She says..."all things that ferment"

Don't fear, I'm not about to start a cooking blog...but I have been venturing into new kitchen activities with my new found time, fruit, vegetables and the wonderful variety of cooking ingredients available in Kenya.

The aim is for me to find paid employment here. We can't afford for me to study this semester so I'm deferring my Master's until February, and I'm excited about working again. But after submitting 19 applications so far, I have heard from a grand total of 0, yes ZERO. Quite demoralising, but also a helpful reminder for me that unemployment is challenging, when I have had the fortune of getting any job I've applied for in the past.  There are a few likely contributors to my lack of success thus far, the chief one being the exorbitant cost of giving a foreigner a work permit - approximately USD4000 for 2 years. Others include that Kenya rightly favours Kenyans for roles, that I've been out of the workforce for 2.5 years (aside from a few short NGO contracts), that I don't fit easily in a particular role any longer due to my diverse experience, and the obvious one that I'm an unknown quantity, particularly within the UN where a number of the jobs sit, and a lass with no Kenyan experience.

I happened to see an advert on the Nairobi Expat Social stalkbook site last week advertising a temporary voluntary role with Doctors Worldwide, a small UK based NGO. Being voluntary and not in Nairobi, it doesn't really fit our requirements, but I sent off my CV. To my surprise, the CEO rang me from the UK that evening. I don't have anything in writing yet, but it seems as though I'll be heading to a small town in western Kenya near Lake Victoria for 6-8 weeks in August/September to manage a health programme while the existing manager has a break. It won't help our bank account, but won't damage it either, it gives me some Kenyan experience, and it'll give me something to do other than ferment and knit!

Back to the fermenting...I've been wanting to try making sour dough bread, ginger beer and kombucha tea (supposedly very good for dodgy guts and those with autoimmune diseases) for a while. Each involves a starter that takes time to make, feed and ferment before it's ready to be made into the product. The starter can then continue to be fed every few days with the relevant items - water, flour, sugar, ginger etc, and used continuously. Amazing.  Sour dough requires a sour dough starter which STINKS, a ginger beer bug smells wonderful, and I haven't yet got the SCOBY required for the kombucha. A kind lady offered me one on Facebook, so I'm trading ginger beer bug for it. Then another lady jumped into to our very public conversation and offered to exchange kefir grains for ginger beer bug too, so when I figure out what I'm supposed to do with those I'll let you know.

He says, "Living the +254 life."

Just in case you hadn't noticed, we've moved countries.

We arrived in Kenya on the 18th of April, after traveling between South Africa, The Netherlands and a brief sojourn (for her it was three weeks and for him three days) back in Khartoum.  

We're very glad to have our feet back on the ground and feel privileged to be able to call Kenya our new home. +254 is of course the International Dialing Code for Kenya. Here are a few thoughts of how the first two months have gone living the +254 life.

We lack identity. We are still on tourist visas! The process of obtaining a residency permit is both time consuming and incredibly expensive. We have looked at various options, but the most obvious one is for me to go onto a 'retirement visa' at the ripe old age of 38 years. 

Retirement is not cheap though. The total cost of a two year visa is about $7,000 USD. This includes all manner of fees, charges and commissions. In any other country you'd call it extortion.

Without a residency permit one cannot get a PIN number from the KRA (Kenya Revenue Authority) which is a requirement for doing any kind of business in Kenya. For example you  can't open a bank account, purchase a vehicle or even pay for your broadband internet without having the PIN. 

Of course one needs a bank account to get a residence permit, which you can't open without having a PIN. If you don't have a residence permit you can't get a PIN. Rather a vicious circle! 

Thankfully, the regulations in Kenya are open to variation depending on the day, the person you deal with and how much tea you are willing to pay.

 

Being a Mzungu (white person) in Kenya is an open invitation for the locals to take advantage of you at every opportunity.  It's like you're permanently wearing a t-shirt that says rip me off and kick me in the butt.... Thankfully I/we are aware of what is happening most of the time and are able to push back somewhat. However it gets tiring having to double check everything, bargaining all the time and also having to stand your ground when it's obvious someone is trying to take you for a ride.

We love the greenery of Nairobi. For the first seven weeks of our stay we were living next to the Karura Forest. Both Rhodes and Whiskey have really enjoyed their thrice weekly walks through mud, slush and on some occasions knee high water. In a busy, over-populated and over-developed city like Nairobi, the forest is a unique oasis. The Friends of Karura and some prominent Kenyan activists have spent quite a bit of time, money and effort to save the forest from greedy developers.

Food. Our love of good food and beverage is well known. One only needs to check our Facebook accounts. Nairobi is full of good cafes, restaurants and hangouts.  Having access to fresh vegetables and array of well-stocked supermarkets, not to mention a six plate stove and oven, has seen her cooking go to a whole new level that simply was not possible back in Siberia.

Faith. We are very thankful to be living in a country where one is free to express their faith. It has been great to go to church on a regular basis and also meet with other Christians. We have tried a couple of churches and have settled on going to the Karura Chapel three times a month. The Karura Chapel, is one of a number of 'chapels' that meet under large tents in various locations around Nairobi and are famous for their great music, welcoming vibe and solid teaching. Their are very few Mzungus at Karura which is great, as we want to get to know some Kenyans!  

The fourth Sunday of the month we go to a small church run by some friends of ours. It is more of the Anglican variety, following the traditional liturgy and enables us to meet with a different group of people.

Everybody is working for the weekend! Working from home and trying to start a new business has been a challenge for me. I have been finishing off some work for my Dutch organisation looking at how they might establish a programme in Somalia or Somaliland. It's a very interesting country to work in and I've enjoyed meeting some of the key players in the humanitarian sector, most of whom are based in Nairobi.

The new business has started very slowly. I/we are still very much in the start-up phase but there seems to be a number of opportunities to develop programming in the region. I hope to "go live" at the beginning of the August.

Traffic and Crime. It's not possible to cover the +254 life without at least mentioning these two issues. It's fair to say that Nairobbery's reputation is not the greatest. A high crime rate and the perpetual threat of terrorism,  means that one lives with a certain degree of caution. However, we are fortunate to live in a nice part of Nairobi in a gated community and feel fairly safe on a day to day basis.

Yes, Nairobi traffic is terrible. Working from home and living well away from the city centre we have managed to avoid the nasty morning and evening jams. 

So as one can see, we have adjusted well to the +254 life. Our lovely 4 bedroom house, in a Truman Show style housing estate, is well set up for visitors and enables us to make the most of Nairobi's very gentle climate. We hope in the near future to venture 'upcountry' to Lake Naivasha, Masai Mara and the coastal resorts of Malindi, Mombasa and Diani. 

There is plenty in Kenya to see, explore and experience. We hope you'll come and see for yourself that the +254 life is worth living. Karibuni Kenya!