Some more Safari pictures

 Me with a Masai Warrior trying on a head dress made from a lion  

 Me at the Rift Valley on the way to Masai-Mara

 Me with Marissa, Camy and Kunle drinking Tuska around the camp fire

 A Masai lady at the entrance to the park

 A male lion; just out of shot the elephants are pushing the lions away from their territory

 A lazy hippo next to the Mara River

 Four lions just relaxing

The sun sets over the Masai-Mara

#ibmcsc #kenya4

An African Elephant

Too tired to write a complete blog entry but here is a picture of an African Elephant from the Maasai Mara!

#ibmcsc #kenya4

Welcome to Machakos

Arriving in the town of Machakos from Nairobi was an experience. The drive was, thankfully, uneventful, and getting to see more of this country was a privilege. The town is a lot smaller than the metropolis of Nairobi and is typical of African towns (according to Kunle!). The people were friendly, especially the kids who just wanted to high five us all the time!

The District Commissioner welcomed us in his office and talked about the history of the town. It was the first administration centre for the British Colony in East Africa, before it moved to Nairobi as that is where the railway was. He showed us the board which has the names of every DC since the start. I was surprised to see British names after independence still running the town but he explained that the British stayed behind to help hand over and many of them stayed permanently; some still have family in Kenya today!

I thought that there would have been an anti-British feeling but it was quite the opposite. The Kenyans and the British really get on here and integrate with each other. That was a proud moment for me personally.

After this we went for a walk around Machakos Town to get to know the place a bit better. The town itself is vibrant and there is always a buzz about.... even in the pitch dark of night as we were walking back to the hotel! Right in the centre there is a shanty town nicknamed 'California'. We were taken for walk through it by our host, Alex. It was a very humbling experience. We have all seen this situation on TV but to witness it in person and to meet some of the people was something else. I thought we might be harassed or hated for gorping at them but again I was proved wrong. The people were so welcoming and happy to see us. From the sights we saw, the people there are honest, hard-working and joyful. They really just need to be given a chance.

In 'California' there was a spare parts shop and it was called 'Liverpool Auto Parts'! I couldn't believe it!! The club badge was proudly displayed next to the name. It was a very weird experience but a nice one too. I will post a picture when I get a chance.

Tomorrow we leave at lunch time to go to Masai-Mara on Safari for the weekend. I can't begin to describe how excited I am!

RA

#ibmcsc #kenya4

One Blue Tribe!

Jambo!

Today we leave Nairobi for our base location for work which is a town called Machakos. The first 4 days have been a whirlwind of activity; visiting all the clients, starting our research, getting to know one another and sapling the local cuisine and beer! Nairobi is a beautiful city with friendly people and buzz that is inescapable - even if the traffic is a nightmare!

We are going to be welcomed by the District Commissioner (DC) into Machakos, as I believe it is a pretty big deal that we are here. IBM are even talking to the preses to brief them on our activities! I am looking forward to getting to and exploring what Machakos has to offer but it already has a lot to live up to!

Each of our sub teams now has a Swahili name:

Team 1 = Simba (Lion)
Team 2 = Duma (Cheetah) <---------- MY TEAM
Team 3 = Twiga (Giraffe)

Collectively we are known as "One Blue Tribe"!


P.S. In something totally unrelated, on the way home last night there was a man standing in the middle of the road in the traffic jam trying to sell a box of kittens!

#ibmcsc #kenya4

Samosa's and Sausages

It was quite a surreal moment when we were all sitting in the board room of the Ministry for Higher Education, Science and Technology eating Sausages and Samosa's while drinking tea and casually chatting the Deputy Permanent Secretary!

RA

#kenya4 #ibmcsc

First 2 days!

Well it has been a crazy first 2 days here in Kenya!

I arrived in Nairobi early on Saturday morning. As I was coming in to land there was a rainbow over a lush green landscape; it was not was I was expecting but it was beautiful. After checking in, a sleep and a saga trying to get my luggage back (which was lost during my connection in Doha!) I met my team for the first time. It’s amazing; we are from all over the world but we all clicked and it’s like we had known each other for years. Our hosts, Alex and Muriuki, treated us to a fantastic welcome meal accompanied by a couple of local beers. Tusker beer is up there with the best!

On Sunday, my sub team met our client KAM, after an introduction to the programme. We had to meet them on Sunday as they are away all week. We were supposed to meet them at their offices and give a presentation but the caretaker had forgotten that there was a meeting and most of the place was locked. We managed to get a room that just had enough room for us all to sit around and have chat about the project. They were very positive about us being there and the meeting went better than expected. Well done team!

For dinner, we headed into the city centre of Nairobi to a local place called Ronalo’s. The local food was interesting and the people were friendly. The live band were amazing and after a couple of beers, dancing and the band playing ‘No Woman, No Cry’ especially for us we headed back to the hotel for an early night.

The next few days will be busy before we head to Machakos. If the first few days are anything to go by, this trip is going to be awesome!

RA

Welcome to Kenya 4!

Hi and welcome to my Kenya blog!

In just over 1 week, I will be departing my every day job in England for a 4 week assignment in Kenya as part of IBM's Corporate Service Corps (CSC). The CSC is a leadership program that takes IBMers from all over the world and sends them to developing countries to consult on various issues governments and local businesses have.

Post-assignment we are staying on in Kenya for 1 week to explore the country even further.

This blog is to keep you up-to-date with the assignment and the adventures my team and I have. I will be posting some pictures and stories so please keep coming back!

The team I am traveling with are the 4th team to visit Kenya and so we are known as 'Kenya4'.

In my team there are 12 of us from 11 countries and we are split into 3 sub-teams of 4. My sub-team has been tasked with helping the Kenya Association of Manufactures (KAM). We are currently developing a statement of work with KAM but our basic task is to improve the Value Proposition to their members so they can increase their membership and work more closely with the government.

That's it for now, more when I arrive in Kenya!

RA