Time of Return

Greetings to all faithful followers of my travels, and the adventures I have had,

This is the final blog for this particular adventure, and people have been waiting long enough for it, so let it begin.


We began our final week, with time working at Tuleeni Orphanage again, the same as the last month (April) building a trench around the perimeter of the school, to stop water from seeping under, and eroding the foundations of the orphanage itself. Our other job, apart from to play around with the children, was to repair the kitchen, which was just a couple of corrugated iron sheets outside for a roof, and the 'gikos' we had made the previous month. So half of us set about digging our trench, whilst the other half dug some new holes for the supports for the roof to go into, and remade the roof for the kitchen. This took the whole 2 days that were left to us at the orphanage. During these 2 days of final work in Africa (Monday and Tuesday) James and Marc the other 2 lads took a young boy, with conjuctivitus, to hospital, as the Mama in charge, could not afford the fees, and nor could the boys' tiny family, so the lads took him into hospital, and paid for the transport and the hospital fees, which were tiny, and should be available to everyone, but the corruption in this sector of the economy was massive, with people bribing doctors to be seen first, and leaving others queuing for days to be seen.

Us lads also spent a lot of time with the Mama in charge of the orphanage, Mama Ouji (meaning Mama Porridge, as that was the staple meal that she made for the orphans) helping her cook, the lunch that day, which was beef, or chicken, and potatoes, carrots, rice, yet the only reason that the children were having this variety of food was because we, the volunteers, were there so our cook, and the company supplied the new food that we used, otherwise the kids would just have porridge again, the same as every day.

We also played around with the kids, making sand castles in the sand we used for building, and helping them in class, with many games, and puzzles, helping them with English, Maths, and Geography, which they seemed to enjoy, and we had great fun getting involved as well.

These last few days of work, were very sad in terms of people knowing that this was the end of our time in Africa, and that it would probably be the last time we were all together, although a lot of us didn't want to admit that. That Monday night was Tess' birthday, so we all went out to Ali Barbour's Cave Restaurant again, and had great fun issuing awards that everyone had allocated to eachother, such as Best Paedephile Look-a-Like, and others : )  It was a very fun night out with all of us together, probably for the last time.

On the Tuesday, me, James and Jess all got taken to Mama Ouji's house, which was about a 30 minute walk from the actual orphanage, and the walk itself was not an easy one, walking through thick woods, through small, not rivers, but channels of water, and for a woman who has malaria, its even more difficult than it is for a couple of healthy teenagers. The house itself, was miniscule, just one room, with bed, chair, one chest of draws, TV, and a mosquito net. That was all Mama Ouji's personal belongings. We then got treated to a glass of filtered tropical juice of some fruit (we wern't sure which one) and then to a Swahili soap on TV, which the ladies were translating for us.

We were then taken to Mama Oujis, landlady's property, and her farmland, where we gathered up oranges, mangoes, and pineapple, to bring back to the orphanage. We then began the long walk back to work, and to then eventually say goodbye to Liv, the first person to leave this last, final group of this trip. We got into the truck, with all the children from the orphanage who wanted to say goodbye, sitting all over us, and started (very strangely, but so heartwarming)  to sing 'We wish you a Merry Christmas, and a Happy New Year' as we drove back to our camp. It was an amazing goodbye to the end of our work, and the end of the trip, in 2 countries that have a total hold on me, for their friendliness, openess, relaxed but survival outlook on life, and how the people just....whatever the situation is, their ability to get on with their lives, no matter what.

We arrived back at camp to say goodbye to Liv, but also for us to ceremonially handover, the tailored pair of shorts, that we had made for Rama whilst we were in Muhaka. We caught him, and carried him back to his aunts where he lives, and brought Kazim with us to translate, and then gave him the shorts. His face lit up, and it was the nicest feeling watching him wearing them, and he did not stop smiling for the rest of the day we saw him. Immediately after this, it was time to say goodbye to Liv, and it was very sad as we knew that this was the beginning of the end of the trip, and a trip in which I had always been the one to say goodbye to the people I had met because they were leaving, never me. Soon, it would finally be me that was going to be the one who was leaving not, returning home, but knowing, for definite, that I was going to return to Africa.

The next day, we then said goodbye to Tess, Lin, and Jess, leaving just the boys, and Jen for one last day, and then it would be me and Jen once again to return home. We spent that day sitting around, until I got so bored I declared a game of football, for the last time, and we played against the local team again, DotCom, and destroyed them 5-2, and I actually played the best football I had played, since Konyagi FC, all those months ago, on Kilimanjaro.

On the Wednesday we then said goodbye to James and Marc, leaving me and Jen, but not before agreeing that we would meet up during the World Cup for an England game. Then there were just 2 of us. I was pretty depressed at the fact that everyone had left at different times to us, and that I was the last to leave, but I guess we then had the longest time in Africa, than anyone else, on the plus side. That night, we had a great visit, that totally made the last part of my trip. Anderson, and Elifas both turned up, for the big Camps International meeting taking place in Muhaka on Thursday and Friday, but it was so, SO good to see them so close to the end of the trip when they had been there right at the start of the trip, looking after me when I wanted to go home on the first night, and now they were back into the trip again, to check up on us, and eventually say goodbye to us. We went out that night to the Meat Palace, where we reminisced, about Tanzania, and had lots of ugali, chips and chicken, in an incredibly local restaurant which was great fun!

The next day, as I had nothing else better to do, and as Jenny had to attend the Camps meeting as she had taken up a job with them in the summer, so I would be left by myself all day, so I took part in a all-day First Aid course, where we looked at dehydration, snake bites, broken bones, and various other injuries, which was quite boring but good fun with all the other Africans, from all over, coming to work for Camps, and with all the new camps appearing all over the world, people from everywhere were here to discuss methods, and help eachother out, and get briefed for the summer. That night we had a small pool tournament, with Elifas, Anderson, Ali, and Jonas. I ended up losing to a, surprisingly good, Anderson first round, but redeemed myself against Jonas.

The Friday I spent, desperately trying to fit everything into my bag for the last time, and deciding what I was going to leave behind for the villagers, and the others, and at the same time topping up my tan for the last time, with some desperately needed colour (which has still stayed thank you very much, 3 weeks later :D ) It was a very quite day for our last full day in Africa, and we spent our last night under the African stars, listening to Brian the Bushbaby, and Steve the Bat, who had botht appeared it seemed to say goodbye to us. I could only get to sleep with a couple of sleeping pills that night, as I was quite down, thinking about the entirety of the trip, and all that I had done, and that it was now coming to an end.

The next morning we went to the African head office with everyone from Camp, and from there went to Forty's one last time, and then said goodbye to everyone, Anderson, Elifas, Rose, Ali, Tommy, Dipesh, Jonas, Kazim, Kinya-Jui, and everyone for the last time. We had been there so long they felt like family, as did everyone we had met along the way, and was heartbreaking to finally say goodbye to them after so long.

So off we went to Mombassa airport, which was my first time there, and across the infamous crossing to the actual city, and so we had our last taste of the crazy African driving, until we reached the airport complex, which suddenly became, un-African, with order, freshly cut, and watered grass, and clean buildings, which felt, a bit anti-climatical, as it felt as if our final goodbye to Africa had been stolen, and taken from us early. However, this was made up for later, with a totally spectacular African sunset, one of the best we had yet seen whilst sitting in the departure lounge in Mombassa, which made the 5 hours of waiting for our plane all worthwhile.

We finally boarded our first flight, and landed in Nairobi within the hour, at about 10 pm, with another hour to kill in Nairobi, so we set about talking to shopkeepers, and other travellers to kill time. We met a Austrian lady, who was working for an international company, that makes mosquito nets, and medical treatment for the disease, malaria, and she was explaining how much she was in love with Africa, having only arrived 4 days ago. We met lots of other gappers like us, who had been in Uganda, South Africa, Malawi, everywhere, who had been helping out, and made us feel part of a massive, extensive family, trying to make a tiny difference, in a continent of problems, with people who make you feel at home the moment you land.

Very quickly, it is time to board the plane, that would take us back to normality, and sadly, to reality as well. As we went through to the gate, and then the plane, I had to spend about 20 minutes convincing the lady at Passport Control, that the person in the passport photo, was actually me, as I looked so much different from my photo: I had huge hair, with a beard, and in the picture, I have short hair, with a clean shaven face. It was a good goodbye to Africa, with their laidback, and friendly attitude. We boarded the plane, and for me, it brought back, all the memories of boarding the plane back in Heathrow in the snow, and ice, saying farewell to people at the gate, and that opened the door to the memories of the entire trip flooding back to me, right there on the plane:

I had: flown away by myself for the first time, been incredibly homesick the first night, and dealt with it, got ridiculously sunburnt wearing factor 50 (more than once), built a dining hall, learnt how to make, and use cement, and plaster, learnt how to make a roof, headutted an African child, seen someone throw a mango at a nun, found a scorpion, got sunburnt again,  came face to face with an elephant not 5 feet away from me, had a hyena outside my tent, seen Mnt Kilimanjaro, learnt how to barter, punched a Masai in the face, been chased by hundreds of kids, been flattened by hundreds of kids during a tug o'war, never enjoyed rain so much as we did at work in Tanzania, terrified some school children, made bricks, built a kiln, learnt how to cook ugali, ran the Kilimanjaro Half Marathon, played football against an entire village and lost, built a human pyramid in a swimming pool, almost been in a music video, seen a car been stopped, and driven home by the drunk friends as the actual taxi driver is even more drunk, been in an African hospital, learnt to drink (a little bit more), been the most drunk I have ever been, broken 3 tables, dressed up as Jesus, had my towel stolen, learnt how to shout the word 'PAAAUULLooo!!' brilliantly, learnt a small bit of Swahili, helped a lot of people, learnt to scuba dive, seen lions/elephants/cheetah/rhinos/buffalo/wildebeest/zebra/giraffe in the wild, been charged by a bull elephant, met the Masai, jumped with the Masai, climbed a mango tree, seen an African sunset and sunrise, been to, and felt the rythms of the Serengeti, and the Ngorongoro, been in a car chase with the police, been in the taxi that fit 9 people into it, had the largest chocolate slab (chocolate slag) EVER, managed to restrain myself from eating chocolate, and biscuits for a month, managed to get slightly brown in the sun, been for a moonlit walk on the beach in Zanzibar, never seen somebody so scared of crabs (aka Sarah Cowan), seen the coolest bar ever in Teddys Bar, Zanzibar, seen baboons, found a skeleton of a zebra, walked near wild elephants, had an African sports day, been in a Dala-Dala and Matatu, swam in a waterfall, been into some Chaga tunnels, bought and set free a chameleon, had a go at being a blacksmith, and a firestarter, been offered some 'Bob Marley Cigarettes', been in a bus from Dar Es Salaam to Mombassa, been skinny dipping, made Elephatn Dung Paper, made a bracelet, won in a casino, ended up liking chapatis, and most of all, most importantly, I have met some people on this trip, who have changed my life, totally for the better as, I cannot dispute that going to Africa was the most fantastic experience of my life so far, and that now it holds such a special in my heart, that I am definetly going to return there, but that it would not have been anywhere near as good as it has been, if not for the people, I have met along the way, and just made it an utterly spectacular trip, and I hope they know that I feel like the luckiest person alive, to have had such a group of people to have travelled with. Thank you.

Although after having returned, and meeting people again has been amazing, I cannot say that it has been exciting for longer than the first day of being back. After that, I felt very bored, nothing was very interesting, and almost lost. However, going to see some of the fantastic people I met away, totally brought everything back, and the fact that we were all home now, together, in England, with ability to see eachother again, made it so much better.

Now I know though that travelling has totally changed my life, and that I know the people I have met, I will never forget, and that now, it is only a matter of time before the next adventure reveals itself. Thank you for such an amazing trip everybody.

Much love for the last time on this blog

Josh