Legal Alien

We left for Nairobi on Sunday the 5^th after a bit of agonizing over how to find the right matatu. It proved fairly painless and we made it safe and sound to the capital. Charlotte had booked us a permanent tent at the Milimani Backpackers – a VERY popular spot for backpackers of all ages and nationalities. We were both exhausted and ended up just spending the rest of the day sleeping and reading.

In our tent at Milimani

Our safari was to feature four other people who we met the next morning as we gathered outside the reception waiting to board the car. Daniel – a Swede, Tom – an Australian and the Irish couple Sharon and Tony. Going from Nairobi to the Masai Mara is a longer trip than I had anticipated. The Mara lies on the border to Tanzania in the southwestern corner of the country and spills into the Serengeti on the Tanzanian side.

As we came out of Nairobi the great Rift Valley opened up in front of us as we headed down the mountainside. It was quite a spectacular sight and I’m sure that it would be even more beautiful in the spring after the rainy season.

We headed through the valley and spent another few hours going up and down hills before stopping for lunch in Narok. From there it was another 2-3 hours before we arrived at our camp: an anonymous yet cozy spot with 4 or 5 permanent tents, a little shed with a kitchen and dining tables, a primitive shower and toilet, no running water and no electricity. The others were complaining that we wouldn’t get to go to the actual national park that day, but both Charlotte and I was pretty happy to be out of the car after the six hour drive. Instead one of the local masai took us for a walking safari for a couple of hours around the area which was really nice. We walked the plains and shared the space with herds of gazelles and wildebeest (gnu) while the lions (un)fortunately were nowhere to be seen.

Charlotte heads across the plains with our guide as gazelles grass in the front of us

Tom takes a picture of the wildebeest

When we came back, Charlotte and I watched the sun set before the chef who had come with us from Nairobi had a fantastic dinner ready for us.

I was exhausted from the drive, the walk and the heat, so I went to bed fairly early while Charlotte stayed by the fire talking to our two masai guards. It was amazing to lie in bed and listen to nothing else but the sound of the wind in the trees and the gentle rustling of the tent as well as the occasional dog barking or cow bell.

We left around 7 Tuesday morning and headed for the Mara. It was a good hour there on the rocky roads but worth it to again encounter gazelles and zebras casually grazing along the road.

Right inside the gate of the park we were surrounded by game – a great mix of zebras, warthogs and gazelles of various kinds.

As we drove on we encountered a group of giraffes that came fairly close to the car and a group of buffalos that had a few aggressive members that charged at the car as we drove away. No harm done though, I think they were just showing who was boss of that place.

If you compare this giraffe to the pictures from the last entry, you might notice a difference in the pattern. There are apparently 3 types of giraffe and this is the Mara giraffe that lives in this particular area.

Sammy, our fantastic guide, told us about the animals and constantly kept in touch with the other vehicles in the park. At one time we were just about to turn left when Sammy exclaimed “cheetah!” and quickly turned right for the cheetah casually strolling down the road a little further ahead. We got pretty close to it, but as it was walking away it was hard to get a decent picture of it before it headed into the tall grass as more vehicles approached.

We drove on with Sammy on the constant lookout. Having worked at the Mara for six years prior to his current job, he knew all the roads, all the signs of game and all the right places to look for them. Not long after the encounter with the cheetah, he spotted the lion: a statuesque lioness lying on a slightly elevated plateau where she had a good view of the vast savannah in front of her spotted with lunch-opportunities.

A lone hartebeest seemed to be the prey of interest however. In the shade of the bushes behind her were another ten or so lions resting, but with no sign of the male. We were the second car to arrive, but not long after the rumor of the lions had spread and cars started lining up around us. After perhaps 10 minutes the lioness got up and headed down the sloped plain towards the hartebeest soon followed by a second lion. The two split up and headed slowly towards the prey. We lost sight of the first lion as she hid in the tall grass but the second seemed to purposely make itself visible to the hartebeest.

After about 20 minutes of intense staring both on our and the lion’s part, Sammy announced that we had to move on as we still had a lot of ground to cover, so unfortunately we missed the actual hunt, granted that one occurred. As we headed for the Tanzanian border that runs through the park and that you can cross without a visa, we came upon more varieties of animals such as elephants, a couple of elusive hyenas, hippos and crocodiles as well as a large variety of birds. Safari vehicles have this cool device where the roof can be raised to allow 360 views and standing room, and it really is very beneficial for everyone because you are not restricted to your own little more or less openable window.

The day was really hot and dusty and we did a lot of driving but it was worth every dollar spent and every heated minute, especially when Sammy’s trained eye spotted the leopard as we were more or less headed out of the park. It was sitting in some bushes but after a while and the arrival of another couple of vehicles, it got up and moved toward us. There was some stopping and going before it passed right by us and zigzagged in-between the 20 or so cars that had turned up to cross the road and disappear into the tall grass.

Cars scramble to get one last look at the leopard before it disappears

I will not hesitate to call it one of the best days I’ve had here so far. I love the space of Africa – those enormous plains that stretch as far as the eye can see where giraffes tower over the horizon or elephants move slowly across grassy fields. I guess it is the “curse” of living in a small country that the open spaces are limited and, compared to Kenya, almost becomes claustrophobic. So I will enjoy the space while I can.

A view across the savannah towards Tanzania in the horizon

If you look closely you can see a lone elephant in the middle of the picture

That night I was again exhausted and went to bed listening to the wind with images of wild animals strewn across the inside of my eyelids.
Wednesday we got up even before the crack of dawn as we headed out of the camp at 5:30 to get to the park when they opened at 6:30. The morning light most certainly did not diminish the beauty of the plains.

A hyena looks after its mate - I will spare you the R-rated picture that came 2 minutes before this!

A herd of elephants cross the savannah in the early morning light

We were one animal away from the Big Five (African buffalo, black rhino, African elephant, lion and leopard) and the early rising paid off when Sammy again spotted the apparently very elusive black rhino. A mother and her young were quietly grazing but as more and more cars approached, they were scared off and wandered back into the bushes and disappeared.

After a few early morning hours in the park, we headed back to camp, ate breakfast and left for Nairobi where we arrived around 4 pm.

We passed several tea and coffe farms on the way back to the hostel. Here it's tea.

Due to a slightly inefficient booking system we had been reserved two beds in a large dorm at Milimani, which we really did not want. Neither of us are dorm-people but fortunately a room would become available later that evening when the guest occupying it left. So we hung out in the “restaurant” and played cards for several hours until the room finally emptied. We settled in and I fell asleep to the sound of a Christian youth group singing songs about Jesus. Charlotte had some last minute shopping to do before going home, so Thursday morning we headed to the most American mall in Kenya, Westgate. I did not manage to refrain from purchasing two more books to add to the weight of my luggage, but being in the need of some fiction I allowed myself. We spent an hour or so walking back to the hostel where Charlotte started packing and I started reading. Around 8:30 she left for the airport leaving me all by myself in Kenya. We had a great finish to our joint venture with the safari and none of us felt sad about the “break-up”. After being together 24/7 for 2 ½ months, we both needed time to ourselves. It has gone surprisingly well but we were both ready for the separation.

Friday morning I headed for the immigration office as I needed to extend my tourist visa. Teresia had warned me that I might need to apply for legal alienship, but I somehow hoped that it would not be necessary. The grumpy lady at the office however was less agreed and asked me to fill out the forms and give her two passport photos. Of course, I only had one, so I took the forms and headed out to find a place to get my pictures taken which was easily found and done. It ended up taking an hour to get through all the workings of the immigration office being herded from one window to the next apprehensively leaving my passport at one window just to get it back three windows later from a different person. I even got fully fingerprinted and confusingly called by my middle name, which I did not respond to before the woman starred vehemently at me and called Amalie in a distorted accent for the third time. As I ended up at the window I had initially come to the woman handed me my passport back and told me to come back in six weeks to pick up my Alien Identity Card. I left there with a smile on my face at the chaos of it all and the fact that I would be leaving in seven weeks. But at least I am now a legal alien in Kenya.

After the immigration office I went back to Nanyuki to figure out with Teresia what the plan would be for the last seven weeks. I met up with her at Kongoni Friday night and she informed me that a new team leader had taken over the regional office and the best would be to meet with him in the coming week and talk about the options. Unfortunately he was in Nairobi and I in Nanyuki and long story short we only managed to meet on Saturday to discuss the situation. As violence had broken out in Isiolo again the day we left, I knew that it would not be an option to go there and it is now completely out of the question, so a different solution would have to be found. Because my wonderful cousin Marie is coming to visit and celebrate her birthday with me in the first week of March, we agreed that I stay in Nanyuki until then, spending next week with Francis when he returns from a meeting and then the last three weeks of March will be in a placed called Mwingi where they work with some of the same issues as in Isiolo.

Again, I feel confident that things will work out for the better(attempting to not sound too naive at this point) and for the time being I’m enjoying some off time spending my days at Kongoni, where the internet is fast and almost consistent, to work on papers for school and getting some reading done.

Before I sign off for now, here's a link to three videos we've made: http://www.youtube.com/user/rikdane1?feature=mhee They are in Danish as they were intended for school, but I'm sure the English speakers can at least enjoy the images.

We haven't had a flower picture in a while

Melting pot

I don’t think I’ve ever before been in a place where it’s 10 at night, I’m sitting completely still, typing on my computer and sweating like I just ran a 10 km. race. OK, so the 10K thing might be overstating it, but I seriously am sweating.

So, no sooner had I written that we had given up on Isiolo before things changed. At a slightly perchance meeting with Teresia’s assistant Elizabeth, she asked us: “So you’re going to Isiolo on Monday?” We looked at each other and both did a weird little laugh followed by “No, we don’t think so.” But long story short, everything had been arranged for us to go that following Monday, being Monday the23rd for those trying to keep track of the dates, for the last two weeks of January. While waiting for something to happen, we had pretty much already set up going to Western to look at the floods, but we quickly decided that having waited for Isiolo for two months, it would be silly to give it up now that the opportunity had finally presented itself. 

Charlotte entertains the daughter of Cecilia, a woman associated with ActionAid in Kieni

Apparently that Tuesday was some sort of blessed day because not only did we learn that we could go to Isiolo, I was finally lend a hand in my search for a new internship for February and March and we got a go-ahead on the food distribution in Kieni. While we rejoiced in the fact that Isiolo was coming up, we spent Wednesday preparing for the two major food distributions with Francis. The Thursday and Friday would be dedicated to the School Feeding Program while the following week, where we were away, would be for general food distribution.

Kids pay attention to either the off-loading or me at the first school

Thursday we headed out to four different schools with the foods. The food is suppose to last them for 20 days and consists of beans, maize and vegetable oil – essentially all you need to make a good batch of githeri. Even with only four schools it was a quite tiring effort – especially because a couple of wazungus really attract some serious attention from primary school kids.


Charlotte waves goodbye to a group of kids

Friday had an ever tighter schedule as we had ten schools to visit. But Francis ran the show excellently and we managed to only be around an hour late when we finished - even having taken the time to take group pictures at almost all the schools.


A young child looks on as Francis talks to the kids



Charlotte tries to direct the kids in preparation for the picture

There was a big difference in the ways the schools were managing. One school had managed to collect enough money from the parents to purchase and ‘install’ an energy-saving stove as well as supply the school with a fair amount of food storage. However, another school was suffering from a severe lack of funds and conducted four different classes in an old, run-down UNICEF-tent that was ridiculously hot at 2pm. I can’t for the life of me imagine how the kids could possibly concentrate in there.


Inside one of the three rooms in the UNICEF tent

We had a good time tagging along for the distribution and even though it was too bad that we would miss the GFD that we had spent weeks waiting for, we were excited about Isiolo.
To finish the two months we spent with Francis in style, the three of us went on safari on Saturday at a large conservatory just outside Nanyuki, called Ol Pejeta. A gorgeous place with large plains and Mt. Kenya as a towering back-drop, we spent most of the day driving around under a burning sun. I think I applied five layers of sunscreen throughout the day. But we saw the zebras, the giraffes, the gazelles, the warthogs, the butts of the elephants, the rhinos, a mostly submerged hippo, chimpanzees, buffalos and spent a good hour searching for a lion that had been spotted close to one of the watering holes(didn’t find it though).

Being the good man that he is, Francis had agreed to take us to Isiolo on Sunday and while we packed and waited for him at the house, I got a call from one of the Danish girls running the volunteer and intern programs at Daraja. She called to inform us that two of the volunteers had been in a serious traffic accident in Mombasa the previous day and unfortunately, one of the girls had died while the other was in stable condition after a night of surgery. They had been on a motorcycle that got hit by a car. Although we didn’t know them, it was still a disheartening message to receive.  I obviously feel terrible for them and their families. On that day we were very happy to be going to Isiolo by car rather than a questionable matatu.

We arrived in Isiolo around 6pm at the home of our new family consisting of John and his wife Mama Chantal as well as a couple of house guests in varying degrees of family relations. They have two more kids, but they are in boarding school and we have yet to meet them. In addition Mama Chantal is 9 months pregnant and we’re half expecting a new family member everyday when we get home from the office.
Isiolo. How to describe this town? HOT is the first word that springs to mind. It is 90km north of Nanyuki, but the temperature seemingly rises proportionally with every kilometer. But it’s also very colorful. The population is a big mix of tribes like Turkana, Borana and Somali so faces have different features and clothes and jewelry an array of colors. We are approached differently here than in Nanyuki where white people are a much more common occurrence than here. People stare a lot here, but are not as aggressively approaching as in Nanyuki. Nanyuki caters in large part to the large white population where Isiolo is Kenyan, complete with street vendors and garbage burning in the streets.

Two Turkana women

Monday we went to the office only a 15 minute walk away. It is nice not to have to deal with the hassle of the matatus in the morning. After we arrived, Enrico who is the team leader/boss arranged for us to sit down with all the relevant people who are working in our field of interest here. We had a good meeting where people presented themselves and their respective programs while we tried to imply that we would like to have a sense of it all during our two weeks there. When the meeting finished we more or less attached ourselves to Jamlick who works with the FFA (Food for Assets) and GFD (General Food Distribution) programs. He tried to set it up so that we could go and observe a food distribution in the area that afternoon but after a while he came back and said that the distribution was taking place in an area where security was a bit of an issue. So we said that it was fine not to go and instead we ended up going home.


Locals negotiate the price of a cow at the local cattle market


The rest of the week brought a mix of field trips and frustrations. We went to visit some of the FFA programs, saw the other half of the GFD that we missed last time around and observed the beginning of a supplementary feeding program (SFP) distribution.

The SFP targets pregnant and lactating women as well as children under 5 in an effort to fight malnutrition. The women and children come to a center, get measured

and weighed

and receive various kinds of training in health and nutrition issues. 
On Wednesday a communication team came up from Nairobi to take some pictures and do some interviews. With them was a tall, white man who I initially made out to be German or Dutch based on his accent, but on Thursday he introduced himself to us in Danish. Turned out that Søren is a communication consultant (or something to that equivalent) at ActionAid and has lived and worked in Kenya for three years. Having vented our frustrations to him, he brought us along for a short field trip later that day to take some pictures for a before-and-after feature. We didn’t do anything other than tag along, but at least we got out of the office.

Jamlick shows us the records while women are measuring rice for the next recepient

We managed to convince them to set up a meeting for us with the WFP who runs most of the show in the area, so we went to see them on Monday morning. My hidden agenda for asking for a meeting was to ask them if there was any way they would take on an eager Danish intern for a couple of months. The meeting itself was very informative and interesting and Simon, the head of office, brought us along to a meeting on nutrition afterwards. Although that meeting too was interesting, it did go for 3+ hours without a break in a very hot room, so I did lose concentration a couple of times. As for the internship, it was not exactly enthusiasm I sensed on their faced when I asked, so I decided to not pursue the issue further. If I had had more time, I think I would have fought harder but since I brought it up two weeks before I would potentially start, I did not feel comfortable pushing. In addition, the UN is very cautious on security issues and so international staff is not allowed to go outside a 5 km perimeter of the town, which would be a bit impairing as most of their work is done in the field. I could maybe see a way around that actually, now that I think about it, but for now the UN will continue to be an unobtainable mirage on the horizon.

WFP acts as a facilitator for Drew Barrymore who is personally funding a school in the greater Isiolo area.

Nonetheless, we asked to sit in on another meeting between the ChildFund, Action Aid and WFP the next morning at 8. Before we left the AA office Monday we made arrangements for a driver to take us to the WFP office in the morning. Everything went according to plan Tuesday morning and we got to the WFP at a little to 8. First of all, they seemed rather surprised to see us and as the minutes disappeared, it became increasingly apparent that no one was going to show for that meeting. Simon seemed to feel sorry for us and asked if we wanted to go with him on a monitoring session. With no hesitations we accepted the offer and ended up spending most of the day with him. We went to two schools where we filled out questionnaires for monitoring purposes. Maybe our standards are quite low at this point, but it was pretty awesome! He tasked us with filling out the questionnaires which felt like we finally had an actual assignment for the first time in two months.

Out and about with the WFP

On Monday another mzungu had turned up at the office – again on a brief visit from Nairobi. Hannah works with the emergency operations manager and over a burger and a beer/soda on Tuesday night(side note: feels really good to know there’s somewhere in town to get western food!), we exchanged “war stories” from life at Action Aid and she had a lot of good advice as to how I approach the next two months when I get back from Nairobi in a week’s time.

Although we’ve seen some interesting things during the past almost two weeks, the most time was spent waiting. On the up side I almost read an entire 550 page book, but on the dominating down side, much of it amounted to a great waste of time. I think our expectations were too high really, but I guess we thought that coming to an office filled with people and projects there would be a chance that someone would put us to work. We have had many debates between the two of us as to why no one seems to care and for the most part I think it’s a cultural thing. During the internships we’ve been through at home, someone has always been responsible for us and it just does not work that way here. So when not even “give me something to do” seems to work, frustration levels rise. Everyone had told us before we left that we would have to take a lot of initiative ourselves which I think we were also prepared to do, but it is really not that easy. How do you take on a project when you don’t speak the language, don’t have means of transportation and have no tools with which to approach a project? As said, frustration really began to set in and these last couple of days we’ve just given up. Charlotte leaves next week and after seeing her off in Nairobi I’ll come back to Isiolo to work with Action Aid for the remainder of my stay. On Sunday we go to Nairobi to take a three day safari before Charlotte flies out on Thursday. Right now I am looking forward to the break. I need to get away for a little bit and clear my head. I am fully intent on coming back to Isiolo to take the bull by its horns and I am confident that the last two months will be what I want them to be. This last paragraph might sound very pessimistic, but we have talked a lot about it and neither of us even remotely regrets going in the first place. We have gotten a lot out of our stay and although there are things we now know we could have done differently, we have also been affected by events out of both ours and Action Aid’s hands. So we blame no one but are ready to offer lots of advice to anyone wanting to perhaps do the same.


OK, this last bit sounded like I was going home next week, but we really are coming to a bit of an end now with only a week till Charlotte leaves. It will be strange being here alone, but as I said to one of the women at the office the other day, I am good at being alone, so I’ll be fine. Although, she did look like it was the saddest thing anyone had ever said…