manbeard in kenya

The Final Countdown

2009-07-01T01:40:00.000-07:00

One of the slightly crazy things about putting on a musical by yourself is that you end up becoming not just the director but acting coach, lighting technician, sound man, stage manager, publicity department and any other job that needs doing! I'm especially discovering this in the build up to our first performance on Friday. Last weekend we finally received our costumes, which thankfully were worth the wait. Our brothers are now a colourful bunch, our Pharaoh worthy of Elvis and Joseph the owner of a beautiful new dreamcoat. We also received, thanks to the school, 4 new head microphones for the main characters. I spent almost the whole of Sunday's rehearsal messing around with mixers and microphones trying to work out why we were getting annoying feedback and deciding how loud everything should be. I guess this is why people pay sound guys.

Publicity also went into overdrive this week. We have two huge banners over main roads in Nairobi, have written to over 40 schools inviting them and also have Nakumatt, the main supermarket chain, advertising in all of their branches. We had a photographer visit at the weekend for Kenya Classics magazine, I'm hoping me and Rob will be the stars of the next issue!

In addition to musical preparations, we are also rehearsing intensely for the Provintial rounds of the Kenya Music Festival, starting the week after the musical. I certainly can't say I have nothing to do.

Football Crazy

2009-06-24T01:17:00.000-07:00

This weekend I got to do something I like to experience in different countries...go to a football match! It was a vital African Cup of Nations qualifier for Kenya and we managed to get our hands on some tickets, a bargain at 300 shillings (about 3 pounds). It makes you wonder whether England are really worth 30 quid a game.... Anyway, our opponents were the mighty 'Mambas' of Mozambique. Now I have to admit to a certain ignorance about the relative qualities of African teams however luckily we had a big Kenya fan with us in Njane Mugambi, a well known musician in Nairobi. So armed with our Kenya bandanas, we fought our way through the miles of traffic and made it with minutes to spare. It was a great atmosphere and you could hear the noise inside as you approached the stadium. As for the match, it wasn't of the highest quality however Kenya won 2-1 with a penalty on near 90 minutes and the crowd went completely crazy. I actually almost lost my voice later that evening! So Kenya's cup dream lives on. Bring on the next match!

Looking back over the last couple of weeks, there's been a few fun events. We had a day at the races thanks to the Starehe Old Boys and Geoffrey Griffen Memorial Day. Ngong Racecourse is a classic colonial setting and a glimpse into a world I don't often get to see. Located out near Ngong Town on the outskirts of Nairobi, the racecourse has fresh air (very welcome!) and a rather up market audience. As the school choir and band had been invited we tagged along for the day. It was rather unsucessful on the betting front (2 bets, 2 losses!) however we did get to have a VIP lunch on the table next to Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister of Kenya.

On the musical front, time is counting down, only 1 1/2 weeks to go now! In fact, this morning I talked to reporter front the Daily Nation, Kenya's biggest newspaper. We're also hoping to be interviewed on the radio and welcome a TV crew next week. The advantage of having well educated old boys is being able to call in favours from almost anywhere you need! As for costumes, microphones and other rather vital items, we seem to be following the time honoured tradition of the 'last minute fix'. I'm hoping to see some costumes this weekend, at our last rehearsal! As for the boys and girls, they are doing rather better, and after months of practicing, I'm starting to see things come together. It certainly is all go at the moment as the day after the musical finishes, the provintial heats of the the Kenya Music Festival start. I guess I'd be bored with nothing to do...!

Finally, as I promised, some photos from the Nairobi National Park. And we actually saw lions!

'I went to Kenya and all I got was this lousy malaria...'

2009-06-01T01:18:00.000-07:00

Hello people! I know I haven't been around for a while but I do at least have a good excuse for the last 7 days. I have been slightly inconvenienced recently by a small case of malaria. I guess it was bound to happen at some point and there have been more mosquitoes around during the rainy season but still, it's not something I would care the repeat. I'll spare you all on the lovely details but it certainly put me out of action for a while. Thankfully, they're pretty experienced with malaria over here and I'm back on my feet now and just about raring to go.

Musical rehearsals are still going well, despite the almost superhuman efforts of various people to make things difficult for us! I'm starting to despise the 'committee' system used for everything here in which every decision seems to take about a month longer than it should do. Hmmmm....

Anyway, it's a national holiday here today so Rob and me are hitting Nairobi National Park to see some animals! Exciting! I promise there will be photos....

Back to School

2009-05-05T02:32:00.000-07:00

The new term is upon us and it's looking like being a busy one for the music department at Starehe Boys. The musical is now in full swing after some hardcore rehearsing during the holidays. On top of that the next couple of months will see the provincial and national finals of the Kenya Music Festival, traditionally ending with Starehe bringing home a sackful of medals. Finally, in July there's also the small matter of Founders Day, this year celebrating the 50th anniversary of the school.

We've had a hectic last week of the holidays as all the boys involved in the musical came back a week early for some serious rehearsing. It's starting to come together and we are now able to run through the whole thing without too many mistakes. It's certainly had it's challenging moments but also a lot of laughs, particularly some cultural differences. There was a particularly entertaining afternoon with me and Rob trying to describe what Elvis, not as easy as you think! We did end up with a very fine dance though, involving the whole cast twisting along to rock and roll. It made me laugh out loud so I'm hoping the audience will enjoy it! While the singing is going really well, it has been a challenge to get a group of teenagers to act. This is especially the case in anything which involves a hint of girls and boys being romantic. In the 2nd act our group of 'adoring girls' refused point blank to run onto the stage and stare lovingly into Joseph's eyes. We finally managed to convince them that it was OK and that's what you have to do when you're acting. Thank goodness we're not doing a story with a major romantic theme!

The Kenya Music Festival Finals are taking place in Mombasa this year, which means a trip for us and the boys to the coast for a week, something which I'm really looking forward to. It's brings together all the schools in Kenya in a bewilderingly array of categories ranging from solo voice to full choir plus instrumental classes, traditional dances and even public speaking! Starehe Boy's Centre always enters everything they possibly can and this year is no exception. It is taken very seriously here and boys that are involved in the musical too will be rehearsing every night of the week until July!

Finally, the main event taking place this term will be the potentially huge celebrations for our 50th anniversary. The president is rumored to be attending Founders Day, which will up the ante even further. I arrived back from holidays to find that one of the trees on campus had been chopped down to make way for a monument consisting of busts of the three founders of the school. The event won't just be music, every society and club in the school will want to be involved. However, I have a feeling that we will have a lot of work to do leading up to the big day!

On the Road

2009-04-05T02:58:00.000-07:00

I'm back from my first real trip outside of Nairobi, a short trip to the coast and the towns of Mombasa and Kilifi. Me and Dave (an Irish guy travelling in East Africa) decided to take the overnight train, a journey lasting 16 hours! Luckily, the trip is taken in relative comfort as the train retains many of the features from it's colonial days, including a very civilized dining car. I was interested to finally get to travel on the infamous 'Lunatic Line' that I had read about in the Nairobi Railway Museum. These days things are a little safer and there haven't been any incidents of man eating lions in Tsavo for a good few decades. We set off at 7pm and found our way to our compartment which would be home for the night. At about 7:30 the train manager came round and personally introduced himself, wishing us an enjoyable journey. A nice touch I thought :) The train winds it's way through the outskirts of Nairobi giving an interesting view into the way in which the majority of its residents live. As we passed though, most people were settling down for the night and fires were the only light illuminating the many shacks and houses. Inside the train (feeling slightly guilty), me and Dave were settling down to a 3 course dinner, accompanied by a chilled bottle of White Cap. There was an interesting variety of people on the train and we shared our table with a family from Tanzania, taking a holiday to the coast. After a nightcap of Ugandan sherry we decided to retire to our beds.

I woke up early and, bleary eyed, went to have a look out the window. I guess I probably had a huge grin on my face for the next half an hour as I realised that we were passing straight through Tsavo National Park and a classic African landscape. Wildlife was less forthcoming, possibly scared by the train, but I did see a buffalo standing watching us go by.

We finally pulled into Mombasa at 11am and the first thing that hit me was the heat and humidity. Nairobi is a pleasant, mild climate compared to the coast, which gives you a taste of real African heat! The second thing that struck me as we walked through the town was how different Mombasa is in character to Nairobi. Whereas the capital is barely 100 years old, Mombasa has a facinating history stretching back to the 9th century. The people living here are a genetic melting pot of African, Arabic, Portugese, Omani and others, a result of the coastal trading industry. This Arabic feel is most apparent in the Old Town, which is covered with traditional Swahili carved doorways, Arabic coffee sellers and is home to Mombasas oldest mosque. I've always found Arabic countries exciting to be in and I loved wondering along the narrow alleyways as the call to prayer rang out. Even better, we managed to find a coffee shop that sold sheesha pipes. As we sat and smoked, the sea salt smell in the air, I think I was the most relaxed I've been since I came to Kenya.

Besides the culture, the other thing the coast is famous for is beaches. On our second day we headed out to a beach called Tiwi, supposedly much more isolated than the resorts further up the coast. We weren't dissapointed. After a ferry ride across to the mainland, a matatu drove us further out of town and dropped us off by the roadside. From there a taxi drove us down a bumpy dirt track until finally we arrived at a stunning beach with about 10 people on it. The sea was like stepping into a warm bath and the surroundings were pretty amazing. Check out the photos!

We spent the final day of the trip in Kilifi, a small river estury town further up the coast, about 1 1/2 hours from Mombasa. The main attraction of the town, beside standing and staring at the stunning view from the bridge, are the Mnarani Ruins. After some intense bargaining with the boda boda drivers we finally ended up at a beautiful secluded site set amongst a forest. The ruins were from a town of about 2500 people dating from the 14th century. It was a very peaceful place and a relaxing change from everyday life in Kenya.

The next day was a gruelling 12 hours bus journey back to Nairobi, right in time to get ready for the Interhouse Singing Gala, photos on the way!

Update

2009-03-24T23:24:00.000-07:00

Well the blog has been a little quiet recently, time seems to fly by here and there's always things to keep you busy. It's been a good couple of weeks and we are well into Joseph rehearsals now. Having the boys and girls together each weekend is great as the songs start to sound like they are meant to. One area in which I am not quite as qualified is acting, my experience being limited to the 1991 Somerton Pantomime. Not exactly expert status. We are doing our best though, stealing ideas from wherever we can and I reckon the end product will turn out pretty good. The other area we've handed over the girls is the dancing. Anyone who knows me can tell you that my enthusiasm is not matched by my talent!

I also met with the lady making the costumes yesterday and spent about 2 hours going over all the various things that we need. I'm looking forward to seeing the 'dreamcoat' when it's finally finished! It's amazing the volume of things that need organizing once you start getting into the practicalities of putting on a performance.

Last Friday we had some visitors from England who I was able to meet with and spent a while chatting. They were teachers and heads of schools in Norfolk, where a scheme called 'The Starehe Way' is being run, trying to use some of the ideas from here in English schools. In fact, it's very rare that a week goes by where we don't have visitors from somewhere. Lots of them come to visit Starehe to study it in the hopes of setting up similar things in their own country. Anyway, our English visitors were important guests and every club in the school wanted to give a demonstration of what they do. On Friday afternoon we had a show from the fire squad (very refreshing!), a tour around the Scouts camp and a first aid demonstration. I also got to hear the school song for the first time, sung with much gusto and accompanied by the school band for the last verse!

This weekend I'm taking a short trip with friend to Mombasa and Kilifi, both on the coast. I'm really looking forward to actually seeing the Indian Ocean and swimming in the sea. Hopefully some good photos are on the way!

Rehearsals, rehearsals and more rehearsals...

2009-03-09T00:31:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back from what has been a rather hectic couple of weeks! This weekend were the Nairobi Orchestras two concerts for this term. Over the last few weeks we have been busy with extra rehearsals, led by a conductor specially flown over from England by the orchestra. Nice work if you can get it! After many hours of counting bars rest (I now remember exactly what it's like playing trumpet in an orchestra!) the hour of reckoning arrived. Our concerts were taking place in two different places. On Saturday evening we were at the Visa Oshwal, a huge religious centre in Westlands, a relatively wealthy area of Nairobi. The centre is pretty amazing with lush grounds, conference hall and beautiful auditorium. On Sunday afternoon we played at the theatre at Braeburn School, one of the posh private schools in the city. It's a little strange as the school is very well equiped and new but is literally next door to a huge slum. Nairobi definately is a city of contrasts.

Our Saturday concert went well with a pretty big audience. In fact I was pretty suprised at the number of people until you realise that something like an orchestra concert in Nairobi is a pretty special and unusual event. The Nairobi Orchestra is the only orchestra in East Africa and actually probably one of only a very few in the whole continent. I really enjoyed playing our programme, despite the rather large ammount of rests to count. For classical music buffs out there we started with the Tragic Overture by Brahms and concluded the first half with the Katachurian Violin Concerto which is a particularly interesting piece. The whole of the second half was taken up with Dvoraks 2nd Symphony.

On Sunday we had managed to get 15 free tickets each for Starehe Boys and Girls Schools. They were excited about coming along, not least because it meant the chance to talk to members of the opposite sex! Any concert/play/film in Kenya always has to start with the National Anthem which at first I found vaguely amusing but when you see how seriously everyone takes it you can't help but be impressed. Our concert started with the orchestra playing the National Anthem and everyone in the hall standing up for the duration. I guess it's one of those Colonial reliques that you still see persisting here sometimes. Anyway, the concert went well up until we started the 4th movement of the symphony. About 10 bars the entire hall was plaunged into darkness as one of the regular power cuts hit the area. The orchestra bravely continued for a bout 5 bars before our conductor stopped us. When the lights came back on we restarted the movement almost as if nothing had happened. Almost as impressive was the fact that the audience were completely unperturbed and acted as if nothing unusual had happened. Nothing really suprises you here!

Anyway, Joseph rehearsals have also been progressing well and this weekend we have out first joint rehearsal with girls and boys. I'm hoping to try and film some of it and post it on the blog so keep reading!

Matatu Chaos!

2009-02-25T03:29:00.000-08:00

Over the past three days I have somehow managed to experience both a matatu crash and a strike. I have found it pretty incredible that in the time I have been here I have not seen a crash, quite a feat considering the wild way in which some of them drive. However, I was on my way home a couple of days ago in crowded traffic when we suddenly heard a loud crunch of metal on metal. It was more a scrape than a crash but this obviously didn't prevent the drivers from a rather amusing argument. Our conductor lept out of the bus and over to the other matatu, attempting to difuse the situation and probably to deny any responsibility. A long argument ensued, whilst the passengers grinned at each other and started to wonder when we might get home. As our conductor jumped back on I thought 'That was easily sorted out'. I was proved wrong when, as we tried to pull away, the other matatu wildly pulled out into the road to block our path. Not so easily sorted out then.... A sort of cat and mouse chase proceeded to take place as we would get out onto the road before the other matatu would speed past us and pull in front of us to block us escaping. I was starting to get a little concerned until we finally managed to lose them on a busy roundabout. An interesting lesson in Kenyan rules of the road, if in doubt, drive faster!

Today I got the strike. I was waiting for my usual number 9 matatu although the road seemed strangely quiet. A Kenyan guy next to me turned and said 'No number 9's today, try the number 4'. I was unsure where the number 4 went from so decided to just go with the ease of a taxi. This turned out to be an informative journey as I found out why my bus wasn't running. At first the driver just said 'There is a strike'. As I pushed him for information the plot thickened. It turned out that the matatus were striking in protest at being charged a fee for running by the mungiki, a kind of Kenyan mafia. Apparently, these strikes are a fairly regular occurance but don't last long as the matatus can't afford to be out of action. Hopefully they will be back tomorrow.

During my journey from school to town I pass the scene of another recent event , the demolition of a local market. This market is a kind of semi permanant site made up of shacks with tin roofs. I've passed it almost every day since I arrived until a few days ago when instead I passed the flattened ruins of the market. I turns out that the government turned up in the middle of the night with bulldozers and demolished the whole lot. People were informed that this was public land and they weren't allowed to build here. I've heard a few stories about this kind of thing, including one particularly crazy one in which a brand new supermarket was demolished to make way for a road. Hopefully my house is still safe...

Finally, on Sunday I got to my first proper cultural event here, an evening concert at the Goethe Institute. The gig was part of the 'World of The Indian Ocean' festival and involved three Kenyan musician and three musicians from Pakistan collaberating to mix their traditional music. Also the gig was preceeded by a film travelling all the way around the Indian Ocean from the Comeros Islands to Malaysia. I really enjoyed the music, although it is hard to describe. It was really nice to be part of the cultural life in Nairobi and hopefully I'll be able to get to similar things in the future. This weekend is the Young Musician of the Year competition, in which 3 Starehe boys are taking part. I'm actually a little bit nervous!

P.S. I'm including a few photos of the 'Mob Race' which took place school the other day. It's a sort of crazy mass race in which every boy in the school runs a 4 km course going round the surrounding area. Very funny and very competetive!

An Englishman in Nairobi

2009-02-22T00:42:00.001-08:00

I've spent the last few days in full tourist mode, jumping on various matatus and visiting some of Nairobi's main attractions. On Thursday I decided to visit the recently refurbished National Museum, a beautiful British building set in leafy surroundings. Me and Rob spent a couple of hours looking round the different rooms, covering subjects ranging from Kenya's wildlife to the rituals of different tribes around the country. The gem in the museums collection however, is the Homonid Skeleton Room, housing human bones going back as far as 17 million years! In the centre of the room stands the 'Turkana Boy', one of the two most complete and oldest human skeletons ever found. It's about 2 million years old, something I find pretty much impossible to get my head around.

On Thursday I traveled out to the suburbs to an area called Langata which is right next to the Nairobi National Park. It has a much different feel to the centre of town and you feel like you are pretty close to the plains of Africa. My aim was to find the David Sheldrick Elephant Orphanage, a private organisation with a plot of land inside the national park. Yet again, I had trouble finding the place as there were pretty much no signposts (suprise suprise!). However, after being dropped off at the gate to the park and a walk along some dusty tracks I found the gate. The trust looks after 18 elephants that have been orphaned through a number of different reasons, the main one being poaching. It's only open for visitors for one hour a day between 11 and 12 when they give the elephants their lunch. So at exactly 12am we saw a line of 10 baby elephants joyously trotting towards us and the reason for their excitement, a big muddy pool of water!

After feeding they spent the next half an hour playing, falling over and generally having a great time in the mud. I think I spent the whole time grinning as they were just so entertaining. Seriously, if you can't find a baby elephant cute I don't know what is! After this, we saw a second group of slightly older elephants before the hour was swiftly gone. As a final treat however, we had a brief moment to look at a 4 week old black rhino also being looked after at the orphanage. It was just so tiny and amazing to think it would grow up to be a huge grumpy thing with a massive horn on it's head.

Our second visit of the day was to the Langata Giraffe Centre, home to 10 highly endangered Rothchild's Giraffes. Me and Rob both had the obligatory 'hugging a giraffe' photo before Rob bravely tried the 'kissing a giraffe' version. The results were particularly entertaining and I will being sharing the photo very soon. In the meantime you will just have to make do with my crazy grin.

All in all, a satisfyingly spent half term I think. Next week is back to work and the start of musical rehearsals. Something to look forward to!

Welcome back!

2009-02-17T22:27:00.000-08:00

Welcome to a bumper edition of the blog! I've been slightly lax at keeping up with the writing but it has again been a busy week and there is lots of exciting news. Last Wednesday I decided to take Lonely Planets advice and visit one of Nairobi's few 'tourist attractions', the Railway Museum. Before I could take a look it turned out that finding it was a slight problem. As is so often the case here, places that you want to find see no reason to particularly advertise the fact that they are there, let alone put up a helpful signpost. So, following my map directions I turned off the main street, through a chaotic matatu station and down the track to the railway station. So far so good. Continuing, I turned left and started walking down an ever quieter dirt track. The further I went to more it felt like I was just walking into the railway repair yard until I finally came across a dilapidated gate bearing the sign 'Nairobi Railway Museum'. Excellent, I though, as I realized that the little ticket booth was deserted. Undeterred, I continued through the gate and further down the dirt road. By this point, I was walking alongside what seemed like wrecks of old trains and I was wondering if this museum was just a place of legend. I was about giving up when I turned the corner and there in front of me was a quaint looking old building housing the museum. It was worth the trek as inside was a really interesting exhibition covering the infamous 'Lunatic Line' railway, build in the late 19th century and stretching from Mombasa on the coast of Kenya all the way inland to Lake Victoria. The line took 6 years to build and was widely considered to be a slightly crazy undertaking. However, parts of the track are still in use today including the classic African train journey from Nairobi to Mombasa. The museum was also a treasure trove of strange items such as the engine seat from which Theodore Roosevelt hunted the African wildlife. With the lack of things to see in Nairobi I'd definately recommend it.

The second event of the week was our auditions for Joseph on Thursday. I wasn't dissapointed as we has over 60 boys turn up to audition, ranging from excellent to dismal. I must admit, after 50 renditions of 'Close Every Door' it did start to get a bit tiring but we got through them all and I have what I hope is going to be a good cast. We start rehearsing next week and in order to prepare the boys, we managed to borrow a video (remember them?!) of the classic film version starring Donny Osmond as Joseph and Richard Attenbourgh as Jacob. Everyone enjoyed it immensely and enthusiasm is high as we go into our first rehearsals.

This week I also had the chance to do something I have wanting to do for a while, have a jam with the school bandmaster. The bandmaster is a unique character who has been working at the school for about 30 years and seems to play almost every instrument around. His English is patchy but from what I have been able to catch it seems he has had an interesting life, playing music around Africa and experiencing plenty over the years. I was just doing some practice in the music centre and slowly drew a bit of an audience of boys, asking me questions and getting me to play tunes. We were just getting some instruments out when the bandmaster walks in and says he'd like to teach us a tune. We decided on the classic Kenyan twist number Malaika. Before I knew we had a full arrangement going featuring 3 trumpets, tenor sax, trombone and euphonium! It was great fun and we spent a couple of hours learning and perfecting it. As the bandmaster has asked me to write it down look out for a recording soon - in all good record shops!

Finally, as the more observant of you may have noticed from my Facebook profile, I had my first Nairobi gig this week. I was asked by Mr Luvai, the director of the conservatoire, to join him and a few of the teachers to play for a wedding at the weekend. I accepted and on Saturday jumped in the car, not knowing where we were going. The wedding turned out to be taking place at a classic colonial Kenyan location, the Windsor Country Club on the outskirts of Nairobi. I knew as we drove up up the driveway that this was going to be a high class affair but the hotel was beautiful. A huge old colonial building, set in stunning grounds and featuring an 18 hole golf course, this is definately a place for the more well off. In typical African style the wedding, meant to take place at 2pm, started 3 hours late at 5pm. I was slightly worried as Luvai had confided in me earlier that the wedding had been scheduled for, and also cancelled last year. It all went off without a hitch though, complete with horse drawn carriage and traditional Kenyan songs. I really enjoyed the experience and the money is certainly useful to a volunteer like me!

This week is our half term (from Thursday to Sunday, rubbish!) so I have some tourist things planned, including the National Museum and the Elephant Orphanage. Keep reading!

So it begins...

2009-02-07T02:05:00.000-08:00

This Thursday we had our first meeting for those interested in taking part in the musical. I was expecting there to be a fair bit of interest but not quite prepared for the 70 boys that turned up! I'm sure that some will fall away but the auditions are going to be competitive! I decided to teach them Close Every Door as an audition song and they learnt it amazingly quickly. One thing that I've noticed about musicians and students over here is that whilst reading skills are pretty low, their aural skills are fantastic. I guess that come from learning lots of things by ear. In fact, even the school marching band learn all the tunes they play by just listening to the bandmaster play and then copying. I think this skill is going to come in handy in order to learn the pages and pages of music in Joseph. Before we chose it we hadn't realised that the whole show is singing and no dialogue. When we found out it came as a bit of a shock but now actually I think it's going to be a good thing. It's far easier to learn songs than lines and lines of text I think.

Last night I was invited to the theatre by Joseph Wasonga, an ex Starehe student who now teaches in Gilgil. We had no idea what the play was as our tickets were free but I thought it would be good to get out an explore Nairobi's cultural scene. The theatre was at The Professional Centre and is home of the Phoenix Players, Nairobi's main theatre company. Coincidentally, it was also the theatre that the Starehe Boys performed Oliver in a couple of years ago. When we turned up we discovered that it wasn't a play on, but a kind of caberet night. It also turned out to be hugely popular and in the end we were squeezed in on the end of a row. The performance was actually a story told by a narrator, punctuated by songs by a band and singers, illustrating the story. Over the course of the evening we were treated to songs by Bob Marley, Marvin Gaye and a number of well know Kenyan artists. I'd been interested to see how it would differ to a similar evening in England and I must say, people here aren't shy to show they are enjoying the performance. A number of times a song would finish with half the audience on the stage dancing along and the rest singing in their seats! It was a great evening and I definately plan to go back, perhaps for something with slightly more gravitas next time.

As it finshed quite late and I wasn't alone, I was able to experience the matatus in all their after-dark glory. As soon as the sun goes down, many of the matatus turn into mini nightclubs, complete with flashing lights, pumping music and hugh plasma screen TVs! Despite the fact my ears had been pummelled into submission by the time we reached Starehe it was great fun. The weekend plans involve, as usual, watching the football. I swear I actually watch more football here than in England!

Weekly Round Up

2009-02-03T22:44:00.000-08:00

Well it has been a busy week so I thought I'd wait until today and put it all into one post. At Starehe, this week has seen the arrival of the new 1st formers. They have come from all over the country, some traveling for over 24 hours to get to the school. I must admit they look so young, I'm sure I wasn't that small when I was 14! Anyway, we had to test their musical aptitude as only 15 of them in each year get to do music. We decided upon a rhythm test and a singing test, nice and short seeing as we had 180 pupils to get through. I had forgotten however, that singing in front of your peers is equivelant to torture when you are a new pupil at secondary school. I spend a highly amusing couple of afternoons listening to boys sounding like dying cats or managing to mispitch by 2 octaves. It really was very hard not to laugh out loud sometimes. Thankfully, for every pupil that wanted to hide at the thought of singing, there was another who sang beautifully. I was actually pleasantly suprised and in the end it was a difficult job to pick only 15.

As part of my continuing efforts to integrate myself into school life, this week I decided to go and eat with the boys in the school dining hall. Lunch and supper are a good example of how the place really is run by the boys and not the staff. There are no teachers present and the whole process is run by prefects, with boys serving each other and making sure everything runs properly. As a teacher I took a seat on the high table (literally, it sits up on a stage block) along with the school captains. Announcements are made, grace is said and the boys tuck in. I say tuck in with a certain degree of sarcasm as the food is infamous amongst pupils and is a regular issue at baraza. Having said that, when you are trying to feed 1000 boys, the fod is never going to be hugely adventurous. At Starehe, there are two meals: 1) Githeri - a classic Kenyan dish containing beans and maize which, when prepared correctly, can be a tasty and satisfying meal. At Starehe it has another name, murum, meaning the dirt and gravel found on roads. I think you can guess how popular it is. 2) A stew of cabbage and mince, accompanied by ugali. Again, this has aquired a name amongst Starehe students, maji, meaning 'water'. Again, I don't think it is the most popular meal. The highlight of the week is the two days the boys receive a small piece of cake in the evening. I will be using the dining hall sometimes I think, but I'm glad I also have the option to cook for myself!

This week I also managed to see the first house sports competition, in the form of a football match between Gikubu and Gituro houses. The main football pitch has same small terraces for boys to sit and watch but as teachers we had chairs and I sat and watched the match with some other staff members including Acting Director Gikubu, who the house is named after. The match was really entertaining, made especially so by the vocal support of the house members. Each side had their own chants and even a boy who led the cheering. The match lived up to it's supporters and ended 2-2, going to penalties and finishing with a win 5-4 for Gikubu house. This resulted in a pitch invasion and culminated in a triumphant march through the school, with the house flag and team members carried aloft. And this was the first match of the term!

This weekend, 3 of the boys had offered to come over to my house and cook me a Kenyan meal. Naturally, I accepted and on Sunday morning found myself on the way to the local market to pick up some supplies. This was the kind of situation in which, over various travels, I've learnt to take a slight risk in order to have an experience. To backtrack, when I arrived in Kenya, I was told that the area around the school was very poor and hence, not exactly the kind of place I should wander around. Boys from the school are ok, as are teachers, but as a mzungu, it seemed sensible to stay in the saftey of the school walls. However, over chats with past volunteers and staff, it seemed that people were being a bit careful with me and , so long as I was sensible, it might be ok for me to venture a little further. With this in mind, at 11am on Sunday I walked with Dan, George and Joshua to do some shopping. My first thought was how little attention I was getting. People were going about their business and far more interested in getting the best price than a boring white man. As I relaxed a little, I looked around and realised how big the place was. There was a main street but winding off it, numerous smaller paths led to unknown treasures. The smell was also pretty pungent due to the rubbish all over the floor. In an English market, often all the stalls selling the same thing will group together, making the task of finding things easy. Not so in this market. Here, finding a place to buy our beef required questioning a number of sellers before diving down a sidestreet, along an alleyway and eventually finding a butchery hidden behind another stall. After a couple of attempts the boys turned round to me and said 'This will be a lot easier on our own'. Apparently my mere presence was upping the price to double the normal. I was left with George whilst the other went off to do our shopping. Ten minutes later they came back, laden with bags, obviously having found it much easier. As we left the market, I let out a small sigh of relief at having survived but realising that often things aren't quite as they seem.

Our expedition paid off, as in the evening the boys cooking me a wonderful meal, certainly a cut above anything from the dining hall. Maybe someday I'll even be able to cook my own ugali!

Mind the zebra crossing...

2009-01-28T00:37:00.000-08:00

Well it's certainly been a weekend of adventure with a number of firsts. I was invited by Kennedy Miruki, an ex Starehe student, to accompany him on a visit to Coulson School in Gilgil, 2 hours north-west of Nairobi. I jumped at the chance as it meant an opportunity to get out of the city and into the countryside, something I've been wanting to do for I while. It was also a chance to meet John Odor and Kennedy Hongo, two ex Starehe employees whom I'd heard lots about. The day started at 8am as we walked around the River Road area trying to find the matatu offering the best price and leaving soonest. It was good to have a Kenyan with me as as soon as people see white skin they tend to put up the price. We finally settled on one and after waiting for it to fill up, we set off.

Our route followed the road leading to Limuru, which is famed for one thing, it's views of the Rift Valley. Looking out of the window you could see for miles and start to actually appreciate the awesome scale of the valley. Apparently it was formed about 8 million years ago as Africa was almost pulled apart. The violence involved in it's creation is obvious as it looks like a huge tear (or rift I suppose!) in the landscape. Next our route took us past wonderful views of Mount Longonot, a dormant volcano with a 2km wide crater at the top. I've been told the views from the top are stunning and the hike is definately on my 'to do' list. The final landmard on our trip was a great view of Lake Naivasha, home of a number of hippos.

As the lake came into view, Kennedy said 'There's often baboons around here' and sure enough, sitting by the side of the road was a group of the animals. It was my first glance of the wildlife here and (understandably I think) I was relatively excited. However, better was yet to come. A couple of miles later, our bus came to a stop and I looked out of thew window to see a herd of zebra crossing the road in front of us! I'm sure there's a good joke in there somewhere but I'm not witty enough to come up with it. Kennedy found it highly amusing how excited I was. However, I have to say I wasn't quite prepared for how amazing it is to see animals in the wild like that. I can't wait for a proper safari.

We finally arrived in Gilgil about 11am and as we pulled in I could see that it looked far more like the Africa I had imagined than Nairobi. Gilgil is big enough to be a large dot on the map but in reality it's basically just a collection of crumbling buildings and shacks connected by dusty tracks. I was however excited to be in a 'real' Kenyan town. We took a couple of motorbike taxis up to the girl's school where I finally got to meet John Odor who is a true larger than life character. His enthusiasm for everything is infectious and he's passionate about the school, run along Starehe ideals. We also met Joseph Wasonga, the music teacher and Starehe pupil last year. He shared John's positive attitude and between the 4 of us we were in high spirits.

As we decided to move to the boy's school John declared instead of using a taxi we would be taking 4 boda boda, basically a bicycle with an extra seat on the back. Interesting fact: the name boda boda came from the journey the bikes often used to do across the no-man's land between country borders. I think the drivers decided to take to bumpiest road in Gilgil and we had to take to hill pretty slowly. It was here that I experienced the uncomfortable situation of suddenly realsing that everybody we passed was staring at me. Whilst my companions had got off their bikes and given the drivers a rest, mine insisted on riding me all the way up at a snail's pace whilst the locals looked on, obviously finding it highly entertaining. Although I appreciated his dedication I think I'd rather have walked! At the boy's school there were visitors from the Japanese Cultural Institute and we were treated to a japanese film before finally setting off back to Nairobi.

As a fitting end to the day, on the way back I was mentioning how I'd like to see a warthog (I've always thought they are hilarious looking animals). Five minutes later we passed by a mother warthog and two babies by the roadside. I couldn't have been happier and arrived home looking forward to more adventures.

In this weeks news...

2009-01-24T01:11:00.000-08:00

The highlight of this week for many people in Kenya (and probably around the world) was Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday. It was particularly exciting for Kenyans as Obama's father is from a small village in Western Kenya called Kogelo. As I have a TV in my house I was able to watch it and from about 5pm all 5 channels I get were showing it live!

The second piece of exciting news for this week is that we have decided on a musical for this year. Drum role please.....Joseph and his Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat! We've decided upon this for a number of reasons, primarily as the songs aren't too difficult and I think the boys will enjoy doing it. Half of them already know the story, seeing as it's from the bible. We had a meeting with the principal on Tuesday, who was very supportive and told us he had appeared in a production of Dracula:The Musical during his days as a pupil at Starehe! I have arranged a meeting with anyone who is interested today and hopefully there will be lots of people. Earlier on in the week one of the boys came up to me to talk about it. I said to him 'So, are many people interested in participating?' to which he replied 'Well, yes, but there is one thing which many of the boys wish to know'. I told him 'fine, go ahead'. He looked slightly embarrassed and paused for a moment before asking 'Many of boys want to know if the girl's school will be involved this year?'. As I replied positively a huge grin spread across his face and he said ' I am sure you will have much support from the boys this year Mr Everett!'. I've been told that on the days that the girls visit the school every boy takes care to have a shower and look his best. We certainly have some entertaining days to look forward to!

Finally, this week I was interviews for the school newspaper. The article will appear in the half term issue, coming in about 3 weeks, complete with photograph. I will try to get a copy and post it in the blog. Matatu post is all but finished, hopefully up this week. Keep checking!

That Friday feeling...

2009-01-17T02:11:00.000-08:00

I think that Friday is my favourite day of the week here at the school. A number of reasons, particularly the fact that it is a boarding school, combine to make the end of the week feel particularly momentous. Firstly, all of the staff are required to attend assembly, making for a pretty packed stage in the hall. Often on a Friday there are also often special guests. Yesterday the chief executive of Shell, who support the school, was present to make an announcement. Professor Mugambi, who has been the director of the school for the past two years, will be leaving and moving back to his post at Nairobi University within the next two weeks. This news was recieved with much noise from the boys, who are now eager to see who the school will appoint in his place. We will see! Often special guests will also come to make donations or give gifts to the school. Last week it was a Starehe old boy with a gift of a pair of Nike trainers for the basketball captain, donated by old boys in America. This week it was a professor who had written his thesis on Starehe Boys Centre and had come to present the school with a copy.

Another reason Friday is special is the ceremony with which the day ends. After assembly, the whole school gathers around the quadrangle for role call, during which the school marching band performs a mixture of marches, Kenyan pop songs and anything else the band master has come up with. All the captains, staff and guests stand around watching over proceedings. When role call is done, the Kenyan flag is lowered while the national anthem is played. Finally a bugel call signifies everyone is free to leave, at which point the marching band starts up again and process back to the music block. The whole event is at least as impressive as the Trooping of the Colour, if not better. I actually went away last night with a huge grin on my face, thinking how surreal but brilliant being here is sometimes.

Friday is concluded with the baraza, which I wrote about last week. Last nights meeting was equally as stimulating and entertaining and I have now been informed by Mr Gikubu, the deputy director, that as I have shown an interest, next week I will be addressing the junior boys. I just have to think of something worthwhile to say!

P.S. Rain again today, incredible! Apparently it isn't 4 weeks but 3 months since the last time!

Settling in...

2009-01-15T23:43:00.000-08:00

It's coming to the end of my second week in Kenya and today it rained for the first time since I have arrived, apparently the first time in almost 4 weeks. I must admit it was a nice change from the continuous heat we have been having and the smell from the rain on the ground was wonderful. This week I have started teaching lessons and used my spare time for exploring the city a little further. My timetable means that I have pretty long days on Monday and Tuesday but have managed to give myself the rest of the week off, apart from assembly on Thursday and Friday. I'm sure this will change once the various ensembles and much anticipated musical start taking off! My pupils are mostly on the piano, with the majority being complete beginners, although there are a few who are already good and work really hard. I also have a few brass pupils, one of them a boy called John Mawithi who was given a trumpet from the Macclesfield Brass Band back in England. He really wanted to play an instrument but had an accident in childhood meaning he only has two fingers on his left hand. Luckily trumpet is a one handed instrument so he has been able to start playing. He's determined to be the best trumpeter in the school and I think he will be great fun to teach. The musicians all have lots of things to prepare for, there is a Young Musician competition in March that some of them want to enter and they are already thinking about the Kenya Music Festival, a national event which will take place in Mombasa in August. The school has a long running tradition of coming away laden with trophies so nothing less will be expected this year!

Outside of the school I went for my second rehearsal with the orchestra this week. It's a really nice thing to do as it gets you out of normal life in Nairobi and with a group of people who all know what it's like to be a foreigner here. I already seem to have been accepted into a group of people who go for a few drinks after rehearsal which is really nice. The group actually includes not one but two ex Starehe volunteers, Jim Pywell from the early 90's and James Laight from more recently. They are all really nice people and hopefully I will be seeing more of them over time. There are already plans for a Starehe volunteers evening out afoot!

As I mentioned earlier, I've also done a bit more exploring this week and discovered a few good places. Nairobi's cultural events tend to take place in unusual venues as there are very few purpose built places. Lots of the music happens in restaraunts, in fact I went to see a band playing Congolese lingala music at a restaraunt last weekend. The week however, I found the German cultural centre, the Goethe Institute, and it's French equivilent, the Alliance Francais. Both of them put on films, music and plays relevant to their respective countries. They also put on Kenyan performances, which I'm looking forward to checking out.

I'm hoping to post a few entries soon on classic Kenyan things, look out for one on the cultural phenomenon that is the matatu. Coming soon!

Welcome to the Neighbourhood

2009-01-11T01:22:00.000-08:00

Well me and Rob had a very interesting experience yesterday which seemed like pure blog material so you lucky people get two posts in two days. We have slowly gotten used to the buses or matatus here and I now know to get the number 6 into town and the number 9 back. They both go a pretty direct route and only take about 10 minutes. Yesterday we caught a number 9 back as usual. About 5 minutes in it seemed to be going somewhere we didn't recognise, however we didn't worry as sometimes the routes change because of traffic. A glace out of the window a few minutes later and we seemed to be driving through what looked suspiciously like a slum. We were starting to get slightly perturbed but figured that we were definately on the right bus and it would work out. A couple more minutes down the road and we pass a sign saying 'Welcome to Eastleigh'. I turned to Rob and said 'I don't want to worry you but we are driving through the biggest slum this side of town'. At this point the situation became almost commical as came across a blockage in the road and as the matatu stopped everyone started getting off. Rob commented 'There is no way I am getting off this bus'. So there we were, in the middle of a slum, stuck in a traffic jam and both of us having visited the bank earlier in the day. Luckily, the wonderful driver came our rescue and asked where we were going, then making sure that the route went past the school. As we got off the bus we were slightly hysterical, feeling like we had made a great escape. The story caused much amusement among the teachers we told later on in the day. Fingers crossed for the next matatu!

Week One...

2009-01-10T02:30:00.000-08:00

Well I've been here one week now but it already feels like I've been here for far longer. As yesterday was the first Friday of the term I got to see a highlight of the week at Starehe, the baraza or meeting. This takes place every Friday at 7:30pm and is attended by all the boys plus the director, principal and various members of staff. It's a chance for anyone to speak and address any issues they might have about anything to do with the school. It's pretty amazing actually, like a mini parliament. The hot topic last night was books, as they are very precious at Starehe, and the borrowing and trading of them. If some says something controversial there are cheers or boos from different areas, or if it's attacking the school management excited murmers ripple through the assembled students. The meeting is also not without humour and last night the deputy director made a comment about girlfriends which drew a great laugh from everyone. It really is quite an exciting occaision and something I'm looking forward to attending again.

In fact yesterday was quite an interesting day in a number of ways. I recieved a phone call in the morning asking me to report to the principle's office. Slightly nervous I went to the office and was invited in to meet another white person, quite a rare sight at the school. Mr Mugo, the principle, introduced him as David, someone he had met at his sister's hostel and invited to come and visit the school. Mr Mugo had thought it might be nice for me to have a white friend of my own age to talk with! Anyway, I showed David around the school and it turned out that he had been working on a volunteer project near Lake Victoria but it hadn't worked and he was now staying in Nairobi for a while. We got on well and hopefully he's going to show me and Rob the hot nightspots one weekend!

I have also recieved an invitation to watch the Man Utd v Chelsea match on Sunday at the principle's house. A rare honour!

Karibu!

2009-01-07T03:24:00.000-08:00

For those of you not fluent in Swahili 'karibu' means welcome and that has been by far the most popular word over the last few days. I have been made to feel hugely welcome by everybody has met and it's certainly helped the settling in process. I've been here 5 days now and I'm slowly starting to get a feel for how things work here.

My house is in the grounds of the school, right next to the Deputy Director! No pictures yet I'm afraid but hopefully soon I will manage to get some up of the school and house. School term started on Monday but they have given me this week to sort things out and work out my timetable. This week has certainly been a week for meeting people and yesterday I had my first great 'African' experience. I was invited to meet up with Jim Pywell, a member of the Nairobi Orchestra, to go for sundowner drinks at a spot overlooking the Rift Valley. After a drive through the Nairobi rush hour traffic (which probably deserves a post for itself!), we continued through the posh suburb of Karen and out to Ngong Town and Ngong Hills, made famous in Karen Blixen's 'Out of Africa'. It was great to get out of the city and to see school kids waving to us along the road. We finally pulled round a corner to a breathtaking view looking across the huge Rift Valley. There we met up with more friends and spent the evening drinking Tusker and g+t as the sun set over the horizon. What more could you ask for?!

This evening me and Rob (the volunteer at Starehe Girl's School) are on meeting duties again. We're off for our first rehearsal with the Nairobi Orchestra. I'm hoping it will be good for us to meet more people and start to get into a social scene. And the music will be fun too of course, although I haven't actually played in an orchestra for about 8 years! We're being taken by our friendly taxi driver Charles, who has been recommended to me by a number of people.

There is far more to talk about but I'm sure I will get round to it over the next few weeks. Don't forget to comment or send an email (and well done to the people who have already done so!)

Counting down...

2008-12-29T04:46:00.000-08:00

After 6 months of waiting the time is finally drawing near when I will leave the familiarity of England to start a new adventure in Kenya. The last few weeks have seemed like an endless list of packing, organising and cancelling things, however my list of things to do is slowly dwindling. At least I think I have remembered all the important things. From past experience I know that there a very few things which you cannot buy once you get somewhere, however there are the vital items which you cannot do without. Passport: check, visa: check, tickets:check, vaccinations: check (plus the sore arms to prove it), money: check. I figure if you have these things you'll be alright.

I've already managed to be in touch with quite a few people in Kenya, including the director of the school, Professor Jesse Mugambi. Apparently there will be someone to meet us at the airport (which is good!) and my house is being readied as I write. I must admit the replies I have had from people I have contacted have been so friendly it's incredible. I'm really looking forward to actually meeting some of these people in person. It certainly makes you feel a lot less trepidation about arriving and settling in. Anyway, I suppose all that's left is to get on the plane and see what happens. Watch this space!