For the WWOOFing I just got back from, I’m forced to share pictures of other volunteers there due to the theft of my camera. And it’s so hard to buy a decent replacement even in Nairobi! The good thing is, there are some things which even I wasn’t lucky enough to see. Like the local youths playing football on a field near the farm and nursery school that are part of the project.

The ball which had recently been bought is broken again. How much does that have to do with the fact it was bought by the volunteers? Problems of ownership even in the smallest instances of development aid? Certainly looks like it was fun while it lasted.

My host and „brother“ to the left with some of his nieces and nephews who visit the house a lot — he is the only unmarried son and lives with his mother and younger sister. And the usual dinner, simple but delicious.

I didn’t get to do too much work because of health issues — I came with a flu which was followed by my first diarrhea since I left Nairobi half a year ago. Not too bad But this is the sunrise scenery for the weeding in the field — work is mostly done between 6:30 and 9 or 10 in the morning because the sun just gets too hot afterwards. And that’s George going about his work.

This is a market in the nearby town of Rongo (the next bigger nearby town is Kisii, and then Kisumu), where I also usually had to go for electricity for my internet-time.

The next is the hut for the volunteers, in which also George himself is sleeping right now. These mud-and-thatched-roof huts are actually amazing — cool and dark during the day, relatively warm at night, and a good atmosphere. And me with the children, amazingly open to the visitors.

Finally, me doing some work — chopping some leaves for compost-production. But on a pretty small scale, it was mostly demonstration for another volunteer who was about to leave.

More pictures from the surroundings — beans for sale on the market, and a really good snapshot of the matatu feeling.

Cows walking into the sun late morning-time. Beautiful!

A little bit more of work — trying to plow with oxen. Pretty hard and difficult work!

I’m witnessing the nursery school instruction — we don’t do serious stuff like that in our kindergartens back home do we? And I immediately got back to my ambivalent feelings about school here — the teacher talked about family, strongly reinforcing the traditional dress and roles of husband and wife, boys and girls.

Planting some maize and beans after the plowing, and breakfast with short-term visiting volunteers.

One of the local sight-seeing highlights, a nice stone for taking pictures. And what it looks like to have electricity for a short time — plugging two laptops and all the phones we have. We always brought our extension from home.

A very impressive sight was the site of brick-production. They are taken from the local clay, which is mixed and prepared in a special way. Then formed and dried, and stacked up to be burned. The latter is a night-long process of constantly putting more good wood to reach the needed temperature.

In another slightly bigger nearby town I get some „Odinga Shoes“ custom-tailored, sandals made from used car or truck tires. The promise is they will last for five years. We will see.