Christmas is Coming

Having only been in the UK for the build-up to Christmas once in the last 9 years, it’s hard to imagine all the commercial hype that there is there surrounding Christmas. Whilst shopping centres have been decorated with trees, festooned with lights, and each has its own Santa’s grotto, there is no (or very little) Christmas merchandise as such in the shops. Christmas decorations are generally in the supermarket all year round, so that’s just as normal! (Last year, I remember that Christmas confectionery seemed to arrive in January! Probably what was left over from Europe!)
The traffic has been awful in the last few weeks. Now, I guess that that might be people Christmas shopping, though it’s been during the week as much as anything. More likely, it’s been due to the school and university graduations that were taking place.
The shopping centre that I go to has been full, though that seems to have been more with young Kenyans who see it as a place to hang out, rather than to shop.

Commercialism around Christmas has increased here though, even in the time that I’ve been in Kenya. Various adverts that you see in the paper or on billboards associate Christmas with shopping.

Part of Ngong Road Racecourse Craft Fair

My baobab tree

What we’ve had a lot of this year have been Christmas craft fairs. There seems to have been at least one each weekend for the last 4 weeks. ‘Christmas’ craft fair perhaps suggests that everything there is Christmassy, which is not the case, though you can purchase handmade Christmas cards, nativity scenes, tree ornaments, trees fashioned out of wire, baobab trees made out of banana leaves for hanging ornaments on (I treated myself to one of these this year). Most of the stalls are taken up with people whose wares are year-round – jewelry, glassware, hand-painted crockery, figures from wire, basketwork, cheese, chutneys,…….. I went to two of these this year. The first, Bizarre Bazaar, was the smaller of the two. Unfortunately, the heavens opened 10 minutes after I got there. The stalls themselves are tents, all lined up and the only way to get between them all is out in the open. I figured that I might as well continue going around. Despite my umbrella, I got pretty wet, and it was only later that I discovered that the back of my trousers were absolutely covered in mud. Hence, having not really done so well at that one, I went the following week with a friend to the Ngong Road Racecourse Craft Fair, which is far bigger. It was already very muddy in places, though strategically placed rocks and straw were helping some. I came away relatively unscathed, probably because it didn’t rain while I was there. That Craft Fair has apparently been going for 35 years, and is quite a meeting place for white Kenyans who live upcountry. All of these craft fairs remain somewhat the preserve of white Kenyans and ex-pats it seems, though with an increasing middle class, perhaps there’ll be more Kenyans there in years to come? Or is the whole idea something very Western perhaps?

Last weekend, was the Nairobi Music Society Christmas concerts, which I was playing in. On Thursday, our monthly prayer meeting at work featured a number of carols. Friday evening, I was at a friend’s house with a number of other musos and we had a carol sing there (as well as some delicious desserts). At church yesterday, we had a great nativity play with all the children involved as shepherds, angels, animals, stars, ….. plus of course the central characters (though I’m told that Baby Jesus was missing from the manger in the first service!). And this Wednesday, we’re having our annual carol sing at Karen Blixen Museum, where we gather for picnics under the stars, and as the sun goes down, light candles and sing carols, all against the backdrop of the Ngong Hills.

So, Christmas is definitely coming. As are my parents – just 24 hours from now! Here to experience a very different kind of Christmas – it’ll be warm for starters!

To anyone reading this – a very Happy Christmas!



Karen Vineyard Church Carols by Candlelight





Unexpected Creatures

Even driving around Nairobi, seeing wildlife becomes relatively normal, though no less special. Rhino, buffalo, giraffe, warthog, baboon on the way out to Karen to go for church, flute lesson or home group; camels and cows in the neighbourhood where I live, and being herded along the side of the road; monkeys in the compound;.....
In the last few weeks, I seem to have come across some other kinds of creatures in unexpected places a number of times. Doing some ‘gardening’ on the balcony of my 2nd floor flat, I came across at least 20 small slugs covering a bag of compost and surreptitiously making their way towards my plants, with a bunch of white eggs which were clearly another 20 or so slugs waiting to hatch.
Coming back to the office from lunch break on Wednesday (having found a brilliant yellow and black bug of some sort on one of my plants), the askari (guard) was poking something with a stick in the drain. I expected it to be a snake or something of that nature, but found instead that it was a hedgehog (unsurprisingly all curled up in a ball)! The first time he or I had seen one here

And yesterday, in the office, there was a giant grasshopper flitting around, which sounded a bit like an electrical appliance sparking. It eventually landed on my backpack, and I was able to release him back to the outdoors.

From Dustbowl to Mudbath

Kenya is certainly a place of contrasts. A few months ago, we were in drought and parts of the country, particularly in the north were really suffering. Now, it seems that for the last month or so, we’ve had nothing but rain. That can bring its own problems, though at least crops will be starting to grow, there’ll be grass for the cattle and sheep, and people can get water again. Here in Nairobi, the rain has meant traffic that has been even worse than normal. We’re not talking about light rain here, but torrential downpours, obliterating the driver’s view (I drove onto a central reservation one time, as I just couldn’t see where the road was going – it was very disorientating), creating lakes in roads, and generally bringing traffic to a point of gridlock. It also brings with it mud – lots and lots of mud. It amazes me that in a country where so many people walk, more isn’t done to provide the multitude of pedestrians with something solid to walk on. Instead, they’re having to make their way through a morass of mud, occasionally getting absolutely covered in muddy water by cars inadvertently creating something resembling a tidal wave as they go through one of the previously mentioned lakes. And of course, the rain erodes away at the ground and the tarmac, so that the edges of the road disappear, and smaller potholes become craters, which when filled with water are of an unknown depth! The ‘short’ rains this year have been rather long. To still be wearing a cardigan (sometimes in the daytime!), keeping my windows shut at night, and having an Autumn-weight duvet on the bed, isn’t what I’d expect at all at this time of year. However, it looks as though that is changing now. The grey (often black) skies have been replaced with brilliant blue ones these last few days. Maybe it’ll be a warm Christmas after all?!

Sheltering from the rain for 40 minutes one day on the walk down to the office

Next week I’ll be driving to Lake Baringo, about 4 hours north of Nairobi, with my parents. I’ve been advised to phone them a few days ahead of time to find out the state of the road. It’s apparently been underwater several times due to a seasonal river, and has been impassable. Even if the waters have receded, the state of the road that’s been left behind could be quite interesting!
Living here, I’m very aware that rain is a blessing, but you can have too much of a good thing……!

Where Am I?

There are places in Kenya which could easily be mistaken for somewhere in the UK (and there are of course many that are so, so different!). A few weeks ago, I went up to Nyeri in the Central Highlands for the weekend, to stay with some orchestral friends there. The drive once away from the sprawl of Nairobi is beautiful, and it was during that time that I determined that my parents’ visit over Christmas should include a detour on our way back from Nakuru, to this beautifully green part of the country, inbetween the Aberdare Range and the slopes of Mount Kenya. The weekend itself was lovely, with music making on the Saturday with Pauline (viola), and Dzenisa (violin), and a tour of the area with Pauline and Peter. We wound up on the Sunday having lunch at the Aberdares Country Club. This is an old colonial house perched on the side of a hill, with views (I was told!) on a clear day to both sets of mountains. We sat out on the lawns just taking in the sweeping view, with splashes of colour from bourgainvillea and Cape Chestnut trees, and listening to the sounds of strutting peacocks, and other more melodious sounding birds. With the ‘old’ building perhaps and the colonial style, it was easy to mistake this for a house in Surrey or Sussex, the bourgainvillea being in place of rhododendrons or azalea. The giraffe wandering in the forest below us were however a bit of a giveaway regarding our true location! It really was very beautiful, and I'm looking forward to taking my parents there soon.