Jan 23 2018

Saturday + Sunday – Luca

The 20^th was our first official day off, I think some of us felt we hadn’t done enough to warrant a day off just yet, but nevertheless leisure time is always welcomed!

As usual, we started our day early with breakfast, I managed not to do anything embarrassing in the morning, so that’s always a plus isn’t it? Mind you, on Friday night after dinner we were walking in the dark back to the mini-bus, and I was halfway through saying to the girls, “be careful of the rocks” as I then fell over them, haha. As always, I managed a good save though! I had almost forgotten how clumsy I was until I arrived here. Back to our day off, after breakfast I managed to build enough trust with one of the wild dogs at the University to give her a little pet. We have nicknamed her ‘Mama’ because she has had puppies, and every time we call for her, she wags her little tail around. She is honestly the most adorable girl, I’d take her back with me in a heartbeat if only I could, but she enjoys the freedom, and I don’t think she’d like the British cold! Afterwards we got onto a big coach and started our journey towards Rusinga Island Hotel, which is right on Lake Victoria – it was an interesting experience… The ride was just over two hours, and it was so incredibly bumpy. I kept seeing my classmates physically lift off their seats every time we went over a bump, luckily there was a lot of head space so there were no injuries.

Rusinga Island is incredibly beautiful, like something I’d only ever seen in photographs before. I honestly could not describe it with justice. The hotel was enclosed by trees and had a large pier you could walk down, with swing benches and seats overlooking the unbelievable lake (it was SO big)! After a photoshoot to capture the moment, me, Katie, Hafsah, Andres and Zerah started to collect some pretty shells to take home with us as that’s a very touristy thing to do! We then decided we’d like to go on a speedboat around the lake, and none of us managed to fall in. 😛

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It was such a boiling hot day that I was tempted enough to go for a swim. I was a little bit nervous as the lake has crocodiles and hippos, but during the daytime they all swim far out and I was assured it was safe! I am here to still tell the tale, so all was well. After the swim, it was time to get back for dinner. I think we were all a bit tired, as we caught 50 winks, with me waking up with embedded bracelet marks all over my face that must’ve stayed there for a least an hour afterwards, haha. We went back to the accommodation after and took Andres back with us for a drink! We played games, drunk some nice Kenyan cane and cider, and then all retired!

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Sunday was a lazy day, just as it should be! After breakfast and a quick trip to the Supermarket, I had a tackle at my washing. I ended up bathing myself in the process, but at least my clothes are clean (maybe), haha. I wasn’t hungry for lunch, so whilst mostly everyone left I had a little afternoon nap. I was awoken though by an offer to take a ride to a nearby hotel called The Treat House, which is where I am now writing this! I’m not entirely sure what we’re up to for the rest of the evening, but we shall feedback tomorrow. I hope that everyone has had a wonderful weekend!

Luca. 🙂

P.S. Yes, I am sunburnt, haha. I have taken every precaution, but I guess this is just the way it will always be. 😛

Jan 22 2018

First day filming in Cham gi Wadu

Today has been an unforgettable first day as we were taken to Cham gi Wadu, the community we are in the process of building a radio station for. The morning began with everyone heading off to breakfast and as usual we ate more than our stomachs could handle, we wanted to fill ourselves full in preparation for the day we were about take on.

At 10am, after breakfast the Brighton students and Kenyan students gathered in the class room where were assigned our job roles, we must take on whilst out in Cham gi Wadu. My job role was videographer, due to my past experience this role was best suited for me as I knew my way around a camera, microphones, and how to prepare for interviews and film it. Once the roles were assigned we went through the process of getting into groups with those who held the same job role, my group consisted of Sam, Kassim, Aaron, Mae, Eve and Merci. Once that was done the cameras and all kits were assigned and tested ready for the projects to be completed whilst in the community.

After 11.30am with our groups we headed to the bus and were driven to Cham gi Wadu to meet the people of the community. Walking into the community centre I was able to see the building that was chosen to be the place to hold the community radio station. Seeing the community members in their environment was an eye-opener for me, even though I have watched the documentary created by last years students on their trip to Cham gi Wadu. It was good to see the importance of the radio station for myself, as I saw the environment the community lived in and how much they cared for their community and wanted to better it for themselves and everyone there. This extremely care to my understanding today during the visits to a primary school and a community member explained to the children the importance of our visit, and stressed on how the children can visit the radio station in the future and start learning and gain career aspirations.

Whilst at Cham gi Wadu my group and I decided to split up into 3 groups in order to capture as many footage as possible and record all needed. I was in charge of voxpops which meant interviewing some of the community leaders in short snappy videos, asking them 1 simple question of ‘what does the community radio station mean to you?’ and asking them to finish with a simple statement on asking viewers for their help in their journey for a community radio station. In the past creating voxpops was a simple process for me as I have had many experience with it, however creating a voxpop with the members of the community was challenging as I found them not as willing to be on camera and to take the initiative to be filmed. In addition, i found it challenging to explain to them what i was trying to capture and needed assistance from a Kenyan student to translate at times, although this was great the members of the community did not understand the meaning of voxpops even after basic explanation of how it was to be filmed and I found they talked as though they were bring interviewed and voxpops are supposed to be short concise responses. Other issues rose from this as I found many of the answers were the same, we had many interruptions, and my interviewees were not looking at the camera at times.

We later travelled to another community which had a primary school. Whilst there we were surrounded by excited school children who were eager to talk to us, imitate our accents and mannerisms and get in front of our cameras. Whilst there my role of voxpops wasn’t needed and I partnered myself with Kassim to gather stock footage and establishing shots of the area. The school area wasn’t as big as it seemed therefore to gather as many establishing shots was challenging as I didn’t want each shot to seem the same, I tried to avoid filming the children as much as possible and lastly avoid the big great bus we travelled in in appearing into our establishing shots. The time spent here was time consuming and a lot of time was wasted and I felt the time there should have been shorter. Granted with the excited school children a lot of time was spent there and even after many of the groups had completed there roles we weren’t pushed to leave.

Lastly, we visited two more schools, one a secondary school and another a primary school. Being at the secondary school was my favourite as the children had many things in common as myself and with my peers. The children were encouraged by their teachers and headmaster to follow their passion, and many of them were deeply interested in journalism and wanted to purpose it into politics. With our arrival the headmaster kindly brought out all the children outside to sit and we introduced ourselves to them and asked them what they study and interested in. The headmaster encouraged them to get up and come over to us and we will teach them how to use the different kits we were all carrying. This request was met with amazement from me as the kids all rose and hurried to the equipments and seeing the crowds surrounding the video camera with eager to learn and try school children made the whole visit worth it.

We spent some time with the children and teaching them and getting them in front of the camera, which they were not shy about, and introduce themselves, their age, and what they want their career to be in the future. Sam then got them to watch back their recorded footage and it was nice to see how eager and invested into all they were taught. With Sam showing the children how to use the camera and the different functions of it, the children were involved as they asked questions about different lenses to capture certain views like a birds-eye view, in which Sam told them of the different forms of recording devises you can purchase such as a drone.

The second primary school we visited on our way to the coach was pleasant as the headmaster got the children to sing us a song to make us feel very welcomed. The deputy headmistress gave us a wonderful speech and offered for us to come back and stay longer as the children were very interested in what we are doing for their community.

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Jan 22 2018

Out & About in the Community

Today was our first day out doing fieldwork in the community of Cham Gi Wadu. After breakfast, we rendezvoused in the lecture rooms and split off in to groups based on what media we preferred to work in. I decided to do video as that is what I feel most comfortable with, but there was also the option of working with photography or audio.

I felt a lot of responsibility within the video group because of my background and the fact that I came on this trip last year with the purpose of making the CM4K documentary. The video group was also the largest of the three groups, so I decided to split us into three groups based on the three topics that Peter mentioned that he wanted us to cover:

Aaron, Eve and Mercie worked on the documentation of the project. They focused telling the story of CM4K and the asset mapping that was taking place.
Angel and May worked on getting vox-pops with the community members as well as footage for an appeal video.
Kassim worked on small vignettes of roughly 30 seconds that show the location of each building. He was later joined by Angel and May after they finished their vox-pops.

I, to the best of my ability, tried to oversee each project so that I was readily available to use my experience whenever it was needed.

The first location that we visited was the district chief’s office in Cham Gi Wadu. It was here that I decided to split the video team into three sub groups. We started by filming the introduction between Peter and the District Chief – I supported Aaron and Eve by monitoring the audio through the zoom audio recorder. We then interviewed the chief using the same set up – Aaron focusing on the camerawork, Eve holding the boom and myself monitoring the audio. In hindsight, I feel that these clearly defined roles are a necessity to successfully completing this fieldwork as the structure will help us focus on what we need to do.

The rest of my time at Cham Gi Wadu was spent between the three sub-groups within our video team. My main focuses were making sure everyone was using the equipment properly and were concentrated on shooting the right footage based on what sub-group they were part of. At one point, I saw Angel and May attempting a vox-pop without a proper microphone, so I provided them with one and helped them set it up. During this time, I realised that there was not clarity within each group when it came to what they specifically had to do, so I made quite a few notes on what was being done so that I could later on write up a clear order of business. I completed my time at the district chief’s office by helping organise a part of the charity appeal video where each community member said a word from the phrase “please help us build a community radio station at Cham Gi Wadu” before as a group saying, “thank you for your support”.

The second location that we went to was the Kakwara Primary School. On the bus journey there I had written up what sub-group should focus on so that there was no overlap in filmic materials. When I got off the bus I explained these roles to everyone. We did not get everything filmed here as we were extremely pressed for time and the introductions continued for longer than we hoped. It was still interesting to listen to the head teacher talk about his school, and I could see that Aaron and Eve had recorded the whole thing so we can still use part of it for context of the story. All of the kids came out whilst I was in the introductory meeting, so it was great to be greeted by all of them – they all seemed so fascinated by me!

We then left to go to a second school – Omara Mixed Secondary School. When we arrived, I was asked by Isabelle to interview the head teacher, which I found fascinating. He was an extremely intelligent man with a strong interest in mass media communications and one of the first people in the community that really understood the influence that the community radio station could have on this area. He then told us about the journalism club that the school runs and asked if we can give the students a few lessons on how to work a camera. Of course we said yes, and I was soon surrounded by 20 or so teenagers that were eager to learn about my camera. At first I found it quite intimidating as I am not used to speaking in front of a large group of people. However, I could see that they were all keen for me to share my knowledge so that made me feel a lot more comfortable. I spoke about how to operate the camera for both photography and video and answered the questions that they had. I then set up a scenario where some of the students were in front of the camera speaking about themselves and their aspirations and others recorded them. It was a great experience as it makes me happy that I have shared my experience with people that are willing to learn.

Our final destination was the Omara Mixed Primary School, just up the road from the secondary school. Unfortunately, we were extremely short for time and therefore had to rush through. There was enough time for an introduction by the head teacher and a beautiful song from the children. We also managed to grab a quick group photo with them before heading off to the bus. They were all so fascinated by my skin – they kept poking the back of my neck which wasn’t pleasant as it is sun burnt!

When we returned to the pastoral centre we spent some time reflecting on our day – what went well and what we thought needed to improve. We came to an agreement that the main problems were that there was a lack of organisation and understanding when it came to everyone’s individual roles. We discussed that we needed to meet in our groups in the morning to assign roles so there is clarity of what needed to be done. We knew that we over ran on time because of the number of formal greetings that we had to do, so we decided that tomorrow we will have to spend more time focusing on the shots that we are doing and less time communication with the different communities.

It will be interesting to see how these changes turn out tomorrow.

Sam 🙂

Jan 22 2018

Breaking for the weekend….

Well as the first working week here in Migori County draws to a close it is time for the students and staff to let their hair down a bit and relax although for staff like Isabel even when relaxing she’s working hard whilst we’re here making sure everything is running as smoothly as possible – we are extremely grateful to her, our driver Bituk, the catering staff, Prof Jerry Agalo and all his staff who work to make this trip happen and make it special. They treat us so amazingly well!

Saturday 20^th Jan.

Our first down day saw both university contingents head off to Rusinga Island. It is approximately a 2 hour drive away. In previous years getting from the mainland to the island in Lake Victoria has been an interesting navigational feat but the bridge has finally been completed and so everything went like clockwork.

We headed off the Rusinga Island Beach Resort, which is a lovely hotel/conference centre on the shore of Lake Victoria. Tropical trees; canoeing; boat trips. Etc. In fact, pretty much everything you could wish for to relax and enjoy yourself.

We have discussed previously holding an international workshop here – it’s not huge so a conference might be pushing it a bit but a workshop could definitely work. I’d been put off previously by transport logistics but now it is possible to fly direct from Nairobi as they have an airstrip next to the resort. So we are considering this possibility again.

For Prof Jerry and I this trip gave us a chance to discuss the progress of the CM4K and the challenges ahead in an idyllic setting. For the students they had a chance to spend more quality social time together developing bonds. The speed boat trip is always favourite among Brighton students but I always feel bad that the Kenyan students don’t get to experience it – so this year Jerry & I paid for them to take a ride also. Isabel’s daughter, Zerah, went in with our students as did Andres a graduate from Rongo with amazing tech knowledge who has worked with CM4K for the past 4 years and was one of the first students to visit us at Brighton. They all had a great time.

Unfortunately, the time at Rusinga was all too short and before we knew it it was time to head home. The journey home was rather upsetting for me as I received a call from my daughter Kate that my cat (Brody) had passed away. My granddaughter Kelsey, who lives with me, had been looking after her and of course was devastated as Brody used to sleep with her. My girls and son-in-laws Paul & Dom took care of the burial because I am here – which made it even worse because I am usually the one that deals with the passing of our pets. I was somewhat deflated on the journey back to Rongo and greatly saddened as Brody had been part of my family for 15 years and had endured several traumas in her life – bless her. Anyway RIP Brody.

Sunday 21^st January

Sunday was pretty much a rest day. Students spent the morning trying on local clothes, shopping and washing. Later in the afternoon we went to the Treat House Hotel where Jerry, Isabel, Mac and I discussed a research proposal we’re working on. The boys stayed there working on their blogs and relaxing and were joined by the girls later as they’d been off looking at hair extension options. They ran out of time to get them done this week but I suspect next Sunday will be spent at the salon – well by them anyway. 😉

The days seem to fly by here and before we knew it we were back at campus having dinner before an early night. I was in bed by 9 and I couldn’t hear the students – most unusual 😉 – so am guessing they headed off early also. Just before I went to bed I noticed I had a room mate 😀.

Jan 21 2018

The Rest Day

Andres joined us for a drink at the pastoral centre last night. We stopped off at the Treat House first to grab some beer/cider and a bottle of Kenya Cane – I told everyone to try it as I think it’s delicious. When we got back, I showered (the water was on this time), sat outside and cracked open a Tusker whilst waiting for the others to finish showering. Once everyone was out we played a few games with Andres and then everyone tried their Kenya Cane – thankfully they all loved it!

Today has been a proper rest day. I still woke up at 8am, but after breakfast we came back to the pastoral centre and chilled. I continued reading my book, but was distracted when Isabelle brought her children round! Afterwards we went to the local supermarket so people could pick up a few supplies. We then walked down to the local bar so that Luca, Hafsah and Katie could buy some cigarettes, it was very interesting seeing how it differed from the bars that I am used to in Brighton.

We then drove back to the pastoral centre, Luca and I washed a few of our clothes whilst others slept and relaxed. I then went to get some lunch from the university, before the girls went to get their hair done. Luca, Peter and I came to the Treat House to grab a beer and write our blog.

Unfortunately, this blog is rather short, but it has been very soothing to sit back and relax today.

Sam 🙂

Jan 21 2018

Lazy Sunday…

After a productive Saturday it was good knowing on Sunday it was going to be a chill day for us all after a busy week. We all decided to take the day slow and spend as much of it together as a group and in the sun. We began the day by rising at our usual time of 8am, for me getting up was a slow process as my body was aching and my eyes sore from tiredness. We all met outside in the courtyard and we had all agreed to go to breakfast as normal, which did not disappoint as usual.

The sun was beating down on me hard today and I felt awfully groggy and had a beating headache. Going back to the pastoral we decided to relax for a while and Luca and Sam decided to do their clothes from that week. I decided to go to my room and try and have a nap but my body wouldn’t allow it and instead I was buzzing for the day ahead and I chose to get up and go lounge in the sun and watch the others hilariously washing their clothes by hand and in the process get themselves soaked (Luca) and hang them to dry in the sun on the plastic chairs.

Sitting under the veranda with Sam and Halima having a chat we watched Sam attempt to read his boring book and then run off to his room for ages to wash his clothes. Once all clothes were washed and hanging to dry we all piled back into the van and we headed to the supermarket down the road. The aim of going to the shop was the usual for most of us which was to buy as many snacks as we could and stock up on Fanta pineapple which we don’t get back in England and we discovered we all have an addiction to it. Walking through the shop we picked up the essentials too of soaps and deodorants. We were disappointed to see the ice creams were all tubs of ice cream and nothing in a cone like some Cadbury buttons and we were desperate for something to ease off the heat.

Returning to the van to discard my shopping I noticed Hafsah, Luca and Katie were walking away from the supermarket with Baituk our driver. I jumped on the band wagon to follow them with Halima and Sam as we were told they were going to buy cigarettes and I was just wanting to have a walk and see the rest of the town and the people in the area. We went into a bar and I took a seat as I watched Baituk sway to the rhythm of the song playing and watched the others hasty discuss the cigarette’s and he drinks the bar was containing. Once finished we walked back to the van and got in and made our way back to the pastoral to relax before dinner.

Back at the pastoral I stayed in my room with Halima and we had a good chat before heading out for lunch. To my pleasant surprise whilst outside in the courtyard Zerah was back and this time Isabelle had brought her other two children, Aamaya and her 8 month old son, Isaac. I was quick to claim them as my new siblings and was quick to throw hugs onto all 3 of them.

Before lunch Luca and Katie chose to stay behind as they were still full from breakfast and couldn’t fit lunch in. Lunch was as weird experience without them both as we had all gotten into our routine of seating and the usual chatter we have at each meal. Before there seats were taken by my new siblings as they wanted to sit with us and it was lovely seeing their eager to be around us more and more. Once lunch was finished we headed back to the pastoral and picked up Katie as us girls were going with Isabelle to buy hair for Hafsah and katie. Whilst the boys or shall I say the ‘lads’ went to the Treat House for drinks.

Being driven by Isabelle in her car was a fun ride as she was being screwed for how beat down her car was by Halima and driving around with her in town with her children in tow, and watching her interact with the locals was comforting like being back home in England, as drove around for her hair salons and places to buy the coloured hair Katie and Hafsah wanted. It was nice to get away from the van and the usual journeys we make as groups, and be with the girls and just have a laugh and do girly things like looking for hair and later shoe shopping with Isabelle. One of the fun part of our journey was going to Isabelle’s house and seeing where she lived and meeting her neighbours and kids in the area. Unfortunately the search for hair wasn’t successful as the colours the girls wanted could not be found anywhere.

Our journey in town came to an end and we returned to the Treat House to the boys and have a few drinks and write our blogs on the day. It was a nice way to finish the day off and photograph the sunset before heading to the university for dinner.

Jan 21 2018

Day 3…….the community arrive

After a busy day yesterday in class we were due to meet the Cham gi Wadu community steering committee. We sent the transport to pick them up after breakfast, which gave us time to do a bit of admin work. Worryingly, I am still waiting on the University of Brighton Finance Department to authorise payments for the safari we aim to take at the end of field-trip. Students paid for this on the 10^th January and 10 days later we are still waiting. I am assured that it will be authorised and passed for payment soon but it is worrying as I have much to organise at this end and our safari operator is in Nairobi 8 hours away. I am also waiting for the money my first year students collected for the Biwati Orphanage through Just Giving last year to be processed. As I am just about to meet the folk who run this orphanage it is a little embarrassing although much of the delay for this was caused by Rongo’s administrators…..nonetheless it is me who has to explain.

At 11am the 12 strong steering committee arrived and were so delighted to be with us again as I was with them. I recognised the delegates and even remembered the self-help groups they are from – so perhaps old age hasn’t caught me just yet! 😉 I quickly explained the delay in transferring the funds to Biwati to the 2 Janes (the drivers of this community group and responsible for the orphanage) – they were very understanding. After a series of brief round table introductions – community people and students are so much quicker at this than academics – and my rather clumsy attempt at greeting and welcoming them to the session in the Luo language (which they appreciated) it was down to business. Knowing they had recently had a community meeting to discuss the project I invited them to give us a report from the meeting.

This report gave us both food for thought as a collaborative partnership and great joy. It was stated that in their outreach work among the community groups there was enormous support for the idea of building a community radio station. The obvious benefits for improving community communications such a radio station could bring through knowledge sharing and access to relevant and contextualised information across many areas of community life has been readily understood it seems. However, it was said that there was some concerns, perhaps impatience is a better word, about the time it was taking to be implemented. In response to this last point I explained (again) that there are many stages to go through before the community was fully mobilised to build and operate a sustainable community radio station. I also explained (again) that we are neither a charity nor an NGO with ready streams of funding. That all monies raised towards this initiative were raised by student fundraising efforts; the support of colleagues at the University of Brighton and the friends and families of participating students. I suggested that the time it takes us to raise the 3 million Kenyan Shillings (£20K) to build a solar powered radio station would provide time for the essential community outreach and mobilisation activities to ensure both community engagement and commence capacity building and training activities.

This honest and open exchange of views was clearly appreciated and my message was understood by the steering committee. Of course, it is less challenging to simply raise funds, parachute a radio station into the community and let it fend for itself but in my community communication experience (circa 35 years as a practitioner and 25 as an academic) such initiatives are usually doomed to fail (my PhD thesis is available upon request ha ha ha). At this point we moved on to discuss our activities for the next 2 weeks. Last year we undertook a needs analysis of various subsistence self-help groups (the video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmXjcVkmsCk). This year we plan to conduct a community communications asset mapping exercise. From both research exercises it is hoped that a strategic action plan will begin to emerge.

The rest of the morning was spent in a brief introduction to community asset mapping and how we would go about this. Organising them into breakout groups for a participatory learning workshop (PLW) participants were asked to reflect critically on their understanding of mapping and the geography of community before considering how communities communicate with one another in Kenya and what community radio’s role might be in this. A fascinating discussion in the groups ensued, which I tried to facilitate going from group to group before some really interesting points were raised back in plenary. I had students taking notes of all these sessions and it is my intention to write these up as co-author/co-created papers/presentations at a later date.

After lunch, the afternoon, which was to be a brief session, ran into a few technical problems – not uncommon in community technology projects. I had asked Rongo to test the geo-coding functions on their phones prior to our arrival but somehow this slipped between the cracks. So when we got to this point it turned out that the community only had one smart phone (without a battery) and the UK party had a range of technical problems (mine being O2 telling me my android was unlocked when it wasn’t). This left the Rongo students, all of whom had android smart phone but which appeared to interact with google maps in ways different to ours. Although this caused me a few problems, I knew I had purchased a mobile modem for fieldwork, so despite a little embarrassment I wasn’t really phased and moved on to show and explain the draft community asset map I had produced using data we collected last year and Skype conferences since then. This done, we decided upon a plan of action for next week and called the session to a close. The community went away excited at the prospect of the forthcoming collaborations and for our students the day had brought an element of reality to their CM4K experiences.

The weekend will be spent in a more relaxing mode and I’ll write about that later.

Jan 20 2018

Skward day out to Rusinga Island

On the weekends we have those days to ourselves and to do whatever activity we would like. On Saturday along with the students from the University of Rongo decided to visit Rusinga Island, to see Lake Victoria. The drive was roughly 3 hours and during that ride it was the first time for all of us students to be in the same vehicle and we got to know each other more. The ride was exciting for all of us as we filled the bus with chatter and singing, many of us read books and listened to music and several took naps.

When we arrived to Rusinga Island we had to drive down a very bumpy road which was full of uneven level of roads and surrounded by stones. This road brought a lot of humour to us as the bus would throw us into the air and the bus would be filled with screams and we’d claim we were on a rollercoaster. The people in this area were very welcoming and as we drove past many of the children would stop and wave at us with so much excitement from seeing new visitors.

When we reached Rusinga Island Lodge was very shocked by how much the area stuck out like sore thumb compared to all the areas we had just driven by which was poor with many mud houses and fields and surrounded by animals such as cows, goats, chickens and donkeys. The Island looked like something out of a movie with beautiful architecture looking like I was taken away from Kenya and to Thailand. All the buildings were made of wood and they all had these big amazing thatched roofs, with amazing decor. Walking through the reception to the other side your eyes were met with the most beautiful view of Lake Victoria, and a wooden pier stretching across the lake and at the end of that pier were my fellow peers. On the edge of the seafront were several palm trees which I believe were coconut trees.

Walking along the shaky planks of the pier to reach my peers was nerve racking, as I’m terrified of piers especially the ones with shaky planks. Everyone on the other end I realised half way was watching me, as I was walking alone and funny trying to avoid as many unsafe planks, but when I reached the end of the pier I explained I was scared and I do this on Brighton pier also. It was an amusement to them all but me. Whilst there we were all excited to take group pictures, and pictures of each other, even our security guard was more than happy to have photos taken of him and with him. Once this excitement was over we walked off the pier and some of us lounged in the shade and others in the sun. I was seated on a big rock which had several big pillows in top and whilst sat there me and some of the other students played with Wendy’s baby; Jordy and talked the difference between London and Africa, the medical health we went through to be able to travel safely to Kenya. This conversation was hilarious to the Kenyan’s regarding the injections we had to go get and they were slightly offended Westerners believed Africa is a bad infested place.

It was nice sitting in the sun and taking in the breeze and getting to know each other more and what we do in our free times away from university. Moments later we were arranging for ourselves, including Andres and Isabelle’s first born daughter, Zerah, who i claimed that day as my sister and I spent the rest of the day calling her sister. She became the best sister for me that day as she was able to order me chips, I really needed a sister who understands my love for food.

Preparing to go on the boat ride was scary for me because I have a big fear of boats, and the driver of the boat and Sam held my hand as I screamed and staggered onto the boat, which even though it was beside the pier and tied up, it moved an awful lot and it had my knees shaking. Once on the boat we were properly introduced to our driver and life jackets were put on. We were all quick to get Zerah in one as we feared for her as she was so brave to sit right at the front of the boat. Of course, a life jacket was given to me which I hasty put on as I saw how far away we had already drifted from the pier and land. I spent the boat ride seated and praying to make it back to land, but besides that the boat ride was fun. At one point the driver asked me and Katie if he could speed up the boat more and were like of course but braced ourselves. Lol. All was good until the driver began to chill during the ride and let go of the steering wheel and turned to smile at me and Katie and ask if we were doing okay, we were to reply yes but shouted “KEEP YOUR HANDS ON THE WHEEL!”. He laughed his head off at us.

During the boat we drove by many people on the other side of the island, many Kenyans swimming with their families and some bathing which was funny as they were fully naked and was a shock for us. We saw some boats floating in the see which I got amazing pictures of. The whole boat ride was amazing and many of the brave ones like Sam, Hafsah and Luca were stood at the front of the boat like a bunch of macho men braving the waves and the splash back of the water.

We spent a few more hours out at Rusinga Island drinking fanta and eating chips, before heading back on the coach back onto the bumpy roads and many of us, like myself falling asleep on the journey back to the university for dinner.

Jan 20 2018

The worst shower + Rusinga Island

Last night may possibly have been the worst shower that I have ever had. As per usual, I used Hafsah’s shower as my water doesn’t work and hers has very good pressure. However, yesterday the pressure seemed a bit weak, that should have been my first clue! I began showering anyway and the water carried on flowing. I turned the tap off whilst I shampooed, but when I turned it back on, no water came out – just my luck! I grabbed my towel and asked everyone outside if their water was working – it wasn’t. 10 minutes of panic went by and finally, Angel came out saying her water worked, so I jumped into her shower and water the shampoo out.

Today was our first ‘rest’ day, being Saturday and all. The alarm was still set at 8am though, as we had to get up, have breakfast and head off to Rusinga Island. The bus journey lasted around 2 hours, but it seemed to take an age. However, it was all worth it to return to the beauty of Lake Victoria. After taking photos with the Rongo students at the end of the pier a boat ride was organised for us. Whilst we were waiting for the boat to arrive, we stood around on the beach looking for shells and skimming stones. The boat journey was amazing! As it could hold 7 and there were only 5 of us, we asked Andres and Zerah if they would like to join, they were delighted! The trip was short, but it was such an incredible experience. Last year I spent the whole ride filming the others, so it was great to focus on experiencing Lake Victoria’s amazing coastline.

After our boat ride, Luca and Katie decided to go for a swim in the lake, I thought twice about it before deciding to stay on the side and take a few pictures for them. In hindsight, whilst sitting in the heat writing my blog, I wish I had joined them. I also saw a little Ingrid in the trees and got a great photo of it. We then bought a Tusker and waited for the Rongo students to finish their boat ride before jumping back on the bus and heading off home. Once again, the bus journey seemed to take forever. Thankfully I managed to fall asleep for a while, however, this was much to the amusement to the others as the bumpy road made me ‘ragdoll’ around.

It was great to finally get back to the university and be greeted by a fantastic dinner of meatballs!

Sam 🙂

Jan 19 2018

Day 4- Community Information, Communication Asset Mapping for Community Radio and Cham gi Wadu

Friday arrived really quickly but I forgot it took a day to get here lol, my first week in Kenya has flown by and just as I’m getting accustomed to everything we only have 2 weeks left and I could stay here longer. Waking up this morning was a struggle as I’m always hit with the fear of what insect I could find crawling in my bathroom wall or bedroom floor and will I survive the day with all the creepy insects around me. In addition I woke up with a banging headache from the night before, where I discovered I can’t handle Kenyan apple cider, with a 4.5% alcohol. Pathetic. Disgraceful.

Carrying my headache into the heat we were driven to breakfast one of our many routines, where I was delighted to see boiled eggs was on the menu. After breakfast me and the others sat on the grass as we soaked up the sun and nursed our full stomachs of sausage, eggs and plantain.

Today we met several of the Kenyan’s from Cham gi Wadu, the community we are researching about and planning to map a community radio station for. They’re a lovely bunch of people to meet who have a big care for their community and wish for it to thrive.

Along with the Kenyans and the community of Cham gi Wadu we listened to a talk given by Peter on community information, communication asset mapping for community radio and Cham gi Wadu. We started the class by watching the CM4K documentary of last years students, based on their visit to Cham gi Wadu and their visit to all the different communities which do many of the few things, such as brick making, fishing etc. Within this video, many of the students talked about their process of their study whilst in the communities and what they wish to do for the community.

As the class progressed we were split up to work with the group from Cham gi Wadu and with the Kenyan students whilst gathering research on all the communities and the best way to help them through the radio station. Example, the fishing community want to receive fresh water like the water community in order to allow their fishes to survive longer using the radio station they can communicate with the fresh water community on how they received fresh water and to use their knowledge to develop their own fresh water and allow their fishes to survive longer.

Working with the community opened my mind into what we are expected to do whilst in Kenya and seeing the passion and love they have for their community, makes me want to use all my research and mapping skills I have and will learn throughout this trip to give the community a radio station.

We were back in our groups and with the community we were given 4 questions to discuss with the community; What does geography mean for you in Kenya? What are maps and how can we use them to plan and operate a Community Radio Station? What are the community assets? How do communities communicate with each other? These questions were difficult to answer but with the community we were able to come to many conclusions for them all and open our mind on the mapping we were supposed to do of the area after lunch as a group, which were to then be placed on Google Maps.

At around 2pm we took a well deserved lunch break of chicken, fish, rice, cabbage and for desert fruit I can only wish I could afford back in England. I never turn down a plateful of fruit here as I’m getting my 5 a-day and the cooks take good care on me by always giving me fruit on a separate plate due to my allergy. As usual I ate more than my stomach could carry and I could only blame myself as I carried it across the field to sit in the sun and have a good laugh with the other students.

Due to a lack of mobile phones working, we were unable to go outside and begin our mapping for the community. Instead we finished our presentation and got to discuss our day with the other students.

I have a high anticipation for tomorrow as it being Saturday we are travelling to Rusinga Island to visit Lake Victoria and hopefully see some hippos. AYYY!!!