Sadly my time here is coming to an end and I am moving on to visit friends near Mount Kenya, which I hope I will see unlike Kilimanjaro!
I have been given my Maasai name; Napishai which means happy person, and a Maasi blanket as well as a lovely thank you letter and certificate at a little ceremony this afternoon. The people here at MEAC, see link, have been so welcoming and are so keen to help them selves to improve there lives of the Maasai people. I have been helping in a school, giving lessons on HIV/Aids, Solar power and renewable energy and safe disposal of batteries, not easy when there is no rubbish collection. I have also been meeting with womes' groups and how they are helping themselves by forming savings groupsand making and selling theri bead work etc.
It has been a truley enlightening experience, to live a very simple life if only for a short period of time, and not as basic as many deeper into Masailand. We ran out of tank water, which meant finding deisel for the generator to pump from the borehole a couple of kms away, we took the fuel to the man who pumps, opening 6 valves buried under various stones and bushes on the way; Jackson who I was accompanying had been part of the team who installed the pipe a year or so ago, and so knew how to find them, I hope he doesn't leave cos there is no way of mapping them in the bush! When we got the pump man's house, he was away,so another days wait. Then the generator neededto be fixed, then the valve had to be fixed, not surprising as they are all just buried in the earth with no protection from dust, grit, being dug up by animals or just stepped on and bent!
All in all more than a week of carry ing water from the dam for general use, very brown and murky; or from a neighbours tank for cooking, rain catchment. I am now the expert at the 2litre shower, washing hair, body and underwear; I thought I was pretty good in Uganda, but this is a whole new level particularly when its only every other day or so and I am pretty filthy from the dust and the wood smoke from the fire; and the water is murky brown to start with.
This is the end of the rainy season, and I have only heard one short shower, which barley settled thedust, it is very dusty and dry now so I am not sure how bad it will get before the next rains. The people here consume so little because they have so little, but I think they are paying a much heavier price of global warming than those of us in the west who are enjoying the benefits of our capilatist, consumer culture. I understand there is a drought in E Anglia now, but sure as eggs is eggs, the rain will come around june 22nd,when I return and I will not moan about the british summer, well for at least a week!
Barbs's Big Bike RIde
This year I have decided to stay and enjoy an English Spring. It has been a long time coming but at last it is here and I am off to explore my own back yard. Well actually travelling up the UK mainland as far north as possible before 21st June and see how close I can get to the Midnight Sun.
After my travels along the Camino de Santiago across northern Spain last September on my trusty old iron donkey, I have bought a lighter bike in the hope that I can get up a few more hills and by going from Lands End to John o Groats (LEJOG) I can avoid the killing headwinds of the Spanish meseta.
So here she is, we had a jolly naming ceremony on Saturday and hopefully the good friends, food and weather I enjoyed will carry me through to the farthest northern climes. Thank you all for a great send off, admirably topped off with one too many pints The Village Bike listening to Mojo Triangle.
And she is called Eleanor, isn't she beautiful, I hope I still have such tender feelings after 6 hours in the saddle, but probably only in the nether regions I fear.
The map link on the right will show a rough itinerary and route and I will try try to update with my actual route, if I can work out how and where I am as I go along, you know there will be little correlation but I will get there or somewhere in the end!
If you want an email update, submit your address in the box also on right and hopefully it will find its way through the ether to you.
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Hi Barbara
ReplyDeleteJust a little note to say how much we are enjoying reading your blog. Even more amazing things to read in the last couple of weeks. We are looking forward to seeing you after the 22nd. You will have to keep blogging from No 29 when you get back!
Meldreth is still the same. You will have missed some of the fetes!! That time of year again. The weather has been amazing. Tim and I were at a gardening show today and bumped into Sherida and John. Everyone is having to buy loads of plants to replace the ones that have died. We have no idea, have we, how lucky we are to even have the hope of rain. I have loved all your descriptions of the countries you have seen. I will have to read up the blog before we see you so we can talk about it all.
First stop the BQ. It is still going strong and has been lovely to go to have a drink this time of year.
Anyway take care and I will write again soon
Love Joan xx xx from Tim