Jambo! thats foreigner Swahili for hello, apparently if one says this they are instantly recognisable as a tourist. This has not worried us too much, its fairly obvious anyway.

So, its been a while since I was sitting on my sofa with the fear, about to begin a journey south, to below the equator. This, is in fact, my first in country blog! There is an awful lot to tell. I will try not to miss too much out.

We first of all got picked up at the airport by the advance africa leader, Joe. Who took us from the airport to the AA house in Zambezi, just outside Nairobi. We were all pretty well aquainted by this point and felt comfortable in each other's company. Just as well, as we were all staying in 2 dorms; 6 in the boys dorm and 8 in the girls. The first day at the house was pretty easy going as we were all pretty sleep deprived and going a bit mental (I wrote in my diary and read it back the other day, it was basically total jibberish). Apart from Joe, we had several other members of the AA team, looking after us; Mercy 1 who is our project leader on site, Mercy 2 the general Housekeeper, Kevin the operations manager (apparently. It seemed to me like he basically spent his whole time strutting around doing his own thing, taking photos and sleeping lots. He was my favourite.)

On Day 2 (Friday) our orientation began properly and we had a bit of a lecture from slide show Joe on staying safe, brief Kenyan history and a few Swahili words. In the afternoon, we visited the Christian Aid office in Nairobi and got a bit of another lecture from the president there. They were both interesting and relevant, but by the afternoon, we were hot and tired again and concentration levels were dwindling. The evenings we had to ourselves and generally spent them lazing about.

On the next day, we had more orientation, the major point from which is the details of our excursion: we are only bloody going to the Maasai Mara national park!! Thats where all the animals migrate to around this time of year (the great migration its called and apparently its one of the 8 wonders of the modern world) and we are going for a weekend. We should be able to see the big 5, I am very excited!

Day four (Sunday) was our last at the AA house, and we went to a tour of the Slums. The biggest slum in Africa we are told, by the name of Kubera(?). It has 1.5 million inhabitants. I is just huge. A wobbly great, brown lake of corrugated roofs. We drove through the makeshift roads and saw people getting on with their lives normally as we were gawping at them through a window. We stopped at an orphanage and and looked around, meeting some of the kids and adults, which was actually quite moving and a bit of an emotional rollercoaster. I was at once appalled by the cramped conditions and wondered why on earth we were not helping a project like this, rather than hugging trees in a village up north. But then sense clouded over once again and I realised that the kids here were actually the lucky ones, not all the orphans and needy kids will get the break and education that these have. This made me a little bit angry actually. And as for the project, Plat2 couldnt possibly have got insurance for us to work in the slum, taking us there to visit was the best way for them to help us understand the poverty and way of life there. Besides, the project in Meru has much bigger and far-reaching consequences that will benefit a lot more people and country as a whole. It is the bigger picture. I would like to have gone on more about Kubera, but there is a time/internet/money/practicality issue, so i have just included the important bits.

on Monday, we left for the project site in Meru and were treated in the local village to a traditional tribal dance from the women of the village and a tree planting ceremony. This was unexpected and totally brilliant. It seemed like the whole village was there to welcome us in. We all got involved in the dancing eventually and the girls in the group got to hit a small shield with a stick like the tribe's women. All the kids were excited too and fascinated by our cameras and trying to speak english to us. The ceremony was to represent our arrival and our involvement with the local conservation projects. I think seeing the culture of dancing, and joining in was easily the highlight so far, of the trip if not my life. The best welcome ever.

We got down to work on the Wednesday, and managed to achieve a lot in a day. Isaac, the project chairman for the local area, was really impressed. We all were really enthusiastic and got stuck in so it was great to see him so happy with our work. It was a smaller project area on a plot of land attached to a church nearby our homestays (I will talk about them next time, promise) and we dug it all up and levelled it, filling in a few planting sacks along the way by the end of the week. I think the idea is for the local parish group to take over the land after we have finished it and use any proceedings they make from it towards the local HIV/AIDS centre. We will be working on this next weekuntil we have finished the potting, then into the forest for the big project.

I am afraid I must leave it there guys, until next week... safe.

p.s. its my birthday next saturday!! xx