Long time since my last blog post....so this is going to be an epic post. Please make yourself a cuppa...or grab a glass of vino and settle in for the long haul.
As the letter denoting the mid-point of the alphabet, it seemed appropriate to blog on the letter M.....so....
Mid Point - It is unbelievably to think that I have now been in Kenya for over three months, almost fully at home in Nairobi and habituated to the sights, sounds and smells of the city – all of which are pretty intense. Fortunately I have taken advantage of every opportunity to travel beyond Nairobi both socially, and for work which has taken me to Mwanza in Tanzania, and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. It really has been a very busy few weeks and I’m relieved to have a full week in the office so my feet touch the ground again!
On the work front, as Garret Dunn and I have reached the mid-point of the project things have naturally ratcheted up a notch. We always knew this was going to happen, but it’s still another twist on the pressure gauge to ensure we deliver against our objectives before December. On that note Garret and I have been working hard to develop potential pilot projects in order to enable us to move towards fulfilment of our short and long term objectives. A full update on the project, and our progress will be posted in the very near future. http://gskpulsevolunteers.com/author/kimberleyburbidge/
On the social and exploratory front many of you have seen and commented on my facebook photos...YES I am having a good time, and NO I’m not posting them purely to gloat about the fact I have seen a leopard / cheetah / herd of elephants at the weekend!
Masai Mara – What a glorious, stunning part of the world! Everything you have seen and heard about the wide open plains, the game and the fabulous sunsets is true. On the two social trips I’ve made both with my husband, Josh, and my GSK colleagues, we had ‘leopard luck’ with two magnificent sightings of this elusive creature. However we weren’t lucky enough to witness the great Wildebeest migration. There were lots of Wildebeest around, but mostly munching grass and in no hurry to risk death by drowning / crocodiles in a mass stampede across the river. I was secretly hoping for some hyenas to appear (a la Lion King) and chase them into a gorge!! But nothing happens quite like it does in Disney.
That said we had amazing viewing including two spectacular leopards, several cheetah, lions, cubs, elephants, etc and we saw 12 wildebeest cross the river safely, (largely due to the scene of devastation from crossings the previous week – upended carcasses, vultures galore and hefty crocodiles too full to move – rank sight and smell to be honest). All in all an amazing place.
Mosquitoes – Seriously devious little creatures they have recently increased in number along with the heat, and they appear to have upped their stealth attack strategies in their bid to get at my blood. It appears that my plug-in, nightly DEET bath, bed nets and my room spray are all ineffectual as I woke up on Sunday morning with 16 bites. Really!!! I think they need to change the name of the leading bug spray out here from DOOM...to BUG APHRODISIAC. Not quite as catchy, but my marketing brain is not functioning on full cylinder! How many G&Ts does one need to drink to make oneself unpalatable??
Music – Given my devastation at not having been able to attend the UK festival season, and particularly at having missed Jessie J performing in my home town of Shrewsbury (which is surely a lifetime one-off), I’ve been embracing the Kenyan options. Rift Valley Music Festival...dubbed ‘Glastonbury with hippos’ was excellent...although a long way off Glasto in terms of calibre and scale. Then a more cultural evening in Karura forest watching a 20 piece Indo-African fusion ensemble...which was actually super cool and chilled out at SAMOSA festival. If you’ve been to see any epic bands in the UK, I don’t want to know. Bring on Glastonbury next year!!
Midnight-flights – so you’d have thought that country-hopping within Africa would be easy..and reasonable. Oh no no no my dear friends...there you would be very wrong indeed. High demand and limited capacity means prices are high and late booking leaves you with few options. So few in fact that I had to take the only flights available between Nairobi and Addis Ababa on Ethiopian airlines at obscene o’clock....wait for this. It leaves at 3.30AM in the morning and arrives in Addis at 5.30AM...which is of course the perfect time to negotiate with customs officials, to enter a strange country...and to prepare for a full day’s workshop. Fortunately the AMREF Ethiopian team were superb...and their fabulous, strong coffee enabled me to get through a productive day and to catch up with two lovely fellow GSK PULSE volunteers (Ivy Peterson & Niamh Fitzsimmons) that night before flying home. I saw very little of Ethiopia, but it seemed like a lovely country!
Masai Mara Marathon – So... the most gruelling half marathon I’ve ever done, and the only race where I’ve been the first white woman across the finish line in a very respectable 1hr 44...which is awesome given that it was over 30 degrees when I started at 10am.
It’ll also be the only race that starts with the announcement... ‘Do not be afraid people...we are going to fire the guns...there are elephants on the course and we cannot start until they leave!’ AWESOME!! I was also super lucky and super jammy in my sleeping arrangements managing by sheer good luck and God’s help to go from ‘no bed’ to a VIP tent thanks to Kenya Airways. This of course meant that I finished in time to get a hot shower, a couple of beers and just enough time to get a flight back to Nairobi to head off to a 1920s themed polo ball. To those who said I couldn’t do both in one night...Ha! Where there is a will, there’s a way!
On that note I appear to have run out of Ms for now...but I PROMISE to up the regularity of my posts as I head towards the finish line. As ever, mini-plea for information and news from the UK, particularly if you’re not on FB (my lifeline back to normality).
Love to all, and please keep in touch. Kim x
Disclaimer: I work for GSK, currently serving as a PULSE Volunteer with AMREF in Nairobi, however the opinions you read from me here are totally my own.
As the letter denoting the mid-point of the alphabet, it seemed appropriate to blog on the letter M.....so....
Mid Point - It is unbelievably to think that I have now been in Kenya for over three months, almost fully at home in Nairobi and habituated to the sights, sounds and smells of the city – all of which are pretty intense. Fortunately I have taken advantage of every opportunity to travel beyond Nairobi both socially, and for work which has taken me to Mwanza in Tanzania, and Addis Ababa in Ethiopia. It really has been a very busy few weeks and I’m relieved to have a full week in the office so my feet touch the ground again!
On the work front, as Garret Dunn and I have reached the mid-point of the project things have naturally ratcheted up a notch. We always knew this was going to happen, but it’s still another twist on the pressure gauge to ensure we deliver against our objectives before December. On that note Garret and I have been working hard to develop potential pilot projects in order to enable us to move towards fulfilment of our short and long term objectives. A full update on the project, and our progress will be posted in the very near future. http://gskpulsevolunteers.com/author/kimberleyburbidge/
On the social and exploratory front many of you have seen and commented on my facebook photos...YES I am having a good time, and NO I’m not posting them purely to gloat about the fact I have seen a leopard / cheetah / herd of elephants at the weekend!
Masai Mara – What a glorious, stunning part of the world! Everything you have seen and heard about the wide open plains, the game and the fabulous sunsets is true. On the two social trips I’ve made both with my husband, Josh, and my GSK colleagues, we had ‘leopard luck’ with two magnificent sightings of this elusive creature. However we weren’t lucky enough to witness the great Wildebeest migration. There were lots of Wildebeest around, but mostly munching grass and in no hurry to risk death by drowning / crocodiles in a mass stampede across the river. I was secretly hoping for some hyenas to appear (a la Lion King) and chase them into a gorge!! But nothing happens quite like it does in Disney.
That said we had amazing viewing including two spectacular leopards, several cheetah, lions, cubs, elephants, etc and we saw 12 wildebeest cross the river safely, (largely due to the scene of devastation from crossings the previous week – upended carcasses, vultures galore and hefty crocodiles too full to move – rank sight and smell to be honest). All in all an amazing place.
Mosquitoes – Seriously devious little creatures they have recently increased in number along with the heat, and they appear to have upped their stealth attack strategies in their bid to get at my blood. It appears that my plug-in, nightly DEET bath, bed nets and my room spray are all ineffectual as I woke up on Sunday morning with 16 bites. Really!!! I think they need to change the name of the leading bug spray out here from DOOM...to BUG APHRODISIAC. Not quite as catchy, but my marketing brain is not functioning on full cylinder! How many G&Ts does one need to drink to make oneself unpalatable??
Music – Given my devastation at not having been able to attend the UK festival season, and particularly at having missed Jessie J performing in my home town of Shrewsbury (which is surely a lifetime one-off), I’ve been embracing the Kenyan options. Rift Valley Music Festival...dubbed ‘Glastonbury with hippos’ was excellent...although a long way off Glasto in terms of calibre and scale. Then a more cultural evening in Karura forest watching a 20 piece Indo-African fusion ensemble...which was actually super cool and chilled out at SAMOSA festival. If you’ve been to see any epic bands in the UK, I don’t want to know. Bring on Glastonbury next year!!Midnight-flights – so you’d have thought that country-hopping within Africa would be easy..and reasonable. Oh no no no my dear friends...there you would be very wrong indeed. High demand and limited capacity means prices are high and late booking leaves you with few options. So few in fact that I had to take the only flights available between Nairobi and Addis Ababa on Ethiopian airlines at obscene o’clock....wait for this. It leaves at 3.30AM in the morning and arrives in Addis at 5.30AM...which is of course the perfect time to negotiate with customs officials, to enter a strange country...and to prepare for a full day’s workshop. Fortunately the AMREF Ethiopian team were superb...and their fabulous, strong coffee enabled me to get through a productive day and to catch up with two lovely fellow GSK PULSE volunteers (Ivy Peterson & Niamh Fitzsimmons) that night before flying home. I saw very little of Ethiopia, but it seemed like a lovely country!
Masai Mara Marathon – So... the most gruelling half marathon I’ve ever done, and the only race where I’ve been the first white woman across the finish line in a very respectable 1hr 44...which is awesome given that it was over 30 degrees when I started at 10am.
On that note I appear to have run out of Ms for now...but I PROMISE to up the regularity of my posts as I head towards the finish line. As ever, mini-plea for information and news from the UK, particularly if you’re not on FB (my lifeline back to normality).
Love to all, and please keep in touch. Kim x
Disclaimer: I work for GSK, currently serving as a PULSE Volunteer with AMREF in Nairobi, however the opinions you read from me here are totally my own.
