days of eating nothing but goat and rice I think our energy levels were at an all time low. The experience I had in Masailand was, however bad the food was, one of the most culturally rich experiences of my life which I would put on a par with my journey through Tibet to Everest Base Camp. There were thirteen of us to begin with; myself, Shiama, a Canadian volunteer called Helena, an American called Steve and a team of eight counsellors and health workers led by the wonderful Jayne. We travelled in our jeep on Thursday through Nairobi and it's wealthy suburbs. Then we drove past the tin hut towns and the roadside hotels until finally there was nothing but the bumpy road ahead of us. After a few hours we entered the heart of Masailand and passed young boys herding cattle and goats and fully dressed Masai's on the road to market. They make quite an impact in their brightly coloured robes which are tied around them, holding spears and with their beaded jewellery and stretched, hanging ears. They are majestic and graceful, full of warmth and heart. The first thing we had to do when we arrived was set up the tents, ten in all with one for the reception and five in which the testing and counseling would take place. We were based at the top of a small hill that led down to a river and apart from that there was nothing but dust and trees for miles. This was followed by a dinner of rice and potatoes and an early night. On the Friday there was little to do as the majority of the Masai people would not arrive to the site until Saturday, so we swam in the river and went fishing (caught three Catfish). Lunch was to be goat and one of the counsellors asked if I had ever seen a goat prepared before. I followed him to the place under a tree where a Masai and his three sons had just slit the throat of the goat and observed them slowly cutting the skin away. So far, not so bad. Then, the man sliced down the animal's stomach and lifted out the insides. He cut out the kidneys, chopped them into four and handed a piece to me. It was still warm. Just as I was about to hand it back to him, one of his sons put half a kidney in his mouth, chewed it and swallowed it where he stood. I think the look on my face must have been priceless. Five minutes later another of his sons drained some of the blood into a cup and offered it to me. Of course, temped as I was I declined so he swigged the whole lot himself. By this time I was feeling a little pale but the worst was yet to come. After dealing with the meat, the man was left with the stomach, the intestines and the head. He burst the stomach and washed it out in a basin. Then he began squeezing the **** out of the small intestine inch by inch. Shiama got in there and had a go. I didn't. Anyway, meat, stomach, intestines, all were put in a pot and boiled. I tried, I really tried to like it but I couldn't. I ate rice and a little of the fish. As evening drew nearer, we lit a fire and sat drinking tea. The counselors were great fun and always joking around. They were about my age and made us feel very welcome, teaching us Kenyan songs and playing tricks on us. At about eight o'clock some Masai people arrived and started singing tribal songs about 10 metres away from us. It was really piercing and emotive music and we all sat and listened for nearly two hours. It felt amazing to be sitting around a fire in the middle of the African wilderness, listening to this music, to the river and to the sound of hyenas howling. On Saturday I literally jumped out of bed. I was trying to sleepily check to time on my watch when I saw a tarantula the size of my hand crawling over my bag at the edge of my tent. I know I overcame my spider phobia in Nepal, but please understand...this was a beast of a spider, fat and hairy and HUGE. I'm surprised I didn't scream but I spoke in a very deep fast voice and told the others they had to wake up and get out of the tent. So we tumbled out and shouted to the others. Masa, one of the drivers came running over with a huge club and with one quick blow it was flattened and he carried it out, telling us if it had bitten us we would be dead within four hours without medical help. We were ten hours from medical help. So thankfully for me, I am not dead. It was then, however the remembered to tell us that there were snakes, lions and hippos all living nearby. Great! Anyway, that morning a Christian group from an American NGO called HEARTS arrived and pitched their tents next to ours. They had brought some medical supplies and were doing health education with the Masai people. When the clients started showing up it was our job to go and talk to them, get them to agree to be tested and then assign them to a counselor. The language barrier was a challenge as they speak their own tribal language but it was amazing to meet them and there is a great deal of information that can be communicated non-verbally. I bonded particularly well with the children and took my place looking after the sick babies and blowing up balloons or the kids. It is an amazing job that Jayne and her team do. They really reach people who need them. By the end of the day we were exhausted and were glad when dinner came. Barbequed goat was on the menu, which was slightly better than boiled goat. It was amazing to eat and sleep with over 200 Masai people. After dinner, the Americans pulled a movie projector out of their bus and screened a film. I was gobsmacked. It was an amazing sight to see all these people who had mostly never seen a film before all sitting in the dark gazing at this film. Of course it was The Life of Jesus Christ dubbed in Masai and the sheet they were projecting it on kept blowing in the wind so I chatted while they all watched but there was quite an atmosphere. On Sunday morning we had two services by the river, one by the Americans, one by the Masai people. There are certainly many differences. Church is a more colourful place in Africa with a lot of singing and dancing. This was followed by a mass baptism which actually reduced me to tears, it was so emotional. I wasn't expecting that but there was definately something in the air. Everyone seemed to just be so happy and enjoying themselves. Anyway, while we were waiting for the team to pack up their equipment, Shiama, Helena and I decided we would take the jeep off and partake in some off road driving. For those of you who do not know, I have never driven and neither has Shiama. It was an automatic which took away complication and I honestly had the best time driving it. I always thought my problem would be being overcautious but apparently it was going too fast. Anyway, just as we were about to head back to camp, Shiama dropped us in a ditch. We really didn't want to go back to camp without the car...you know, it's a bit embarrassing so we stood trying to push it out for about half an hour. In the end it took eight men to lift it out (it was firmly wedged) but we had a laugh trying to think of different ways to get it out. Anyway, we had a fantastic time and will be working with the same counselors for our own project which Jayne has agreed to help us with. What she did tell us though is that the money would be better spent in a more concentrated time frame, gathering a great number of people over a few days with more counselors and providing some medical treatment to attract people to come and get tested. I'm really excited about it. Hopefully it will go as well as this one did. Today I am having a day off, going to the cinema and meeting some friends. Then tomorrow it's back to Kibera and to the clinic. Pictures of the trip will be up on this site tomorrow. X Happy birthday mum! Love you!