Plus 1 minus 1

Daraja and the platform has been left behind, and we are now in the buzzing capitol of Nairobi.

The last couple of days at Daraja consisted of a visit to a women’s group, a heartbreaking documentary about female circumcision and finally an introduction to Masai dancing and singing.

We left Thursday morning after a night of pouring rain that only stopped for a moment as we filed into the matatus with all our bags. How they ever managed to fit all of us and our enormous amounts of luggage into three matatus will forever remain a mystery to me.

The trip back to Nairobi felt just as long as coming up a week earlier. This time it rained all the way though, so the temperature was bearable. As we got closer to the center of the city traffic worsened and got really insane at some point in a very random intersection that was completely jammed from all directions as hundreds of cars attempted to cut across non-existing lanes. An inexplicable sight.

Eventually we made it to the YMCA around late-lunch time and were installed in dorms. Lunch was a welcome change from the beans of Daraja and felt almost European, a relief to many.

Most of the group went to Kibera, the slums of Nairobi, but Charlotte and I decided to wait and go next time we are in Nairobi instead as we have been given a number of a guide some of the other girls recommended. So we stayed back and spent some time reading in the sun. Later on we wanted to find a cinema close by so we headed towards downtown – or so we thought. I’m sure it is the Lonely Planet map and not my sense of direction that’s off, but we did manage to walk the wrong way. We had gone out late afternoon and weren’t sure about the time of dark, so we didn’t make it to the cinema but just wandered around in a nearby park instead.

We’re staying at dorms again, this time with six girls to a room smaller than the ones at Daraja and it feels a little cramped. Everyone seems to silently be looking forward to getting properly settled with one other person and not having to live out of a backpack(which, by the way, is significantly harder than living out of a suitcase).

Friday morning we were all picked up by a proper-sized bus for a rendezvous with Teresia at Action Aid Kenya’s office. The nurses were to register with the Kenyan Nurses Council and we were given other pieces of information as well as contact information for our host families.

The girls fill out forms for the Kenyan Nurses Council



Charlotte and I had a plus 1 minus 1 day. When we first arrived at the office, we were told that it seemed the situation in Isiolo had died down and we could probably go on Wednesday(happiness ensured and we started planning for the two extra days in Nairobi). A few hours later however, a counter-message came in and told us to hold off on Isiolo for a while yet. The highest powers of AAK had to approve on the security assessment before we could go.

All right, it’s a darn shame, but what can you do, right? We then started preparing for the change of plans. Instead of going to Isiolo, we will go back to Nanyuki to live with a family while working in a nearby town with the local AA office there.

Else-Marie

But we live for fast-paced, so within another hour, we had learned that the Danish director of ActionAid would be coming to Nairobi on Tuesday and we quickly made arrangements with Teresia to stay put when the rest of the group went off on Sunday to their placements. She set up a meeting for us with the Emergency response coordinator for Monday and the message to show up at the office on Tuesday for a chance to meet the great Dane. Plan is to then head for Nanyuki on Wednesday.

The rest of the group had left the office to go back to the Y while Charlotte and I as well as a couple of other girls with unresolved placement-issues had stayed behind. As we finished around 5pm and got in the car that would take us back, we hit traffic. Friday afternoon traffic in Copenhagen is nothing compared to the ridiculousness of Friday afternoon traffic in Nairobi. It’s really interesting to go through traffic when traffic laws seem non-existent. A 15 min drive in normal traffic took us close to two hours and we were back at the Y around 7pm.

Plus 1 minus 1 equals square one.