Homecoming

The last three days of our trip have been mostly consumed by the extensive journeys required in order to return home. On Wednesday we left Mombasa to make the long drive to

Nairobi; we stopped very little along the way, with the intention of saving as much time as possible.  We passed back through the bustle of Mombasa and the breathtaking landscape of the Tsavo National Parks, continuously climbing higher towards the highlands of central Kenya.  We stopped for a quick bathroom break, followed by an equally quick lunch break later on.  Our best stop was a little convenience store/bakery which sold fresh baked goods; though the Kenyan concept of pastries is slightly less exciting.  After much deliberation, it was decided that we would actually stop short of Nairobi this day, staying the night in a small hotel in a mountain village by the name of Machakos. We turned off the main highway to head for the hills, and soon came upon the fourth beautiful landscape of the trip.  Next to the awesome panorama of the Great Rift Valley, the breathtaking beauty of the savanna and the awesome sights of the Indian Ocean, the incredible imagery of the Kenyan mountains were amazing.  We enjoyed our last night in Kenya by visiting small restaurant on the 8th floor of a building.  We dined on traditional Kenyan-Western food, then headed back to the hotel for the night.  We had a quick meeting where Tom was finally able to present us with the gifts that the Ministry of Health had gotten for us.  Each of the male youth received a handmade necklace and bracelet, while the girls got a bracelet and some enormous earrings.  The moms (Andi and Jenn) got woven purses, and the dads (Kevin and David) got leather, three-legged stools.  We headed to bed, sad to be leaving the next day, but excited for the future.

When we awoke, we had a quick breakfast, then loaded up (in an interesting way) to hit the road.  We passed once again through the cornucopia of mountains and valleys,

en-route to the much anticipated carver's market.  This small habitation is where every single wooden souvenir (that all the vendors claim to have made themselves) is

ACTUALLY made.  Dozens of workers carve away laboriously, carefully sculpting out delicate statues and decorations.  Everything from pencil thin crocodile models, to

life sized figurines of George Bush were created, no challenge was too small (or big - like a 10ft tall giraffe).  We even got to see what ebony wood looks like before it’s been carved from the centre of a branch. After exploring the process of making these iconic

souvenirs, we headed inside their shop for our last chance shopping.  We discovered a seemingly endless collection of everything we had seen before, plus much more.

On top of the excellent selection, everything was at a great price, and even those of us less apt to spend ended up with something (yay drums!!!).  We piled back into

the bus with our purchases, and set off on what was to be our last drive through Kenya.

We arrived back at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, and the chaos began.  We unloaded bags onto the road as an endless line of cars tried to make their way through the maze that was the drop-off zone.  We piled our gear into carts and lined up at the door to go through security (yes, there is security to get INTO the airport). We said our goodbyes to our good friend Tom and our driver David, did a final check to ensure we all had everything (Note: Over the past few days, Tom had pulled out all the stops to get Kiki's wallet back from our hotel in Mombasa where she had left it; YAY TOM!!!), then braced ourselves and stepped up to the security checkpoint.  We all made it through no problem, so we did our final bit of packing loose items away and divvying up the bags to everyone as some of us got changed into our (for

most of us) last pair of clean clothes for the long flights.  We checked our bags, went through passport control, then sat around for awhile as we waited for our boarding time.  Many used this opportunity to buy food or last minute souvenirs; some just talked.  We were lucky enough to chance upon a group of scouts from Congo, who were headed to a scouting conference in Egypt (the very destination that some of our Kenyan Rover friends were headed to after we left).  Those of us who truly embraced our Canadian bilingualism talked with them for our entire wait, as our only common language was French.  Through them we were able to glimpse another side to the African scout story, and we left the departure lounge with some new friends.  Our flight was called, we lined up at the gate, then with our body worn out but our spirits high, we took our last steps on Kenyan soil, and boarded the airplane.

The next day or so of our lives were spent sitting around flying across the surface of the earth at over 600 km/hr.  We watched movies, we listened to music; we read, we wrote; we ate, we didn't eat (though I personally think the food was pretty good); we sat there doing nothing but thinking, and most importantly: we slept.  Our time in Amsterdam was less than 3 hours this time, and we spent it sitting on the floor near our gate hanging out like longtime friends.  Many of us passed around our journals to have friends write in it, and many of us once again just slept.  Our flight was called (for the last time this trip), and spent another several hours over the Atlantic.  Due to the time change, while the clocks said we landed just after takeoff, we had actually spent a whole 7 hours or so in the air, and were very appreciative of the amount of nap time on the plane.  As we collected our baggage, it dawned on us how suddenly it was about to be over.  Some of us needed to catch connecting flights, so we said our goodbyes (group HUGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!), and that was it.  The remaining group made their way through customs, showed the agents our copious amounts of souvenirs, and then stepped bleary-eyed back into Canadian civilization.

Some of us had more flights, others a 3 hour drive back to London, and we all went our separate ways back towards home.  Now here we are thrust back into our daily lives, and we seem to transition back into Western culture seamlessly.  We chat endlessly on Facebook, and sort through impossible amounts of pictures, hoping to find that one that will make an awesome profile picture.  We may appear to be the same teenagers that left a month ago, we inside we have changed.  The memories of the past month burn strongly inside of us, and we pour them out to anyone who cares to listen.  For a month we had eaten, slept, worked, played, laughed, breathed, ...and lived; as one.  We saw and experienced things made us look differently upon the world; question ourselves on what we held to be true.  The Kenya International

Development Project 2012 was the first of its kind in Scouts Canada; the first trip to bring together a group as highly specialized as Medical Venturer and Rover Scouts, and put them together to not only build in a developing country, but to bring medical assistance to an otherwise healthcare-deficient community.

Some of us have had previous similar experiences, though for most of us it was our first taste of international humanitarian work.  While we are all busy getting back into our lives (first year university for me, YIKES!!!) much is uncertain, but what is certain, is that this trip will have not been our last, and will never be far from our hearts and minds.

by Eric Post

A Day of Exploration

Today was our last day in Mombasa and most of us decided to investigate a day of snorkeling at Wasini Island National Marine Park, about 60 km south of Mombasa.  As not everyone wanted to spend the day in the water, David offered to take the remainder into Mombasa to experience more of the city.

Brandon writes:

It was an early wakeup for everyone, as the drive to Wasini took well over an hour.  The bus headed to the south side of Mombasa Island to catch the Likoni ferry.   On arrival, David’s party hopped off and watched us drive the bus up the ramp.  The ferry crew worked like clockwork to load and unload the ferry and ours was filled only with cars, contrasting with the others jammed with commuters.   

We arrived at the Kenya Wildlife Service facilities where we purchased tickets and changed our clothes.  A quick walk down the street took us to the boardwalk where we found the boat arranged for us by our tour guide Mohammad.  The Captain directed us to board his somewhat ramshackle boat, which we dubbed Allen, and we headed out into the Indian Ocean.  On the starboard side one could see the waves crashing into the small cliffs along the coastline.  On the port side was nothing but a vast expanse of water.  I asked the Captain’s permission to sit on plank protruding from the bow.  Very, very cool, and soon others wanted to do the same thing, so we took turns watching the sea rush past.  It was relaxing and tranquil.  

…and then the dolphins appeared.

About a dozen dolphins in two different groups joined the group of boats heading to the island.  Many of the dolphins swam alongside the boat and one jumped.  The group fell quiet and watched. 

On arrival at the coral reef the group grabbed snorkeling equipment and quickly jumped into the clear, light blue water.  Once in, we all tasted the water’s saltiness and felt its temperature, the latter coming as a bit of a surprise, as it was similar in temperature to bathwater.  Once everyone was in the water we began to sort out how to breathe with a snorkel, which for some novices was arduous.  The view below, though, was amazing and the world of the reef lay before our eyes, hidden like a precious gem under a plethora of di-hydrogen monoxide (H2O).  The fish were incredible and their colours were in many ways indescribable. As we returned to our boat, two sea turtles were spotted and we spent some time swimming along side them, each with a meter-wide shell. It was a surreal experience.

After some swimming we began to feel tired and hungry, so we climbed aboard the boat for lunch.  We motored to Wasini Island, which is inhabited by approximately one thousand people and transferred to a smaller boat taxi through the shallow water.  Onshore we walked about 10 minutes to our restaurant, which was a small shack at the back of a house.  Our contingent was divided between two tables - those eating seafood and those eating an alternative meal.  Those who were served the seafood meal enjoyed crab and a hand-sized fish.  Four boys ordered clawless lobster (and had to pay extra).  The others were served a mildly spicy seaweed sauce with chapatti as their starter, followed by chicken covered in a spicy coconut sauce, beans, coconut rice, more chapatti and finally Kenyan potatoes (the vegetarians ate the same meal without the chicken).   After lunch our captain led us to an interesting location where the coral reef is no longer entirely covered by water.  It sits above sea level except during a full moon where the water level rises and partially fills the area. The muddy ground was covered in small crabs and by chance, we happened upon a three-foot long monitor lizard racing from one end to the other, directly beneath our walkway.

After lunch we visited Shimoni Caves, a local historical site where slaves were kept during the 300 years of slave trading in East Africa.  We grabbed some refreshments, including local coconuts, before driving back to the hotel.  We stopped at a supermarket on the way to purchase tomorrow’s lunch.  Told shopping would only take ten minutes at most (Kenyan time) we soon discovered it would take about an hour, which was another reminder of how doing many things in Kenya will take much longer than planned.  The rest of the drive was very slow and we found ourselves stuck in traffic several times.

After arriving at our hotel at 9:30 p.m. we cleaned up before heading out to Yul’s Restaurant for the second evening in a row.  This time we ordered our meals and drinks and immediately headed to the ice cream bar to select our dessert for consumption before we received our starters or main course.  A smart decision, as dinner took a long time to arrive.   It was worth the wait, as our meals were unbelievably delicious.  My main course included creamy pasta with BACON and a side of French fries and for dessert I had two scoops of chocolate ice cream covered in chocolate sauce with a warm black coffee complemented by a small brownie.   Others had a similarly memorable meal. 

It was certainly a day to remember.

Ashley writes:

Exploring the city was a different and eye-opening experience.  When we were dropped off at the ferry terminal, David started off the day by taking us Geocaching (and for me it was my first experience).  Geocaching, for those not in the know, is a big scavenger hunt that connects other people around the world to find hidden items or points of interest called “caches” (there are 1.8 million of them worldwide).  The first cache that we found that day was an “earthcache” which just required a photograph of a particular tree found in East Africa: the Baobab.  Walking along the shoreline we snapped more photos and eventually ended up near Fort Jesus, which we visited yesterday.  Turning into the downtown core we stopped at the Aroma café and had cinnamon Danishes and coffee.  

After our stomachs were full we continued on foot to the local spice and meat market. The spice market was a bit of a disappointment.   Even though there were a few spices and some interesting colours and smells, it was more of a vegetable market.  The meat market, though, was shocking and disgusting, (but in a cool way).  There were dead animals, flies and cats (not dead) everywhere!   There was a significant stench and the variety of dead animals parts hanging around was impressive.  There was even some goat heads lined up on a counter and one helpful butcher picked one up, parted its lips and said “look, it’s smiling!  

David is a train enthusiast so the next stop was the Kenya Railways train station.  We bundled into a tuk-tuk for the short ride.  Unfortunately, the train only comes once every two days… and today was not a day the train would be town.  The station was desolate and dusty, but that was kind of cool too.  We took a few photos of an abandoned boxcar and some other train cars beside the long, dreary and empty platform.

The next destination was the Mombasa Commonwealth War Graves cemetery.  We had troubles locating it on the map because we were unfamiliar with the city, but a local high school teacher was kind enough to offer assistance.  Coincidentally, he was from Kakamega and was surprised that we had visited the forest, the Rondo Resort and Shiru.  The cemetery is the final resting place for 199 soldiers who served in World War I and II and is well maintained (the groundskeepers were trimming hedges and replacing some grass when we visited).  David pointed out the regimental and unit badges on some of the headstones and we read about the East Africa campaigns during both wars.  We took some photos and then waved down another tuk-tuk to take us to lunch.

We headed north to the Nakumatt supermarket (Nakumatt has several upscale shopping facilities across the country), but first we wanted to find our second Geocache.   We found it at Julius T. Safari and Julius, a nice man, was the one who handed it to us.  It was a plastic box with some trade items inside, so David picked up a Travel Bug (a dog tag that travels around the world as an aspect of Geocaching) and a Geocoin.  In exchange, we left a few Canadian coins.   Lunch was inside the nearby Nakumatt and we had American-style burgers and cold drinks.  I had an ice cappuccino and was in heaven.   

After lunch we hit the road again and headed for Bombolulu crafts market, where locals with physical disabilities make top-quality crafts.  We were amazed at the quality of jewelry and other crafts and bought some stuff to support the program.  As it had been a busy day we boarded a matatu to head back to our hotel for a shower and rest.  We contacted the other group and found out that they were stuck in traffic, so we met up with Tom and had dinner at a small restaurant overlooking the beach that specialized in Japanese food.  The sushi wasn’t as good as that in BC, but it hit the spot.  It was also Tom’s first time eating Japanese and he enjoyed the different taste.  After we were done we headed to Yul’s and found the other group just arriving. 

Both groups had had a good day and lots of fun (but our group didn’t come back sunburned all over, so will probably enjoy tomorrow’s long bus ride more!)

by Brandon and Ashley

A Day of Shopping

Our day began early to prepare for an exciting day of adventure and shopping. Before leaving the hostel, the contingent ensured our bags were packed and ready for loading when we arrived back later in the day. After walking for half an hour we arrived at the famous Maasai market.

The contingent split up into groups with everyone having their own story to tell, here is Ryan’s account:

As we approached the market entrance, I was caught by the middleman Moses – middleman being an individual who followings you around and assists you by ensuring a bountiful share of the price you pay. After exchanging formalities, we tried our best to get rid of Moses because he was quite irritating. He would follow us everywhere; and promising to help me buy everything I would need at a reduced cost. However, soon enough we learned his assistance was in vain. While “assisting” us, he increased the cost of items to his personal benefit. For example, he tried to sell us two statues for 8200 shillings (about 120 dollars). For me, I spent most of my time in the crowded bustling, mzungu-laced market, trying to ditch my self-appointed “helper” and shrugging off the advancing shop owners throwing their goods upon us. At the market the locals were selling traditional African paintings, bubbly hippos in surplus, Maasai blankets (shukas), bracelets, jewelry, masks and various weapons. We came up with various schemes to get things for cheaper. However, thanks to Moses, we spend more than we wanted.

After a busy day of the market we walked back to the hostel and loaded the vehicle. As we are all ready to leave, a decision was made to postpone the Ostrich riding for another day. We then took a six-hour drive to Tsavo East for a busy day of Safari tomorrow!

by Rachel and Ryan

Carnivores Supreme

With our work in Shiru completed we set off for the return trip to Nairobi.  Kevin and Tom found us a slightly larger bus for our return trip and, without our extra duffle bags of medical gear, we had more than enough space to spread out.  We departed Shiru around 7:00 a.m. and were in Nakuru for lunch at the Canaan Restaurant (a reprise of chicken and chips) by 11:00.  Climbing out of the Rift Valley we ran into dense fog and joined a long line of vehicles with four-ways flashing.  Halfway up the long hill we passed an accident site where a bus had been hit.  Jenn, Andi and Kevin asked the driver to stop and hopped out, EMS kit in hand.  They quickly determined the accident had happened a while before and two injured persons had been taken to hospital.  We arrived in Nairobi around 1:30 p.m. and checked into the Nairobi Youth Hostel, located a short distance west of the city centre.

Once checked into our dorm we enjoyed a quick lunch in the hostel restaurant Many of us ordered the B.E.S.T. breakfast, which advertised bacon, eggs, sausages and toast, but to everyone’s disappointment there was no baconL.  Once finished with our meal we set off to a nearby supermarket for snacks and found, delight of delights, chocolate. After almost 3 weeks we were all craving it. We also found Pringles.  All in all a good afternoon.

The hostel, while basic, had internet (although there was a 1.5 KES charge per minute to use it).  This provided the first opportunity for many without cell phone data plans to contact their families and satisfy Facebook cravings. Kevin headed out to look for another bus for the Nairobi-Mombasa leg while David led the discussion on where the group would go for dinner.

           

We decided on a restaurant that is best described by its name and rated by the UK magazine Restaurant as being among the “Top 50 Restaurants in the World in  2002/03.  Its motto: “A Beast of a Feast.”  It is the one and only Carnivore Restaurant.  After clearing the tight security at the gate we were admitted to a cavernous establishment that centred around a large cooking pit on which skewers turned.  We were treated to 9 different types of meats: chicken, pork, beef, lamb and turkey, ostrich (meat and meatballs) and crocodile. There were also chicken gizzards.  The bravest tried sliced ox testicles.  There was something for our vegetarians as well:  the Herbivore menu, which served some fantastic pasta.

There were two hollow legs in our group:  Mark and Michael.  After one hour and thirty minutes of skewers being taken to the table, most of us were ready to head onto dessert.  These two souls, though, had a meat tooth and continued to pack it away for a few minutes more.  Dessert was great, although Jenn questioned the serving of Tomato sorbet, which arrived as the third flavour in her bowl.

by Mark and Michael

A Market Experience

Today was fun like always, but extremely tiring! First experience at the market for me, and personally I think it went really well! Met the scouting commissioner, and she showed us around the disco, which under out guidance will be named “The crazy canuck” when it’s completed! She showed us her embroidery shop, and her chill-out bar and lounge inside the building. Work was productive as (usual), but Lanz will talk more about that! Worked for 2 or so hours back filling, then those of us who went to the last outreach caught up on the tour to the tea factory! When we told Tom we’d walk in, he just laughed at us and said to get in the van. The we found out why… It’s about a 4 km path from the front entrance to the actual factory, and we were always late as we’re running on Kenyan time. The factory looked like a set you would find in a horror movie, with little light in parts, big dark rooms, and ceiling-conveyor belts covered in scary looking hooks… I was kind of scared just walking through it!!! The tour was pretty good, but all of us had been on our feet all day and were really tired by the end. We were late for dinner (and I was in charge of that today…), so we left to try and get back within a reasonable time. However, then we had no way of contacting them to pretty please pick up…Hello exercise!

It was a fantastic miracle though after the first half hour of our trek when we see this white, and oddly familiar van coming up the road toward us!! Yay for Tom! Dinner was also thankfully started when we got back, and all we had to do was make the bruschetta (no idea how to spell that, but it’s tomatoes and other yummy stuff). Then only to find out the person who knew how to make it was in bed sick! Eric Post saved the day there though, and we enjoyed an amazing dinner! :D

by Kristin