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Had a full last day in Kenya, visited the elephant orphanage in the morning, and saw the most adorable sight of baby elephants drinking from oversized bottles of milk. I want a baby elephant!
We then went into Nairobi town, past the slums which just astonished me. I have never seen slums before, let alone that size. It's a stark reminder of the hardship in Kenya, even in a western looking city like Nairobi. We arrived at the faraja project. They are a very small charity for Cancer patients, that we have raised money for, as part of our charity ride. It was great to see the work they do and just what a difference the funds raised will make to them. I couldn't believe that there are no screening programs in Kenya, and nearly all cancers are only detected in stage 3 or 4. If you're lucky enough to survive that far, there is then a huge waiting list, as there are only 8 oncologists in the whole of Kenya, which has a population of 80 million, and only the national Nairobi hospital has the treatment centre. Up until this week, patients had to pay for chemo in Kenya, so few could afford it. The survival rate is very low. Seeing the difference the Faraja project makes to cancer patients was great. They offer physiotherapy, counselling, information leaflets (all MacMillan leaflets from the UK), and everything that we take for granted in the UK. Such a small charity but you can tell that this ride has given them a helping hand to become something big. We all moan about the NHS, we really don't know how lucky we are until you see something like Kenya's cancer treatment. Whilst that seems very sombre, it was a very positive and uplifting visit, talking to survivors that had been helped by the project. So so glad that this ride gave something back to Kenya, instead of just using their beautiful country.
Then it was onto the hotel where the drinking began! A trip to a restaurant where I ate camel, ostrich, beef, chicken and kingfish! Back to the hotel for more beers and now there's just enough time for a few hours sleep before we have to go to the airport.
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Sally . What a very poignant post that was. Safe journey and take care of that medal. Love Sally xxx
[email protected] glad to see you've recovered enough to get some well earned rest and relaxation in :) have a safe journey home - see you soon!