Day 19 - 19th July 2011 - Mwalaganje Elephant Sanctuary.

Jambo! Well since I last wrote in here I seem to have done loads of stuff! Scuba diving was really good! We spent about 30 mins in a pool practicing what we had to do to gain our DSD Padi certificate and then we went into the sea. We dived around 6-8 meters but the visibility was very poor. This was due to the weather as it was making all the sand blow up, under the sea there is no wind but you know what I mean… Anyhow, it was good to learn how to do it, maybe I can see some cool things next time, Australia is good I've heard! After a day at the beach we went back to camp and got dressed up. We went back to Forty Thieves (the beach / evening club) where there were loads of people doing similar things to us. Me and Matt had an Orgasm, Summer Fling and Sexy Wiggles (All names of shots) and then danced as Kings (Boys from Tenerife) on the bar and podium. 'The London Eye' (Sarah Reevell) and 'The Microwave' (Jane Tilly) were both out in force. Ps… Palm tree No'5… So after a great night we all had to get up early the next day for another day at the beach! Me, Matt and the Girls waited 2 hours for a pizza and ended up with 1 pizza + 20% off the bill. Not too bad J In the afternoon I rented a good old Body board and had a well good time catching the waves. Just like we used to do in France! The day ended with a BBQ on the beach and then it was time to pack up to head off to the elephant sanctuary.

So I am now in my tent overlooking rolling hills and a migratory corridor used by elephants. Occasionally herds of about 30 walk right down the valley below us. Pretty mint sight! The camp has about 10 4 man tents plus a really big tee pee and a kitchen/store house with a tree popping out the top. We have two toilets and 3 showers between 30, I love it! We arrived last night just in time to spend the afternoon chilling, playing card games and having 40 winks. After a gorgeous sunset we had our meal and then chilled around the camp fire…

My first day at the elephant sanctuary was spent basically making different stuff with s***! During the morning a group of us went to the Mwaluganje Elephant Dung Paper Factory. A house. We were told the process of how to make the 'Poo paper' and then had a go. We had to dip a mosquito net on a board into water containing, boiled dung and recycled paper and glue. When lifted out a layer of 'paper' was left which we then drained and sponged before leaving to dry for about 12 hours. As we didn't want to stand about watching it dry all day we then made a book out of paper that was already made. We cut the paper to size, added glue and a few folds later a book emerged. We then got to paint our own designs on the front! I'm going to use mine as a photo album for my time in Kenya. In the afternoon I was part of the group to go tree planting in at the local schools Nature garden. The idea is to plant new tress in bags which can then be planted in the ground during rainy season. We mixed yet more Elephant dung with soil and then attempted to put it in the bags. However nearly all of them had a hole in… bloody pointless!! Anyway, I then got into a massive mood, as I do, when one girl thought it would be funny to put a handful of the poo mixture down my back and shorts. Not impressed I have spent most of the evening in my tent listening to of all things Voices in Action 2 and I am just about to go for tea. Bye for now. X

Day 20 - 20th July 2011

Jambo! So today we actually got back to some physical work. The Mwaluganje Elephant Sanctuary is more of less miles from anywhere else. As a result there are very few tourist visitors to the sanctuary and the condition of the roads only keeps the tourists away more. To help combat this issue Camp Kenya have a road maintenance project which aims to improve the condition of and even make roads in some of the worst parts of the sanctuary. This morning we widened the road by about 1 meter, levelled the soil/sand, filled in a ditch and then lay around 30 wheel barrows of stones up a hill. During the process Matt nearly sliced 3 fingers of my left hand with a spade, bit of a close one! The end result was a very nice road for around 100m… such a shame the rest of the 1 hour journey back to camp was as bumpy as hell! A bit of Elton John and Whitney through the Ipod kept me going though! No one on the bus however seamed to understand my actions and sheer passion for Electricity (Rachel W) and a bit of One moment in time (Rachel H)!

This afternoon we were taken to a local village, the definition of which is 4 mud houses, 2 half built mud houses and a lot of chickens. Our task was to ask the local people about their relationship with the elephants that pass through their land, more often than not damage their crops and houses, creating a conflict between the elephants and humans. Camp Kenya then use the information to create future projects and to learn how we can help and teach the locals to no longer hate the elephants but live together with them. To collect the information we had to fill in questionnaires. To talk to the locals we used a translator which meant the whole process was very slow. The locals basically all said the same thing so I spent most of the time trying to stop children terrified by 15 white people turning up at their home from running away from me. A chocolate éclair seamed to the trick so then I taught them how to play Noughts and Crosses.

Tonight we have just chilled, played the card game Speed/Spit and had tea. We tried Africa Cake… a main course made from Maize. This has to be the blandest food ever made! It didn't taste of anything. However, literally 30 mins ago I had my best food in Kenya yet. I charmed an extra banana from my African 'Mama' in the kitchen, managed to get some tin foil off a girl who uses it for her Sheesha, cooked it on the fire, traded cookies for some Nutella and had the best pudding ever! As far as other food goes, mum and dad you would be proud of me! For lunch today I had some kind of Veg stew, I am eating all my greens and don't even think about it! Not promising anything when I'm home though. Just got a text back from Rach so off to read that before bed, yes your gift shop is still standing and I've been in it! I better say hello to Dave as I mentioned Rach or their will be arguments/flirting on Facebook, so hi Dave! By for now! x

Day 23 - 23rd July 2011

Jambo!

I have just had my evening meal on my last night in Mwaluganje, I have had a really good time here over the past few day but now I am ready to move on I think… all will be explained.

Since I last wrote we have been doing lots of different things in the sanctuary, supposedly an elephant sanctuary, but have seen very few bloody elephants. A serious case of false advertising I think!! Anyway, one morning we spent 3 hours walking from house to house in the hills looking for goats to de-worm. Apparently, this is an issue that effectively makes the goats worthless, dead or alive. We arrived at the houses, all mud brick and surrounded by maize fields, armed with a box of syringes and a bottle of yellow/green fluid. After catching the little b*****s, or occasionally interrupting their antics, the locals held the goats and we squirted the fluid into their reluctant mouths. In total we de-wormed 182 goats, not bad going. As well as shoving syringes into the mouths of goats, I again tried to play with the local children. Giving them my trusty hat seamed to break the ice and I managed to count to 10 with some of them J. Back at camp we did the usual before I turned into 'Freddy firebug!' Following in dad's footsteps I made the biggest fire possible using loads of fire wood and scared everyone to death as it was right next to the bone dry tee pee! Opps… I had fun anyway.

So… goats de-wormed and tee pee in tact we moved onto our next project, a big cashew nut tree with exposed roots. Our job was to build a small fence around the roots and with branches and then dig up sand/soil and cover the roots, consequently rescuing the tree. I spent the morning hacking at branches to make them fit the fence with yet another blunt machete. I found this to be a very good way of letting off steam! The tree is situated within the grounds of the local school, Ng'onzini Primary School, Mwachinga. After working on the tree morning I got to be a dinner man! Lunch was being served out of a massive boiling pot, it was called porridge! From what I could gather it was mashed up beans in wall paper paste, again it didn't taste of anything. I served countless children one cup full of 'porridge' adding a little extra when nobody was watching! In the afternoon things started to get interesting…

We were due to play the children at a number of sports, football, netball and hockey. We decided teams and started to play. About 10 mins into our game of football I noticed one little boy, Hamisi Akiba (aged 15), who had the worst gash on his shin I have ever seen! I stopped playing and asked him what happened. 3 days ago he had fallen on a piece of wood and managed to pull it out, however it had become infected. I would say the lump was around the size of a 50p and was sticking out a good 2cm from his shin! The middle of the wound was open and weeping puss and blood. Hamisi was quite happy though, running around bare foot and playing football. I was shocked, if that was my leg I would be phoning an ambulance and seeing a specialist. I asked him why he had not been to a doctor and he replied, 'money'. I could see the doctors from the football pitch and decided I was sorting it out. 40 Kenyan shillings, 28p was stopping him from seeing the doctor! I told him I would take him to the doctor and he said no because he was scared of needles! A little persuasion and a drag by me later and we ended up at the doctors along with another boy with a similar injury who actually turned out to be his brother, Mohammed (age 12). I took both boys in to see the doctor who with light provided by my phone!!, gave them a Tetanus jab, cleaned the wounds, poured antiseptic powder and iodine on them and covered with cotton wool. Both boys were very brave, both cried and nearly broke my hand, I was in 'teacher mode'! I then arranged for them to go back to the doctors next week on Monday, Wednesday and Friday to have their legs redressed, sorted and all tablets. All for a total cost of 160 Kenyan Shillings, ₤1.14! My day then got even better! I walked with the boys and their friends back to school singing my good old favourites Ke Ke ku le and Cum a la vista along the way. When we got to school we sat down still singing my own little mash of the two with counting to 10 in the middle! 2 repeats later I had around 100 children clapping and singing! Words can't describe how good it was! Mum it was awesome! The whole thing then ended when a teacher walked out of his classroom, the kids went quiet…. and I carried on singing….and the kids carried on singing back! Gutted Mr Teacher! It was time for me to go, I hopped on the van feeling amazing. This was the best day of my tour so far! I even rang mum and dad to tell them!

So today, day 23 in Kenya, we went back to the school to dig some holes to put fence posts in around their nature trail. When I arrived at school I was greeted by two boys singing Ke Ke ku le! I asked them where the two boys were who I had taken to the doctors and they said they were at home as it is Saturday. My two new friends, Athumanni and Hamisi (No' 2), sons of the headmaster, took me to Hamisi and Mohammed's house, around 5 mins walk from school. When I got there I was greeted by the two boys who shouted their mother, Betty, and little sister Sophie, from the Maize field. Their legs looked 'better' but nowhere near good! She said how happy she was I had taken her boys to the doctors and explained that they couldn't afford to pay. I told her how brave they were and we joked about them nearly breaking my hand! After a big family picture, the 4 boys and I headed back to school to start on the holes. They gave me a private tour of the Nature trail and then we dug holes with the rest of the group. This was the first time I had got to know some of the children quite well and they told me how 3 of them want to be Pilots and 1 of them an Engineer. In the afternoon, Matt, Tom and I all went back to the football pitch with the 4 boys and their friends with 3 machetes and a hoe. We wanted to repair the goal posts as they had fallen down. After around half an hour we literally had new 'woodwork' and we tested them out with a game of football. I really enjoyed getting to know the boys, singing my songs, meeting their family, talking about their lives. The day ended with me saying goodbye to them, knowing I had helped them out and made one weekend special for them. It got to me that I was leaving them behind knowing that the prospects of them becoming Pilot's and an Engineer were just about as likely as Bolton winning at Wembley! A quiet sit down back at camp with my book, by the way I'm finally on page 100, helped me to reflect on the past few days. At least they will now be able to grow up and strive to be Pilots and Engineers with healthy legs and cashew nuts to help them along their way.

Well I have just spent the last hour and a half writing this blog which I must say I love doing. I hope it's not too boring. I know I go on a bit but I am going to get it put into a hardback book, a feature of offexploring.com, for me to keep once I'm home so I want to make sure I write everything down. Oh ye, while I was having a shower tonight the girls decided to pinch my clothes! The 'towel dance' turned into a 'hat dance' and they for some reason loved taking pictures. Shida! My favourite Swahili word meaning, problem! Anyway, time for bed! Tomorrow we head back to Muhaka for 4 days before I head to India. Exciting stuff! Night x

Ps… There has been a fire at Morrisons J……