Today we went to the Safaricom Jazz festival which is held in the grounds surrounding the national stadium, with a large stage and overhead pavilion to provide shade for several thousand, many food and drink stalls, and a large kids area.
Though we spent some time at the music stage when we first arrived, and again later as we ate, 80% of the time was in the very hot midday sun at the play area: riding camels and horses, watching magic shows, riding a circular train, jumping on trampolines and playing inside various other balls floating on water. Even though young kids are free, even the adult price ticket of $20 would still be worth it for the kids to be able to have so much fun for 6 hours. They'd have kept going longer but I managed to get them away before the predictable breakdown (caused by tiredness and heat) began... there had been a warning from a collision on the bouncy castle (resolved by an offer of chips for dinner).
With hair washed and both kids asleep by 8pm, it was a successful, an unusual night. During most of the last four weeks when Andrea's been away, they've been going to bed later once I've got home from work, sorted out dinner of some sort and then got them to bed. During that time I also had to fly to Malaysia for a day, leaving the kids with Mary-Anne for a weekend, who was Leah's teacher last year and is the person we rely on to look after the kids in the afternoons when Andrea is away. The kids have managed great and its nice to spend a lot of time with them!
Over the last few weeks there have been some birthday parties (usually at the house of a kid with swimming or bouncy castles or other entertainment) as well as an interesting talk by a former astronaut that I attended at one of the Country Clubs (there are a few elite, members-only, colonial-era country clubs). We've been at other friend's houses playing, eating and painting at River Cafe in Karura Forest, and trying to give the rabbits exercised. I'd also attended the Kenyan Sportsperson of the Year Award (SOYA) invited by a friend and sat next to Edna Kiplagat, who won the Boston Marathon last year (and she's older than me, which is incredible)! It was quite inspiring with so many categories for community and school sports teams and individuals, but especially the focus on coaches and teams, even though I was not aware of who most of the people were. My friend introduced me to most of the former winners though... reeling off what long-distance world record or marathon or Olympic medal they had achieved as she introduced them to me!
The rabbits had been offered to us by my boss when his daughter left them behind when she returned to South Africa, and we've invested in a hutch and "runway" (as the local who build it called it). Both were handmade; the hutch by an entrepreneur in the Eastleigh part of town, an area with a lot of markets and Jua Kali (local street side craftsmen and entrepreneurs, and the runway at our house by the former gardener of a friend. We're hoping it has a positive impact on the kids to take some responsibility for them, but of course the early excitement has somewhat died down.
The Malaysia trip was fairly successful (organizing an event as part of the World Urban Forum), and work has been busy, with the odd interview on television, speeches at events and interesting discussions with all kinds of people on how to use technology to improve life in Kenya. Now the election is over, the new cabinet is finally in place, work is beginning to move forward again after the challenges of last year. There is a lot planned for this year, so fingers crossed things go well!
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