the great shed/church/community center

I woke up, had breakfast and took my Malaria tablet.
We met up at the gates of the complex, met up with the volunteers and headed to the pier where the boat picked us up. It was a very bright day and the open water smelled of salt, by 8.30 we where cruising along at great speed.
The team onboard was made up of a Spanish phd student – Sergie (he had spent time all over the world monitoring killer whales, dolphins and more), a few Europeans and an American. The captain was a local guy who new the waters and although it seemed like he was never paying attention he had an uncanny knack of spotting things way before any of the rest of us. Everyone was spread about the boat at specific look-out points and two guys recorded info. One of which had a GPS and was looking at the location of fishing boats, wildlife and tourist boats and the other was recording the behaviour of the wildlife. Every 20 minutes everyone rotated to the right to ensure they kept alert.

I was sat at the back of the boat and more along for the ride to see what happened rather than to be involved. No chance! Within minutes I was on my feet scouring the water – desperate to be the first to find a pod of dolphins.
First we saw a turtle, then a huge manta ray breached about 50 meters in front of us, it jumped clean out of the water! After about an hour we found a pod of dolphins (Captain spotted them) and for the next 6 hours we spent time with different groups ranging in size from 2 or 3 to about 10 animals. It was awesome. Numerous times they came in to within a few feet from our boat. They jumped, played, hunted, travelled and chilled. It was fantastic and I was really impressed with how close we got.

A week before a dead humpback had washed up on the reef and the team that was out on the boat approached to take samples. As one of the guys leant over the bow two tiger sharks started to take chunks out of the whale. A close shave and a great adrenaline rush for those guys! We saw a couple of sharks cruise by and the dolphins immediately disappeared, we found them 15 minutes late a good distance away.

The area that we where in was a marine park, fishing was banned within the perimeters and the tourist boats had a code of conduct that they were supposed to stick to. The volunteer boat was out to monitor this and to see the impact of the tourists on the dolphins behaviour. The program has been going for 6 years and they already have some great info – the plan is to complete a 10 year study and then present the findings to the Kenyan authorities who have requested the research. The idea being the sustainability of the industry (if the boats scare the dolphins off long term them obvious there is an issue!) and the protection of habitat.

Sergie and the rest of the guys where a pleasure to be around, their enthusiasm clearly shone through. We had a great lunch of coconut rice, boiled eggs and potato stew and caught the sun.

As we headed in after a chance to snorkel the reef I could have sworn I saw a whale! It was getting late though and we had little fuel left so we made for land rather than go back to investigate. I wished I could go out the next day.

We landed on the island beach and headed up to visit the village. We were told that this community was conservative Muslim, so that meant long trousers, covered shoulders and heads. The school was lots of fun and a group of giggling children kept asking for shampoo, they thought it was the funniest thing ever – we all walked away laughing. In the village it was clear to see that these people had even less than the people on the main land. I didn’t think that that was possible. One of the main issues that they face is that water runs out every year and then they have to bring it over by boat. This costs a fortune and there are plans for a new project to help collect more rainwater.

Back at the volunteer base we had a good look around, they had limited power and no running water, however they had lots more space and I loved it. Great views, a sea breeze – it was truly tropical, add to that the fact that the project is making a great difference to the lives of great people and you can see why people stay here.

That night we headed back out in to the bay to watch the sun go down then headed to bed. We were living in two different worlds, enjoying the beauty of the place and seeing how people can be global citizens and help each other.

(Source: smallerearth.co.uk)

The next day I met the group of people that I was travelling with, a couple of Americans, Brits, a Swiss, Swede and a Dutch guy. We where all excited and enjoyed the hotels pools and bars in the glorious weather. The group was a well travelled one; every continent had been checked out – although this was all of our first time to Kenya.
At about mid day we climbed in to a small battered 9 seater Nissan van and head through the city. It was chaos. It seems that if you have your vehicle’s nose slightly in front you have the right of way. Through the tiny windows in our van people constantly offered us all kinds of stuff – coconuts, coke, cashew nuts and more. All the street venders had a great attitude and constantly mingled between the vehicles.
We tried a few places for diesel – 4th time lucky – apparently there was a shortage. Next we had to get a ferry, the inlet was narrow but as huge ships used it to access the port a bridge was out of the question. After queuing for a while our hot and sweaty van chugged aboard. All of the cars pulled up then hundreds of people crammed on and we made the 5 minute trip. The ladies all around us had bright and vibrant clothes on and looked great.
Heading up the ramp on the other side was madness; people, animals, lorries and huge hand pulled tailors had a steep bank to negotiate. Apparently 80’000 people cross the bridge each day. Armed security was all over the place, although most of them where asleep!
As we left the city limits life slowed down, there was less rubbish and fields began to appear. Children began to wave at our van, shouting ‘jambo!’ Swahili for hello.
On both sides of the road people set up businesses of all kinds, fixing bikes, cooking cobs of sweet corn and more. Everywhere we went the smell of burning wood was never far away. Town streets turned in to sugar cane fields, suddenly we where in the middle of nowhere. I was absolutely loving it.
At one point our van got pulled over by the police, they had all kinds of questions and were clearly after a bribe from the westerners in transit. As soon as it became obvious that one was not coming they shoed us away and we set off at great pace.
Everything in Kenya had the motto ‘poli poli’ (slowly, slowly) apart from the driving, which was mental. We paced an army checkpoint, on guy was swinging an AK47 around his finger. Somehow it did not go off!
We ducked off the main road, 25 minutes from Tanzania down a dirt road. The van slid and skidded all over the place through the red mud. Somehow we kept going over 30mph, ducking head on traffic and the walking people. School girls in head scarves and young lads kicking footballs flashed by the window as our rollercoaster ride took us further and further away from the main road.
Eventually the sun set and we pulled up in a slum, wound our way through and our driver, Drew, spoke to nearly everyone that we drove by. We came to a set of gates and pulled up in a simple, beautiful set of cottages. A world apart from the poverty 20 feet away.
We dumped our bags and set off straight in to the heart of the slum. Weary children constantly came and said a cheerful hello. Parents sat close by watching and each building was lit by a dim light from open charcoal fires. We went up and down, round and through the slum and ended up at the volunteer house, at the heart of the community. It felt safe, if not a little mind boggling.
The volunteers were busy making the evening meal, we had a look around and spoke to a few people. The accommodation was super basic, matching their close by neighbours. We received instructions to be up at 6.30am and were ushered back to the cottages to fall asleep.

Interested in the adventure? www.smallerearth.co.uk/programs/volunteering/country/kenya/

(Source: smallerearth.com)

We have had some great guys sign up for programs last week, here is a little snap shot of what they will be doing and how they will be helping people in very different corners of the globe.

Joe will be flying out to Peru in a few months to an Indigenous village south of the Peruvian Andes. He will be working on a two week project helping to supply water to homes where supplies are scarce. The water provided helps with local agriculture, cooking and hygiene. Joe will leave a definite positive impact upon the families he works with for years to come. For more details on this specific program head to http://www.smallerearth.com/program/187/volunteer_building_projects_-_peru/

Sarah is heading out to Kenya to work on a project that works with children affected by the HIV/AIDS crisis. Sarah will be working to help provide health care to a community of around 62,000 people and will work to provide respite through play to the children of the community. She will be working from Kikuyu Hospital and she will also be based out of local pre-schools. If this program has caught your attention please head to http://www.smallerearth.com/program/157/hiv-fs-aids_orphans_work_in_hospitals_-ampsy-_slums_-_kenya/

We are very excited to hear from the first hand when they get out into the field.

Our next blog will see us catch up with Andy and Hayley, who have just applied for the Canada Work Program, until then check us out at www.smallerearth.com

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