The best and the worst

Ranging pupils from number one to the last one is something completely unheard of in Norway, at least in primary school. But in Kenya, that's how you do it. Every pupil knows what number he or she currently holds in class, based on frequently held exams. Last week we had mid term exams in school, and when announcing the results, all the pupils and staff of the school gathered outside. The class teachers read out the results from each class, starting with number one. Every child has to stand up when their name is read. On the picture are the class eight pupils standing in line according to their number. There are also awards given to the best ones, of course.

Parents' visiting day

Two weeks ago it was parents' visiting day in Resam. On visiting day one or both parents of the pupils come with younger brothers and sisters and a lot of food. All the pupils in the upper classes are boarding, meaning that visiting day often is the only time during each term that they will actually meet their parents. In addition to eating a lot of food, the parents talk with the class teacher to find out how their children are doing in school. In the picture, Inga is a "parent", Charles has the position of the teacher and the boy I don't know the name of. All for the photographer, of course.

Fysiotherapy

Once a month a fysiotherapist comes to Sigowet to treat people who need it. The health center in our village only have a doctor and a nurse, so the fysiotherapist – along with other experts – are very welcomed in order to give special forms of treatment. We got to follow the treatment of a wonderful boy, Brian, who has CP. His mother has been trained to do excercises with him every day, and he has improved a lot since he first started his training about a year ago.

Morning walk

Almost every morning since February, Inga and I have gone for an hours morning walk before going to school. It’s about time a picture to prove it was presented.

Sharing of knowledge: Bread and computers

Norwegians eat a lot of bread, preferably brown bread, and I've made my own for years. My collegues wanted a lesson in how to make ther own bread, so we arranged for that an afternoon in the staff room. An oven was improvised in the school kitchen, using a fire place, a sufuria (large pot without handles) filled with sand and a lid to cover it. Worked perfectly! After an hour and a half we could all enjoy deliciously fresh bread.

I've also brought my computer to school a few times to give basic computer training to those of my collegues who want it. I'm happy to be able to share my knowledge, I only wish there were computers in school so that more people could learn. And electricity would be nice.

Jorunn Jette and Kjelma

My sister and her boyfriend visited us a couple of weeks ago! I loved having them here, and really noticed how I sometimes miss having many of my friends around. They stayed with us in Sigowet for five days, then travelled on alone to Nakuru and Naivasha. Wish you could have stayed longer, but really glad that you came at all!

Beads

I'm quite obsessed with beads. After finding large quantities of

cheap beads in Cape Town and Nairobi, I spend an insane amount of time by my desk, trying out every pattern and technique that is listed in my book. Yes, of course I have a book about beading! My sister suggested I start selling them, but I find it equally satisfying just giving them away.

Less mosquitos=less malaria

Recently, the malaria guy came to our home. Looking a lot like a ghost buster, his mission is almost equally important, to reduce the number of mosquitos in our house. Quite scary though, we were told not to go near our house for at least half an hour after he had finished spraying, that's how poisonous it is.

Mamma in Kenya

My mother and her friend Lise was here this week and we had a good time together. The first four days we spent in Sigowet, to give them the "ultimate local experience", as I guess a travel agent would have called it. They visited our schools, neighbours, some of my colleagues as well as attended a funeral to one of my colleague's father-in-law.

Last Thursday we left Sigowet and went to Mbita, a small town by the shore of Lake Victoria. We've seen the lake many times before, but only in Kisumu where the water almost always is covered by water hyacinth, making it impossible to actually see the water. Mbita is situated just where the Kenyan gulf becomes the large body of water that Victoria is, and the water is quite clear here (not like the Norwegian water, but much less brown then Lake Baringo, for those of you who know who has been there). We stayed at Lake Victoria Safari Lodge,which is a wonderful place run by a Norwegian man who fell in love with this country a few years ago. A beautiful garden, charming huts to sleep in (where every detail has been thought through!), a nice beach, warm water - we had a great time. Yesterday we travelled to Kisumu to spend some more money on souvenirs, and this morning they flew back.

The top picture is of my mother at Chebulu, enjoying the view after a two hours walk to get there. The next two shows mamma and Lise at Rebecca's home, eating a great meal and me, mamma and some of my colleagues at Ruth's home. Number four and five is from Mbita: inside a textile shop where we spent at least an hour and a few thousand shillings, and my lunch that day: two tiny birds (vaktler in Norwegian, Alura in Luo) that tasted very much like tender chicken. Looked disgusting, tasted nice. The bottom two show me and mamma demonstrating the different ways you can ride on a boda boda, depending on how short/tight your skirt is.

Rainy season

May has been a wet experience. Especially when driving, it's been a challenge to make it to our destination sometimes. Creativity, optimism and pure luck have been important - and most of the times we've made it. The top pictures are from the road between Mbita and Kisumu. Our car got stuck in the mud - or should I say lake, that had appeared during the last 24 hours. It's still completely unbelievable that we actually made it in the end - but not without lots of help from the locals who had made it their job for the day to escort vehicles through the waters. Our car is in the top left corner, the white one. When driving through, the water reached above the front lights. Insane.

The first of the pictures below is from the main road (!) between Nairobi and Uganda, we were on our way to Nakuru. Traffic jams on muddy roads are not recommended. The middle picture is from Ruma National Park, and thia time, we had to turn around and go back. The muddy water just got too deep for our car to handle. The last picture is from

It's time for lunch!

A couple of weeks ago, Inga and I invited all our colleagues for lunch, 35 people in total. We had prepared a lot of food, from Norway, Spain and Kenya. It became a huge success, if I may say so myself! After eating, we gave all of our guests a tshirt each, which we had been given by Norwegian friends.

More travelling

In the middle of May we had more visitors coming: Gro and Steinar. We travelled both to Kakamega rainforest with them, as well as to Nakuru and Naivasha National Parks. Biking, hiking and driving thrgough beautiful landscapes - we had a great time!