Millbrook Hotel Mombasa

... where Pendo's family resides.

I don't know when the last car traveled into the compound. Each joyful face that ran to greet us sported enough dirt and dust to participate in their own Laundry Soap Commercial! Thread bare clothing covered their bodies. Bare feet greeted the earth with each movement towards us. Shoes were clearly something not owned here. We could not help ourselves! Jumping from the car we began playing with the children ...

... NOT HIV positive, and neither is her son, Winkler (named after Vickie Winkler, founder of HEART).  Celina took PMTCT (Prevention of Mother To Child Transmission) drugs while she was pregnant with Winkler and has been on ARVs since May 2006.  Forced to serve as mother and father to her two children, she explained how stressful it is to provide everything…even the most basic necessities.  "I wish I had somebody to help me," she said. 

People in the ...

... you walk along the drive to the house. The grounds have been planted over the years with coconut palms, frangipani, euphorbia and flame trees, with a majestic baobab tree, and it is not hard to understand looking at the tree why Africans call this tree in Swahili 'the upside down tree'. Standing in the grounds in the morning's first light you get the distinct feeling that time has stood still. Kaka's fishermen have now left for Pemba Island as the fishing season ...

Seems like a lifetime ago I last wrote on this blog; a lot of things have happened; some very good and some, again, not so good. The work at Grandsons has ceased whilst I concentrate on some other things; it has been a massive experience working with these boys and they've taught me so much; kindness is a word we take for granted in our countries; but out here it keeps the boys alive with little hope. Let me ask you something please next time someone is kind ...

Hi all Well power has been down for two days now and only just come back; this happens all the time and is really frustrating as I have to walk at least 1 mile on a dirty old track to this place only to find that the power is down; no electricity no internet; damn I miss my laptop! Have made a new friend - Mickey who has a serious foot fetish and we are becoming close!! You'll remember that last week he and his brother had their balls chopped off; I ...

... few hours - no doubt with higher voices!! PS - the dining room table was then scubbed up and no-one except me was any the wiser. Anyway the heat is intense now, we are now in the hottest months - it vary rarely go below 29 degrees in the shade and the temperature in the sun is between 33 - 38 degress (you stay out of it unless you want to cook)! Here are a few photos of the couple I am staying with and their son Geoffrey and his girlfriend who are ...

... nicht; vielleicht, weil ich die **nsthaften Safaris fu** die Zeit mit meinen Alten aufsparen wollte. Ab** jetzt war ich nur drei Kilomet** vom naechsten Parktor entf**nt, hatte noch mein ausgeliehenes Fahrrad und einen ganzen Tag totzuschlagen. Also auf ging's! Warum Hell's Gate seinen etwas furchteinfloessenden Namen hat, weiss ich nicht genau. Jedenfalls ist d** Park kein** d** grossen, den die Safari-Unt**nehmen besond**s oft ansteu**n, da ** we***** Wild als die meisten ...

... from the rain  so the animals could drink from them instead of the water holes.  The guide and driver saw the animals long before we did, their eyesight was incredible. At times the animals were so close you could almost touch them. To see all the animals wandering free and so close was exhilarating  and we will never forget it. It was the most amazing experience. Whilst there we also snorkeled and scuba dived the reef which was ...

... follow up their requests by getting this kind of stuff to them. ok i am risking a power outage so i will give you a few snippets of my day and hopefully an insight to the kids. David, 6 hugs me continuously and today kept staring at my 2day stubble and poking my face in amazement, then trying to remember my name and only coming up with GENIUS as was printed on my T-shirt the first day i went. (The boy learns well ;-)) Wee Hope is ...

... bought another fruit that I'd never known before. It was just like a purple-black olive, but fruity and sweet. I'm finding cassava chips as well. They're delicious and 10 cents per bag. Mombasa is busy. This is the second largest city in Kenya and the major port. I got off the bus and wasn't able to contact my people in Kilifi, the next town north. I set off to find a cheap room. The rooms aren't so ...