Hello there everyone! i think its about time we gave you an udate on the past month. well basically its been amazing-frontier were absolutely useless-if your planning on volunteering do it on your own they absolutely skank you out of you money-but all that aside, mafia itself couldnt have been better. we arrived and were put in what looked like a derelict building. it was literally 4 rooms with 3 foam matresses and a bed. on the plus side it had electricity which we werent expecting and 2 working fans. it was actually a pretty big house and after about a week we'd made it home. there were a few tears from harriet one of the other volunteer teachers, but me and clifford loved it because it was so basic-real africa as i like to say! there were 3 teachers who'd already been there a few months so we spent the first week with them and they showed us all the places to go and what to do etc. we couldnt teach for the first week when we were there because the students were on holiday which was rubbish; we only taught for 10 days out of the 4 weeks which we were there..

but we did spend this time at the beach and got to see the other teachers houses who lived with nuns and priests-it was like a 5star guest house-they had sofas, tvs, beds and sit down loo's-oh yeh we had a squat toilet and bucket shower at our house. bucket showers were actually really cool though-we got to stand outside in our courtyard to have one which added to the african experience. the beach at utende was nice-we cought the dala dala-a people carrier there from killindoni which cost 1000 shillings-50p. they were originally about 10 seaters but they made sure they crammed in 15-20 people when they could-very cosy ride. the first day we caught one it broke down on the way there then on the way back the radiator over heated so the driver open up the cover-which was under the front passenger seat and let all the boiling hot water cool off by letting it splutter out all over the place -all the girls got out but clifford and max decided to sit it out and sure enough drove past 5 mins later so i got back on. appart from that day they were a godsend-especially when walkin back from kitomondo school which was a 2k walk-even better when they gave you a lift for free.

when we eventually started teaching our first impressions werent overly great. i decided to teach english and then me and clifford shared biology-its amusing how the locals think your really inteligent when you say your teaching boilogy- 'ah you should be a doctor' one guy said.. that didnt strike much faith in the medical service of mafia for me. some of the kids were ace and really wanted to learn and then theres the others who just didnt seem to care. it took us a few lessons to realise that although they say there taught in english what they actually mean is that there taught in swahili but the works written in engligh so they dont really know what your saying. we also gave up fighting with the kids who wanted to disturb the class-we made them shut up but if they didnt want to write it down, i took the aproach of its not our problem if they cant be arsed. however i ended up making friends with a few of the ones who disturbed the class and realised they just didnt get it.i humiliated one guy who was disturbing cliffords class and he sulked for 2 days and wouldnt talk to me- however i did a lesson on speaking english and made friends with him again cos i helped him through it and he seemed to apriciate it-he kissed my hand which was a nice gesture. i think he was dislexic which is why he played up so much but at the school they concentrate on the intelligent ones and pretty much ignore the ones who struggle. there motto is discipline is success.. we saw a few kids getting cained a few times which wasnt nice. one of the pupils who decided hed teach me swahili actually gave me the phrase for 'i will beat you' -which i said i didnt want! i latched on to teaching alot more that clifford did, hes confirmed he definately couldnt be a teacher! - quotes i wont repeat! walkin to school could be a killer in the sun, and i made a point of walkin there solo when we could. theres alot more chance of getting a lift that way-alot of motorbikes go past but not many cars so they dont offer you a lift if theres 2 of you. the locals were also a bit more chatty - its wierd being a mzungu in mafia-they either look at you like your famous or asif there about to murder you with a machete! the kids all run out of there houses and shout bye bye and wave at you frantically as you walk past-the odd one comes up and grabs your hand or sneakily pats you asif your a dangerous animal and there being really daring. dead cute.

they do the whole using you right hand for eating with and left hand for the loo and i think i offend one guy cos i gave him my left hand cos his friend was shaking my right.. he made it brief and then put me down like a dirty rag which made me chuckle. clifford also had a sulk when a guy with a wet hand held his hand for about a minuite! antibac went down quickly!

definately the best thing about Mafia was the lifestyle we created. our house was directly opposite the upcoming resteraunt of Mafia, hakuna matata-which opened 2 weeks before we left, and Mapozies which became our lacal bar where we made friends with all the locals. clifford made the most of the pool table which was in there and created a bit of a feude when he beat about 4 of the locals at a game which they thought they were gods at. we met ali there who spoke really good engligh and became our translator-and editor when he decided it was best that we didnt know what the locals were saying. clifford became really good friends with him cos he always wanted him as his pool table double. we also met frenke and the other massai at Mapozies. the massai were working as the askari- bouncers for hakuna matata, and we bought jewelarry off them and just saw them about and made some sort of conversation with them with little bits of swahili and sign language. by the end of the 4 weeks we were going to the beach with the locals and the massai who always carried there clubs and sword type things with them, which was cool. i acumilated a fair bit of jewelarry off the massai- baby massai gave me every piece he had on him by the end of the trip. he was ace- i ended up being called baby mzungu which was cute. clifford was big mzungu! ha

my puppy.. so whenever i go on holiday with my parents they always keep me well away from the stray animals.. infortunately there was no one there to stop me adopting toto. we were in mapozies-when we didnt really know the locals overly well, and one of the guys picked up a puppy by its legs who screamed its head off. i went over to investigate and frenke-whod caught a kitten for me a few nights earlier brought me the puppy. it was covered in fleas, had lost the fur from its tail and one of its feet, but was the cutest little thing ever. it stopped screaming when i held it-probably cos i help it properly, and it ended up falling asleep on me. everyone i was staying with thought she was gorgeous but the locals were looking at me funny. i put her down n let her walk off but ended up sitting playin with her on the step later on. again locals were asking me why i liked it-they dont view dogs as pets which made me kinda protective. a barmaid dropped a chair over her which missed her but made her scream and although she was 6 foot tall and really butch i was just about ready to punch her- more because she glared at me as she did it. anyway she fell asleep in a corner so i left her and really wished i wouldnt see it again.. however the day after when me harri and emma were walkin back to the house i heard a very similar screatch and i went to investigate to find that the local kids had tied a slip knot rope round her neck and were more or less strangling her.. i picked her up and marched into the house and put her in the back yard in one of the outbuildings. i gave her a cushin and then we went to get some milk after frenke had come round and showed us where to get it from. i thought she was a little angel- she slept all day, drank her milk and got brain freeze then went back to sleep again- easy. however as we fed her more and she grew up a bit- it was quite amazing how much she grew-she turned into a cheeky little mare, demanded attention and really made herself at home. we released her after the first night cos we thought her mum might get her but at 11 the next morning she was scratchin at the door and after that refused to leave. clifford wasnt overjoyed at first cos he didnt want me to get attatched but he intervined a bit late-plus he got attatched anyway. :) oh and i did bath her twice which got rid of the fleas, and her tail and foot fur started to grow back. :)

we definately got hooked on mafia- its become our little bubble and i cried when we left. we checked in 5 mins before the plane was meant to leave (really casual airport when it wants to be) on our last day we crammed everything in- we went and said bye at school, went to the beach with the locals, had my last bucket shower, went to mapozies and got to see the massai do their tribal dancing for us in our courtyard. it was a really ace last day but i have definately got that africa bug-especially for mafia, and clifford wants to go back too. loved it loved it loved it-was an amazing expeiance, but it was a rubbish coming back to reality!

Emma and cliffe :)

ooops im really sorry iv written an epic for you guys- iv been used to writting in my diary!