Switzerland

Other than the first couple of days in Amsterdam, we have been blessed with wonderful weather.

There has to be few things in this world more enjoyable than witnessing someone encounter new experiences for the first time. There have been many ’wow’ moments for mum. For the both of us. I could have crashed the car a dozen times over with her ’ahhh, OMG Tarsh look at that, and that over there’ as she thrashes her arms in front of my view of the road. It’s been fantastic.

We are currently in St Moritz in Switzerland and couldn’t ask for more perfect days. They had a half metre dump of snow just days before we arrived and we spent 5 days watching it slowly melt away until it snowed again last night ready for another perfectly sunny day.



Every morning we have made our way around the 5km lake, sometimes twice. And every time we are in awe of its beauty. If people aren’t walking, cycling or jogging around it, they are rowing or sailing on it. Mum complains I take too many photos. I say I haven’t taken enough!!

Mum’s biggest phobia in the world is horses. One morning on our way around the lake, mum froze, reached her stiff right arm in my direction and said ‘horse!’. One had managed to get out of its pen less than 50 metres from the pedestrian path. Before I had a chance, mum reassured herself out loud to say ‘if I don’t show fear, it won’t bother me..’. She was right, I slowly put myself between mum and the beast only to have it looked in our direction then went about its way eating.
Once mum was safely ahead, I took photos. :-)

Tomorrow we are heading to Munich for the Oktoberfest via Liechtenstein. Mum’s idea, not mine. I’m absolutely serious AND she doesn’t’ even drink beer!!! But we are looking forward to the experience of what we are sure will be a crazy ride. Mum has promised to look after me – the beers only come in Steins (1ltre) and I am so out of practice drinking, a few sniffs of the fumes and I think I’ll be half drunk.

We then head back to Switzerland where we will spend a couple of days in Lauterbrunnen exploring the central and West Coast before making our way to France.

Rewinding back to Italy……., after our ‘police encounter’ somewhere between Rome and Naples, we followed the coast down to a cute little town called Pozzuoli. A lovely little town where there were few international tourists. Mum wasn’t keen Naples, for its traffic and rock beaches.



We then went to Pompeii and left as quickly as we had arrived, almost taking a wrong turn and heading to Sorrento. Instead, we spent the night at a well-lit parking bay somewhere off the highway where we witnessed a wild Italian storm at its best. If the fierce thunder and lightning didn’t wake us, the wind rocking the car did. It lasted most of the night and the following day. Looking back we were extremely grateful for the timing of the storm. 2 hours earlier and we would have been in trouble. After spending the afternoon and night fighting the crazy Italian traffic, we managed to get a flat tyre around 10pm exiting the freeway – VERY BUSY FREEWAY! In the dark we unloaded our luggage (after shoving stray items back in our bags first) and searched for the tyre – after finding out how to lower it from under the car, we proceeded to raise the car but found no wheel jack. Seriously – nothing to unlock the nuts! Just as we were contemplating flagging a car down (it was now 10.35) flashing lights pulled up behind us. First we thought it was the local road rescue guys but after a second truck arriving, we realised they were Ambulances. Once we initially pulled off the freeway, we put out the safety triangle to warn oncoming traffic. As chance would have it a passer-by must have alerted the emergency services not knowing if we were ok. Unfortunately none of them spoke English (although 1 was very cute) but after a little sign language and them understanding we had nothing to undo the bolts (and searching the car themselves), the first ambo sent the second ambo away to find one. What awesome guys. They returned about 20 min later with a wheel jack but refused to let us change it, so by the headlights of the car behind, they quickly changed it, reloaded our luggage and sent us on our way with a few enthusiastic waves. We said our thanks with a key-ring Koala. They were chuffed and gave us an escort out with sirens!

The next day we did a little exploring of teeny towns on our way toward the Tuscany region. We arrived at night and parked the car at Lucignano, a place I knew was beautiful. After a couple of Amarula and milk’s we drifted into a deep sleep and woke on sunrise to the stunning views of the magnificent Tuscany region. It was special to be able to share it with mum. So many castles which she really appreciated.



Again after making our way slowly through the windy roads and taking plenty of opportunities to grab a photo, we found our way to Siena where we stayed in luxury - a tent!! It actually was awesome.



The camping grounds were amazing, the staff friendly and beds comfortable. Oh and the restaurant was amazing. Mum found the best lasagne she has ever had. She even had it for lunch again the next day. She still talks about it. We spend time relaxing, catching up on a few emails and changed the tyre.



After Siena and following the advice from a few locals, we visited a brilliant and surprising little town called Monteriggioni (a little village in castle grounds). We chose a restaurant according to its pasta selection and mum found another amazing lasagne. And I had a glass of the best wine I’ve had in years. Yummo!



Mum was super keen to have ‘real’ spaghetti bolognaise in Bologna so following mum’s instructions, she chose to skip Pisa (too touristy), Florence (too big) and Cinque Terra (too much walking) and we headed straight for Bologna. We made it to town in perfect timing for lunch. We found this little restaurant/cafe and ordered. I think mum’s expectations were very high as she was disappointed. I assured her we would find another restaurant (Trattoria) to give it another go. We headed out of town and after deciding where to go next, spending a few hours relaxing and drinking the best coffee in the world (I’m always ruined after visiting Italy) we stumbled across this great busy restaurant operated by and teeming with locals. We had the ‘perfect’ bolognaise as well as impressive tortellini, parmesan cheese and balsamic vinegar which all originated from this area. We left very satisfied!!



We enjoyed our time in Italy but we had decided to move straight on to Switzerland – the most anticipated place in the world for mum. Ever since her honeymoon in Tasmania 38 years ago, 2 places she has dreamt of visiting was Switzerland and Scotland (numerous people told her that Tasmania was a combination of the 2 countries). She was itching to get here and she has not been disappointed. And neither have I. I have seen different, more stunning parts of Switzerland I didn’t know existed. The pass from Tirano on the Italian border to St Moritz was quite possible the most beautiful road in the world. Actually it was one of the top 10 roads to drive in the world according to Top Gear and I now know why. We will be experienced 2 other roads they also voted in their top 10 later this week.



The view from our apartment is a stunning unspoilt panorama of the Alps. We also have a large balcony to appreciate it and full sized kitchen where we have been appreciating home cooked meals – it has been so very nice to have a little food in a fridge again. It is also a treat being able to unpack our clothes and not share a bathroom. The little things..

Mum has experienced much of what she had hoped in Switzerland. She has witnessed the alps, seen and touched (and ate) snow, seen a typical Swiss chalet, come close to cows with cow bells and a chair lift. The one thing she has wanted to do which I have been unable to organise yet (I’m working on it) is to hear a local yodel. Uhuh!

Travelling in Europe again, especially the Czech Republic, Netherlands and Italy, has brought back many memories of travelling 3 years ago. It has been great reliving some awesome memories but happier to be experiencing new ones with mum. :-)

EUROPE WITH MUM. What a ride..

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Travelling with mum again has been a fun experience. In just 2 weeks we have had some pretty crazy adventures. And laugh!!!! Oh boy we should have six packs by now!

We met in Amsterdam on the 6th of September. It was a teary reunion. Although Holland was a little cool and wet, it didn’t stop us exploring the sights.



We spent a day in Amsterdam visiting the Anne Frank Museum, tasting the ‘local cuisine’ and passing by the ‘window displays’. More than ever I seriously wish I could have taken a video of mum’s first ‘red light’ experience. Her jaw dropped and she stood staring in shock until I composed myself long enough to drag her away. Once over the initial disbelief she couldn’t stop laughing and saying ‘but they are so pretty..’. Perhaps it was also the cake…. Lol



The following day we took a bus into the country where we saw the most impressive windmills and sampled (and bought) the best cheese and chutney we have ever tasted (other than Dad’s homemade – NOTHING will beat that).

We also checked out the diamond factory and clogg making factory – now that was a hoot.

On the 9th we flew to the Czech Republic, spent a couple of days in Prague getting lost on local trams, walking over and around Charles Bridge (where we also had the most amazing pickledcabbageand sausage soup!!) and stumbling across a fantastic little market on the water before taking a bus to Cesky Krumlov , a gorgeous little medieval town I had visited once before. We spent 3 glorious nights there exploring the old town and coasting 10.5km down the incredibly beautiful river. Cruising on a canoe was definitely a highlight, as was watching the 3 bears wandering below the castle grounds, getting drunk in a café writing postcards (blurry pic on way home) and trying to make our way through the biggest serving of ribs and pork knuckle (1kg+) you have seen!



This dinner was in an old, creepy looking dungeon. It was dark (little candle light) and food was served roughly on a chopping board with bity horseradish. Yummmm.



I then surprised mum with a quick trip to Salzburg in Austria where we did a Sound of Music tour. This musical is one of mums (and my) all-time favourite movies. Every night at 8pm in the hostel we stayed, they played the movie. We watched it both nights and sang in the bus of the entire tour (we weren’t the only ones!) Pictured is the glass pavilion where they sung I am 16 going on 17..... Simply wonderful.



On the second night we were in Austria, we took an overnight train to Venice. Having been there before and knowing how much walking is involved and how far away accommodation is to the centre, we only spent the day there. After popping our luggage in storage, we made our way through the canals. Of all days we decided to visit Venice, this day was a particularly interesting day. Around 10am we started seeing dozens of SWAT looking guys gathering around the square. By lunch time hundreds of political protesters were shouting and ranting something in Italian over loud speakers. There were dozens of different flags, bright flares and smoke bombs (let off by the police we think). The police also had a helicopter constantly circling overhead and very low - we believe to drown out the protesters. It was at this time we decide to escape the madness and take a gondola ride around the quiet canals. Another highlight!



At 9.30pm we flew to Rome where we picked up our car and headed for the coast. We intentionally hired a station wagon so we had the option to sleep comfortably in it. The first night (Saturday) we found a little dirt road off another quiet road somewhere between Rome and Naples. We turned off the car at 2.30 am and at 4.30am we were startled awake by 2 police literally bashing on my window. Once they quickly discovered we don’t speak Italian, they asked for our passports and did a very slow, thorough check of the car, inside and out. They then nodded, jumped back in their car and drove away. We just about wet ourselves when they woke us and then again laughing once they had left. Oh boy did our hearts pound. We were literally in the middle of nowhere – seriously!!



We have now been in Italy for 6 days and have decided to head to Switzerland tomorrow. We spent our time in Naples, Pompei, the Tuscany region and Bologna. It’s been very handy having the car but also stressful with the crazy traffic they have here. After swearing I wouldn’t’ drive near the Malfi Coast again, I did and immediately remembered why I was MAD doing it again. The roads are super skinny (why didn’t I get a smaller car!!), the locals fiercely irrational behind the wheel and motorbikes who are somehow worse weaving in and out of the wild traffic finding space where I swear there wasn’t’ any. I think Mum and I aged a few years in a few hours! Getting lost in Tuscany on the other hand was extremely pleasant!

There is a lot more to say but must publish this post (sorry for delay Dad). Will catch up on rest of Italy in next blog.

After spending most nights sleeping in the car, we are looking forward to treating ourselves a week in an apartment overlooking the alps in fabulous St Moritz!! Certainly a change from the accommodation in Kenya. Every day I miss it.…

Mum loves hot chocolate but not strong and certainly not thick syrup. She didn't dare order another until Italy and even then with caution. This brief video doesn't do the thick mix justice;




In addition to the last quick entry, here is also a wee lil rapid that took us by surprise down the river at Cesky Krumlov;

Somewhere lost in Italy... ..

Mum and I are having a great time even if we are spending much of it getting lost. Promise I will update again soon!! Here is a sneak preview of what we have been up too.... we took a canoe down the Cesky Krumlov river in the Czech Republic last week.

:-)

Back in Europe for a wee intermission

Once again, leaving Kenya was hard. I spent my last night with my good friend Amimo and her gorgeous family. They took me out for possibly the best Japanese meal I have had and went back to their home to relax in front of their wonderful flat screen t.v. and open wood fire to chill out. Ahhh. It DOES get cold in Kenya ok!!

Somar and I caught up all afternoon to discuss how to move forward with the Somalia relief campaign and potential future projects. If only I had more time with her…… As for Amimo and her family, I will miss Somar. They are friends I will keep in touch with for life.



I had not intended to stop in Doha this time round but when changing my flights to extend my stay in Kenya, a night layover was my only affordable option. It was an interesting first few hours. When I boarded the Qatar Airlines flight, I found someone sitting my seat – the lovely strained airhostess asked the gentleman for his ticket. He showed it to her and was fully aware he was in the incorrect seat but was clearly not interested in moving. I was not fussed, so said I would be happy to sit in his seat. We then proceeded to that seat only to find the same situation. This happened 3 times and on the 4th attempt they finally found me somewhere to park my bottom. It was, of course, between 2 large men who each took up a third of my seat, yelled for the hostesses constantly, took handfuls of lollies when they were offered 1, felt the need to lift their arms to reveal their large sweaty, strong odour armpits and snorted phlegm the entire trip. The border authorities then game me a talking too (we could refuse you entry…) as I didn’t have a visa into Qatar, they then confiscated my alcohol (1 ltr triple distilled Smirnoff and 1 ltr Armerello liquor for mum) as it was strictly ‘not allowed’ and my hotel had forgotten to pick me up. Bahah, I had to laugh. Fun times!

When I got to the hotel, the room was a little pokey but very clean and quiet – absolutely perfect. It felt like a palace after the last 2 ½ months. I had a late checkout and enjoyed my little stint of luxury – electricity, big bed, clean sheets, cupboard, running water, HOT shower, privacy, a view, TV that works (even a movie channel!!), bedside lamp and table, telephone and air conditioning . The very things I take for granted at home.

Qatar is very hot. Not many people walk the streets during the day and many shops are closed then reopen in the evening. It was wonderful after a winter in Kenya. I love the heat I stayed just the 1 night but didn’t fly out until 1.30am the following morning so had some time to look around. It reminded me very much of UAE (especially Abu Dabi) The mosque's were very impressive. Especially at night.




I then flew to Copenhagen – my first visit to Scandinavia and thought it was absolutely beautiful. My first impressions were of a beautiful, clean, quiet and well organised city. I found everyone to be very friendly and thought the bright, tall homes – specifically the ones on the canal were striking. The canal tour, visiting the little mermaid and the home of Hans Christian Anderson were the highlights.


As I was in Denmark for a few days, I decided to take a day trip to Sweden. I almost didn’t make it because minutes before we reached the airport station, we were informed to get off as the train will not be running for at least a few hours. We quickly learnt that it was due to an unfortunate accident right on the Swedish border – someone had been hit by a train. We were later transferred by bus and hoped the person hit was ok. We never found out if they survived.

On my travels to Malmo I met the sweetest father and daughter from a teeny island off Portugal. We spent the entire day together. We had also organised to catch up the following day back in Copenhagen but the weather was too rotten to leave the hostel. We were impressed by Sweden’s yummy sweets and awesome architecture.
Oh and we had NO idea what this house was doing floating in the middle of the river...

Although both countries were very expensive, they were clean, safe, were surprisingly warm and had no mosquitos. :-)

I fly to Amsterdam tonight and looking forward to finally seeing Mum. She is arriving from Australia on her second overseas journey – her first was to visit me in Kenya last year. We will travel for 6 weeks together before I finally make my way to South America to do a little more volunteer work starting in Peru.



No surprises that I am missing Kenya, especially as Somar is organising another trip to Daadab. But I am very excited to see mum and keeping busy in the meantime. Will be great to have some R&R with her.

Please know I am keeping safe, happy and health.

FreMo's is looking fantastic!!

The day I left FreMo’s was a public holiday in Kenya – we had lunch together and said teary farewells.

I then went to Moffat and Judy’s home where I had been staying to collect my final things before making my way to Amimo’s home in Westlands for my last night.

What we have achieved in the last 2 ½ months is nothing short of remarkable. As the file is too big to upload, please visit my facebook page for a video of what the clinic was like in July 2010! For Kawangware standards it was absolutely fine but it wasn’t a place that attracted clientele. And being a private clinic, they need the business to survive.

The biggest problem FreMo’s faced was the unfortunate reality that being in the slums, many patients were unable to pay for the services and there are another 4 well know clinics and hospitals close by.

What I saw in FreMo’s was the incredible potential for them to be a great hospital. The founders and staff were wonderful; they had big hearts and would always treat someone instead of pushing them out the door which would have been inevitable death for some. Today this attitude remains the same.



After spending a very interesting 5 months at the clinic, my goal when returning to Australia was to raise money and return to help them improve their facilities in order to create more business and be self-sustainable entity. Over the past 12 months they had moments of financial struggle. I was fortunate to be in a position to send some funds to keep them afloat until my return.

Thanks to the substantial contributions and inexhaustible efforts of Vicki, Faith, various generous souls and all those involved in the Girl’s Night Out charity event I held on the Sunshine Coast in February, the clinic has had an amazing transformation. The front still needs signage; the roof and guttering between buildings need repairing, large sinks and 500ml rainwater tank are both to go underneath the new 5000ltre tank and toilet seats. That’s about it and they certainly won’t take long at all.

It was a tremendous experience to see what a change for the better it is now at FreMo’s. Special thanks to Vicki Chan for all her amazing fundraising efforts to give more than $10,000 to the project (not to mention the $5,000 Sunsuper competition for 2 midwifes for a year she also rallied people from around the globe for to vote on and WON) and Faith Belts for reconstructing the second birth room/ward. FreMo staff and I missed you both terribly when you left. What a significant impact you both made. Thanks also to Amimo for your time, passion and knowledge – I learnt a lot from you as a Doula and humanitarian worker. And Faith and Grace for sharing her Giwa home and families – the Kawangware community misses yost u like crazy, They miss their Mzungu neighbours. I MISS YOU!!!!

Back in late June Vicki and I arrived on the steps of FreMo’s on a mission to change the way birthing takes place in this clinic which we hoped would start filtering through Kenya. No more abusing the mothers, slapping or pinching their thighs leaving them with an awful experience. 2 months later it is a new clinic!!



It’s still strikes me as hard to believe that Vicki and I met just 4 months prior to our trip. She made contact with me after reading the article in the Weekender Magazine published in the Sunshine Coast, Queensland (http://digitaledition.theweekender.com.au/default.aspx?iid=45135 pages 10-12) and just 2 weeks before the successful ‘Girls Night Out’ in aid of FreMo’s. Barely knowing me, she did her research on the clinic and did everything she could to raise awareness and helped me so much at this fundraising event.

Vicki and I met over coffee and she immediately knew she had to make the journey back with me. Over the short time prior to our departure, we an idea of what we wanted to achieve and Vicki with the medical background knew that hygiene and maternity would be a perfect start.

Just look at the clinic now!!



I left Kenya a few days ago. After my visit to Somalia I was not ready to leave. Goodbyes are always hard but It was especially difficult saying goodbye to Judy(Moffat’s wife) who had been the perfect host during my stay and their adorable son Frank. Frank is now 10 months old and I witnessed his first few steps just last week – I will never forget how his face lit up every time I walked into the room. I know he will forget me, but I will never forget him.



I am disappointed to say that the only person I did not get to say goodbye to, was the very person I most went back to Kenya to see... Moffat. He was in bed, sleeping. He is a busy, tired man and I don’t like goodbyes.



I am lucky to have partnered with Vicki as her support and passion for the clinic grows every day. As I help those in impoverished communities bordering Kenya/Somalia, Vicki is doing everything she can to ensure FreMo’s continues to be successful. As a renowned midwife, FreMo is so very blessed to have you – and they know it!! Thank you!

Somalia Relief / North Kenya

It wasn’t real until we were in the car and driving bound for Garissa. Our trip to North Kenya had been postponed 3 times. Having to coordinate everything and everyone, I felt for Somar (founder of LocalAid – NGO), but she did it and we were on our way.

We watched the car thermometer creep from a brisk 11˚C to a balmy 38 ˚C in a slow, long 8 hour period. Within a few hours of leaving Nairobi,
we were already seeing a Somalian influence in the people. In the way they dressed. The land was barren and camels were as common as the deep dreaded potholes.

There were 6 of us in the car – Somar from LocalAid, Eric and Bilha from Service for Peace, Max who is an independent film guy doing a documentary of the trip, the driver and me. It was a pretty rough ride up there, but we had been warned it would be nothing compared to actually driving into the camps.

We had arranged to meet with Dr Mohamed Sheikh (Australian Humanitarian worker) and Ken (LocalAid project manager) once we arrived in Garissa, the town closest to the camps and where we would spend the next 2 nights.

We reached Garissa around 3.30pm. Other than the large presence of NGO’s and camels fighting the traffic for spacevin the main street, it was like most other towns in Kenya. There were a number of large vehicles representing various charity organisations around the globe, from the world’s largest to teeny independent ones. I was proud to be amongst them but I was bitterly disappointed when we were actually on the ground at the sites as there was absolutely no other presence of any other organisation. Given it was a weekend and most NGO’s there do this as a main job, they may have returned to their homes. But it was also a disappointing reality that most support is being given right at the Somalian border. Many people fail to notice just how desperate the situation is in both areas. We concentrated not only on the walking refugees who made it from Somalia, but also the local Kenyan’s suffering from the drought. It is tragic how seriously critical their conditions are. Our day to visit the camps started early. We met with Dr Mohamed Sheikh late the night before and along with WARDA (local NGO) they advised that the food was portioned and packed ready to go in their truck. We had initially planned to buy, portion and pack the food ourselves but there were too many tonnes for our sizeable 4wd (donated by Jasauto Kenya) to carry safely. Our Journey to Dadaab began at the Red Hole, a small remote community of 5 Kenyan Somali families. We met with the elders who shared with us their stories and how they had been affected by the drought – how they have no access to health care or any way to get into town and all their livestock (also their livelihood) are slowly and painfully dying. This small collection of filthy water was all they had, a little more than some. We then made our way to a location just north of Dadaab. Here we met with WARDA, the on-ground organisation and distributed the contribution of food that was donated through LocalAid and Service for Peace by individual and corporate sponsors. WARDA had facilitated the food distribution with Somar prior to our arrival. Having lived there through this famine, they were able to fairly identify the neediest people and hand to them food ration cards.
It was extremely difficult to watch those who missed out looking through the windows in hope that something may be left for them. Many had to walk away in despair with faith that next time it would be their turn. Those who were entitled patiently waited in the heat for their turn. Those who were strong enough remained until the distribution was over and scurried for the empty boxes and sacks. They use them for shelter or to sleep on. They are a valuable asset.

Somar was introduced to WARDA through Dr Mohamed Sheikh. He has led the collaboration between the ‘one donation 1 life’ campaign team and on- ground personnel. Somar introduced him as a special friend and one of the most driven humanitarians she has met. I wholeheartedly agree!! We visited many villages inside the established camps and ones that had been newly formed outside them. We learned that once a refugee is accepted into the camps they are given ration cards entitling them to food on a regular basis however the people living in the communities outside the camps were totally neglected by most NGO’s. We were shocked to see the absence of Aid in these areas. We understand the process each refugee must go through, but is so very hard to see so many of them dying needlessly before this happens. We were just about to leave the camp when we saw a mother carrying an infant. His tiny hand and foot were poking beneath a piece of cloth and I asked the chief if we could assist her. By the skeletal looking body parts it was easy to see he wasn’t well. She pulled back the dirty cloth and I just looked at the malnourished child in despair. This was the single most difficult moment for me. I did everything I could not to break down watching this fragile child. The mother explained that she has been unable to feed him for months due to several bad sores in his mouth. He had only been given water with a little sugar as she cannot afford medicine or powdered milk. His skin hugged to his body so tight the bones were protruding through. How many more suffering had we not seen? The lady under this orange cloth had collapsed on the ground from weakness. They threw a cloth on her to hide her emaciated body. She was shaking profusely. They pulled back the cover to show me her face and she looked straight through me. I don’t’ think she even saw that I was there or that dozens of her neighbours were towering over her shouting in their language. I have no idea what they were saying. I don’t want to know. I sat rubbing her back briefly before helping pick her up and put her inside a nearby tent, in the shade. Did they know she was going to die? I will never know. As we visited each camp we noticed that the sickest of the community were not in eyes view. Occasionally (after staring at us for some time) a local would grab our arms and drag us into tents. Somar and I independently saw equally shocking sites. All we could do was share some hope and love with a gentle touch and smile. We knew after speaking with the Dr Sheikh what signs were obvious that they would live just a day or 2 if they had the will. There are no words to describe this feeling of helplessness. We witnessed the plight of many who faced disaster. We saw it in every face, from malnourished children, those who needed urgent medical attention and to all who were struggling to live with no access to water in such extreme weather conditions. But the most shocking was to witness the carcasses scattered around the communities illustrating the magnitude of the drought.

It was this moment after leaving one of the newly formed camps that we reached a field of carcasses less than a kilometre away. There were dozens of livestock that had lost their battle for survival. As pastoralists, Somalis depend on their livestock for survival. Without this they feel they have no hope. For this reason it was all the more devastating to see. It was here that I broke down for the first time.



Yet another thing that made it so very real for me was the dangerously skinny camels, CAMELS - if they can't survive....!

I went as an independent traveller supporting LocalAid and Service for Peace in the hope that we would work well together and perhaps form a partnership with That’s What Friends Are For on its official registration of a business and on my return back to Australia next year. I love and support what these 3 NGO’s stand for and look forward to working with and supporting them in the long term projects we have identified. Like myself, their aim in assisting those in need is not to just give hands outs and leave, but to identify long term self-sustainable projects. Through the contacts of WARDA, we met the community chief of Habaswein (the villages/camps we visited). He heard of our ideas (build an orphanage, establish projects such as a tailoring training centre, a farm, school, a clinic and dig a bore hole) and he informed us that he had been allocated 12 acres of ‘community land’ that he wanted to donate. He too had a vision of building an orphanage for the 200+ children (currently moving from tent to tent) and after some discussions we concluded that we will be interesting in taking up such a project.

Those who know me and why I am so passionate about this will understand the magnitude of what the above paragraph holds and my desire to work in such a devistated, needy environment! This is not only what first brought me to Kenya, but more importantly why I have started my own NGO and will forever return. I am excited to join forces with them; we each share similar goals and values. To know firsthand what a significant difference these projects will make. I believe with the correct education it will not only empower those in the immediate future, but for generations to come and for other communities who will witness the change. What an exciting, needy initiative. It’s taken me a while to write and post this blog as words escaped me. The emails, calls and Facebook messages I received from everyone were overwhelming and so encouraging. I can’t thank each of you enough for taking the time to share your thoughts and support. If you want to keep in touch (I don’t know how to respond to comments on this blog) please write to me at natarshaj@gmail.com – Samantha, so happy to receive your blog message, please email me!!!

Thank again for the thoughts and well wishes, it kept me going on the tougher days. X

The 'One Donation, 1 life' campaign is still running so please get in contact with me if you would like to get involved or contribute towards our efforts. I will be holding more fundraising dinners and events when I return to Australia next year, but will still be involved in the meantime.

A special thanks to one of my best friend Jeff who received a 3am phone call when I needed to talk about what I had seen. Thanks for listening. X

The impact this trip has had on me will remain with me forever. I hope that these communities will one day find the peace and happiness so many of us take for granted.