Home Sweet (and dusty) Home

I have been in my home town now for a few weeks. From my arrival I was lucky in that my local counterpart colleague KZ had secured accommodation for me in a compound of 18 flats, my home being on the top floor meaning that I seem to get a pleasant cooling breeze during the daytime and I have a nice view of vast hills in the distance which look especially pretty when the sun is setting. I have 2 bedrooms and really more space than I need.

I was keen to move in to my flat as quickly as possible so that I could begin cooking my own meals (I was over the hotel food in Nairobi and shall not even comment on the quality of fayre in my hometown hotels...the eternal struggle of the vegetarian though, so Im kind of used to it).

On my first day, KZ and I took a trip to a neighbouring town (40 minutes drive away) and went to the supermarket where I was to purchase my furniture. You can get everything in the Nakumatt, clothes, food, furniture, electrical appliances. I didnt go overboard on furnishings, a bed, bedding, plastic table and 2 chairs, crockery and a few pans, a 2 burner stovetop and a fridge.



The box that my fridge came in is now handilly being used a side table and I also bought a few stacking plastic shelves from the local store here in town. For someone who generally hates plastic I seem to have a lot of the stuff in my house.

To say that I am championing the minimalist look would be an understatement!



My home life now revolves around the eternal cycle of transferring water into large storage tanks (in case water cuts out, which happens here regularly), boiling the water, filtering the water, decanting the water and chilling the water.

Additionally I am washing clothes on a daily basis. The dust here is incredible it gets everywhere and I wear my sunglasses most of the time to try and protect my eyes and contact lenses from its continual onslaught.

My town centres around the one main street which is a through-fare highway and has a constant stream of goods-laden trucks heading north or miltary convoys (there are several military bases in the vicinity), minivans taking eager tourists to the nearby game reserves, as well as the usual throng of matatus (minibuses used as public transport), boda boda's (motorbike taxi's), carts, cows, donkeys and goats that would be familiar sights in any Kenyan town. The heavy traffic adds its own unique, black stamp to the pollution/dust problem.

One thing that struck me about the roads (which apart from the main road are largely unsealed) was that they appeared to be literally paved with the soles of a thousand shoes! I quickly came to understand this phenomenon when the first rains fell and in a matter of minutes the dusty roads turned to mudpits.

I am now quite familiar with different types of mud:
- Theres the ultra sticky stuff that clumps to your feet which get heavier and heavier until it feels like youre wearing 5 pairs of shoes (this is the mud that eventually finishes off those flipflops and tired old shoes)
- Theres 'soily' mud where you tend to sink down deeper with every step
- The compacted mud that develops a super slippy layer on top which is literally like walking on ice
- And finally the rather dubious mud of a slightly different colour which you know must be mixed with animal dung and is to be avoided at all costs.



Unfortunately for me, the road leading to my home is probably one of the worst in town when it rains and so I am becoming ever more adept in my ability to leap from stepping stone to stone.

But there is a lot to like about my new home! I love being in a 'smaller' town and being able to walk to most of the places I want to get to. There's also a mixture of people here from many different Kenyan tribes as well as neighbouring countries giving the place a real sense of vibrancy. The streets are bustling and the market has an abundance of vegetables. I have already made some good friends, particularly in KZ and T (who is another volunteer here but with a different organisation) and I have a great home which is secure and relatively quiet.

So I am settling into the swing of things and feel confident that I can quite happilly live here for the coming year.

Home Sweet Dusty (and occassionally muddy) Home!