We've spent the last 2 weeks in Kenya building the beginnings of a house at the local school and church that will be used to house volunteers. We worked with about 6 locals in digging foundations (by hand, no JCB's here!), mixing mortar and cement and carrying bricks to the masons (one of them is 62 yrs old and still going strong). Don't imagine Britain's 1kg sized bricks but rather Goliath size stones ranging from about 20kg up to 60kg! The builders often found amusement in asking Katie to help with the heavy lifting. Much to Katie's credit she was able to impress them by lifting and carrying some of the smaller stones. By the end of the 2 weeks we had finished the first phase of the building. The church now have to try and raise some more funds to continue with the project. The builders have ensured that we don't get a moments rest and at times we have certainly felt like reminding them that we're volunteering and aren't the ones being paid. They receive 300 KSH per day which is about 2.50 GBP!! Not sure how they survive on that. That would leave no change from 2 beers at one of the bars in town.

Having finished the 3 week project our time in Kenya has come to an end and we have now moved on to Tanzania (we'll save that for another entry). Before we start writing about that we thought we'd share a few of our observations and experiences of some aspects of Kenya:

Government

After the 07/08 post election riots, Kenya formed a coalition government which, every Kenyan we've met tells us, doesn't work. Why doesn't that surprise us! Corruption is another issue that Kenyan's often gripe about and is a big issue affecting the country's development. We read in the paper about the salaries that government officials receive and it's +100k GBP which is ridiculous. It's not surprising Kenya is decades behind western countries. Kenyan's are at least confident that a change in power next year will help turn things around. Foolish optimism?

People

We've met a lot of Kenyan's from many different places, backgrounds and occupations. In general we have found that they are very friendly and welcoming and are pleased to have us in their country. A conversation often begins with "Karibu (welcome) to Kenya, please feel at home. A phrase that no doubt Starbucks will start coining soon. There are of course the usual hustlers and con artists vying to relieve you of your few precious possessions. As long as you don't fall foul to their scheming you can't hold too much animosity against them given the struggles they face (you can tell we haven't been mugged yet!!).

Kenyan's are all very proud of their country and consider themselves to be much more advanced than their neighboring countries, Uganda and Tanzania. We shall soon see about the latter comparison.

We always have to bite our lip whenever someone requests anything as they do so without using the word "please". We're fairly confident that they're not being rude on purpose and that it's not due to the lack of English but rather that the word doesn't actually figure in Swahili and their customs. However the rural children would have better luck with us if they'd add "please" when they shout "give me money"!

Religion

Our host family are Christians which has probably meant we've met a disproportionately high number of other religious folk although it does still seem that many Kenyan's are religious and boy do they love it! Church on Sunday is a staple and a highlight of the week for those attending. One regular house visitor, George (who we nicknamed Curious George because of the number of questions he asks us. Honestly he'd give Paxman and Dimbelby a run for their money!), attends a service which lasts for 5 hours! We wonder if he takes food in with him. With a large Christian population there comes a lot of gospel style music, much of it in a bad pop style format with appropriate low budget video (a montage of the same people dancing badly). I thought it was white people who had no rhythm!

Food

Food is certainly high on our list of things we miss (2nd after all of you of course!).We eat every evening with the host family and it's a variation of the same 4 things; sweetcorn & beans, green and white cabbage, chapati (which Phil is addicted to and will go out and buy if none is served) and Ugali (a maize flour and water mix that they form into a cake and serve in tasteless chunks). There is very little meat and it is of poor quality. Certainly not the Tesco finest fillet steaks that Phil had come accustom too! These staples may be constantly served due to the family's lack of adventure but more likely influenced by the fact that these foods are cheap and abundant. Thankfully the local supermarket sells Cadbury's chocolate to supplement our diet as well as a few chicken and chips restaurants that we've indulged in (we figure we've been burning a lot of calories so no harm!).

Hope you've enjoyed this post and we'll post another one in a week or 2.