Rural Kenya

Quite a lot has happened in the last 6 months; I clearly need to blog more often, but of most interest has been my work trips to Kenya where I'm currently implementing a new project.

Back in February during one my trips here I went on a chartered UN flight (who knew they had their own airline, though not their own planes...) to a county in North-eastern Kenya called Mandera. Actually we went to Western Mandera landing, quite literally, in a field. A big, fairly flat, field, but a field none-the-less. Apart from grass, the only thing around was a fence around the field and not a single sign of an airport, or even landing strip. Landing to be greeted by several 4x4s from the local police force and our government hosts, we spent several hours visiting the local hospital and a clinic 2 hours away.

It was a fascinating visit to one of the poorest parts of Kenya, and one with some of the highest maternal and child health issues in the world. It is a very barren, sparsely populated, very dry, area (at least at the time i visited) with most of the population breeding a few animals for their livelihood and they eat a lot of meat there (in fact we had meat for breakfast as well as lunch). Many live in temporary huts that can be moved with the seasons. There was a mobile phone signal in the town near where we landed but that was not very stable and didn't go much beyond the town... once we left the town and drove past many smaller settlements we were truly unconnected.

The local hospital has been getting some investment but unable to hire trained staff willing to live there, so it still struggles to offer critical services like surgery (or emergency operations for mothers with pregnancy issues) in its theatre - the next closest hospital is several hours away. At the clinic we held a discussion with around 150 community members, gathered around a tree, and with local elders and tribal leaders leading the conversation (and also translating into the local dialect). It was very interesting indeed.

In the local village we saw the one little shop that had a solar panel connected to some large batteries and was charging several simple phones (there was also a weak mobile signal in some parts of this village); in the clinic we saw the "ambulance" which was a three-wheel motorbike with a bed on the back. All around us we saw the local people with their animals, and many of them using the animals to carry water from the (newly built) reservoir.

With such an inhospitable climate and poor geography, this is not a place with a bright future, but there is hope that they can at least have better health care, and since Kenya devolve more power and money to its 47 counties, we hear of increasing investment in public services and infrastructure from the government, in addition to the support from the UN and other charitable groups.

On another trip I went through Mombasa to a beach side resort where a major tech conference was taking place. I didn't see much of Mombasa but I briefly saw the port (since a taxi driver got lost on his way back to the airport), and experienced the ferry crossing (which really instead be a 2 minute drive over a bridge, but instead is a 20-minute ordeal waiting for, loading, crossing and unloading an ancient ferry across several hundred meters of river). At the resort an hour south, I saw some incredible beaches, but also suffered from the insane humidity.

The conference was better than most I have been to with some good updates from the government on all the key areas of work, and served to provide accountability to the conference participants on how the government was doing towards its strategy and goals. I was on a panel discussing universal access (i.e. how to ensure everyone can get access to phone and Internet services) amongst other things. I didn't participate in the pre-day playing golf that was very popular is a key networking activity in Kenya I am told.

One of the areas my project is working in is called Lamu County (not in Mandera, though that was interesting to visit in case we wok there in the future), which is on the coast and has its population on several islands as well as part of the mainland. On the island where the county capital is, there are no roads and transport is by boat around the island, by foot along the coast or through the island. Goods are carried on donkeys or, on the couple of paved paths, on large wooden wheelbarrows/pushcarts.

It is a pretty town, and the islands are picturesque; the mainland even has a few national parks but the transport is awful--taking boats of course can be expensive and slow and the condition of the one main road on the mainland is so bad that  our 4x4 broke down twice. The road was so bumpy that during 4 hours in the car, my fitness tracker thought i had walked 20,000 steps!

The area is one of the oldest settlements continuously inhabited in the area i believe, as a large trading and fishing community on the coast of East Africa, though much development has passed it by. A new, large, port is supposed to be built there soon and that has meant the main town on the island has finally been connected to the electric grid, and other islands are being electrified too (the mainland part has some grid electricity too).

We visited a number of health facilities as part of the project I am working on and spent a lot time on the road and in boats. But it was also a hugely interesting and very productive visit. It is crazy though that the whole county only has a permanent population of a couple hundred thousand people (with maybe another hundred thousand or so temporary residents from neighboring countries/counties) which is similar to just one part of the town in one of the suburbs of Shenzhen where i live. Indeed, the Huawei HQ has 60,000 people working there alone. Of course other parts of China (though not on the coast) are like this and Mandera too, especially in the Western parts of China.

It is fascinating to get to spend so much time in Kenya and by working there get to understand it better; the comparisons with China are of course difficult to make but still interesting. Looking at Kenya as a whole there are more relevant comparisons to China: Much of Kenya's economic activity is concentrated in just a few major cities; there are a couple of very successful industries in Kenya (such as flowers, tea, tourism); Kenya is a regional leader in technology and a pioneer in Africa for many things... lots of parallels with China's own development and its role in Asia!

More to come on this from me in the future, I am sure.

The girls - together - long may it last

Now Leah can climb up and down stairs, go down slides on her own, eat on her own and everything she is a real sister for Hannah. So the kids are playing in playgrounds together, sitting on the bobby-cart together, and even sitting on canons together (in an old fortress-town we visited with some work colleagues) and going to the dentist together (though Leah didn't do too well at letting the dentist into her mouth for more than 10 seconds it was better than Hannah managed at that age!).

They are brushing teeth together, reading books together, playing with dolls together, playing in the playhouse together, dressing up together, even sleeping together, doing lots of painting and drawing together (though Leah still has a long way to go here!). Normally it works out well - they like copying each other and we try to ensure it is a race to the top, but it can end up a race to the bottom too (if one starts refusing to do something the other might too). We are constantly reminding ourselves not to ever compare either of them or play one of them off against the other though... and hoping this will last a long time! It gives us a bit more of a break since they can play together a lot, but we still need to stay in our toes and be highly involved. Leah is not yet able to satisfy all of Hannah's play needs :)

In Shenzhen there is a routine involving Taekwondo twice a week, regular swimming now the pool is open (and some hit-and-miss swimming lessons for Hannah), and frequent trips during the hot summer to indoor playgrounds that are air-conditioned, as well as some trips to the beach in Hong Kong or to play in the water fountains outside some of the shopping malls downtown.

Kindergarten regularly organizes activities, often that require buying special clothes for various dances. There are constant requirements for us to do something for kindergarten - most recently there has been a theme of dinosaurs, so we've been drawing lots of dinosaurs, making dinosaurs out of play-doh, making dinosaurs out of cardboard, buying books about dinosaurs and all sorts.

The rainy season has come and gone, which was disrupting my pleasant bike ride into town, and it is full-on hot now. There are constant issues revolving around ice-creams for Hannah, who often wants several per day, but of course rarely gets them. And there is an increasing stream of friends that Hannah regularly plays with.

Winter Holidays

Earlier in the year there was time for a couple of vacations - a week in Germany with the in-laws during Chinese New Year, and then during the end of March 2 weeks in the UK and a Portuguese island called Madeira.

In Germany this time we spent a couple of days in Berlin. I enjoyed an outdoor market with excellent Gluhwein and the kids enjoyed the street musicians. We also found a fantastic indoor museum-cum-playground for children (technically a Museum for Children) with all kinds of things for kids to play in, such as tents, art activities, clothes to dress up in, and more. Greatway to spend a wet and cold winter holiday

Back in Doberlug-Kirchhain we had fun with the dog, sheep, local playground, and the two-decade old toys that are still going strong, such as the kids' piano. We also found an incredible place called Tropical Islands. One of the largest indoor domes in the world, it used to house airships (I believe) but was covered into a tropical paradise at 28 degrees all year around with a lagoon, 2 swimming pools, a beach, several water slides, hundreds of tents and hotel rooms, and a ginormous kids playground (complete with kids activities every couple of hours)... all of it boiling hot. There is also the world's largest indoor rain forest - and since it is done by the Germans it is really an indoor rain forest that takes several minutes to walk around and has all sorts of insects and animals amongst the trees.

It is a great idea; it is not cheap, but it is certainly cheaper than getting to an airport and flying overseas for a few days of beach time. The kids had a wonderful time; the adults also had a great time. Even the food there was decent (at least 6 different restaurants) and there was one of the world's largest changing rooms! Lots of people travel from all across Germany to go to it and it is well worth it. A place that we will frequently go back to again (though remember your swimming gear as the shop there is expensive!)

Andrea and the kids had more time off than me so they managed to spend some time in England as well - Leah was obsessed with the dog of course; Hannah got into painting various adults' faces and they played in the playground a lot.

At the end of March I took the the two kids back to England (the first time i had taken the two kids on my own on a flight or away from their mother for a significant period of time) - Leah was in love with her little suitcase that she wanted to pull behind her all the time, though she still loved Cocoa (the dog) more. She tried to throw sticks (unsuccessfully) though did successfully manage to fall flat on her face in the mud in the park as her feet got stuck in the mud.

We spent 8 days in Madeira, which is a Portuguese island off the West coast of Africa and was nice and warm (though not generally warm enough for swimming, it was warm enough to play with the water and sand). We saw a few really impressive gardens which the kids enjoyed--waterfalls, animals, Chinese-style gardens, Japanese style gardens, and all sorts. In one of them mum organized an Easter-egg hunt which of course was popular. Perfect except for having a sleeping baby in a buggy needing to be carried up and down stairs and over rock pools!

It is a very rocky island so there were lots of incredible views from the coast and a couple of sandy beaches, though inland there was also a lot of mist which somewhat ruined our outdoor activities there (no views, too cold and dangerous to go canyoning). It was a fairly relaxing holiday with lots of cab rides, some minibuses to explore the sights around the island and the kids playing with each other and with their aunties/grandma.

We found a museum about Madeira which had some entertaining aspects to it, such as part of a plane that Hannah enjoyed playing in and directing everyone (now we are landing, now we are serving meals, now we are putting our seat belts on....), and we found an incredible toy museum with several rooms packed with thousands of toys - cars, teddies, action figures, dolls and all sorts. In fact it was more fun for the adults than the kids, since the kids didn't really know most of the toys (some of which were very old) but we all enjoyed it.

We saw the pretty old villages and the main town that has a high street full of interestingly painted front doors (anything to interest the tourists), some interesting fish and fruit markets, a tour around a rum facility, and a couple of fantastic restaurants.The food was generally cheap there and some of the fish was fantastic; especially when cooked on a hot slab of marble in front of you. There was regular music at the restaurants and very good service.

It was a year or so after the trip to the Canary Islands (Spanish islands nearby) and another very successful sunny winter holiday.