New Victoria Hotel Kisumu

... ploughed for agriculture but little rain has been and little grows. It is very very dry and dusty &#8211; it must be a very hard life for the people that live here. Soon however we were amongst small valleys and hills covered in lush tropical vegetation, a stark contrast to dry arid plains we had seen so far. As we drove further, tea plantations could be seen stretching off over the hill as far as the eye could see.<br><br><br>As ...

... a widows&#8217; group and an HIV group) and persuaded them to work together on income generation to share the burden of investment and stop competing with one another. The groups have formed an umbrella committee representing each group and have started planning a number of joint income generating activities. One of the key problems we have found in the area has been that since the emergence of bottom-up development, there has been an explosion in the number ...

... running away from the lake but it made for a nice change from sickly Samanga. It gave everyone a chance to catch up with the outside world and one or two took the opportunity to go to the local doctor to try and get medicine! <br><br>Half of the group decided to walk up Homa Hill that overlooks the area but for the rest of us it sounded too much like hard work after days of being ill so we chartered a little boat to take us out fishing. We went out to a small ...

... didn't want to pay "muzungu price" for some animal sex so managed to persuade Felix to haggle for it for me. The bus journey home contained yet more drama as the two bus mechanics had gotten drunk in the sun in Kisumu and proceeded to try to pickpocket on of the boys during the journey. Felix intervened but got attacked by the men. A few of us went crazy and insisted on them being kicked off the bus and a stand off occurred until the driver agreed and ...

... supposedly lying to us so a meeting was called when all sorts of revelations came out. It turned out that the patron had, in fact, never donated the land to the community and the groups felt he was trying to start a private business in the area. He had even started employing six local workers so the people we thought were volunteers were actually workers at the site. It was also revealed that the patron had lied about the other two tree nurseries which were genuine community ...

... done for the million people who live there, and certainly it is visited on a daily basis by politicians, NGO workers and volunteers alike. Besides that, I'm not comfortable with the idea of being bussed through a slum to look at destitute people trying to get on with their lives without the need of bus-loads of westerners peering at them and taking photos. It all seems like a human zoo. <br><br>The organization of yesterday descended into farce ...

... in the whole of Kenya! <br><br>We had no idea that Mama Sarah could be visited so easily and as we were leaving we had an air of disbelief around us. However this was slightly shattered as we exited the gates to see a 60-seater coach full to the brim of muzungus turning up on a day-trip. We put our heads down and ran before the dream was shattered completely! <br><br>Oh, and yes, I did buy a very tacky Obama bead bracelet.

... basically a seat on the back of a bicycle with someone driving the bike). It was interesting to take a bodaboda while wearing a skirt! Which reminds me to tell you that I have to wear skirts everyday here because that is what is socially acceptable. I can wear shorts or pants in the evenings around my flat or on weekends. Whenever I am working at the school or out representing the school I have to wear a skirt. My accomodation at DOM is a flat. It was ...

... the Bible. In the whirlwind of activity I experienced with the boys during my four day visit, I got to do art projects, mend a couple of articles of clothing, eat a few meals, put together puzzles, visit a clinic set up by a visiting team from Georgia (the state, not the country) and just chat with boys who simply need to be loved. One of them who is a bit older than ...