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Our Backyard [click to enlarge], Let's Party!!!

We have finally ordered our second car. It will be a Toyota RAV4 imported from Japan. It’s making me very nervous to wire the total amount in cash for a car I’ve never laid eyes on except on the web. But that’s the way it’s done here. There are many success stories and we have everything insured.

You should hear Max command Sandy (the dog) in Swahili now. “Ninda, ninda!!” (means go, go) he’ll shout to her when she tries to get into the house. She’s not house broken yet, actually she’s not anything broken yet. She’s getting bigger by the day and she loves to jump on you and lay around in the plants, ultimately destroying them. I’ve called a dog trainer….


We have a new kitten. Her name is Rafiki, which is Swahili for friend. And that’s really wishful thinking. She really hates people. Hisses and spits if you try to come near; not very kid friendly and as I know zero about cats I’m not sure how to change this. It might be that Rafiki is bye bye soon….

I’m on a little bit of a downer these days, feeling a little discouraged in paradise. There are frustrations at every turn it seems; all my projects are bogged down by something. From staff problems to getting the car ordered to internet problems it’s seems like I’m swimming up stream. Hopefully I’ll see some light at the end of one of these tunnels soon.

Esther’s very first ever sentence: “Max hit me”. She has been making sentences for a long time but they all sounded like gibberish until this one. She also say 'welcome' instead of 'thank you' so, for example, if you give her something she looks you staight in the eye and very seriously says 'welcome!'.

Masai Mara

There is no ‘discovery channel’ show or whatever that can adequately prepare you for what it is really like to drive through muddy grassland wondering if you will get stuck in the mud and have to wait for someone to hopefully pull you out because you are really on your own and suddenly, around a large tree, you surprise two male lions 20 feet away asleep in the afternoon sun and you know that one step out of the car you are dead meat. It is both exciting and a little terrifying as you stop the car, turn off the engine and listen to the sound of the Mara while you observe these amazing wild animals (no, my name is not Marlin Perkins).

We have just returned from a three day adventure (and I do mean adventure) in the Masai Mara. There are lots of new photos in the photo gallery, and a video [see below]. The Mara is a gorgeous expanse of grassland at the edge of a great rift; it is part of the Serengeti. It feels prehistoric to me. It is also home to the Masai tribe and with my interest in anthropology and comparative mythology I can see I’m going to have a great time getting to know them while we are here.

The drive was an adventure on its own. Four hours on horrendous two lane roads then three hours on dirt roads. I must say, for those of you who know my driving you would be amazed to see me drive here. Especially doing the 4-wheel drive thing which, being a total urbanite, I have had no experience with until now. There is no daydreaming while you drive these roads; it’s more intense (at least for me) than any video game could ever be. And the scenery was always interesting and beautiful. I wanted to stop every ten feet to photograph something or check out a village. I don’t know if you’ve ever been on a bumpy dirt road for three hours but it can be quite draining, towards the end of the drive poor Max kept saying “daddy please stop the bumps!”. It was hard for them to sleep during all this so everyone was pretty tired by the time we arrived at camp.

Even so, once we were checked in we took our first game drive (we went out three time a day) that afternoon. Even if you never saw one animal the landscape would be worth the drive. We saw everything except the allusive cheetah and leopard. We went with our friends Danny and Mary, who had been to the Mara many times and are far more experience than we are at driving in the Mara. Their little boy, Benny, is a good friend of Max and Esther’s. They did most of the driving in the Mara, especially when it was wet, you could easily become stuck in this ‘black cotton mud’ that was sometime hard to see. The kids had a great time but they became bored in the car after a couple of hours. Once, we were quietly watching a great bull elephant and suddenly Max just started singing at the top of his lungs. After a couple of minutes of trying to shush him, the elephant began to take unusual notice of us. Now one thing you don’t want to do is piss off a bull elephant, duh! We sort of turned on the engine and slowly sauntered away, dum da dee, nothing to see here elephant…hmmm hmmm, nice elephant, oh, look over there elephant… ok, floor it! From that lesson we learned to take the kids just on the morning drive and leave them with the nanny’s (yes, we brought our nanny’s) the rest of the day.

The camp was great. Rooms were permanent tents with full showers and porcelain toilets, swimming pool, bar, restaurant and a family of Warthogs roaming the property. One day, while Max and Benny were running around, I guess the warthogs started chasing each other as well and Max was run over by one of them from behind. It scared Max, obviously, but the warthog hardly took notice of him. On another occasion we returned from a game drive to hear that a monkey had come into the tent, twice, and took cookies out of Esther’s hands. We also had a great time visiting a Masai village (see photos/video). They are herdsmen who’s village is laid out in a circle with a fence around it and every night they bring their cattle into the circle to protect them from the lions (geez, and we thought it was hard protecting our house from human burglars), you have to be careful where you walk in their village, there are ‘cow pies’ everywhere, glad I still have my New York ‘dog poop’ radar still working!

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Masai Mara

Hi everybody. We have just returned from our trip to the Masai Mara. Amazing, amazing, amazing! It will take a few days for me to compile the entry for this one.

A Dickens Tale

Two weeks ago, while walking home from dropping off the kids at school, a young teenage boy approach me. Right away my New York sensibilities kicked in as I sized him up. He seemed to be a street kid, probably wanted money or worse wanted to rob me, who knows. I hurried my pace to my gate and stood in front of the guard while I talked to him. His name is Dickens, a very shy teenager. What he asked was amazing to me. He didn’t want money or food, he just wanted help to get back to school!

Kayla and I have been thinking a lot about how we can contribute to the community here. There is so much need you could go in any direction anywhere and find something to do. We have been thinking about working with an orphanage. It would be something we can do as a family too, even the kids. But this boy came to me first and I was intrigued. I told him I had no idea what it meant to send him to boarding school in Kenya and I won’t say no right away but I would speak to Kayla, to see if we would be interested in supporting him. I told him to give me a week to research.

Kayla and I agreed we should do the research but after four days I was still asking questions when Dickens saw me in town and asked how it was going. I told him I had no answers yet. He told me he would bring his friend Chris, a relief worker from England, around to see me.

Chris is a great source of information and manages to clarify a lot. Dickens himself, steers me to a missionary organization called Interfelk. I will say up front that I’m not so keen on the missionary system and the only reason I agreed to check them out is that Dickens was interested checking them out.

Two days later I meet with Silus at the Interfelk center and we set up a meeting with Dickens and Interfelk. Turns out the whole design of Interfelk is to take care of street kids like Dickens so this might be the right place for him. Apparently kids have to start out by come to their school three days a week for around a year, while still having to find their own room and board, before they accept them into the school program (sounds a little like brainwashing to me but whatever) and the room and board is 30,000 Kenyan shillings a year (which is about $500 USD) and after discussing with Kayla we think it might be do-able, but, we should proceed (with caution).

Two days later I bring Dickens in to the Interfelk office and guess what, Silus already knows him (surprise) AND he’s already been through their system only to drop out just before he is able to go to boarding school. Trying to find out why he left is hard, everyone gets a different story from him. But he still ‘seems’ to be motivated now. I leave Dickens at their office and I’m on my way.

Later that same day I see Dickens in town, he says things are going well and he is going to continue with the program. I buy him lunch while we talk. Now he tells me he is ill, thinks he has malaria. I agree to get him tested before we buy meds. Tests negative, probably just a bad head cold. Now I’m starting to feel a little more cautious about him, like maybe I’m being ‘played’. I run into Chris, the aid worker/friend, he knows of a place for Dickens to stay so we try to work out the details of how he can meet up with James, who has a house for four or five boys to stay in. Are you exhausted by all this? I am!

Four days later Dickens is at our gate with yet another aid worker to meet with me. Diane works for yet another mission. She says that they might have a place for him. They would be able to take him right away, they have a farm outside of town and a school. He seems interested, and eventually he meets with them.

In time Dickens is offered  three opportunities that he is reluctant to pursue. He sites his fear of any commitments because of two prior abusive situations and the lack of freedom a boarding school offers. As it stands now, it’s up to him but he’s gonna have to take a chance on one of these things or stay in the streets.

The story is not over but I’m not very hopeful he’ll do anything. He’s either been ‘playing’ me to try to get me just to give him money or it’s just not something I can help him with. Either way I have learned a lot of new things about Kisumu; aid organizations, missions, street kids, boarding schools, and made some new friends.

Kakamega Rain Forest

The only rain forest in Kenya is just north of us about 2 hour drive near the town of Kakamega. We went with expat friends from England and stayed at a retreat called Rondo Retreat. Its located just at the edge of the forest. [lots of new photos in the photo gallery!]. There was about 30 km of just dirt road and as a real city boy who has never needed a 4 wheel drive car, shifting into 4WD on this part of the trip was a lot of fun!

It's a real retreat in the best sense of the word. A few small cottages, a small dining area, great food and very peaceful. The only sounds were the exoitic birds, monkey sounds and an occasional screaming child, oh, it's that the same as monkey sounds? I get them confused. Anyway, a good place to go if you need to work. I'm sure we'll be back and I'm sure it will be on the list of things to do when people visit...hint, hint.

There are several well marked trails both short and long, especially good for having to bring the kids. And the kids had a great time as well. We saw the most amazing variety of birds, very colorful and some were huge, I think I need a bird book! Also saw monkey families which the kids really enjoyed and a host of interesting plants. The thing that most impressed me what just how tall the trees are [see photos], just breath taking!

Haircut Time!

Watch out now, my new phone has a camera in it! Hopefully I can figure out a way to make posts right from my phone! Here is a couple of photos of me and Max getting haircuts. Max had to sit on mly lap to do it, he was a little intimidated by this barber, the 'chiro' barber, who likes to give back massage and 'adjustments' after your hair cut. Max kept saying 'daddy, tell him not to do it to me' and I would say 'ok, Mr. Chudasama, don't do it to him...or me' But Mr. Chudasama is a really nice guy, a good sport and a good barbar as well.

Grilling Out

One of the favorite pastimes here in Kisumu is to have dinner parties. Or just invite other folks over for dinner. It’s pretty easy, you just tell your cook how many people are coming and ta da! Instant dinner party, your job is to pour the wine! Oh, but not so for the Laserson-Rubin’s. we have to have our first guest over for dinner on a weekend night when our cook is off (and out of town so we couldn’t even ask her to work some extra hours) and we also decided to barbeque…on a grill we have never used or have any idea how to use. [see photo] You get where I’m going with this? Anyway, so of course I think I can always ‘figure it out’, so an hour before guests are to arrive I ‘try’ to start a fire. First off, let me say that when I went searching for charcoal and lighter fluid I had no problem finding charcoal but everyone I asked about lighter fluid for igniting the coals looked at me like I was from Mars (which I suppose to them I am from Mars) someone finally told me to just use burning newspaper. I sort of remember this from my pre-gas-grill days as a possible solution but hadn’t thought of it myself. So there I was piling a bunch of coals on top of a mountain of newspaper; lot’s of flames but for the next half hour not one piece of coal was glowing. Time was running out and so was my newspaper supply. Luckily Kayla had everything else under control i.e. screaming hungry kids and cooking mashed potato and asparagus (yes, I didn’t believe it either when I saw asparagus in the grocery; it’s a treat to find it here) in the kitchen.

On the verge of giving up and firing up the oven to bake the chicken I tried one last thing and asked the guard in the compound if he had any ideas on how to start this dang grill. Turns out he did and it worked. You pile a lot of coals in and (here’s the key) you put the newspaper in the chamber BELOW the coals. I know, I know, you are all saying ‘duh Alan’ well excuse me everybody, guess I’ve been around first-world amenities a little too long. I felt like a knucklehead but at least by the time my newspaper stash was consumed the coals were red hot. And getting hotter, this was a really hot cooking grill! And no way of adjusting the flame or height on the gill, oh well. I did my best but the chicken was nicely burnt to a black crisp. If you did a little scrapping though, it tasted great!

Rock Star

Rock Star

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