Maxfactormama’s Weblog

Two and a half weeks in kenya seems to have flown by – so much to tell so little space! Our trek into the unknown was full of surprises and lots of wonderful memories. The two kenyan guys we hosted here in Australia were still overseas doing concerts with Zaidi Ya Mziki and Gospel Fathers in the USA when we arrived in Nairobi so they had arranged for their welcome team to meet us at the Jomo Kenyatta Airport. It was like being welcomed into an African family - Dezzy & Jey were the two team members assigned to be our guides for the 2.5 weeks but we also had a contingent of Kenyan recording artists who also greeted us at the airport so we felt very spoilt! They were all very friendly and made us feel truely “at home”.

Let me say from the outset, Kenyan traffic is INSANE!!!!!!! We had been warned but were really not prepared for the dodgey roads and even more dodgey traffic “rules”. The rules are “there are no rules”!! After several near misses and several “heart attack” moments, we arrived at the oasis called The Fairview Hotel. I can’t recommend this hotel highly enough – seriously, if you are travelling to Nairobi, this place is THE place to stay! 5 Acres of beautiful tropical gardens and superbly decorated facilities, with a state of the art security system, which we were very grateful for considering the riots that errupted in Kenya the day after we arrived. Despite the political unrest we felt secure in the hotel grounds and the guys from BLINK Missions looked after us very well.  We were also extremely fortunate to be invited to their recording studio and met all of the premier recording artists in Kenya who were putting together a Kenyan Peace Song, which was broadcast around the country to promote the peace message. We explored the city when things were a little more peaceful and spent several days doing touristy things with the guys before heading into the slums to see the work the boys are involved in.

The living conditions we saw in the slums were pretty confronting and although we had prepared ourselves before going, it was still an eye-opener to see the level of poverty there. We were invited into the “homes” of two families who are caring for orphaned children – these dwellings are tin sheds with dirt floors and no facilites. Despite their poverty, these people are trying their best to provide care for these children. The BLINK Mission team is providing support through a local Kenyan Pastor called George Asisi who lives in the slums and he tries to provide support to get these children educated so they can have a more secure future. They are looking for sponsors for this program and part of the reason for our visit was to get some Australian sponsorship set up for them. We were also treated to an exhibition of tribal dancing by a group of teenage boys from the slum and this was very special. Many children from the surrounding area came to watch and cheer the boys on – it was an amazing atmosphere!

We were very honoured to attend traditional African meals in two of the Team members’ homes and we were very warmly welcomed by the families of Lenah & Samu. It was great to be able to meet them after hearing so much about them (and all the extended family and friends!) We braved the African food and found most of it to be very palatable – Andy even tried the famous “ugali”!!!

We had many “Kenyan Experiences” – running out of petrol is a regular occurance as most Kenyans seem to run their cars on Empty (E stands for “enough”!!) They carry a petrol container in the boot and think nothing of hiking a few Kms to find the nearest petrol station. Their philosophy is that if someone steals your car, they won’t get far cos there’s no petrol in it!!There is really no service like the RACV (there is some kind of road  breakdown service but they say it takes so long to get help, most people work it out for themselves!) If you can’t get the car to start, you just get a few people to push start the car!

Our safari into the Nairobi National Park was relatively “tame” – we saw lots of zebra butts and very few lions (except for the one we spotted on the 32x zoom lens of the video.) The giraffes were very friendly and so were the elephants at the Sheldrick Animal Shelter. Jey unexpectedly got up close and personal with one of the baby elephants!

On our second last day in Nairobi we were able to attend a peace concert in a large park – thousands of people attended (entry was by donation of non-perishable food items for the relief efforts to help displaced families.) The guys from Zaidi Ya Mziki and Gospel Fathers performed along with many other Kenyan artists (most of whom had been at the recording session we went to) and it was amazing to see the unity amongst the youth of Kenya, regardless of tribal backgrounds.

Our farewell at the airport was extremely emotional and we left part of our hearts in Kenya for sure - the people there were amazing and it was an unforgetable experience! Thanks to Lenah, Samu, Dezzy, Jey, George, Kera, Ken, Patrick, Peter, Venah, DJ Moz, and all the other wonderful team members.