A short holiday in Kisumu

Thursday 17^th April

Left misty and wet Nairobi on the 9am Coach enjoying the beautiful scenery through Western Kenya. I was met by the lovely Ben Eder, fellow KOP volunteer, at 5pm and went back to the Duke of Breeze. We went to Buddies, a popular restaurant in Kisumu, for delicious pizza and wine, a real treat, after all this was my holiday! It was so nice to be back at the Duke and in Kisumu.

Friday 18^th April

We went to Laughing Buddah for the famous brownie and oreo milkshake, here the oreo love began! It was so nice to just chill and be away from Nairobi in the Kisumu heat as man it is much hotter there! Also spending evenings in the rooftop bar of the Duke is always fun.

Saturday 19^th April

We walked to the stage, took a matatu to Thomas’ village and a Piki to his house. Thomas is one of the amazing KOP minders during the Student Programme who has a heart of gold and knows anything you need to know about Kisumu. It was so nice to see Thomas again at his home with his family. So much had improved at his compound since we were there last year; he’s started foundations for his new bigger house and has some of the bricks ready. He says it’s a four year plan as he can’t build during rains and he’s doing it himself as well as working. We shared stories over a soda, saw his sheep and all his vegetation. His boys are growing up so quickly, so polite and funny. We returned to town to pick Ellen up from the coach and we went to Alnoor, Indian restaurant in town for dinner. Discovered a love for paneer as well as oreos in this trip! We had a drink on the rooftop which was much busier than Friday night.

Sunday 20^th April

A chilled day at Kiboko bay for midday and went on a choppy boat ride on Lake Victoria, largest Salt Water lake in Africa, but we unfortunately didn’t see hippos but  enjoyed the beautiful views. Our guide offered us a free ride if we came back the next day early as we would definitely see them then. Ate my favourite tortilla chips and guacamole and an amazing paneer samosa, yes it’s too good! We returned to the Duke for the Kisumu Jazz festival premiere, poorly attended but enjoyable! Ellen and myself had a nap, too much time in the sun, before heading back to the roof for more music while we had dinner, sharing more travelling and world stories.

Monday 21^st April - Kochogo ICD Centre

Returned to Kiboko bay in the morning to see the hippos and my gosh did we see them! The lake was calm and so beautiful. The guide Maurice is really good so took his card as when I’m next in Kisumu I’d like to do a sunrise ride and organise something with him for KOPpers. We took a matatu to Ahero and then a piki to Kochogo, taking just over an hour. We arrived before midday and was greeted by Gordon the Gardener with the other workers. I saw the cookers and got rather emotional and happy. Talked with the gardeners about their future plans to be more sustainable when they get the good water supply and then when Elizabeth and Alice arrived we talked lots with them. We received a full Kochogo update, some good news, particularly with the health of the children and their school grades, but a lot of unfortunate things have been happening too; the water pump had broken, the big tank had blown away and broke, there is still no electricity and KOP had to cut back funding due to less income from the Student Programme. After midday the children started to arrive in stages. As soon as I saw how well these beautiful children and the elders were it made me so happy to be there. Ben interviewed George a young man who was supported through his teenage years at the centre and had an emotional story to tell. We walked through the community and visited Kalinda Health Centre, which I had visited before but was more interesting when just 2 people were there. Kochogo truly is an incredible and inspirational place and cannot wait to go back there in August and see how everyone is doing.

The video and some of the photos show the cookers that were bought by many of your generous donations during No Shoes November. 

I really do love being in Kisumu, it's quieter, beautiful and almost feels safer. Every holiday that I'm living in Kenya my friends in Kisumu will get a visit :)