Medium-Sized Fish in Small Bowl!

There’s no doubt about it – Nairobi is a small bowl musically speaking. Opportunities come up here that never would for an amateur musician (a.k.a small / medium-sized fish!) like myself in the UK. Four years ago, I, and other members of Nairobi Orchestra, got to play with Cape Town Opera when they put on a condensed version of Porgy and Bess in Kenya. And that same year, I played a flute concerto – something I’d never dreamt of doing! In April, I was asked by a couple of professional musicians from Austin, Texas, who are working at Makumira University in Arusha, Tanzania for a year, to join them and 2 other professionals from the U.S. in some wind quintet concerts. Their usual flautist had been unable to join them – and there I was, just 6 hours up the road in Nairobi! A terrific opportunity, yet decidedly daunting at the same time! Even more so when I started to receive the music, which comprised predominantly of East African compositions containing a number of fairly complex rhythms taking me somewhat out of my comfort zone!

Mt Meru from the university campus

It was my first time in Tanzania. It was interesting to see the similarities and contrasts to Kenya. Or maybe I’m really just comparing it with Nairobi. On the Makumira University campus, it’s beautifully green, pollution-free, and away from the hustle and bustle of traffic and hordes of people that we know in Nairobi. Monkeys leap fearlessly from tree to tree, and casqued hornbills roost in the treetops. Dominating the background (when it’s clear) is Mt Meru – and from the 4th floor of the music building, you can see Mt Kilimanjaro. There’s not nearly so much available here as there is in Nairobi, and power cuts were certainly pretty frequent over the week. Tanzanians, at least those I met, are very friendly, and reminded me of Ugandans (or up-country Kenyans) in that respect. Very courteous, and speak ‘safi’ (literally clean) Swahili, rather than the ‘less correct’ Swahili spoken in Kenya. (They say that Swahili was born in Tanzania, got sick in Kenya, died in Uganda, and was buried in Congo!!) Around the campus are the sounds of music of various forms – both Western and African. The music programme there seems excellent, and the teaching staff very supportive of the students, having evidently invested significantly and personally into the programme and the students themselves.

Tree-lined path at Makumira University campus

The music that we were playing in the 2 main concerts was the culmination of a project that Daris has been doing over the last year, encouraging the writing of music in an East African style for Western instruments, so that they could be introduced in a Western context. Some of our pieces were written by students here, whilst others were from students from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda. Interspersed were a couple of more traditional wind quintet pieces – partly reward to the listeners’ ears, and partly as a bit of respite for our brains!!

Wild Basin Winds and Friends



The Medium-Sized Fish!

Wild Basin Winds and Friends consisted of myself on flute, Liz on oboe, Gary on clarinet, Daris on bassoon, and Tom on French horn. For quite a number of pieces, we were joined by Randy on piano, plus various djembe players. We also had a small choir (and a cowbell!) on one particular piece telling of a man of respect coming to talk to a group of young people about life. 

We had rehearsals together each evening, and it was fun! It was such a privilege to play with such talented musicians, and be a part of this beautiful sound that each instrument was contributing to. For the people of Arusha, it was a rare opportunity to go to a concert performed by professionals. And for this amateur, the whole experience was just a real treat.



Musicians and one of the composers, Kaghondi

As well as the main concerts, we presented a slightly different programme in 2 schools, including brief introductions to the various instruments. Both were received very well by the children, the first being the most notable in that the children there had probably never seen these instruments before.
 

With the singers and Dr. Tamusuza from Makerere University, Kampala

 I’m not sure that I’ll ever get an opportunity to play with a group of this calibre again, but living in a small bowl like Nairobi, you just never know! 

The Icing on the Cake - Mt Kilimanjaro as viewed from the shuttle bus on the journey home



Advert for Pentapure?

Water is a topic of conversation in Nairobi. Most often, it’s how much rain there’s been, or hasn’t been; whether it’s in the taps or not…. I’m thankfully very rarely without water in my apartment, but I’m very aware that that’s not the case for many here. Some maybe don’t have water at all; some only periodically. I have one colleague who has to get up in the middle of the night to fill every container available, as that’s when the water is in the taps. Other friends have huge water storage tanks, and have systems rigged up to collect rain water. We’re all therefore very aware of the rains, and just how much there’s been. Whilst no one likes the mud nor the ensuing traffic chaos, we’re all thankful that the long rains seem to have finally come.

I was a little perturbed two evenings ago to see that whilst I had water, its colour was far from what it should be! Not really what you want to be washing your face in! Having had a situation not so many months ago when sewage was getting into the mains water, it does make you wonder about the quality. The usual exercise of soaking fruit and vegetables for 20 minutes in a bleach solution (to remove typhoid and other such nasties) may be an exercise in futility at the moment, and simply a way to increase the likelihood of contracting something unpleasant….

The picture of the two glasses of water shows the before and after going through my Pentapure water filter, a system that is meant to take out bugs and bacteria, as well as dirt. Let’s hope it really is as effective as they claim! This weekend I’ll be faced with the quandary of whether to do laundry, as it looks as though clothes will possibly come out dirtier than they went in!

Road Repairs?

The road down to the office is worse than ever. There’s one section now with quite a crevasse that I avoid as my wheels just spin there - and I’m in a 4-wheel drive! It means having to go on a rather bumpier, rockier stretch, but at least I make it. However, today, someone had obviously thought that it was time to do some road repairs as there were heaps of rather roughly hewn rock haphazardly dumped into the gaping crevasses! Maybe it’ll be do the trick? Not sure I'd fancy driving over them just yet.

Tree-climbing, machete-toting, and outside my window!

 A few weeks ago, I was rather surprised to find several men perched in the trees just outside my 2^nd floor dining-room window! They had shinned up barefoot, sent down ropes for their machetes to be attached to and drawn up, and were hacking away at the branches. It was an exercise that went on for at least 2 or 3 days over Easter weekend. I was a little concerned that all the trees would be chopped down, having enjoyed all the birdlife there, plus the leafiness of the outlook. Thankfully, whilst quite a number of branches were lopped (which actually means that my dining room and kitchen are lighter than they used to be), there are plenty left, and the rather splendid African Paradise Flycatcher pair were in evidence again last week.

The Perfect Office?

Most of my working life has entailed being in an office, and being bound to it because of the data that’s been held on the server, the accounting software, and simply because that’s where I needed to be to do the work I was employed to do. My current role however has elements to it that don’t restrict me geographically in this way. Technological advances have helped too:
• Having a laptop rather than a desktop;
• Being able to download everything I might need on the server onto a small postcard-size external hard drive;
• Being able to access the Dallas server remotely (can't do this with the Nairobi one yet unfortunately);
• Being able to access my emails wherever I am (not always a good thing!);
• Being able to skype chat with colleagues around the world.

Working on the front porch of Hadada Cottage

A week on Sunday, we have a week-long biennial Project Funding and Finance workshop starting, in a conference centre just outside Nairobi. Most of the SIL finance people across Africa will be coming for training, along with some of those from the African Wycliffe organizations. Unfortunately, 3 of the 5 people I’d had down to facilitate are unable to come, so rather more is falling to me than I’d reckoned on. And somehow, preparation for this in the office setting just doesn’t happen. I’m too accessible there, and am way too likely to get caught up with other work-related matters. Last week, I chose to work from home for a couple of days, and made good progress, and this week, I’ve come right away, to one of my favourite weekend haunts, a cottage on Oldien Bay near Lake Naivasha. I did wonder this morning if this was a good move, when I was 2 hours later than planned leaving Nairobi, and hence (with the 2.5 hour drive) lost a whole morning of working on the workshop prep. However, once here, all that dissolved. What a setting to work in! Being someone who did all her summer exam revision (from O levels through A levels, Chemistry degree and then accounting qualification) outdoors, I very quickly decided to sit at the table on the front porch with my laptop rather than stay inside. What a view – aloes, acacia trees, the flamingo-pink fringed lake, and hills beyond,- and all accompanied by the melodious sound of a multitude of assorted birds, and the occasional grunting of hippo! Definitely a very therapeutic environment to be working in. My only concern – that I will get too distracted by the beautiful surroundings and fail to get on with why I’m actually here!

All I want for Christmas is........

Well, not my two front teeth, though that was the case many years ago when I was decidedly gappy for a year or so (partly thanks to my brother who had knocked one out with a rather accurately thrown lego brick!)! This year, my Christmas wishes were rather different. Wanting to do something completely different, I arranged for a group of us, none of whom have family in Kenya, to go away on safari. We had one night at Treetops in the Aberdares National Park, and then 3 nights at Shaba National Reserve, close to Samburu and Buffalo Springs. The contrast in scenery was quite dramatic, from the green, hilly, lush countryside around Nyeri, to the stark, desert, arid, mountainous landscape of Samburuland. So, my Christmas wishes:-

1. To see Mt Kenya clearly. I’d circumnavigated this 17,000 feet mountain a couple of times, and both times, it was completely obscured by cloud. Imagine my delight the first morning, when I opened the curtains at Treetops and was looking directly at this majestic mountain. We continued to have stunning views of it that morning as we drove past on our way to Shaba, seeing the glaciers very clearly. And even from Samburu itself, it was clearly visible. What a treat! It was rather nice too to feel that I was getting something of a white Christmas without any of the freezing temperatures! One of my friends was convinced that the fascination with the mountain was an indication that I should climb it (she’s been up 7 times), but hearing her stories of cold, wet and the effects of altitude sickness did nothing whatsoever to entice me. I’m much happier to appreciate the beauty and majesty of the peaks from afar!

Mount Kenya from near Nanyuki

2. To see a leopard, preferably on Christmas Day. Now, this one seemed a bit of a tall order. I’ve lived in Kenya for 8 years now, and have been on quite a number of game drives in that time. Leopard sightings can be counted on one hand, and really on just a couple of fingers! My best ever remains my very first safari in 1987 when I was over visiting two close university friends. We were in Samburu, and had a leopard walking right between us and a couple of other vehicles. Little did I realize at the time how special and amazing this was. I’ve seen trees that may or may not have had a leopard in them (on one occasion, the bit of tree that we thought was a leopard still appeared to be there the following morning, …..), and one time had an incredibly fleeting (not long enough to take a photo) of a leopard, whose markings were vibrant and striking, as he/she walked along a rock near us and then disappeared from view.

On Christmas Eve, we got to see elephant, lots of grazers, an abundance of birds, and just enjoyed the beauty of the place, choosing to just relax at the lodge in the afternoon. On Christmas Day, we were treated to lion and cheetah sightings in the morning, in addition to lots of ellies, greater kudu, reticulated giraffe, gravy zebra, oryx, …... But, still no leopard. We all agreed that it’d be good to do an additional afternoon game drive. And what do you know? We were rewarded with a beautiful sighting of a leopard sprawled on a branch of a tree, its four legs and tail hanging down.

A beautiful spotted big cat - as requested!

No Christmas wrapping or ribbon in sight, but what wonderful gifts these both were!


The Christmas Safari-ers: Julie, Rosie, Jill and Me



Mud and Misdemeanours

It rained yesterday evening, and most of the night. Unseasonably so, as the rains aren’t due until the end of March. However, I’d heard over the weekend a report of one person saying that it always rains on 14th February, and true enough, it was still raining this morning. A good thing as we do need it. The downside though is the traffic that results (even worse than normal), and the dust that has been prevalent turns to mud. Consequently, the mud road down to the office was just that – thick with mud. Knowing how it would be and not fancying having shoes and feet caked in sticky red mud at the start of the day, I drove the 800m or so to work. Even in my 4-wheel drive, I skewed around a little bit, but my tyres managed to maintain a reasonable grip. Saloon cars perhaps wouldn’t have fared so well, and anyone going uphill would have had a harder job.

 

Precisely because of that, when I had to drive home later in the morning, I chose to go the rather longer, though tarmacked (albeit with potholes in abundance), route. This drive could only have been about 5 minutes in length but there seemed to be an abundance of driving misdemeanours in that time:
• Somewhat sporadic driving on the part of one driver, due to their talking on their mobile phone.
• The car in front of me indicating right at one T-junction, but then turning left. Amazing to have any indicators on at all, but not exactly helpful in this case! Perhaps he thought a T-junction is like a filter lane?
• The next T-junction is at the top of the hill. There’s a very clear road sign in the approach for those going uphill, that there’s no right turn allowed there. At least 3 of the cars in front of me turned right!!
• As I was coming to the left-hand turn into my road, a car coming out of it clearly wanted to go right, as he was completely over on the right-hand side of the road, very effectively blocking my way!

 

And that’s without venturing beyond the immediate neighbourhood onto any of the main roads! People do get fined for driving offences here (those who don’t then pay bribes that is), but every day, there are an abundance of others who between them, break most of the rules in the book. To be fair, today's tally did seem to be particularly concentrated.