Settling in

Hamjambo. Habari za jioni?

You’ll be glad to know I have resisted the temptation to include an entry relaying every detail of life here, especially as the first couple of days of our orientation were a little slow. A warm room, no coffee at lunch, and successive powerpoint presentations meant my eyes were closing on several occasions. It would never happen at Education Leeds.

I think the long, formal presentations introduced me to what will be one of the toughest cultural differences. Everyone here seems to share an exceptional pride in their knowledge and status, and take what we would probably consider an old-fashioned attitude towards professionalism. The head of programmes even chastised a couple of volunteers who were talking to each other during one presentation. Every opportunity to participate or hold court is seized with conviction; formal presentations, asking and answering questions, and even introductions can be very lengthy and considered. While I’ll also have to get used to the long meetings I’ve been trying to phase out of my life, it is also refreshing that everyone's contributions brim with passion and positivity, and are often rich in metaphor.

Both Jo and I have been mildly amused to have left local authority life in Leeds and flown half way around the world only to hear loud echoes of the debate and language we’ve left behind. Despite the welcome commitments of the British government to increase DfID funding, competition for development cash will be fiercer than ever and VSO are going through a rationalisation process all of their own. Cuts, evaluation, doing more of the things that work well and stopping doing those things that don’t, thinking impact: the song remains the same, only the logo on the presentation and the accent have changed. 

The content of the training and orientation has been very useful. Sessions on security advice (there are no ‘no-go’ areas in Nairobi, only places where you have to be a little more careful), the law (homosexuality is illegal, the age of consent is 18, smoking in public places is banned in Nairobi, on the spot fines are handed out for littering) cultural differences (men and women don’t touch one another in public while men often hold hands, meetings often start with a prayer and atheism is incomprehensible), health advice from a doctor who also appears to work for the Kenyan tourist board and even a guide to getting on public transport and bartering in Swahili (Jo will pick this up in shortly in her own entry) coupled with our own confidence-building jaunts out of our B&B grounds have helped largely replace my earlier anxiety over what the next twelve months may hold with an eagerness to get on with the job in hand.

Things gathered pace yesterday when our employers joined us and I met one of my new colleagues, Joshua. By tradition Kenyans adopt a British name when they are Baptised, so we’re being introduced to Kenya by people called Charles, Eric, Susan, Maureen, Fred and Geeff. While most of them stick with it VSO’s programme director - a very engaging and formidable woman – informed us that she is one of a growing number who have opted not to conform and, while she still took a British name at Baptism, she uses her African name Makena.

Both Jo and I were very nervous about meeting our new colleagues. I imagine it’s a bit like waiting for an internet date to turn up, only we have flown thousands of miles, given up our jobs and committed to 12 months without salaries based on the hunch of a matchmaker sat in an office in Canada who had only our CVs to go on.

So it was a relief that, despite Jo getting her first ‘date’ a little earlier than expected (we inadvertently sat with her new boss at breakfast) the meetings have served to calm our fears and enthuse us further the task in hand. Joshua is a funny, articulate and highly-motivated character and I’m really looking forward to working with him. He’s from western Kenya, which sounds like a fascinating place. I hope I am able to take him up on his offer of visiting his home town a few miles from Lake Victoria.

One of the reasons I joined the VSO programme was to gain a broader perspective, and something Joshua told me challenged one of my perceptions of the world immediately. It wasn’t about the way he has overcome all the obstacles faced by a child with a disability - who often cannot afford an education because they can’t join other children earning their fees doing jobs like chopping wood - to gain a masters in law from a UK university, or that polygamy is practiced in the region he comes from. It was that he described Luton, where he has just finished his studies, as a ‘nice place’ full of ‘very friendly people’. It didn’t feel like it inside Kenilworth Road a couple of years ago, but I’ll bow to his greater experience of the town.

We have a final day of training tomorrow, in which we also negotiate the finer details of the jobs we’re going to do. Then we move to our new home on Saturday, although we still don’t know where that is. We’re hoping to get this done in enough time to cross Nairobi to see the finale of the Kenya Premier League at Nairobi’s City stadium, providing we can find a local to take us.

Asante sana

GW