Blogging again from Tanzania

See the email as to the reasons why I'm blogging in Tanzania!!

Anyway I arrived here on Friday and I'm heading back to Kenya today. I stayed in Oldy of course, with my lovely family who welcomed me like a Queen, with open arms. It was lovely to see them all again and I discovered that Mama Last is pregnant again. She has offered the baby to me as a "mtoto jifty"- a gift child,in the hope that I will take it back to Scotland and raise it! Needless to say I've refused but its the nearest I've come to having that "jumper baby"that Mands is always talking about.....!

I had the strangest feeling when we crossed the border from Kenya to Tanzania- I felt immediately that I was home- isn't that the strangest thing? Anyway its underlined for me that the Africa I prefer is not the dirt and noise of the cities- its the wide open landscapes with acacia trees everywhere and no human presence except the distant bright spot that is a Masai moran ( or warrior), wearing the traditional checked blue, purple and red blankets that are their clothes, walking to his manyatta (the Masai walk dozens of miles together and call it a short stroll!)

I should really say something on stuff in Nairobi. The work has not really chnaged, although it remains for me difficult and frustrating. We got a delivery from the Kenya Red Cross last week- we got registered with them through my insistence, I might add. Anyway we had 50 kilos opf porridge lying around the office for 3 days until I asked why it hadn't been divided and distributed. There was no good answer so I threw yet another tantrum and insisited that it be done immeditately which it was. People are literally starving to death in front of our eyes while there is food lying around! I am also investigating the large supermarkets and other charities for food donations- if I wasn't doing it no one would! The lethargy and apathy that is present here is shocking at times. I can't bring myself to be too harsh as these people are seriously sick but sometimes I could bring their end about a little quicker!!

Talking of sickness we have an outbreak of typhoid in the slums. Its not really surprising as conditions are horrifically dirty, but its awful to see such a disease present when the cure is so simple. There are so many people in Kenya with no access to clean water and the bloody government does nothing about it. We have clean water brought in every day but it doesn't last long with so many people needing to drink and wash, so often folks have to fall back on other means. And the slums are so dirty. The concept of rubbish collection has not yet reached Africa, so piles of nameless rubbish are left around to rot as they will. The smell is incredible, and the children often hunt through it looking for something to eat. You have to jump the rivers of filth as you are walking around and my greatest fear is that I'm going to fall in one day!! Oh and the toilets. Most people live in one room, divided by a curtain, one side for sleeping,one for eating. The cooking is done in the street on small charcoal stoves. These rooms house families of 8 or 10 people and they don't have toilets. These are outside, 3 between maybe 150 people. Add to this that they are squat toilets that don't lush, and that the people who are using them are often ill and have stomach conditions- well, they are pretty awful. I've used them once or twice while doing home visits, but now I've become like a camel and I wait all day till I get home. Who knows what you could catch otherwise!

I got the news last night that Caroline has had her baby. I'm excited and proud and just a little sad that I'm not there for the happy event- except in spirit! When I think of all the life that I'm missing out on while I'm here and the fact that she and Ezzy will have a 2 year old boy instead of a baby by the time I see him- its a temptation at the lowest points to jack it in and go home. Thank God I'm tough enough to see it through!!

I think thats it for now. I always forget what I was going to say until I get home and I think,oh bugger,I should have mentioned this and that. Its impossible to tell you folks everything, and some of it you wouldn't believe anyway!

See ya next time, Constant Reader! x