Tea Farm

Tea is one of Kenya’s largest exports worldwide. And Kenyan tea is THE BEST in the world! Every Monday, in Mombasa, the world’s largest “tea auction” takes place. Tasters from all over the world come to purchase Kenyan tea leaves which are found in “blends” of tea. Kenya Teas are famous for their distinct taste and flavour. The high quality tea is dark, blackish in colour, and has a very strong aroma. A small scoop is enough to make a pot of tea!
We traveled to a tea farm last week to sample tea, walk in the fields, and learn about tea production. We sipped iced tea on the lawn and also had a delicious meal with our friends the Weeks (Stephanie is the Elementary School Principal).

The tea farm we visited is called Kiambethu (which means dancing forest). It is about 30 minutes north of our home. Tea grows best at higher elevations and Kiambethu is at 2100m above sea level. We were surprised to learn that tea is grown from seed.

Tea fields are a beautiful tapestry of greens. The newest and softest leaves on top are brighter green than the older leaves near the bottom. Kenyan tea leaves are famous for their brightness, attractive color, brisk flavour, and the texture of fragrant leaves.All of the harvesting of tea is done meticulously by hand. The top 2 tea leaves are picked every 7 - 14 days. The “pekoe” is the smallest, softest bud of the tea leaf and makes the best leaves for a rich flavour. As a result Kenya tea has won international acclaim for its consistent high quality and excellent delightful aroma.There are 57 tea factories in Kenya. Unfortunately this is a hard year for producers. Falling tea prices and drought are making it a hard business. Because of the manual labour required, tea farms employ many Kenyans. But without rain, there is very little growth and, therefore, no work for Kenyans.

Hockey Season!

While Canadians are now consumed with the National Hockey League playoffs, we are playing hockey of a different sort. It is the season for Field Hockey here in Nairobi. Max and Simon are just learning the rules and the game. We were unsure of whether or not we wanted them to play -- lots of stories of kids losing teeth! But we bought the mouth guards and away they go!

Nairobi National Park

With just 6 weeks left in the school year, we are anxious to see a bit more of Kenya. So we have decided to set aside the books and the worries of school and maximize our days off.
We traveled with a group of staff to the Nairobi National Park. This group of teachers moved to Kenya and started working at Rosslyn at the same time that we did. We have had a few outings together this year. This day was to celebrate that we have all received our Work Permits and Dependent’s Visas from the Kenyan Government – no small feat. We are now considered Legal Aliens / Temporary Residents of Kenya. This means that we get reduced rates at many local parks and events.
Nairobi National Park is on the other side of the city (a 45 minute drive for us) but still within the city limits. It was very interesting to see the rolling savannah and zebras in front of the cityscape backdrop.

The Park has no "walls" on its southern borders so the animals are free to come and go from the Rift Valley. At this time of year there are many animals that come into the Park to look for water (the Park has man made water holes). Giraffe, ostrich, eland, water buffalo, egrets, storks, and baboons were some of the sights.

Kenya's Ocean Playground

This week is Spring Break for Rosslyn Academy and a time for families to get away. Diani Beach is a beautiful spot on the east coast of Kenya and just south of Mombasa. It is a very popular tourist area and access to the Indian Ocean. Mombasa is the port city for Kenya and most of East Africa.Mombasa is 500 km from Nairobi and took us 11 hours to drive – really! The “Trans Kenya” Highway looks a bit like a gravel pit. The speed traveled is between 20 and 100 km/h depending on the size of pot holes, the cows, zebras, or goats crossing the road, and the number of trucks you get behind. The dust can be as thick as Nova Scotia fog. It is two lanes, not divided, no lines. At times there were four vehicles going our way on those two lanes. I am not sure where a vehicle coming the other direction would go. I saw the article in the Chronicle Herald this week complaining about pot holes on Nova Scotia roads -- that makes me laugh!

We enjoyed the adventure of the drive. We saw giraffe, camels, donkeys, gazelle wandering along the side of the highway. We saw termite mounds taller than us. We saw Mount Kilimanjaro in the distance. We nearly hit a group of baboons: the grandfathers were on the road so Tim honked; the babies got scared and ran on the road; the mothers started chasing the babies; how did we miss them?
And when we arrived in Mombasa the thermometer said 42 degrees Celsius. The beach was a much cooler 35 degrees and at night time an even cooler 30 degrees. Do I need to tell you how little we slept? No air conditioning in our rustic cottage, of course.
We spent the days playing in the Indian Ocean (which looks like Nova Scotia beaches but is as warm as hot bath water). The boys enjoyed looking for shells and crabs and coral. We went snorkelling and played with zebra fish swarming around our faces. We touched beautiful big starfish and were amazed at ther long spines on the sea urchins. We took a dhow to the reef. We wore SPF40 the whole time. We ate at a different restaurant each evening. We took anti-malaria medication.
Was it a relaxing holiday? Not a chance. But it was a change from our every day and we have memories to last a life time.

First Rains

As I write this there is a strong breeze beginning to blow through the house. The sun is fading and there are dark clouds moving in on the horizon. The air temperature has cooled down. All these are signs that we may have rain this evening. We have had rain three nights this week!!
The first night we spent some time (in the rain) getting our buckets and hoses ready to collect and recycle the precious water.

The rain brings hope to the thousands without food. People have begun to plant crops (even a young man has started to prepare the ground behind our home to plant maize). As the rain comes to water the crops, people will soon have food to eat. We can not say that the famine is over but we pray it will not claim any more lives.

Tomorrow is the first day of Spring Break here. We are getting ready to drive to the Indian Ocean for a few days at the beach. The rains have not yet started on the Coast and the temperature is warmer than Nairobi because it at sea level. Given the lower elevation and 100% humidity we can expect daytime temperatures of 35-40 degrees Celsius. Here's hoping it cools off a little bit at night so that we can sleep!