Nairobi Railway Museum

This month, Mr. Partho Chakrabarti sponsored a trip with lunch to the Nairobi Railway Museum. The kids just couldn't get enough of this beautiful little museum hidden in Nairobi's CBD.

There was a significan portion of the museum dedicated to Ships for some reason...

Mungai and Melody spin away

Gitau:

Queens!

This very unusual bench was fitted to the locomotive footplate above the cowcatcher to allow distinguished travelers on the lunatic line an unsurpassed view of East Africa's scenery and wildlife. Among such visitors were the former American President Theodore Roosevelt, the Prince of Wales, Melody, Joy, Sydney and Mungai!

Levi:

The kids were a little more interested in these ancient typewriters than anything else in the museum!

Kennedy has a go:

One of them typed this message:

Was it little Mungai? Probably not...he wasn't strong enough to hammer out his own name, let alone a whole sentence - look at his tiny little fingers!

Ha!

Edwin spoke to the kids about the history of railway - how local chiefs in Tsavo had long ago prophesized that a great iron snake would invade their land; and how Colonel James Patterson, an Engineer working on the Tsavo bridge killed the infamous man eaters of Tsavo.

Levi pops his head out of one of the old trains they have in the yard:

Melody helps joy down:

Sidney sees how many passengers he can "beba!

Mungai the little monkey:

Don't worry, the trains weren't moving!

This is coach from which Superintendent Charles Ryall was killed by a man eating lion in 1900. Now it is being hopped around on by Mungai and Sylvester:

After the museum, we ate some pizzaaaaaa :-)

On the way home, we sang (screamed at the TOP of their lungs) along to Shakira's "This Time for Africa" for the millionth time:

That was a suberb Sunday! Thanks again to Mr. Partho for your kindness :-)

Splash!

This month, we went back to Splash hoping for one more warm weekend before the Nairobi winter kicks in. It started a little cloudy, but turned out to be a beautiful, sunny day!

Thanks again, to Mr. Kuldeep Nayer and all the staff at SPLASH! for opening their hearts so warmly to us yet again.

Thanks also to the FRYING SQUAD Rhino Charge team for donating a disposable underwater camera which the kids almost figured out how to use (pictures coming soon)

Little Joy all wrapped up like a little Russian doll:

After the swim, we had a little picnic lunch in a field just outside Wilson Airport, watching the planes land and take off:

It never ceases to amaze me just how much these kids love airplanes - they could have sat here ALL day!

The ride home...

Alice in Wonderland

Alice is one of the most amazing women I know. She is a widowed mother of 5. Somehow between the few odd jobs she does, she manages to always:

1. Send all her children to private schools and encourage them to excel
2. Set an example for her children to be beautiful human beings
3. Put food on the table for all 5 of the kids (who all have huge appetites, I might add!)
4. Welcome anyone who passes by her small house in Gachie for tea
5. Have a smile on her face that can turn the worst of your days around in a flash
6. Keep the children in check on our Sunday outings when I have given up

So, maybe Alice came to Earth from Wonderland? Wherever this angel came from, we are blessed to have her in our lives.

Thank you Maureen and all the staff of Fox Theatres for hooking us up with a great deal and a fun day at the Capital Center Cinema!

Blogcrastination

Since the breakdown, we've been facing some problems getting the kids around, but have still been out and about. Apologies for my blogcrastinating!

In April, we visited the Nairobi National Park Animal Orphanage:

The Breakdown

After a long break, Maisha ni Matamu got together again this week for a special art trip. Unfortunately, our beloved van broke down on the road.


All the kids were very helpful and co-operative in getting us safely off the road and towed back home.


While we waited for Bernard to tow us, the kids all got a pack of colour pencils, a rubber, a sharpener and a ruler - courtesy of "The Chets and Sona Art Fund"


Hopefully, we'll be back next week!

URGENT CALL FOR ACTION

A very good friend of mine, Philo Okonya was arrested yesterday outside parliament. Last Sunday, Philo spent the afternoon with is reading in Uhuru Park from her latest book, "The Kenyan Boy Who Became President of America.". She mentors Kenyan girls raped in the post-election violence, protests government corruption, wields her pen with fierce, lyrical intelligence in the global media. Philo organizes, campaigns, writes, sings, publishes and raises her son single-handedly. Yesterday, along with other activists, she stood outside Kenya's Parliament, holding a 2-kilogram bag of maize flour in silent protest at the government corruption that has led to mass hunger in Kenya. She and two other activists, Chrispus Fwamba and Patrick Kamotho, were grabbed and manhandled by the police, and are now being held, without charges, in Nairobi police stations.

An email from the PEN Kenya treasurer, Khainga Ookwemba, says:
Philo has been physically brutalized by a police officer, who pulled her chest as she demanded the police give her a phone, which had been taken away. Lawyers Elisha Ongoya and Anne Njogu are demanding her release so that she can receive medical treatment. By the time of writing this note, they had denied her bond and release.

A press release from the Mars Kenya Group says:
Philo Ikonya's clothes were ripped off and the police have refused her access to clothing. Please ACT TODAY, to have Philo Ikonya, and the others arrested with her, released. Take the steps below. Post this call to your networks, websites, listserves.

1. Send a text message TODAY, to Kenya's President and Prime Minister. Use the one below, or craft your own.
To President Mwai Kibaki (via his spokesperson, Alfred Mutua):
Cellphone number + 254 721 240 443
To Prime Minister Raila Odinga
Cellphone + 254 733 620 736
Attorney General:
Amos Wako + 254 722 772 453

Mr. Kibaki / Mr. Odinga - we hold u accountable 4 police violence and illegal arrests of Philo Ikonya n other civil society activists. Release them NOW and fire Police Commissioner Ali!


2. Send an email
To President Mwai Kibaki president@statehousekenya.go.ke
To Prime Minister Raila Odinga railaodinga@yahoo.com

Suggested Message:
Mr Kibaki / Mr. Odinga, I urge you to act immediately to release Philo Ikonya, Fwamba Chrispus, and Patrick Kamotho from illegal police custody. Police Commissioner Ali must be fired for presiding over escalating police violations of civil and human rights in Kenya.
Signed: Name, Organization / Affiliation (if any), City, Country

3) If you are a Kenyan repeat steps 1) and 2) with your own MP and other parliamentarians. Contact details for Kenyan MPs here or here

4) If you live outside Kenya, repeat steps 1) and 2), directing the texts and emails to the Kenyan Ambassador or High Commissioner in your country.

5) If you are a foreign national living in Kenya, repeat steps 1) and 2) with the Ambassador or High Commissioner of your country in Kenya.

6) Copy to the Feedback Form on the site of the Kenyan Police Force: http://www.kenyapolice.go.ke/contactus.asp

7) Copy Kofi Annan, in his capacity as the head of the Kenya National Dialogue and Reconciliation Process, through his spokesman: Nasser.Ega-Musa@unon.org

And they asked him:
Why do you sing?
And he answered, as they seized him:
I sing because I sing

And they searched his chest
But could only find his heart
And they searched his heart
But could only find his people
And they searched his voice
But could only find his grief
And they searched his grief
But could only find his prison
And they searched his prison
But could only see themselves in chains

From Poem Of The Land, by Mahmoud Darwish