Return to winterlands

I am unexpectedly back in Oxford with N.

As you may or may not know, Kenya had a presidential election on the 27th, the incumbent Mwai Kibaki was declared the winner -- but the results have been contested by his opponent, Raila Odinga, and since then various western observers have claimed that the vote was rigged. Violence has spread throughout the country, and although it is mostly in western Kenya (mainly the Rift Valley), it has also spread to eastern Kenya, such as Mombasa which is about an hour away from the village where I stay.

I was asked by my volunteer organization to delay my return, so I either had the choice to stay in South Africa indefinitely (which sounds rather nice, but I know almost no one and flights out of SA were fully booked for weeks after the first of January), or come back to England. So I am back in England until such a point where my organization tells me it is safe to return.

As you might imagine I have very mixed feelings about this, as it is nice to be with N for a bit longer, as well as enjoying amenities such as flushing toilets and hot showers (in fact I am afraid I have already started taking them for granted), but I am sad to be away from Kenya and the community I had grown to love. Plus it is freezing cold winter here! I have gotten used to the sun rising between 4:30 and 5:30 in the morning, and here it is almost 8am and still hasn't really seemed to rise yet! I am cold all the time no matter what I do.

But I am beginning to remember why I enjoyed Oxford so much before I went to Kenya... today I am going to partake in an English tradition that I became ridiculously addicted to before I left - cream tea. Tea with cream, and scones with jam and clotted cream. It's so bad for you, it's wonderful.

Anyway, for the time being you can reach me on my UK mobile number: +44-7942-599-641, but I must forewarn you that N's college building has quite terrible reception and when you call you may receive a message that I am unavailable as a result. Keep trying! I'm 8 hours ahead of the west coast here, and am trying to keep an early schedule (early to bed, early to rise) so as to fully take advantage of these winter days and to ease my transition back into Kenya (which is GMT + 3) when (and hopefully not IF) I do return.

We took many photos in South Africa so I'll start posting soon (I've got a bit of free time here), not to mention all the amazing things I saw in Malawi! Unfortunately I left my laptop in Kenya, which has all of my Kenya photos on it... so those will have to wait for an indeterminate period before making themselves known to all of you.


Best wishes for a happy and healthy 2008!!!


Desirée