The Mungiki is a cult in Kenya which is trying to run a parallel or shadow government.  They appear to have some significant public support and according to a British journalist, have at least 40 government Ministers secretly supporting them.

Mungiki have been accused of being responsible for many murders and kidnappings, and there have been public and police retaliations for these.  The group has taken over quite a few of the matatu stages in Nairobi, and demands a ‘tax’ for getting someone on a bus, and from the drivers for letting the bus use the stage.  They have also blockaded some of the roads in the country and demand a tax of various amounts for people, cars and cattle passing through their checkpoints.

There was some reporting of the goings-on in the papers until it got to be tourist season, when miraculously, we were supposed to think that all this shooting and strife just stopped.  It didn’t.  I could hear the shooting going on many nights while I was safely tucked in my apartment.

These people were the main reason I didn’t get to do and see a lot of the things I would have liked to do as I kept being cautioned not to go out at night to many areas where I could have heard some music.

The Mungiki started their life as a ‘bring back African culture and religion’ group, but 5 years or so later the leaders decided that they would all become Muslim.  After some of the clerics and imams started giving them a hard time that sort of died down, and now 5 years after that, the most prominent leader has ’seen the light’ and says he is now a Christian, and will convert all his followers.  Of course, this pronouncement and promise had nothing to do with his release from jail where he was sitting with 29 murder charges – no, no!

It’s easy to see why young people especially are lured into these groups.  No education, no jobs, no prospects for a future – anyone who promises them something can win their allegiance.  But if you look at their history you can see that they say what suits at the moment, and are doing nothing for these young folk except getting them killed.

The Mungiki was apparently the main mover behind the violence after the 2007 elections, and of course, it’s strange how the leaders happen to just have appear these huge lovely farms that they own.  BAH!

Jocey wins!

Though I’ve got to say I’m a little disappointed.  It seems no one was paying attention when I said that Nairobi was incredibly expensive, and even called it Nairobbery, which is its nickname.

The apartment I got was advertised on the net when I first saw it for $867 USD/mo, but when I got there was told that was the resident price, foreigners paid 99,000 shillings ($1,388.00 CDN).  They have since changed their website, but I tried many, many apartments, and they were equal or even more expensive.  And that’s not even in downtown Nairobi, or in one of the expensive suburbs like Westlands.

A hotel room in downtown Nairobi that is equivalent to say, The Royal York or King Eddy is over $500USD/night.  The Stanley, where I stayed for my last two days in town was cheaper by far, and I booked it through Hotels.com, which made it even cheaper than their list price.

So the apartment was a bit of a disaster.  The grout in the shower all gone, so who knows what was growing behind the tile?  The pass through into the kitchen had the cupboards hanging out so that until I learned not only to face the stove going through, but to bend over, I kept scraping my back.  Constant noise, laundry first thing in the morning, great raucous goings-on in the office upstairs many mornings, people clonking up and down the metal stairs to the office all day, and many nights as well – and if they didn’t see the sign pointing out that the office was upstairs, they’d walk into my apartment!  The sewer gas backed up into the apartment at night so badly that it was sometimes like sleeping inside a beer-and-pickled-egg fart.  And the shower pipe was broken, so a good deal of the water just ran down the wall instead of out the shower head.

I could go on, but you get the idea.  Nairobi must think it’s New York or something.  And as much as I looked, I couldn’t find anything cheaper and equivalent or better and still affordable.  Heck, this wasn’t affordable, but I had to live somewhere.

This is about what you'll see on the web. The other buildings don't seem as bad as where I was, and other than a very strange assortment of mattresses, no two the same even in the same aprtment, it looks much more liveable.

Here is the contest I wrote you about earlier.

I will post pictures here of the apartment I had in Nairobi, in the Kilimani District, and there will be a small prize for the person who come closest to the monthly cost.

1)  You MUST state what currency you are quoting in

2) You can choose Kenyan Shillings, USD or Can Dollars only.

3) Your guess MUST be posted in the comments section of this post.

4) Contest closes at midnight, Saturday December 12th, 2009.

P.S. You can click on the thumbnail pictures to get larger pictures.

Kitchen

Bathroom

Closet

Bedroom

Dining Room

Patio

Patio 2

Shower

View from bed

Two of the Three Moochin' Pooches that came with the apartment.

Flew into Amsterdam for an 8 hr layover before continuing to Toronto.

I had made plans to get together with a girlfriend I hadn’t seen in over 20 years, and she was going to take me on the canal tour.  Unfortunately she became ill, and couldn’t make it, so I had to figure out what to do on my own.  I sure didn’t want to sit in the airport for 8 hours!

I took the train to Centraal Station and went outside.  It was only about 6:30 in the morning, as we landed at 5 a.m. I asked three young ladies (who were studying hotel management and tourism) if they had any ideas about what I could see in just a couple of hours, and they suggested that I take the #5 tram, which passes through the museum district and the shopping district on its way out of town, then turns around and comes back partly by a different route.

I did just that, and really lucked out with the tram driver, Elizabeth, who had me stand right up front near her and she pointed out all the sites to me as we went by.

Amsterdam is lovely.  Clean, ordered, and so well thought out it’s amazing.  Most streets have sidewalks, then a small boulevard, then a wide bike lane, another boulevard, then the car lanes, then the tram rails.  All separate.  Bikes galore in this city.  No trucks allowed in the City centre except between 6 a.m. and noon.  Many streets, no vehicle traffic allowed at all.

But the public transit is so excellent you really don’t need a vehicle at all.  The trams, underground and light rail trains take you everywhere from the next block to the next country quickly and efficiently.

I really have to go back to this city one day soon.  I’ve put it on my list.

Bike, pedestrian, vehicle and tram lanes. Clean and neat!

Entrance to famous Flower Market

Can't be a clock, not enough 'numbers'. What is it?

Houseboats on a canal.

I could live here . . .

Downtown Amsterdam wakes up

Beautiful, but can't recall what it is. And check out the unusual two on the far left

Saturday I left the boma for the last time, for good.

The kids danced for me, and Pauline said a blessing for my trip home.  Many final pictures were taken, and hugs given all around.

As I drove through Ngong, I took some final pictures there.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3851371/ngong_town_kenya/

Also took some video of Ngong Road in Nairobi, where all the furniture craftsmen have their stalls.  Some really beautiful stuff there.  I’d sure like to see some in my rooms, but shipping it would probably triple the cost and it’s not cheap to begin with.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3843278/ngong_road_nairobi_furniture_artisans_row/

Nothing is cheap in Nairobi – or in Kenya.  I guess you can get less expensive stuff if you go to local markets and haggle, but I’m just so bad at that, I don’t get much of a break.

I’m staying at the Stanley – the oldest hotel in Nairobi – for the two days until I fly out.  Tried to see some music, but that flopped again, but I did find some to buy anyway.  Had to meet with the lawyer one last time too.

Not much happened – just last minute organising for the project, and packing.

Room at Stanley

Wednesday there was a huge awful wind all day long, and it was COLD!  Lots of firewood is being collected right now, and I’m not clear about the reason it should be done now, rather than any other time.

Thursday I visited the local dam, which was built in order to help lessen the effects of the drought for the local people.  The water behind the dam is mostly gone, the level is down so far that storks can stand on the bottom right out in the middle.  I don’t know what these people are going to do if the water all goes.

Natasha was playing a game today where she pretended to take my fingernails off and put them on herself.  No one here grows their fingernails, so they’re a big novelty.

I went out of the boma a small ways tonight to just look at the hills and sky, because I knew I would miss it when I left.  When I came back inside the fence, the dogs, which had always been friendly to me, attacked.  They growled and jumped on me, biting my clothes and tearing at them, and clawing at me.  They didn’t actually bite me – my skin – but it was kind of nerve-wracking anyway.  I have no idea what possessed them, as they never seemed to mind who walked where – lots of people come to visit after dark, and they should have been used to my smell by then, so I’m at a loss.  Simon said he’d not seen them behave like that before.  Pauline came running out and chased them, so that was good.

Sunset from my living room door

We had another meeting with the board members, and it has been decided that we do need to register a separate CBO.  Also Barclay’s Bank has a special rate for CBOs, so I hope they will go with that when they vote.  In order to register the new CBO we have to submit 3 names, in case one or two are already taken. That means that the name of the project might change again.  Not really a problem since we don’t have anything set yet.

Friday night was more singing.  The kids had been singing for me and dancing in the kitchen one night too, and it was just too cute.

ttyl,

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3833482/saying_goodbye/

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3833606/goodbye_blessing/

The dam's waters used to cover to way behind me and across to the trees.

One of Ruth's many friends

I told you about the dolls I got for Natasha and Naini – whom I’ve been calling Diana (Diana is the next biggest one), well, they were very well received.  In fact the kids were ecstatic, and the Three Musketeers, Natasha, Naini and Sironka sang and danced for me.  It was a hoot!

Later – their mom had gone to get wood – I thought it had been way too quiet for way too long and was going out to see what they were up to, and Monica, the major small-child carer in the boma came running to say that the three had disappeared!  We went outside the fence to look around as the kids sometimes played there, but no luck.  So here I was looking at miles and miles of dessert scrubland and wondering where three missing kiddies were.  Monica thought about it for a while and decided that they’d probably gone to their friends’ house to show off the dolls and trucks.  We walked (and walked) to the ‘neighbour’s’ house and sure enough, there were the kids playing with their friends.  They got shooed home and I confiscated the trucks and dolls for 24 hours as a consequence. ‘Bout had a heart attack though, little rascals!

I don’t know what it is about this landscape – I’d never have thought I could fall in love with sandy scrubland, but I have, both here and in South Africa.  There is something so stark and beautiful, and kind of an endless, end-of-the-world feeling, and I could just walk through it or look at it for hours on end.

Clouds over the Ngong Hills

Sunny day on the hills

Oh, and I forgot to mention – little boys will be boys, where ever you are in the world.  The first thing Sironka did when he got his hands on the girls’ dolls was to look and see if they had panties on, then giggle.

Dolls and Trucks

My path to school

- Tuesday -

The little kiosks are abandoned, I guess because the traffic going past them to school is over for the holidays.  Tipoi told me that the town council had been trying to develop that area as a “commercial centre”, but all that had evolved was these few little kiosks, maybe 10 or 12 feet square, made of corrugated tin, and selling bits and pieces of sweets and so on.

And I almost got lost again today.  All the landmarks I had marked out on my first extended stay here look entirely different in context of what has grown or greened around them with the small bit of rain that has fallen.  and to make matters more complicated, the main path to the school, power plant and clinic apparently ran across someone’s land, and they have now plowed it all up in order to plant maize, so I had to walk around, then try to pick up the right path on the other side.  As usual there was someone around herding the goats home who came over to make sure I was on the right path to my destination.  Actually I’m sure (as was the case in the country where I grew up) that no-one can even sneeze without everyone in a 20 mile radius knowing about it.  The country – any country – is definitely NOT the place to be if you want privacy!

ttyl,

All dressed for school. The pink backpack is especially prized.

Two of the little kiosks on the 'path' to school

Today have to pack up everything, all the souvenirs, clothes, music and so on and get ready to go to Kajaido tomorrow.

I just realised that my batteryless flashlight has a BIG magnet in it – it powers it self by magnetic induction, I think – so I’ll have to remember to keep it well away from other electronics and music discs.  Since I’ve never thought about that before on other trips, it’s a miracle I managed to get through with no wiped discs anywhere.

It’s hot, hot, hot here, so am not rushing around anywhere much.

Will likely have no computer access until next weekend, so will try to update then.

http://www.metacafe.com/watch/3857121/secretary_bird_running_from_plovers/

Shopping centre for a small settlement on the way to Maasai Mara Park

A part of that small settlement

Had to give my head a shake today.  Went to the mall to get some sausages to give to the night staff here to cook for their supper, and there I was in 80 degree sunshine, walk into the mall and there are decorated Christmas trees and poinsettias, and Christmas carols playing.  Really made me feel as if I had hit a time warp or something.  I just cannot wrap my brain around warm weather and Christmas.

The night staff really enjoyed the sausage.  They make so little, and get so little meat that they didn’t even have a clue how to cook them.  They were about to boil them, before I got things translated properly.  They are such a good bunch – the security guards, and the fellows that man the gate and the night reception girls.  They’ve been so nice to me, making sure that everything is OK, as far as they’re able.  All the staff here has been really good to me, so I hope I can do a little something for each of them to show my appreciation.

The lawyer finally got the registration search done today, and it’s clear, so that’s one good thing.

Heard today that it’s been raining a lot up near Kajiado, where I’ll be going on Monday.  A bridge was washed out, but supposedly repaired now.  I hope so, as I don’t want to be sitting around with no hotel here and unable to get to where I’m going.

Taking advantage of the puddles while they last

Travelling can get . . . complicated.

Was sitting on a second storey balcony today around 5 p.m., watching the birds in the tops of the trees and bushes.  You could see so many types from up there, it was grand.  Then a hawk flew overhead – there are a lot of hawks here – and swoosh, they all just let go of their perches and dropped for cover.  I was amazed at how quickly and how completely they disappeared.  Guess if they didn’t have that talent, they wouldn’t be around for me to see for long.

That’s about it for today.

That was the name of the musical I went to see last night.  It was really good.

The aisles as you entered the theatre were done up to appear like passageways in a slum, which was an interesting concept.  The music and dancing were great and the story-line was good – lots of laughs (some of which I missed, either because of the references not being familiar, or the accent) and a bit of a sniffle near the end.  All the ingredients for a great night out at the theatre.    If it comes to a theatre near you, get out and see it – you won’t be sorry.

The main theme was official corruption and the way NGOs are ripping off the people they are supposed to serve.  They had some pretty funny new takes on the acronyms NGO and CBO.

It was the New York Theatre Festival where it got such great reviews.  Voted the favourite for the year.  Eric Wainaina, the writer and main character, is a pretty big star here, and his music sells very well.  Everyone knows his name.  It’s too bad that the ticket prices, as is getting to be the story in Toronto too, are too rich for the ordinary working person to afford.

So I’m pretty chuffed about getting to see that.

Other than that, still getting bank info, legal info and so on for the project.  It’s like pulling teeth!

And something else I discovered the other night.  Steers, and ‘fast food’ restaurant here and in SA is AWFUL here.  In SA it made fresh-as-ordered quite good burgers.  Here it’s some kind of hot-table cardboard that I ended up giving to Snoopy – she’ll eat anything.

I put out a dish of beer the other night to show the gardener an easy way to rid the gardens of slugs.  Well, it was like something out of a B-grade horror movie.  There are slugs here 8 inches long. Eee-yew!!

Check out the size of this slug compared to the cigarette beside it.

Time is getting short – seems like all of a sudden, as I said yesterday, too little time, too many unanswered questions.

And just another thought – workers’ pay here is so low that it is economical for the hotels and apartments to have someone cut their grass with garden shears, rather than waste money on expensive gas or electricity with a mower.  Sometimes you are just so grateful to have been born in a prosperous country!

ttyl,

These will offset the effect of the slug photos

I don’t know why it is, but on trips and holidays everything seems to be running apace for most of the time, then all of a sudden you get to a point where the end seems to be coming at you with the speed of an avalanche.  That time has hit me now.

Only here in Nairobi until Monday, then off to Kajiado again for the next 4 or 5 days.  Then back to Nairobi for two days and off to Canada on the  30th.

The past couple of days have been mainly walking around downtown and getting information from different banks (Kenya has a LOT of banks!) about what it takes to open an account for a non-profit.  There are a lot of requirements, many put in place by the government.  Also, one bank officer told me that she thinks PayPal doesn’t work in Kenya, so will have to check that out, and may have to re-think the payment methods – wire transfer being the only other viable option.

On my walks about town, I have gotten lost a few times – as soon as I get south of the equator, my whole sense of direction just tanks, since I subconsciously use the sun to tell what direction I’m going, and it’s all backwards down here.  Since it’s not a conscious thing, I’ve generally gone haring off in the wrong direction before I stop and think.  |I’m trying to get better at that, but in a city with a downtown as small as Nairobi, you really can’t get lost too badly.  You can, however, as I did, get into some areas where you are the only foreigner and everybody wants to be your new best friend.  They can be pretty insistent, and they all have a mother, sister, uncle, that has the best deals ever on anything you can name.

I’m polite and friendly until the bullshit starts, then – well, my kids will tell you how fast I can make it very clear that “I vant to be alone!”  And in that department, I’m a match for any street tout, anywhere.  Not a match for the kids though, and I won’t venture into areas with street kids if I can help it.  They are immune to anything you say or do, probably because whoever is in charge of them will say or do worse if they come back with nothing.

Also have been trying to get some photos of flowers that I missed on other walk-abouts.

They're everywhere, and I love it.

Don't know this fruit at all. Anybody?

And I’m going to a musical tonight.  Written, directed and acted by Kenyans – and it has apparently gotten great reviews, I think when it showed at some theatre festival.

And Sunday I’m venturing into Kibera with an acquaintance who lives there – the chap who was telling me about all the NGOs whose work was either useless or undone.  And I hope to find some live music this weekend too.

I’ll try to keep you up to date until Monday, since after I get to Kajiado I won’t be able to make any entries until I’m back in Nairobi.

ttyl,