Kenya | Creative Choice

January 23-24. Mombasa.

A very fortunate series of hitches takes us to Nairobi and from there to Mombasa, where we arrive very early in the morning, sit on a bench and gaze at the merely male, mostly Indian swimmers. We have a good time in Mombasa, eating out in a phenomenal restaurant and sleeping in a very affordable ...

14 February, 2010

Kamiel Choi

Haiti, Kenya, Mombasa

January 17-22. Finishing the Rainbow.

Those are the days in which we finish the painting of the orphanage and travel back to Nairobi to talk to corporates interested in sponsoring our initiative.

We feel very welcome and are glad to see Philip again. The walls have been plastered but they need some time to dry, so the painting can't ...

14 February, 2010

Kamiel Choi

CEC, Kenya, Kisumu, Obama, rainbow, Rainbow Center

January 13-15. To the village.

An Irish priest is not necessarily a Samaritan.
We wake up in Talek and get a ride to Narok. But it is too late to hitch further to Kisumu and we are stuck for the night. A friendly guy, county clerk by profession, brings us to the house of an Irish priest. He is not ...

31 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

hitchhiking, Irish priest, Kenya, Kisumu, village

Travel

January 12. Birthday.

It's my birthday today. We get up at five am but of course Mr. Maasai Chief is not there. We ring him and he is still far away. We decide to go with another car and it seems we are going to have a friendly relation with the driver. But he has smelled money. He ...

31 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

birthday, Elephant, Hartebeest, Hippo, Kenya, Lion, ostrich, Rhino, safari, Talek, vulture, Water Buffalo, Wildebeest

Januari 1-11. Kayole. Joy Valley. Safari walk. Cheetah. Narok.

1
We get up early enough to make it to Kisumu town on time.
We have an interview with Mr. Masese for The Standard.
Then we take the bus back to Nairobi.
We arrive in the darkness, we meet some other couchsurfers who are enthousiastic about CT.
We have a chicken meal at Alanya's place, ...

31 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

cheetah, joy valley, Kayole, Kenya, maasai, Narok, safari

January 1. What exactly is a Community Excellence Center?

The idea is simple. In our information age we can share knowledge and expertise with a relatively low cost of resources. So we should support needy communities to do so. A CEC is a center in a small, mostly rural, community of say 1,000 people that functions as a link to the outside ...

31 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

CEC, Cente, Community Ecellence Center, Kenya, Vision Alive

December 31. Happy.

Churchill is one of the community elders. We have our first press conference today. Unfortunately, the M.P. and the deputy mayor don't show up. We have put a tent in front of our orphanage and sit there on the couches we have taken from the house to answer questions.

A pastor has come ...

31 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

Churchill, happy, Kenya, Kisian, Kisumu, New Year, press conference

December 25-26. Merry.

If you are a special a Luo host will serve you chicken. On our first night here this happened. A hen walked in and out in the afternoon. We didn't hear her at night as we tasted the rosy strong flesh of Kenyan chicken. But christmas is something else. We have a goatmeal today, and ...

31 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

Christmas, Kenya, Kisumu, rainbow, sunset, Vision Alive

December 23-24. Those days before Christmas…

If buildings are painted in Kenya, the chances are high that they show the logos of one of the four mobile phone companies: safaricom, zain, orange, and yu. They pay people if they let them paint their houses with their bright green, purple, orange logos. We are proud to erect the first building with non-commercial ...

31 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

cash, Kenya, Kisumu, white skin

December 22. Things are getting serious.

Things are getting serious. In Kisumu, I withdraw 100,000 Kenyan Shillings to buy most of the materials in a warehouse. Willis and Philip will do it on my behalf, since they are in a much better position to bargain.

We cut the wood for the walls with machetes, and we are told that they ...

30 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

hot sun, Kenya, machete

December 20. Lake Victoria!

We have a safe but exhausting Matatu journey to Kisumu, Kenya's third largest city, where we install ourselves for the first time in the cybercafé in the Megaplaza, which will become our main communication channel for the next weeks. We meet Philip, the future managing director of the orphanage, and like him at first sight.
...

27 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

flowers, Kenya, Kisian, Kisumu, orphanage, rainbow, Vision Alive

Travel

December 13-19. Chameleon.

Picking up Yeon from the airport early in the morning. Her flight is delayed so we wait and introduce ourselves to a British lady who is on her way to Tanzania. There she is - she has made it, and we are happy. I brief her about what Charity Travel has been doing in Kenya ...

27 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

Kenya, Kisian, Kisumu, orphanage

december 7. Online

I work in a fastfood restaurant and get most things done. After eight hours of typing and clicking the websites are almost up-to-date and email-correspondence has been dealt with. It was nice not to complain about the massively delayed order and the white coffee they mistakenly brought me.

I am excited about next ...

25 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

Kenya, working

Rainbow Community Excellence Center

In a small village near Kisumu, we have built an orphanage together with our Kenyan friends. Charity Travel provided building materials and wages for the workers. Many local and international volunteers helped out. Thanks! More than the foundation had been done after 2 weeks A small community can have a great vision. When we traveled ...

2 January, 2010

Kamiel Choi

Africa, Community Center, Community Centre, Community Excellence Center, Kenya, Kisian, Kisumu, needy, orphan home, orphanage, Rota, Vision Alive

Travel

Merry christmas everyone

From our small village in western kenya we wish you all a merry christmas and a happy new year, more on the orphanage will follow soon. See you in 2010.

25 December, 2009

Kamiel Choi

Kenya

Zion Assembly Church of God

Nairobi. Kenya. December 13th, 2009The Zion Assembly Church of God invites us and our Kenyan friends to tell about 100 children about their rights not to be abused.

Apart from the workshop, we also provide a meal for the children.

NameZion Assembly Church of GodAimChildren's Rights Sensitizing and Sustainable Feeding ProgramSince2000Staff12 people ...

13 December, 2009

Kamiel Choi

Africa, children, human rights, Kenya, Nairobi, orphans, Zion Church

december 6. Going to Church.

A lazy sunday morning. Then we go to church together. Four boys walking through the sunny streets of Kayole with bibles under their arms. I feel it would make a good picture, and it also reminds me of the... Beatles.

In the afternoon I decide to work in the cybershop to tell my ...

9 December, 2009

Kamiel Choi

church, Kenya, Nairobi, Soweto

Vision for the lost souls ministries

Vision for the lost souls, NairobiNairobi, Kenya. December 7th, 2009The Vision for the Lost Souls orphanage in Nairobi is well managed and has received considerable media attention. The director is also supporting a school in Ciongombé.

We hold a sensitizing session for 187 kids and show them a movie with our pocket projector.

...

7 December, 2009

Kamiel Choi

Africa, children, education, human rights, Kenya, Nairobi, orphanage

December 2. Joy Valley. Famined orphans.

After a good night's sleep, we start right away, sensitizing in an orphanage called Joy Valley in a slum called Soweto after the South African province. What is the difference between a slum and the house I am living here, at walking distance from Soweto? Slums have semi-permanent buildings made of iron plates, no electricity, ...

7 December, 2009

Kamiel Choi

famine, joy valley, Kenya, Nairobi, orphanage

Joy Valley Orphanage

Joy Valley is a struggling extremely poor orphan home and informal school in a slum area of Nairobi. Children are underfed, the school is treatened with closure by the government. We visit the orphan home several times, sensitize the children, and support money for sustainable income generation: a chicken coop, a sewing machine. Jared Otieno ...

7 December, 2009

Kamiel Choi

Africa, children, joy valley, Kenya, Nairobi, orphanage, orphans, Soweto

The good life, Travel

December 1. Touchdown in Nairobi.

The plane touches down in Nairobi. It's a new month, and a new continent. Immigration issues are swiftly dealt with; I learn they lowered the price for a visa to 25 dollars to attract more tourists. In the entrance hall the first thing I do is talking to a stranger, and after I made him ...

7 December, 2009

Kamiel Choi

Kenya, Kenyan visa, Nairobi, Willys

October 10. At the Nigerian embassy.

At the Nigerian Embassy I wait to apply for a visa. Theire is no "blond" on the form for hair color. Applicants are instructed to fill in "black" for the hair and "brown" for the skin. People smile. Their smiles all resemble each other from my perspective. I will make my payment online and talk ...

26 October, 2009

Kamiel Choi

Bureaucracy, Kenya, Nigeria, smile

July 31. Seven Trips.

I go out when my couch surfer goes to work and get back home when she is back too. I write in my favorite coffee place, caffeine doesn't make up for flawed inspiration, then I buy myself a cellphone and call my friend Ann. We meet in front of a shopping mall and I ...

24 August, 2009

Kamiel Choi

Africa Travel, Amazon, Antarctica, Gobi, Kamchatka, Kathmandu, Kenya, Moscow, Nepal, Patagonia, Polynesian, Rio, Seven Trips, Tasmania

June 11. Wasn’t there this swine-flu thing?

A scary but improbable continuation of this blog:
Walking through the ancient Aztec town of Teotihuacan, he feels a light pain in his forehead and a nasty caugh deep down his throat. Yes, he has read the newspaper and he knows that the WHO has just increased the pandemia level to six, and that's as ...

24 June, 2009

Kamiel Choi

couchsurfing, DF, Kenya, pandemia, Socrates, stones, swine flu, Teotihuacan, WHO