So I was reading this blog Things I did project-your life in five lines and me being me I figured I should do my own five lines.
1) I have travelled in most of North East Kenya thanks to the kind of job I have.
2) I've lived in the village(very remote village) for most part of my life.Walked to the market on Tuesdays and Thursdays,swam in the river and had a lot of village fun.
3) I'm the true patriot at heart and have watched so many speeches during public holidays and deep within my heart I believe we will achieve Vision 2030.
4) I have pulled so many all nighters and especially just before exams.
5) I am a gold award holder in the presidents awards scheme and yes this involved 2 expeditions in Taita and Machakos.
Monday, May 27, 2013
Friday, May 24, 2013
Wings out of Dadaab-Scholarships for refugee students
Evening before the trip as I leave the office:
Feisal:Rahma tomorrow we leave at 6am
Rahma:Yes I'll be in office by quarter to six.good night
6 am the next morning Feisal calls and I'm not ready(me and my poor sense of time) but almost ready so I say I will be there in five minutes and rush through last minute packing.I finish in record time and run to the car pack and the vehicles to be used during the journey are not there !!!!!! and I'm thinking this guys have decided to leave me and I quickly call Feisal and he says they've gone to pick the students from the camps and they'll pick me finally as we leave Dadaab for Garissa.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay I can finish my handover notes,float accountability and take some breakfast before they are back.At 8 am they are in Dadaab and they call and I'm ready once at the gate and we are ready to leave the driver asks where is the escort.God I forgot/didn't know we needed escort to go to Garissa.Frantic calls to the security focal point and half an hour letter we are on our way :-).
3 hours later we are at Garissa for a break and all the students are given their pocket money and shopping allowances.We eat early lunch and we are on our way to Mombasa where the 24 students will be benefiting from trainings on automotive mechanic and electrical fittings at the Mombasa industrial training.The are excited but scared of going so far away from Dadaab and for some of them it's their first journey out of the camps.
What is the name of this village?? who leaves here? how far are we from Mombasa? are we about to arrive? and so many other questions are asked and are mostly answered by the driver and their shock when they see tents somewhere on the road as they think tents are only found in the camps.
After a long time we are at Masalani and to our disappointment we can't cross the River Tana as the bridge has been carried away by the floods (serikali ya Jubilee we are counting on you to fix our infrastructure). Everyone starts complaining how tired they are.After some consultations we decide to go back to Bura and cross the river Tana at the bridge there.
After a long and really tiresome journey(the road between Bura and Garsen is one of the worst I have ever travelled on and considering I travel on very poor roads this takes the cup) we arrive at Garsen town at 11 PM and overnight in Garsen.To continue the journey to Mombasa the next day.
This trip taught me that we can always share the little we have as one of the students who had bought somali cakes shared with all of us when he realized we might not be eating any supper because of the long journey and no centers to stop over for eating at that time of the night and that they are so many good people out there like the guy from Bura who helped us by acting as a guide for the driver from Bura bridge to the Hola Junction.
Feisal:Rahma tomorrow we leave at 6am
Rahma:Yes I'll be in office by quarter to six.good night
6 am the next morning Feisal calls and I'm not ready(me and my poor sense of time) but almost ready so I say I will be there in five minutes and rush through last minute packing.I finish in record time and run to the car pack and the vehicles to be used during the journey are not there !!!!!! and I'm thinking this guys have decided to leave me and I quickly call Feisal and he says they've gone to pick the students from the camps and they'll pick me finally as we leave Dadaab for Garissa.
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay I can finish my handover notes,float accountability and take some breakfast before they are back.At 8 am they are in Dadaab and they call and I'm ready once at the gate and we are ready to leave the driver asks where is the escort.God I forgot/didn't know we needed escort to go to Garissa.Frantic calls to the security focal point and half an hour letter we are on our way :-).
3 hours later we are at Garissa for a break and all the students are given their pocket money and shopping allowances.We eat early lunch and we are on our way to Mombasa where the 24 students will be benefiting from trainings on automotive mechanic and electrical fittings at the Mombasa industrial training.The are excited but scared of going so far away from Dadaab and for some of them it's their first journey out of the camps.
What is the name of this village?? who leaves here? how far are we from Mombasa? are we about to arrive? and so many other questions are asked and are mostly answered by the driver and their shock when they see tents somewhere on the road as they think tents are only found in the camps.
After a long time we are at Masalani and to our disappointment we can't cross the River Tana as the bridge has been carried away by the floods (serikali ya Jubilee we are counting on you to fix our infrastructure). Everyone starts complaining how tired they are.After some consultations we decide to go back to Bura and cross the river Tana at the bridge there.
After a long and really tiresome journey(the road between Bura and Garsen is one of the worst I have ever travelled on and considering I travel on very poor roads this takes the cup) we arrive at Garsen town at 11 PM and overnight in Garsen.To continue the journey to Mombasa the next day.
This trip taught me that we can always share the little we have as one of the students who had bought somali cakes shared with all of us when he realized we might not be eating any supper because of the long journey and no centers to stop over for eating at that time of the night and that they are so many good people out there like the guy from Bura who helped us by acting as a guide for the driver from Bura bridge to the Hola Junction.
Wednesday, May 1, 2013
Daadab!!!!
This is my first blog post one of many to come I hope :-) and to think I created it over a year ago.
With all I had heard and seen about Dadaab nothing compares with being here.You just have to visit so as to have a feel of what the world's largest refugee camp is like.I have been here one week and I feel like I have been here longer.
So this past one week I have learnt so many things like which agency rules in Daadab,attended so many coordination meetings and a record 3 trainings in a week. That beneficiaries are now called PoCs and what we truly want is either to resettle,repatriate or reintergrate them (words I somehow never used to use). I have had to look at so many guidelines and feel like I have just gone to school and exams began on day 1.
It's not all been work though I have met so many people from school and guys I worked with previously and I have realized I know so many people which is a good thing I suppose.Watched the naming of the cabinet with some of the noisiest people who'll have their own crazy comments on each nominee.Got to wonder at exactly how many land cruiser some agency owns and the compound fence is the ultimate security measure what!!!!!! with two walls and sand/soil in between the walls to ensure I assume no bullets in case of an attack can come in.
This feels like the beginning of a very beautiful learning experience-Dagahaley.Hagadera,Ifo1,Ifo 2 and Kambioss are my 5 new villages :-))))
With all I had heard and seen about Dadaab nothing compares with being here.You just have to visit so as to have a feel of what the world's largest refugee camp is like.I have been here one week and I feel like I have been here longer.
So this past one week I have learnt so many things like which agency rules in Daadab,attended so many coordination meetings and a record 3 trainings in a week. That beneficiaries are now called PoCs and what we truly want is either to resettle,repatriate or reintergrate them (words I somehow never used to use). I have had to look at so many guidelines and feel like I have just gone to school and exams began on day 1.
It's not all been work though I have met so many people from school and guys I worked with previously and I have realized I know so many people which is a good thing I suppose.Watched the naming of the cabinet with some of the noisiest people who'll have their own crazy comments on each nominee.Got to wonder at exactly how many land cruiser some agency owns and the compound fence is the ultimate security measure what!!!!!! with two walls and sand/soil in between the walls to ensure I assume no bullets in case of an attack can come in.
This feels like the beginning of a very beautiful learning experience-Dagahaley.Hagadera,Ifo1,Ifo 2 and Kambioss are my 5 new villages :-))))
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