A Mzungu who loves Kenya

• Gentle Drive to Kenya - Middle East to Kenya

  Posted: January 31, 2010, 8:50 pm by BabaMzungu

  Dreaming of (or maybe secretly planning) a 'gentle' drive from home in the UK, through Europe, Asia, and some of Africa to home in Kenya, a total of about 6,500 miles.Since my last blog (not that long ago) in the subject of a fantasy[?] overland trip to Kisii from the UK, I couldn't find a way to get from Syria or Jordan to the west bank of the Suez or Red Sea. But now, I've found it! So, the

• Kid Swap

  Posted: January 29, 2010, 2:41 pm by BabaMzungu

  In the aftermath of the case of the boys from Edlington, who beat and tortured two other boys, a youngster, Ben (13) from Cheshire, wrote to the Daily Mail, suggesting that these youth offenders need to be taught self-respect, regard for others, respect for authority and a sense of responsibility for their actions.He continued that he attends a school with good facilities and considers himself

• Farming in kenya

  Posted: January 28, 2010, 1:37 am by BabaMzungu

  I watched a very interesting programme this evening on BBC2, Jimmy’s Global Harvest. I hadn’t seen the previous episodes and this was the last one, and it focused on Kenya. First stop was in Luanda where he visited two shambas growing maize. The first showed a poor crop which did not provide enough food to feed the farmer’s family. The second, smaller farm was not only growing enough to feed his

• Gentle Drive to kenya - Confused!

  Posted: January 27, 2010, 4:16 pm by BabaMzungu

  Dreaming of (or maybe secretly planning) a 'gentle' drive from home in the UK, through Europe, Asia, and some of Africa to home in Kenya, a total of about 6,500 miles.I have been getting advice from all over to the effect that parts of and Ethiopia are safe/unsafe, certain areas should be avoided and that the best route is through the Sahara, etc. Now I am so confused about where I can go, where

• Gentle Drive to Kenya - First Brick Wall

  Posted: January 25, 2010, 12:32 am by BabaMzungu

  Dreaming of (or maybe secretly planning) a 'gentle' drive from home in the UK, through Europe, Asia, and some of Africa to home in Kenya, a total of about 6,500 miles. I asked for advice, ideas and comments on my proposed route, I have been told that parts of it are very dangerous. A stretch of a particular road is mined and in other areas, fundamentalists will take a pop at anything that moves -

• A Gentle Drive to Kenya - 1st Leg

  Posted: January 25, 2010, 2:19 am by BabaMzungu

  Dreaming (or maybe secretly planning) of a gentle drive from home in the UK, through Europe, Asia, and some of Africa to home in Kenya, a total of about 6,500 miles. This is the first leg of the journey, from the UK to the Turkish/Syrian border as dictated by GoogleEarth (2687 miles) Unfortunately, GoogleEarth refuses to plan my route between the Syrian and Kenyan borders.

• More Musings

  Posted: January 24, 2010, 1:05 am by BabaMzungu

  Dreaming (or maybe secretly planning) of a gentle drive from home in the UK, through Europe, Asia, and some of Africa to home in Kenya, a total of about 6,500 miles. Within my self-imposed budget of £3,000, I have so found the following diesel, automatic vehicles: Isuzu Bighorn (Trooper). 3.1 litre, very strong car, needs new tyres; Mitsubishi Pajero LWB, 2.8 litre, fine except it has not

• Musings on A Gentle Drive to Kenya

  Posted: January 24, 2010, 8:22 pm by BabaMzungu

  Dreaming (or maybe secretly planning) of a gentle drive from home in the UK, through Europe, Asia, and some of Africa to home in Kenya, a total of about 6,500 miles.I wonder how much the insurance will be? After all, it is not your regular stroll down a country lane, is it? From what I can gather, the route from Calais to Ankara is dual carriageway, apart from a stretch in Bulgaria. But once

• Bucket Dreams

  Posted: January 24, 2010, 2:59 pm by BabaMzungu

  I was talking to a friend yesterday about my fantasy/project/dream to drive from my home in the UK to my "home" in Kenya. He thought I was mad, and he is probably not too far from the truth. Then he said it was one of my "bucket list". My face must have shown my confusion so he explained that it is one of the things i want to do before I kick the bucket (wherever did that phrase come from?).

• More thoughts on ... A Gentle Drive to Kenya

  Posted: January 22, 2010, 10:23 pm by KCIS

  A gentle drive from home in the UK, through Europe, Asia, and some of Africa to home in Kenya, a total of about 6,500 miles. I slept on this and I am still enthusiastic, although I can see a myriad of problems. Still, it would be no fun without problems. First off, I need to choose a vehicle. I have decided that I should not spend more than £3,000 (not that I have £3,000 at the moment), which

• Happy birthday, Blog

  Posted: January 22, 2010, 3:34 pm by KCIS

  When I started this blog, I thought that blogging was going to be one of those fads that disappears within a few months. Well, this is the 2nd anniversary of the Baba Mzungu blog, so I guess I was wrong. This is the 287th post on this blog although I also write on the KCIS blog (89 posts) and Tool-Using Thing-maker (92 posts). I didn't know I had it in me. Anyway, thank you to all those who

• A Gentle Drive to Kenya?

  Posted: January 21, 2010, 4:16 pm by KCIS

  The dream of a "gentle" drive from home in the UK, through Europe, Asia, and some of Africa to home in Kenya, a total of about 6,500 miles. When I returned from South Africa, I wanted to go back. I wanted to drive the length of Africa. That was my dream. Since my first visit to Kenya, I have dreamed of driving there one day - not in my present vehicle as I doubt it would get to Dover - but in a

• Raising a Profile ... and Funds

  Posted: January 19, 2010, 2:33 pm by KCIS

  I have just seen on Twitter that one of the people I follow promoted a fund to rehouse a couple of Vietnamese families, and within a few hours, quite a lot of money was raised. Which got me thinking ... What is the most pressing need at KCIS? There are many, but I suppose that we need to build the planned dormitories so that we can offer a secure and adult-supervised home environment for a few

• Driving in Kenya

  Posted: January 15, 2010, 9:00 pm by KCIS

  The first thing anyone asks me is what side of the road Kenyans drive on. Well ... I am no expert, but I have covered a few thousand kilometres on my various visits to Kenya, so here goes. Officially, Kenya drives on the left, like the UK, but unlike the UK, this rule has conditions, like which side has the fewest potholes, least traffic, fewest pedestrians, cyclists, other obstructions. That

• The Secret Plan To Freeze The World [?]

  Posted: January 13, 2010, 12:31 pm by KCIS

  Originally posted by Bizarre news 13/01/2010 If you have been reading or watching any news at all in the last couple weeks you have noticed an unusual weather related trend to the stories. Record cold temperatures, record snow-falls, cold related deaths, frozen crops, severe weather. This is odd when compared to what half of the climatologists [Ed: what about the other half?] in the world have

• Tired Ol' Bus

  Posted: January 11, 2010, 6:57 pm by Baba Mzungu

  She may be old (1994), she may be tired, but she is a good ol' gal in the snow! I am, of course talking about my old Mazda BongoWagon, or as I affectionately call her, Zola, the Zola Budd, or the Matatu. During normal weather (UK normal weather, that is) she leaks rain over my legs, gives me a stiff neck from all the drafts that are let in due to windows not closing properly, she is

• Snow Madness

  Posted: January 11, 2010, 12:59 pm by Baba Mzungu

  The speed limit in our village is 30 mph (48 k/hr), but we are quite used to vehicles passing through at 50mph, sometimes faster. But the stupidity of drivers was really shown up today. The road is covered in frozen snow, so is very slippery. There is a major accident at the north end of the village as a result of the snow. But drivers, who have passed the accident, are still passing my house,

• The Crisis of Government

  Posted: January 10, 2010, 2:04 pm by Baba Mzungu

  I am not a political pundit. I am just an ordinary person who keeps an eye on what is going on in Westminster, and what the PM and his gang are doing. So, last week, two former cabinet ministers mounted a coup to try to oust James Gordon brown from the office of Prime Minister, but had so little open support that they ended up with egg on their faces. The dust hadn't even settled when a former

• Icicles

  Posted: January 10, 2010, 12:51 pm by Baba Mzungu

  Still a bit chilly here ...

• More Pretty Snow

  Posted: January 9, 2010, 12:42 am by Baba Mzungu

  The road to Ashmansworth What I do for my clients.

• Bartering with Cell Phones

  Posted: January 8, 2010, 1:52 pm by Baba Mzungu

  While I am in the UK, I make pleas for old cell phones that I can take out to Kenya. We sell them to raise money for KCIS and Twiga. Also, in the past when I have been in Kenya, I had to carry two cell phones, an all-singing model that I use in the UK, which has all my contacts, email addresses etc., on it, and another, cheaper (and heavier model) with a local (Safaricom) SIM card for making

• What I Had To Drive On ...

  Posted: January 7, 2010, 7:50 pm by Baba Mzungu

  It finally happened - I was called out to a computer breakdown, in a little village in the back of beyond. This is one of the roads I had to travel on. Thankfully, the old matatu has selectable 4-wheel drive. Having managed to get there and back, I braved it into town to top up food supplies. Below is the main road into town, while the temperature was hovering around 0°C Pretty, isn't

• What I Woke Up To ...

  Posted: January 6, 2010, 5:35 pm by Baba Mzungu

  Back garden at 8:30 The "matatu". I won't be using this today - I hope! The driveway Pretty though, isn't it? ... and this is what I am dreaming about! Watamu, June 2009

• Finger Trick Still Puzzles ... So Does Eric Morcombe!

  Posted: January 4, 2010, 8:06 pm by Baba Mzungu

  On my trip to Kenya in May 2009, I showed a simple finger trick to the neighbourhodd children, the Twiga children and anyone else who wanted to see it. Simple, yes? Apparently not! On my visit in November, there they all were, still trying to do it, most of them without success. So I was asked  time and again to do it again ... and again ... and ... Funnily, girls seems to pick it up

• Communication in Kenya

  Posted: January 4, 2010, 3:54 pm by Baba Mzungu

  I am not going to go on about the difference between UK English and Kenglish - I have already covered this. No, this is a much greater problem for me. In the UK, I have rarely had  to communicate with anyone who is profoundly deaf. Most people have some sort of hearing aid here. But in Kisii, we are regularly visited by Simon, a profoundly deaf 8 year-old. He is a smashing kid, with a ready,

• Is Christmas Over Yet?

  Posted: January 3, 2010, 1:41 am by Baba Mzungu

  The twelve days of Christmas have not passed yet, our decorations are still up, but Easter Eggs are already on the shelves in the stores. Now, I may be mistaken, but I think that Easter Day is  April 4th - most of the eggs I have looked at have a sell by date before then! What a sad old world we live in.

• Just Look At That! ... What?

  Posted: January 1, 2010, 2:41 pm by Baba Mzungu

  I have suffered from it, becoming blasé about my surroundings. When I lived in Paris, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame Cathedral, Sacré Coeur, became everyday sights and soon, they became invisible. And so it was for my associate in Kisii. We walked into the reception of Kisii Hotel and the first thing that struck me was the garden. It was just a canvas of colour, vibrant, eye-watering colour,

Blah blah blah

Fish cakes

Alas a fish cake.

Yet more fish cakes

Guess what ... yeah ... fish cakes.

The end of the fish cakes