Blog February 2011

Been a busy time since I last typed … without a driver at the moment so kids running around has been down to me – not complaining as have enjoyed the extra time with them. I have realized that the time in the car is so precious – we talk about stuff that gets abandoned the minute they get home. Also by being at school and taking coffee at the PTO shop many mornings instead of heading straight home, I have met lots of new parents, been able to welcome and reassure them. There is a whole culture of parents who bring their kids to school every day which I have been out of for 18 months. Generally I do errands on the way home so essentially my day has completely turned around. I have broken my semi obsessive routine which has been great for my mental health. Our house help, Joyce, thinks I have secretly got a job as I am hardly at the house! This has partly been because I have been very involved with organizing a Valentine Party at the school along with a couple of others. The event was very successful, enjoyed by seemingly everyone. It is great that it is now over and I can start to look towards finishing my time on the PTO at the end of this semester…

I have been reflecting on all the Ambassadors and High Commissioners we meet (or even just people with prominent embassy positions) – my kids must think this is normal … to me it is still even after 2 years in Nairobi, surreal to say the least. Of course, these are actually just normal folk in most cases …. A couple of weeks ago I was at the UN shop and got chatting to a lady, South African called Nicola, in the car park. I had a trolley full of sparkling wine which was somewhat unstable as I was trying to load the car and she came to my rescue – very innocuous – turned out she had only been here 2 weeks, first posting without her kids – we exchanged numbers and later the same day I sent her a text suggesting we meet for coffee. The upshot of that simple gesture was an invite to her house for coffee the following week to meet some SA ladies she had hooked up with (turned out I knew 2 of them – one I had met in the school car park when I had been here about 2 weeks!) I took rent-a- crowd to her house – 2 ladies who lived close to her in the same suburb, always useful to know someone close by in the event of an emergency… on arriving at the house I began to suspect her husband was fairly high up in the EU delegation here – high up, mmmm only Head of Mission – AKA EU ambassador!! Here is another connection – those hairy bikers from the back end of 2010 - Nicola knows their Uncle, who works for the EU in Ethiopia, from their days in Belgium. What a small world indeed. I now see this expatriate existence as a group of overlapping circles which overlap more and more as time goes on. It is all very different to our time in Bulawayo, although I was involved in a conversation last week which was a connection to Bulawayo – ‘Did you hear about the guy who was taken by a lion on the shores of Lake Kariba? ’ At the time we were exchanging gruesome safari stories and near misses …. I know that guy; he lived down the road from us in Bulawayo and worked for the same organization as my husband – there followed gasps of amazement at the coincidence. It’s not the first time that this incidence has been mentioned in my presence. Small continent, Africa – love her!!

Steve had a nasty theft incident last month which could have been a lot worse… after cycling one Sunday, he and Barbara were driving through a dodgy area (dodgy is a VERY mild description of this place) with bikes on the back of a car on a carrier. While they had slowed for a speed bump/ jam of matatus, a saddle bag was stolen off the back of Steve’s bike. The car behind indicated what had occurred so they turned round and ‘gave chase’ in the car. The upshot of it all was Steve got the saddle bag back minus the tool kit, BUT in the process had his new sunglasses stolen off his face while the car was surrounded by a threatening crowd – I think at that point Barbara just tried to ‘put foot’ and drive off - very difficult when the car was being pawed by many people. It was a lucky escape with no injuries – the bikers have not gone that way since …..

Anna went on a fabulous Inter-cultural trip in January to West Pokot where a group of 20 students built a bridge! Check it out by clicking on the following link www.bridgingthegapafrica.org she had a fantastic time – it was so interesting hearing about their interaction with the local community and being touched by the enormity of what this bridge meant to them. Luke is currently on his Grade 5 IC camping trip to the Mt Kenya region. I was very grateful that in 2009 we invested in good outdoor gear – arctic sleeping bag/sleeping mats, large rucksack, day packs, walking shoes etc. Luke is away for 3 nights and as Steve is in Germany that leaves Anna and I – what a change to be just girls in the house …. She is studying and I am blogging – shouldn’t we be doing movies and chocolates??!!

After 11 years I am finally joining the ranks of the employed with a job right up my street with the

UNITED NATIONS LOCAL EXPATRIATES SPOUSES ASSOCIATION IN KENYA

(UNKLESA)

This organisation has developed an orientation/relocation program for new UN employees and families. This service will be automatically offered to people coming to Nairobi who are starting with certain UN agencies who have signed up to the program. A number of consultants have been recruited (yours truly included) and will be assigned clients – first one coming my way next week. For the time being it will be very part-time and hours to suit me but the number of people taking up the service is a bit of an unknown quantity – with it being a new service there are no statistics on uptake. I suppose the success will partially depend on the quality of consultants on the ground. The agencies pay for the service so is gratis to our clients. I will get an hourly rate. The future remains to be seen!!

I am pulling back from my school PTO work at the end of the school year, so should the paid work take off I will be able to make myself available more frequently wef August.

We just organised (as mentioned earlier) and held a very successful Valentine Social for parents and teachers, with Lebanese style buffet, cash bar, disco and a fantastic array of baskets containing all sorts of goodies which were auctioned silently. There were weekend breaks, jewellery, wine, chocolates, DVDs, restaurant and beauty vouchers – mostly donated from corporate sponsors – giving 100%profit. We hope to be able to make a very generous donation to local charities on behalf of the PTO next month as a result of a great year of events supported by the school community.

And so to March – cannot believe that we are nearly through February. Dad arrives mid month and we are off for a week at Spring Break – 6 nights at the coast and 1 night in Amboseli on the way back. Anna is off skiing in Verbiers for the 3^rd and final time. On March 30^th we have such a treat – Sandy is visiting for a week – SO looking forward to seeing her after more than 2 years – will be fantastic catching up with her.

So I will sign off here – until next time ....