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Having enthusiastically to start with and then less so towards the end of my 'career break ' year of keeping a blog (that a few friends and family loyally read - thank you); I thought I would try and keep it up and note down my experiences now I am officially living and working in Kenya (as opposed to 'travelling' and volunteering in Kenya over the last 6 months). This will be principally for my benefit as those that know me well will know I have a lousy memory and therefore remembering all that I have been doing will be a challenge.
So where do I start? I guess I have made the second big change - the first being taking a year off and leaving the corporate world but still having that safety net that it was only a career break. (But never realising the safety net was never really there and they never wanted me back and I guess I never wanted to return either). So I have now taken the plunge and made the second big change and reduced my salary to nearly a quarter, given up my final salary pension all for a one year contract - but that means I am lucky to be living and working in Africa. And when I think about it - I think this is something I always wanted to do but never possibly had the guts to do before. Maybe being single in my early (stress the early bit) 40s has made me look at the positive things that this brings - including a different type of confidence and freedom than what you have in your 20s.
I think being born in Africa and hearing all about what my parents did and then living in PNG in the early 80s always meant that living abroad was in my blood and something I wanted to continue to experience. Combine that with feeling less and less comfortable with what was feeling more and more a materialistic world of the west - or maybe it's just London but at the same time slipping very easily into that world and enjoying it too much for my liking! Maybe it was not the lack of guts that stopped me before, but not trying hard enough to convince my previous partners to do it or making excuses because it didn't feel like the right timing in terms of my career and what I was doing. I guess in the last 5 years I had manipulated my job to include a lot of travel and links with the developing world, which was a bit of a fix but I realise now that it was never the same as the experience of living as an expat somewhere like Nairobi. So here I am, my Chiswick flat rented out for two years, possessions scattered around the UK; at my parents new cottage in Greenhead in Cumbria, in my sisters newly boarded loft and at my parents house in Suffolk following -all following a three day road trip in a very large white van with my brother-in-law Andy and my Dad being real stars helping me out and making the deliveries.
The start of this new era did not go quite as smoothly as I would have liked but the new chilled out me kinda took it in her stride. My planned 10 days back to the UK to pack up and say goodbye ended up being over three weeks with major delays in getting a contract confirmed - the main reason being it was originally for 6 months but work permits meant that it would end up needing to be for a year - which took a lot of signing off but which when it happens work out much better for me. So eventually without a contract, I booked a flight (with the promise that the cost would be reimbursed) and returned.
I was upgraded by BA to Premium Economy - thank you BA, and it was a day flight so I just relaxed and watched three movies and then was suddenly landing. Immigration queues better than usual, and with no contract actually agreed I entered as a tourist and easily got my three months visa. With my two very well packed bags (including a christmas tree, christmas lights, christmas cake and pudding - a lot for someone that is not that into christmas), I eagerly looked out for my faithful taxi driver Alex. Unfortunately he had sent someone else I had not used before, who took ages to find me but we eventually got through the as ever long queue to pay (why they only have one person working at the ticket kiosk is beyond me). Then back to the Fairtrade guesthouse - essentially my apartment as no one else is staying here and it felt like i was coming home. It was gone 11pm and my Maasai Ascari (guard) opened the gate with a big grin on his face and in broken English said "You are back!" - he and another guard then carried my two massive bags around to the back of the building to my entrance - something he has never done before so the next day I gave them 200 bob (£1.50) as a thank you. Ascaris are not that well paid, so this would have been a reasonable amount - I think they earn around 7000 shilling/£50 a month. He hasn't stopped smiling at me since! But as they look after me at nice, definitely worth it.
I was back in time for our book club christmas dinner - well an excuse for a nice meal at About Thyme. As ever not many of us had actually read the book - I managed about three quarters of it but it was a fascinating insight into Kenya, politics, tribalism and the central theme of endemic corruption - It's Our Turn to Eat: The Story of a Kenyan Whistle Blower by Michela Wrong. But lovely to see all the girls.
However the best bit of finally making it back was the being able to join 11 others for a weekend trip to the Aberdares, staying in two basic (no electricity), wooden fishing lodges at 3000m so very cold at night (but I was prepared with thermals and a hot water bottle!) and there was a big fireplace in each. This is what makes living here so great - you can escape Nairobi for some amazing places, you get to meet new people all the time - Cat was there, and Pontus who I met at the Rift Valley Festival and his wife, and then people from Canada, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, Germany - all who worked for the UN. We all got stuck in, each of us previously signing up to bring different meals so lots of great conversations sitting around a large wooden table. I leant a new card game Phase 10 - and won!! Some of us went for a couple of hours walk through various terrain - grasslands, swamps, thick forest including bamboo patches and a lot of it up hill - and a lot of it on my bum! But good exercise and beautiful surroundings with Patrick our ranger guiding us with his gun ready to protect us from any buffalo that might want to get a bit friendly. We also went out to find some waterfalls but came across a bus of school kids stuck in the mud blocking our way - then one of the 4x4s got stuck, but the drivers were prepared with pangas (machetes), spades and tow ropes - fortunately we only had to use the latter. But we got to see one impressive waterfall. On the way back on the Sunday, we drove to the north of the park to do some game viewing - hyenas, lots of bush buck, monkeys, baboons, elephant (in the distance) and buffalos and beautiful surroundings with some great off-roading. Back to Nairobi along the new super highway - 8 lines at times - scary with sudden police checks, no hard shoulder so cars stopped in the middle of the road, and speed bumps and crossing points with no warning - but was faster than the severely pot holed roads we arrived on. In Nairobi the three cars all met up in an Italian restaurant for a quick meal and to say goodbye! A great start to be being back in this amazing country.
- comments
Katy Snowball I'm glad to find your blog! Great post, I know how you feel about taking such a huge leap after the corporate world (and growing up in PNG). And hurrah you are around for many more fun book club/dinner club evenings!
Shelley Cruse Love it, Liz. Looking forward to the next entry xx
jules fantastic to read this lucid account liz and what is still such an adventure. Let us know how eating christmas pudding goes in africa! jules xx
debs wharton Liz, brilliant read. Sending you Christmas wishes and much happiness for the year ahead in your continuing adventures. Debs