OK, so it’s a week later but I had thank-you letters to write! My ideal day involves enjoying beautiful natural surroundings in the sunshine – we’re not short of the sunshine here but the green spaces are not so abundant. I chose to revisit the Arboretum as my favourite green space discovered so far – I was also hoping that we may see some monkeys this time and I was not disappointed. Thanks to my new Guidebook to East African Wildlife I can tell you that they were Black Vervet monkeys and there were also the ever-present Black Kites circling overhead.
It was then back to the delicious lunches, beautiful gardens and playground at Aamani ya Juu – I am now being greeted like an old friend there and I can’t imagine many cafes in the UK where you’d get a hug on your third visit… I love the fact that it all started thanks to the vision and prayerfulness of 3 women who were needing a new start after fleeing their homes because of war. Now over 50 women from similar backgrounds are employed there and they share with one another God’s healing love, as well as creating tangibly beautiful things for others to enjoy. I got given a few of them by my birthday – I now have my very own Aamani bag, eat your heart out Giorgio!
Sat 28th Feb
We have now been in Nairobi nearly 2 months but not been into the middle of town (or ‘downtown’ as it is called locally) so we felt today was the day! We started at City Square which has the impressive Kenyatta conference centre overlooking it and the Judicial Courts taking up another side. The Square itself was full of schoolchildren attending a Scripture Union convention which created a noisy and colourful atmosphere. Heading into the maze of tall buildings and skyscrapers in the heart of the city it still felt like Africa on the pavement level. A gleaming commercial bank might tower overhead but cupboard-like shop fronts line the street and souvenir vendors try and persuade you ‘not far that way’ to their store.
Looking for somewhere to eat our sandwich lunch (ever the Brits ready for a picnic!) we headed for Janjavee Gardens which was NOT a good destination – more mud than grass to sit on; no free benches that were in the shade; and to top it all a Black Kite swooped from overhead and stole Justin’s food! We retreated to a café for a soda and found it had a bouncy castle out the back which cheered up the kids. Biashara Street is the street of fabric shops so we took a quick reccy in case we need to buy curtain material/get clothes made in the future. Clothes seem very expensive in the shops but we’ve yet to try the open air markets where apparently bargains can be found if you’ve got the jumble-sale-rummaging-knack – not sure I have but we’ll give it a go! Our time and energy levels were starting to run out so we started the hunt for a taxi (looking for not too many dents and working seatbelts..) and were soon home enjoying collapsing in the cool.
I had organised for my female team-mates in Nairobi to go out in the evening for a birthday meal – my American friends were a bit surprised I was organising my own birthday party but fortunately I didn’t know it wasn’t the done thing until it was too late – and no-one was going to say ‘no’ to a fun night out anyway! We went to a Japanese restaurant where I’d been told they had big tables and the food is cooked in front of you. We were welcomed with the sounding of a gong which set the tone for a very different and very impressive evening. The food was amazing but watching the chef in action was even more so. We had lots of laughs and it was good to build friendships a bit deeper.
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