Blog Posts

Monday

Things are not looking good. I have felt like Death Has A Bad Headache for most of this week. Spent yesterday in bed until the fragrant Sarah Chew arrived bearing enthusiasm and a bottle of cooking brandy. I demurred as I still had someone somewhere sticking pins into the head of a voodoo d...

FRIDAY

As you all know, the lead up to this trip has been … a bit fraught.

However HTC Health come through today with a huge delivery of kids’ cod liver oil. Adults’ clo, glucosamine sulphate and boxes of krill oil chewies. Which even SOUND like they could make you superhuman. So we are much che...

27 April

Seventy one young people are currently in training in Kiambu on a local authority scheme. They are getting training in masonry, electrical work, painting and decorating and other useful, saleable skills. SEVENTY ONE of our young peeps. We got the fees for these courses waived, which is am...

It is Sunday and I am feeling ridiculously sorry for myself. Don’t panic, you have not missed Friday and Saturday it is just I have decided to give this diary a little introductory bit.

I have washed my hair (I can highly recommend Toss Liquid Laundry Detergent, gives a lovely soft feel) and clean...

Diary 1 June 2015

Saturday 4th

I don’t think any trip has had such a marvellous send off. The latest in Mama Biashara’s FUNdraisers is a double bill of Luca Cupani and Romina Puma. I have a 3am start tomorrow but I really want to see these previews. There is a great crowd. This group of Italians...

A huge thank you to the excellent Toby Stokes, a whizz with a Z1, as creative in the kitchen as he is with his facial hair And unbelievably generous when he finds good fortune. Thanks to The Tobester there are 80 – yes 80 – young men will be rescued from the streets of the slums of Nairobi and set u...

So far this Christmas Season we have had one ring and one pendant stolen and many many many soapstone pieces chipped, cracked or minus a vital part. Is it wrong to be MAma Biashara and want the people who do this to BURN IN HELL ? IS it ?
Anyway, last diary from last trip. Off again in January – so...

Wednesday 18th September 2013
I don’t know what they were expecting but Terminal 5 was crawling with armed policemen. As we stood in line at security one poor woman did something to set off the red lights and pingy noises. As the entire hall watched, she was stroked, poked, squeezed and generally f...

Diary 1 November 2013
Wednesday 13th
As I arrive in Nairobi and look around in my tiny pouch (this is a hand luggage, not an anatomical reference) for my Kenyan phone I discover that I have, in fact, carried an incendiary device, ie a disposable lighter, right through T5 security. Perhaps the guys...

January 2013

Sunday

David is late. BUT he calls to explain. Which is marvellous.

We set off to Uchumi for a massive household shop at 11, pick up Kibe and head to Ruai. The children unexpectedly meet us at the grain store in Ruai village. There seem to be a couple of extras (children) but that...

Wednesday 7th November

Well smack my bottom and send me to the naughty step but I owe BA a huge apology. But Willie has triumphed over Dick in the air. Check in lovely, no one even blinked at my stupidly overweight bags and no one sniggered at my rose printed wellies (better to wear than pack …) F...

FRIDAY

Note to self : must learn to cultivate friends with enormous hatchback cars in London. Tired arguing with taxi drivers about the amount of luggage I carry.

Virgin are, as always, a joy at check in. One of my bags weighs 32kg but the lovely lady smiles and sticks a “LUDICROUSLY HEAVY” warn...

Kenya Diaries June 2012

WEDNESDAY

An interesting lead up to what promises to be an interesting trip. The Mama Biashara Emporium is still closed. And so our primary source of income is drier than the proverbial nun’s chuff. But in the way that has become familiar for those who work with Mama B, o...

Monday

Departure was slightly complicated by a last minute demand for Vintage Chedder and weatherproof sockets, but despite half an hour at a standstill on the A40 with a Somali cab driver who was trying to persuade me that Mogadishu is the place for the astute property purchaser, we made it on...

SUNDAY

My trip to DECIP and sojourn in ‘The Naughty Bin” having cut into my ‘buying delightful things for sale in Mama B’s Emporium’ yesterday, I set off for the maasai market at the Yaya Centre. It is pretty classy as markets go. And Mama Jemima the one legged Soapstone Lady has a stall there. As...

After a long … long … long wait, Mama Biashara has finally got full Charitable Status. We are a registered charity, SC042262. This means … well, a load of stuff. We are now eligible for Gift Aid – meaning that for every £1 donated, we get an extra 25p. Which means we can do 25% more work, help 25% m...

Mama B’s latest venture, piloted in Nairobi and now hitting the streets in Kisumu. Kucha is the Swahili word for fingernail and so … Cool Nails.

We are working with commercial sex workers who want to get off the street and out of the bars. Utilising skills they already have … like nail care … Mama...

26 January 2011

Simon and David have left and I am feeling quite sad. Although they were only here for four days we packed a lot in and now the rollercoaster has stopped.  I have a meeting with Felista at 11am.   By the time she arrives at 2pm I am en route to Kabiria, to the   Discordant Couples...

DAY ONE FRIDAY

A new family has arrived at DECIEP , Felista Kibe’s wonderful openhearted rescue and refuge home for orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children in Waithake, Nairobi.

Their story is as common in Kenya as typhoid in the rainy season. Their mother died of AIDS and their father aband...

A knight in shining, electrified armour! As they are wont to say, there is good news and there is bad news on the DECIEP front. As you know, Felista Kibe has been feeding and caring for orphans and abandoned and vulnerable children in the slums of Nairobi for more than 10 years. For the past 3, CWAC...

As they are wont to say, there is good news and there is bad no news on the DECIEP front. As you know, Felista Kibe has been feeding and caring for orphans and abandoned and vulnerable children in the slums of Nairobi for more than 10 years. For the past 3, CWAC (Children With AIDS Charity) has been...