In Kenya: with the Poorest

Nairobi: 10 Aug/04 Sept 2005 and 02/24 December 2005

This summer my friend and I decided to set off for Kenya, for my first missionary experience. Destination: Nairobi. A unique and unforgettable experience, the first time on a mission, the first time in Kenya, the first time in the heart of Africa. We contacted a travel agency specialising in missionaries (it finds the best fare and the airline that lets you take the most kilos of luggage): we flew with Brussels Airlines (from Malpensa, a 2-hour stopover in Brussels!) and had 40 kg of luggage. My compliments to the airline: on time, excellent service, kind staff, luggage intact and on time! We went to volunteer in an orphanage not far from the centre; we breathed the air of Africa with the poorest, the neediest... some thirty little girls who immediately gave us their love and their indelible smile! We discovered, outside Nairobi, the wonders this fantastic country offers...

and alas, we came to know the part perhaps least 'explored' (though perhaps better to say most ignored) by tourists: the harsh reality of the slums, of poverty, of street children.. We visited Amboseli, Naivasha, Embu, Bomas..but also Korogocho (with Father Daniele) and the centre of Nairobi.

I won't go on at length in the account because it would take too long, even though it would deserve it, but I certainly feel I can recommend a holiday like this to all of you: it's the best way to get to know a country and to have a holiday!! Of course, it's not one of those holidays 'lying in the sun savouring a cocktail'... If you're wondering whether I went twice or it's a mistake... no, I managed to go back in December and it went even better than the first time! The girls proved welcoming and affectionate from the start, perhaps also because it means a lot to them if a person, and a white one at that, chooses twice to devote their free time and holidays to them.. Africa and Kenya in particular at this time of year is truly fantastic: the colours are more vivid, the landscapes more African, the climate wonderful...

that lovely warm sun that seeps into your bones, tans your skin, doesn't make you sweat and gives you optimism and serenity, as only Africa knows how to give. And then finally my first African sunset and my first African dawn, a spectacle that not even the best imagination could picture, not even the best writer could describe. Going to volunteer on a mission as I did simply means 'being there': being with them, with the poor, with the orphans, giving them your smile, a hug, a little love... and sharing your time with them. And now a few technical notes... We had the recommended vaccinations: yellow fever, hepatitis, typhoid and antimalarial prophylaxis. Watch out for the visa: an unwelcome 40-euro surprise! Our luggage was essential: just a few kilos in the hand luggage... if you go when it's summer here, bring something a bit heavy like a sweatshirt (in fact two...

if you have to wash them and there's no sun, they don't dry easily). It would be better to avoid vests (but if you go when it's summer there, it will be almost impossible!) and shorts above the knee, especially outside the tourist centres. Mosquitoes? very few! Insects: never seen any! Avoid going around in the evening, especially alone, whether by car or on foot! During the day, be very careful where you go or which areas you cross. Don't go to Korogocho or other slums unless for a particular and indispensable reason, which certainly isn't to take a stroll and look around, maybe snapping a few photographs! In December in Nairobi, the mosquito problem hardly exists; I noticed there were a few more flies than in August... which increase as you go down in altitude. As last time, I followed the antimalarial prophylaxis (lariam) which gave me no problems.

The great heat and the colour of my skin (perhaps too often simply associated with the idea of the tourist) helped me go around in a vest without any problem... in the evening it was a bit cooler and breezier, but I never wore anything heavier than a long-sleeved cotton T-shirt. I noticed that the weather changed quite quickly, the sky filled and emptied of clouds in a very short time... but I didn't see a drop of rain! Mal d'Africa struck... and I realise I am very lucky to have the chance to get to know this fantastic country in such a particular yet so sincere way: showing me its positive sides and its many negative sides... the people who suffer, the street children, the girls sent out to prostitute themselves or exploited by their own relatives, the mothers who die in childbirth and the children so small and already orphans and moreover ill with AIDS.

The Kenya that isn't only tourism, safari, sun and sea... but above all a country to help and to know!