St Cuthbert's, Fulwood Climate Change Conference Service

The Parish Church of St. Cuthbert, Fulwood, Preston

An Evening Service of worship, reflection and prayer

at the time of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen

Sunday December 13^th 2009 6.30 p.m.

A TIME OF WORSHIP, THANKSGIVING, CONFESSION AND PRAISE

Song as we prepare for worship: WT 88 Father of creation

Sentences of Scripture from Psalm 136

Opening responses: response: All creation praises you, O Lord

For earth and sea and sky in the harmony of colour:

For the air of the eternal seeping through the physical

For the everlasting glory dipping into time

For nature resplendent, growing beasts, mergent crops, singing birds, the energies of the city

For the Christ you sent to restore us when we fell away from the goodness of your creation

For the harmony restored through His Spirit moving upon the turbulent waters of our lives

For the honour you give us of lives flowing in the rhythm of your tides

For setting each of us, like the stars upon their courses, within the orbit of your love.

Hymn: MPC 7 All creatures of our God and King

Confession will include the collect, a song, some silence and some responses

Collect A special prayer for the third Sunday of Advent:

God for whom we watch and wait, you sent John the Baptist to prepare the way of your Son: give us courage to speak the truth, to hunger for justice, and to suffer for the cause of right, with Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Silence

We confess to you our lack of care for the world you have given us.
Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy.

We confess to you our selfishness in not sharing the earth's bounty fairly.
Christ, have mercy: Christ, have mercy.

We confess to you our failure to protect resources for others.
Lord, have mercy: Lord, have mercy.

Silence

Song: WT 37 Beauty for brokenness

May the Father of all mercies cleanse us from our sins, and restore us in his image to the praise and glory of his name, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

Response of praise:

You, Christ, are the image of the unseen God, the first-born of all creation. You created all things in heaven and on earth: everything visible and everything invisible, thrones, dominions, sovereignties, powers – all things were created through you and for you.

Lord of all creation: we worship and adore you.

You are the radiant light of God’s glory: you hold all creation together by your word of power.

Lord of all creation: we worship and adore you.

You are the first to be born from the dead: all perfection is found in you, and all things were reconciled through you and for you, everything in heaven and everything on earth, when you made peace by your death on the cross.

Lord of all creation: we worship and adore you.

The Church is your body, you are its head. You take your place in heaven at the right hand of the divine majesty, where we worship and adore you with all your creation,

Lord of all creation: we worship and adore you

Song of praise and worship: Praise Him you heavens, and all that’s above;

A TIME OF TEACHING

Bible Reading: Isaiah 35 This is the Word of the Lord: Thanks be to God

Reflection: Every valley

Bible Reading: Revelation 21:1 - 5 & 22:1-5

Song: There is a day that all creation’s waiting for

A TIME OF REFLECTION and prayer for the UN Climate Change conference inCopenhagen

Brief audio – visual presentations may be included in this time of prayer, which will also include silence or small group prayers as we use the prayer pointers we have been given. Our prayers and reflections will end with:

Creation groans with pain like the pain of childbirth, and longs to share the freedom of the children of God, so we offer you our prayers for the healing of all creation.

Come light of God, enlighten our hearts, our minds, our wills and renew your world with your glory.

O God, Creator of the universe and of all that lives and breathes, from your dwelling place you refresh the mountains and forests. The earth is filled with the fruits of your work. You make grass grow for the herds, plants and fruit trees for people to farm, drawing their bread from the earth. You entrusted your creation to us.

We beseech you: save us from the temptation of power and domination, of self-interest and arrogance;
May your Spirit of wisdom teach us how best to care for and safeguard what you entrust to us.

Blow your Spirit of life on your creation and all humanity.

Come light of God, enlighten our hearts, our minds, our wills and renew your world with your glory.

We beseech you, bless every effort and every search, every struggle and every pain that seek to restore the harmony and beauty of your Creation, praying particularly for the work of officials, diplomats, and world leaders at the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference. Renew the face of the earth, so that every human being may live in peace and justice, fruits of your Spirit of love.

Blow your Spirit of life on your creation and all humanity.

Come light of God, enlighten our hearts, our minds, our wills and renew your world with your glory.

We beseech you, Lord, bless the fruits of the earth and the work of our hands and teach us to share the abundance of your goods. Send rain to the dry soil, sun and fair weather where harvest is endangered by storms, and stir within we who have much the desire to live more simply that others may simply live.

Blow your Spirit of life on your creation and all humanity.

Come light of God, enlighten our hearts, our minds, our wills and renew your world with your glory.

The Lord’s Prayer

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.

Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as in heaven.

Give us today our daily bread.

Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us.

Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.

For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours, now and for ever. Amen

Final hymn: WT 323 O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder

Dismissal

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe,
Creator of light and giver of life, to you be glory and praise for ever.
In Jesus your light has shone out; and you have given your Holy Spirit
as a mighty stream of life-giving water to refresh and renew the face of the earth.
Let your light shine in us that we may be beacons of justice and bearers of hope.
Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Blessed be God for ever.

Blessed are you, Lord God, King of the universe!

Your word brings on the dusk of evening. Your wisdom creates both night and day.

You determine the cycles of time.

You arrange the succession of seasons and establish the stars in their heavenly courses.

Lord of the starry hosts is your name. Living and eternal God, rule over us always.

Blessed be the Lord, whose word makes evening fall.

Blessed be God for ever.

Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the universe!

From You come all gifts, and we give you thanks. Hear the groaning of your creation, remove the suffering of all people, bring healing to the land where we live, and prepare our hearts for the coming of Christ and the resurrection of all creation. May we be faithful stewards of your creation to your glory and for the benefit of future generations, through Jesus Christ our Lord, and may God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who is the source of all goodness and growth, pour his blessing upon all things created, and upon us his children, that we may use them to his glory and the welfare of all peoples. Amen.

Exit song: FROM THE HIGHEST OF HEIGHTS

Refreshments will be served in the Northumbria Hall.

Rounding it up - end of year review

During November and December 2009 a number of key events took place.

I took part in the “Wave” march in London in advance of the IPCC Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen, and was studio guest for the Sunday morning broadcast presented by Joe Wilson at BBC Radio Lancashire during the weekend of the conference, and led a very creative service of evening worship using material from the Church service that had taken place in the Cathedral in Copenhagen earlier that afternoon.

St. Cuthbert’s Church Fulwood raised over £3000 to fund the installation of electricity at Kayata Girls’ School near Machakos, which we had visited in the summer. Less happy was news that the “Farming God’s Way” / Care of Creation initiative I had visited in Limuru, Kenya had become victims of an employees financial deceit.

Trying to bring it all together...

I had a suspicion that these final two weeks of study and reflection would be a bit of a struggle, not least because there has been so much material to take on board, and so many open-ended questions. 


At the moment I am drawn to think about water as a commodity that we use and misuse, and as a significant part of the climate change picture. It has been raining heavily here in the cottage in the Midlands, and on today's news there has been a report on significant water problems in north east Scotland. What a contrast with Kenya, where the Guardian newspaper online (http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2009/sep/03/climate-change-kenya-10-10) reminds me of just what I have experienced barely 6 weeks back.

I look out of the window of my temporary first floor study and cannot avoid having to think about food and what we consume and how that has its environmental cost. 


A recently-concluded BBC 3-part documentary "The Future of Food" presented by George Alagiah (http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00m9xjc) is so up to date and relevant.

The more I think about the whole subject of Climate Change, the more I am coming to realise that to quote a passage from one of the books I am reading at present: "Climate Change is not one vast, impersonal challenge, but rather billions of tiny personal ones .. It is a thousand things we do without thinking: everyday behaviour that we assume, quite wrongly,is a normal part of life and therefore sustainable" ( Spencer P49)

Update on Care for Creation Kenya

URGENT PRAYER ALERT

/click.icptrack.com/icp/relay.php?r=13554290&msgid=178880&act=J170&c=219095&admin=0&destination=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.careofcreation.org
This is an urgent “Call to Prayer” going out to friends of Care of Creation around the world.

The Devastating Drought in East Africa.

Care of Creation Kenya has put a lot of work into developing an innovative program called “Farming God’s Way” and we have seen great success in increasing crop yield for ordinary farmers. Unfortunately, the best farming techniques cannot compensate when the rains fail – and once more, things are at a critical stage in Kenya and the surrounding countries.

This word from Francis at the CCK office in Limuru, Kenya came in just a few days ago: “Keep praying for Kenya - the drought situation is getting out of hand. Relief food is now being distributed almost in every part of the country including Ndeiya where my scheduled meeting with the local government administrator, the chief, could not take place as hundreds of men, women and children queued for food all day long on Monday…”

Francis’ front-line report is confirmed by a scan of headlines just from the last couple of days.
The World Food Programme is appealing for massive aid to compensate for what looks like a 50% shortfall in the maize harvest alone: "Red lights are flashing across the country," Burkard Oberle, WFP's Kenya country director said in a statement. "People are already going hungry, malnutrition is preying on more and more young children, cattle are dying -- we face a huge challenge and are urging the international community to provide us with the resources we need to get the job done." Many parts of the country have now suffered three or even four consecutive failed rainy seasons, WFP says, and conditions are expected to deteriorate further over the coming months. (Reuters)

These are our people – your brothers and sisters. Pray!

Ed Brown, for Care of Creation

Three weeks left

Just settling down to start 3rd module for Certificate in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies, focussing on the Physical Environment. Eldest son has just finalized his own undergraduate course options, which include Environmental Sciences - shame he is going to take three years to complete, when I want this module done in three weeks - finishing before he even starts. No doubt he will learn loads more.

This is going to be a highly relevant conclusion to my study leave, particularly as the environmental world is gearing up to the UN conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen at the end of this year.

The module will help me think about three specific areas - Pollution of Atmosphere, Shortage of Fresh Water and Soil Erosion, ( this image is of the distant banks of the Sabaki river in Kenya having collapsed because of soil erosion). The opportunity to find space for study at the cottage of some friends in the Peak District is real blessing.

But before then, a return to old haunts for a one-off concert in Cheltenham given by the British Light Music Society. Strange to think that when I was at the stage eldest son now is at, I had just completed 3 very happy and formative seasons with the Gloucestershire Youth Orchestra, where it could be said I was involved in climate change problems with both major and minor consequences: - polluting the atmosphere by blowing an inordinate amount of hot air, recycling water through condensation down a very long brass pipe, and erosion of the surface by tapping my foot to desparately keep time. Things haven't changed much - such is the lot of a French Horn Player!

What a difference a day makes!

The Brackenhurst Centre was hit by power cuts yesterday -
or to be more correct - planned rationing of electricity,
owing to the lack of rainfall in Kenya not providing enough water for the Tana river hydro electric dams. The Daily Nation newspaper I collected on my way into the Emirates plane to Dubai last night was full of the story. So, the day I had planned to begin to get back into study mode didn't transpire.



Instead, I wandered around the grounds taking shots of some lovely birds with the Digital SLR camera I was lent - and which I am going to be mighty reluctant to return, such is the quality of pictures and the ease by which they are taken!
For any with sufficient stamina, there will be enough pictures of my (and our) Kenyan odyssey to make the Lord of the Rings trilogy seem like a 40 second advertising commercial!



My taxi driver(s!!) from Limuru were apprehensive about the traffic chaos in Nairobi, a daily hazard, but made much worse by the visit of Hillary Rodham Clinton for a trade summit, and collected me with a lot of time to spare. I was at the airport at 6 p.m. Kenyan time ( 4 p.m. BST) and my (yet again, exellent Emirates) flight didnt leave until 2330 Kenyan time. It is really odd tucking into an exquisite "light snack" of lamb curry with pilau rice, fresh veg, fresh salad, banana and chocolate dessert, excellent French red wine, whisky, coffee and cheese and biscuits when the bodyclock reads sleep-time! But I was very restrained - keeping the bread roll, butter, cheese and water for my breakfast this morning!

The descent into Dubai after 5 hours flight just showed what a difference a day makes, and what contrasts there are, even for the casual observer, in the small global environment we occupy: there was mile after mile of high luminence street and office lighting shining out in the pre-dawn darkness- the Kenyans would have loved a share of some of that yesterday, and tomorrow, and the day after...

Flying long-haul is a novel experience for me, and the on-board screen notification of boarding gates for transfer passengers alerted me to a departure to Manchester at 0755. That had not been an option when I originally booked my ticket back in January, and for the first half hour or so of my 9 hour stretch in this huge temple to the global philosophies of trade, travel and consumerism, I tried to see if I could jump on board the earlier flight - but that would have only come at the aditional cost of £50, and with no guarantee that my luggage would have accompanied me. So, instead, I am counting the minutes until EK 019 is called for departure at 1435 ( 1135 UK time). I am fortunate, I have momentarily found a quiet holding area, with a power connection to re-charge the well-travelled and full-to-the-brim laptop and "de-kenyan simmed" mobile phone. It has already been such a long day, and whilst I caught up with a couple of hours sleep on the plane, and one more here this morning, I am probably going to be a bit grumpy by the time I return home this evening after 33hrs travel door-door!

Further blog updates may follow if I can find anything interesting to write about from the caravan in the garden, which is to be my study base for the next three weeks.

My day in a matatu!

I met Francis Githaigah, Program Manager for Care of Creation, Kenya on a damp and cold morning in the centre of what was known as the White Highlands. American Southern Baptists purchased Brackenhurst from is former colonial owners, and now run it as a recreation centre for missionaries in the field and as a conference centre. Whilst I was there a large group named UN Food Unit were there – the United Nations headquarters in East Africa are just down the road from here. They also lease out office space to Care of Creation which seeks to teach Biblical principles for farming and land management.

Francis showed me the on-site tree nursery, and told how the number of different species of bird observed in the extensive grounds of this centre had increased dramatically following the removal of the dominant blue gum eucalyptus trees and replacing them with indigenous species.
He then said we were going off in a taxi for the rest of the day, the cost of which made me go pale, as I had not budgeted for that expense. However, a warm shower, a good meal and judicious use of the emergency credit card funding source later, I can now reflect back and consider the 6 hours and 160+km spent without refreshment in a beat-up matatu as probably the most ideal way to finish my African experience.

Francis, and Craig Sorley, the CoC Director, whose article in the Observer Newspaper earlier in the year had prompted me to change my itinerary in order to include Limuru, have been teaching local farmers to adopt a biblically-based approach to conservation agriculture. There is a demonstration plot at Brackenhurst to which local farmers come for training, and Francis also goes out into the local communities to help them take the brave step of changing their farming practices. We travelled down from the mist and clouds into some nearby farming areas where the principles of Farming God’s Way were beginning to be trialled. It was quite apparent that the use of mulch rather than traditional tillage methods did help retain precious moisture and produce greener plants, but as the day continued it also became apparent that the lack of consistent and sufficient rain during the months of planting and growth had caused devastation even to those farms where “Farming God’s Way” had been adopted. Some of the farmers I spoke to had repeatedly sown maize seed up to 5 times this year, and each time the anticipated rain had not materialized.

Another part of the work of CoC is to encourage people to harvest and utilize rainwater for land restoration, and we visited one farmer – quite large scale compared to some of the others we visited – where he had dug a couple of pits and channels to trap and divert the water from any flash floods that should occur from the red earth tracks. This farmer showed us his harvested beans drying out, his onions, cabbages and tomatoes, and presented me with two avocado of different variety.

A third strand of work done by CoC has been to encourage tree planting, and we visited a couple of schools where this and the other practices mentioned above have been put in place. The children I chatted to certainly knew the value of the trees they were planting – “trees bring rain” being the most basic.
Then at about 2 p.m. we headed down into the Rift Valley along the road we had travelled as a family three weeks earlier. Michael who was driving our matatu hardly looked old enough or tough enough to be running the gauntlet of heavy goods vehicles, smoke belching local trucks and police road blocks – we were waved down at one - but we got down the hill and back up gain in one bone-shaken piece.

We were visiting a farmer a few miles along the road to Narok – the very name should generate bag loads of sympathy for me from the rest of the family! On the way we picked up a lady called Catherine working for the Anglican Church in Kenya Community Support Scheme. She was an environmental scientist and came from the area very near the radio satellite dish station we had passed en route to the Mara game reserve. Catherine had been key in introducing Francis to some of the communities down in the Rift Valley, and together they were working to encourage both the nomadic Masai pastoralists (herdsmen) and the sedentary crop rearing farmers to look after their rapidly deteriorating environment.

The lovely farming couple we visited host the training sessions for other local farmers that Francis and Catherine run. It was so sad to see that they were seeking to put the three principles advocated by CoC in Farming God’s Way into practice, only to be thwarted by an almost complete lack of rain. Even so they were insistent on presenting us and our driver with a stick of sugar cane each. Their little farmstead was an oasis in a dry and barren land, and their simple conviction that this was the best way to farm was humbling. The farmer wanted to plant about 80 indigenous drought resistant trees on and around his plot, but is

really in a catch-2 situation, The cost of 40 KES per seedling is prohibitive to him, but even if funding were found, they need more rainfall than the area has seen this year, and for the past few years, in order to stand any chance of growing to a mature state from which they would help conserve

moisture and even “bring rain”. He had all the infrastructure in the form of channels and pits in place, ready to capture any water that might fall from the skies, but there had been next to none.

All in all an exhausting day, physically and emotionally, leaving me with so much to take on board and attempt to process. Francis was such a real delight to be with, and so genuinely pleased that I had taken the trouble to visit in response to that newspaper article, but what on earth am I going to do with all these impressions and insights, all these hopes and expectations, all these implicit appeals for practical support and prayer?

I am sure that if more Kenyan farmers could learn how “Farming

God’s Way”, significant improvements to the standard of life they endure would follow. But whilst they may be able to address local environmental issues, the wider impact of global climate change continues.

And on that thought, I must get down to some work on the studymodule, maybe starting even tomorrow as I spend most of the day in this Kenyan version of a Country Cottage, (complete with circular wrought iron staircase!) before hitting the road back to Nairobi in the filthy Corolla that brought me here to catch my 11.30 p.m. departure for Manchester via Dubai, and arrival at home some 24 hours later.

What a way to end the stay here

Just about an hour before sunset, it was low tide, and suddenly there was a hive of activity around Mwamba. A nest of turtles was hatching just 500m up the beach so a crowd of folk in various forms of beach attire headed for the spot and we were part of that too. About 100+ turtle hatchlings were seen breaking out of their nest and heading into the sea. Wow!

Final week by the seaside

Back to Arocha Mwamba - an exhausting place for someone as introverted and regimented as me. There are always folk coming and going, interrupted conversations, inefficient systems. But there are also tremendous blessings to be gained found from each of the people I have met.
• Alber took another guest James and I on a half-day ( yet another desperately early morning start) walk in the endangered Aruboko Sukoke Forest, and found the rare Scops Owl.
• James from Bangladesh had studied the CRES module I was to work on and gave me some information of potential relevance
• Fred was with an organisation facilitating change for indigenous people – not necessarily by throwing money after every worthy project.
. Jim and Mary Beth have been working with an organization called Kupenda, supporting children with physical disabilities, and their parents.

• And even today, whilst ostensibly looking after the place as the centre managers Henry and Belinda had started their holiday, a chance to meet Jess a white Kenyan, and her brother and friend. She has qualified as a doctor and is about to start training as a surgeon at John Ratcliffe Hospital Oxford.
As well as all this, there was the wireless network I tried to set up, and some occasional spiritual input for staff meetings, and then centre booking management.

The final week of my stay at Arocha has been a bit of a mix, I have been stuck with the computers and having diminishing successes. It also felt important to keep tight control on my spare cash just to see me through to the end of my odyssey , so that meant no option for going out and about other than on foot – or on the bike which I tried once – no brakes and manual gear changes – in other words, coast to a stop, get off and re-fix the chain on a different set of sprockets!

With Henry and Belinda away, I have tried to manage the emails and bookings for the centre, but inevitably changes and additional unexpected commitments occur. For this place to run better, there needs to be a bit clearer delegation of responsibilities. They have plans to upgrade the rooms and the catering which really is not very appealing, but the whole organisation is desperately short of cash. I have really struggled with the basic facilities here after being spoilt terribly over the past two weeks.

A family arrived early Sunday morning having travelled overnight from Kampala, Uganda. Tim and Rachel with Mark and Lisa (9&4 resp). I wouldn’t have brought a young family here – not least because the options to get out and explore are so restricted, but the weather has calmed down a bit and warmed up, so they’ve spent lots of time on the beach. As I got more and more stressed with the computers, it must have shown, and by Saturday morning when I was really not very happy at all, Rachel had a very helpful chat with me about not needing to achieve to be accepted. Our ( my) task-orientated nature does not fit in with African ways. The trouble is that I had wanted to leave something well set up as a legacy of my stay, and struggle with interruptions and conversations.

I suppose my timing here was of some help, as I was able to at least get some basic networking set up following the major milestone of the arrival of the ADSL link via an underground cable laid in a trench down the half mile or so drive to the road. This was installed by two guys working for Orange Telkom in just two days, and by Thursday the internet was available – albeit at a slow rate, but the outside world was no longer a dial-up connection away.

I did have a couple of episodes away from the dreaded Blue Screen of Death, that managed to creep into two of the five computers I was supposed to be working on. One moment of reckless abandon – seizing the moment – when Milja - who took the picture I have used as the portrait for this blogand which she labeled "Father Christmas on holiday in Africa" and I went for a quick swim in the Indian Ocean at 9 p.m. – very dark apart from moon and stars, which I couldn’t see without glasses. Hearing later of the sea creatures and their propensity for biting and stinging made me realize how risky that had been! But the water was warmer than the air, and I had always wanted to swim in the sea at night – not possible in the UK! We had just viewed the results of her fascinating project – getting Kenyan school children to stand in formation in various countryside settings, and imitate bird songs. Apparently this was going to be displayed together with images of Finnish children doing the same in their landscapes. The “Finnished” (apols for the pun) work will be featured on her website www.miljaviita.com or miljaviita.blogspot.com .

A second brief interlude came Saturday afternoon when Leslie, who has been studying monkey behaviour in the Gedi ruins, and I visited a house being constructed in the trees just down the beach from here, using coloured class and coral stone. Apart form the quirky but really appealing architecture, there were some amazing views over the area. It always works: a bit of height gives a bit more perspective. This was then followed by watching SA v NZ tri-nations rugby union in Ocean Sports now much fuller with holiday makers as season hots up. I didn’t have to take the computer to do blog stuff – yippee – and the connection at Arocha is more reliable than it was at OS, as I discovered later on with a lovely long skype video conversation with the family at home. What a shame it wasn’t possible earlier during my stay, as I could have shared the scenery with lots more friends.

So tomorrow sees me leaving here for a brief visit at a place called Brackenhurst, north of Nairobi, where a scheme called “Farming God’s Way” is run. More on that soon – probably after my return to my sabbatical office in the garden at home in UK.

Every picture tells a story - literally

The gradual addition of pictures to the more recent blog posts has just become possible as an ADSL line was yesterday installed to Arocha's premises. No more trapezes for the neighbourhood Sykes' monkeys as the new cable was laid (FREE!!! for over half a mile along the drive from the road) underground. I am trying to set up a network within the field study centre before I leave in 4 days time, but sea atmosphere, rogue software installations and out-dated antivirus programmes are all mitigating against me. Added to that, my work zone yesterday evening was invaded by a tiny but very angry red snake, which, in turn, attracted more invaders in the form of the inquisitive guests staying here at present. Needless to say my limited IT skills were sorely tested with all these distractions. Eventually the reptile was installed in a huge bucket to await collection this morning, the bucket placed in my office area ... but this morning, I can't see the beast! I just hope it is hiding under a bit of wood in the bucket. I am sure that UK working condition regulations might be able to give me some advice as to whether I should report for duty today!

Globalization and Faith

It has felt quite lonely without the family around. I wish it could have been feasible for them to spend time with me here in Arocha. There has been quite a change in the neighbourhood since I left, with more tourists further up the beach in Watamu and Malindi, and as I write from the thatched–roofed, open-sided terrace overlooking the sea, there are two kite surfers and a snorkelling support boat out on the sea between the shore and the reef. Apparently three humped-backed whales were spotted just beyond the reef yesterday, so I am keeping my eyes open. There are also far fewer guests at Mwamba, and the centre managers Henry and Belinda have just left this morning for a well-earned two-week holiday up country. I have ostensibly been given temporary responsibility for the centre – but there are many other staff around. I am quickly learning that trying to run a business along basic western lines is not easy here – it has taken nearly 48 hours to download emails via the very expensive wire-less phone dial up connection, and as for setting up the centre network with the equipment the family brought over with them, all of the desktop computers have viruses, and the a /v software tends not to get updated because there is no reliable and reasonable internet link – for the time being. A trench has been dug the half mile or so to the road and broadband may be here …. soon!

The heavy rain showers we encountered on our beach holiday continued through the week until yesterday which was warm and sunny – as is today. There have been a couple of interesting guests to chat to over issues relevant to the study, but, odd as it may sound, I have almost absorbed too much information from various sources and haven’t really had quiet moments to process it, let alone take on much new. Even the Kenyan newspapers I occasionally glimpse are full of issues that could be taken on board. Earlier in the week, there was a CMS worker from Bangladesh who had done a couple of the CRES modules with the same tutor I have, and who kindly gave me some of his reflections to read. This chap – James - was in his element here, as he was a proper bird-watcher, with binoculars, notebook and reference guide, and I went with him and the excellent Albert into the Aruboko Sukoke forest to find the very rare Scops Owl.

We saw many other species, including the fabulous Paradise flycatcher with its very long tail, and others all at a distance, but nonetheless an interesting half day walk in the forest with someone who knew it so well. This morning, I had an interesting and brief early morning ( everything often kicks off at 6 a.m. around here, so no leisurely lie-ins) conversation with a Canadian involved in facilitating indigenous development not necessarily by throwing donor money at projects, but by getting local folk to work through the issues they are facing – in particular relating to farming and conflict. He was keen to see farmers move away from growing maize which consumes so much precious water and instead produce cassava or cow peas – which can apparently be just as nutritional, at much less environmental cost.

There isn’t really anywhere here conducive to individual study – it is certainly not a retreat centre – though it has the potential to become a wonderful one if funds were available and appropriately allocated, and the ambience of the facilities, equatorial daylight hours and nocturnal insect visitations can each provide reasons for not achieving much – or is it me?! Apart from Ocean Sports where I shall cycle to in order to watch tri-nations rugby later this afternoon, there are not many alternative facilities, so if you need a break from chatting to people – which is almost a pre-requisite at a place like this, there is only the basic bedroom. Having said that, last Thursday was so quiet, that Henry and Belinda set up the digital projector so that I could show our safari slides to them, two other members of staff and two female guests: Leslie from USA studying monkey behaviour in the Gede ruins, and Milja from Finland doing an art project filming and recording local school children imitating local bird sounds! They both needed to relax from their respective esoteric studies and enjoyed some of the glorious sights we saw a fortnight ago – and the big screen is a brilliant way of seeing holiday snaps of the big and impressive beasts we saw in such abundance. We really were truly blessed.

Sun n’Sands (with more than a dash of rain!)

The third phase of our family holiday began with an evening rush hour drive from the airport and through Mombasa to the beach resort about 30 km north. A 40-seater tour company coach occupied by the four of us and a couple of staff was a very secure place from which to observe the cacophony and apparent mayhem of international trucks bound for the port, matatus bent on out-doing the Blackpool illuminations for sheer dazzle whilst causing a few heart-stopping moments along the way, and what appeared to be very romantic candle-lit street-side eating places. Had the journey been during daylight hours, I guess the raw reality of a busy, over-populated and often impoverished urban centre would have been far more obvious.
As it was we arrived at 8.45 p.m. at the Club Sun n’ Sands where an orange wrist band was secured on each of us apart from James – who even though he had celebrated his 17th birthday a week earlier, was not supposed to (!!!) have access to the more potent of brews concocted by the ever-eager bar staff. By the end of our five days, he had probably been the most dedicated customer of theirs out of the four of us, though Peter, having struggled with a very sore throat for most of the holiday, also found some relief in an occasional high-strength rum and coke! We were all too tired to really take much of the very rushed welcome briefing in, and headed off for late supper.

Then followed some glorious days of relaxing by and in the pools – complete with organized water sports, opportunities for the forging of new friendships by the boys, and more than a few chapters read for pleasure. The final two days of the stay were pock-marked by deluges, but with the insights of the previous parts of our holiday, we couldn’t but be glad for Kenya, (or at least, the coastal part of this vast and beautiful and desperate country) as opposed to sad for the mostly hugely over-weight all-inclusive holidaymakers, mainly from the UK. I dread to imagine what the inside of an average Airtours or Cosmos ‘plane from Manchester or Glasgow looks or feels like, when filled with individuals occupying a seat and a half each – and that is before they have over-indulged with the three extensive buffet meals and additional substantial snacks on offer during the course of a fortnight’s stay at a place like Sun n’Sands. And I am in no position to exclude myself from criticism: the anticipated weight loss I had hoped for as a consequence of frugal Kenyan fare has not happened yet. Perhaps the return to Arocha’s more simple provisoon of maize, beans and the Ugali which defies definition will help in this respect!

The general contrast between the condition and attitudes of many of the hotel guests, and the ever-attentive, courteous and gracious staff has been one of the great sadnesses for me so far on my African Odyssey. The superb kitchen staff who were rightly proud of their culinary skills, wonderfully friendly waiters like James, Judy and Musilla, and the efficient, helpful and attractive Business Centre Manager Eveline made the stay at this place so special, as did the presence of groups of Kenyan holiday makers and pan-African conference delegates. 20 years ago, when, as a day guest with Colin and Irene, I visited a few of the hotels on the north and south coasts of Mombasa, it was very rare to see Africans other than as staff members, or hovering beyond the perimeters as “beach boys”. This time around, it was just wonderful to be “scragged” by some whilst playing water polo, or to watch the effervescent enthusiasm of a group of delegates going through some creative team-building exercises. I couldn’t help but feel ashamed that such easy and open friendships would not be the normal fare offered in the United Kingdom to any visitors from Kenya.

The resort was hosting a very prestigious pan-African conference formulating a continental policy on Science and Technology, and I would have just loved to have had some time chatting to some of the delegates. As it is, I will have to look up the website www.aptsnet.org to read up more about it. From the brief conversation I had with one delegate from Madagascar, and another with a Kenyan photographing the event, I suspect there would have been lots of insights for me in the next of my Certificate in Christian Rural and Environmental Studies module, entitled Globalization and Faith.

We had selected this resort as the beach extension to our safari holiday, because it had publicised on its website a certain level of Corporate Social Responsibility. The Sun n’ Sands trust, managed by Eveline, had financed the provision of a number classrooms ( to reduce class sizes to 70!) and an IT suite for one local school, but as usual in this country of contrasts, there is always much more that needs to be done. I did suggest that the hotel could help itself and the local community a bit by: capturing and storing rain water – of which there was plenty during our stay; installing a wind turbine to power the stand-by generator – which was used on numerous occasions whilst we were there; and maybe more contentiously, only providing two self-service buffet meals a day as inclusive for the guests. There was also so much wasted food – left on the plates after the diners had picked through the bits they liked, or left relatively untouched on the serving platters – that some consideration should be given to dealing with it in ways which would benefit the local community far better than it being taken away by refuse collectors. I wonder how long it will be before hotels like this also become courageous enough to introduce a Tourists Corporate Social Responsibility Guide, which would serve to make us more aware of the real Kenya and its needs: economic, environmental, educational and provisional, and maybe send us back from our holidays with a heightened global social conscience, and the resolve to learn something about quality relationships from others than those we are familiar with.

After five days, Jenny, Peter and James headed south whilst I headed north along the coast. The family arrived safely back in Preston after their long journey home, whilst I had got back to Arocha, Mwamba before they even flew out of Mombasa. I brought Peter’s sore throat back with me; I wonder what they each will have taken back in the form of lasting impressions from their own African Odyssey?

Machakos -off the tourist trail.

Machakos was originally considered by the colonizing Brits to become the capital city for the “Protectorate of Kenya”, but when they found that Nairobi had potentially better water resources, Machakos was left to become a regional centre. It comprises a compact business area with banks and shops, and the once glorious Garden Hotel. Bernard Matolo, a former colleague from theological college in Bristol is now the Bishop for the African Episcopalian Church in Machakos, and has responsibility for 22 congregations covering a vast area, including parts of Tanzania and the Embu region of Kenya near Mount Kenya.

He gave up three days of his time to host us, and using a hired car, drove us from Nairobi to Machakos and then around on some long and eye-opening trips. We met some truly wonderful people, including his wife Josephine who we knew from Bristol, and two of their sons Jonathan and Danny boarders at separate secondary schools, and their daughter Patience, still at primary school near to their three room rented home. No fine Bishop’s palace or office for Bernard. No support staff either, and at the time of our visit, not even a functioning car.

Nevertheless we were treated regally and had wonderful meals served for us all along the way, which took us up hill and down dale, into parts of the world where there hasn’t been rainfall for 5 YEARS, and where subsistence farming is the norm. I will write further about Machakos in the near future, but for the time being, for the thoughts and prayers of anyone following this blog, four potential action points:


• The Cathedral has just been built and has no electricity, nor a house for the pastor in charge. It is also in need of seating and musical instruments. This could be something St. Cuthbert’s would give consideration to.









• The Girls secondary school at Kayata is operating out of rented shacks which serve as dormitory and teaching room, but has just had a dynamic young head teacher appointed: Mrs Margaret Muli. She has brought water onto the site and would love to connect to the electricity system which has only just arrived at the nearby village. This could be something that schools in Fulwood might like to consider supporting.

• Bernard is keen to encourage wise use of the environment where each of his churches are planted, and depending on research I am to make at the end of my visit to Kenya, would really value some kind of bursary support system being set up that would enable him to send individuals from his congregations to learn how to farm with appropriate care for the environment. More on this later, but this could become something the Halliwell / Paton Philip family might like to consider.

• Bernard’s lay pastor in Machakos, Stephen Kisulu is a full time science teacher at the prestigious Nairobi school for boys, and some kind of dialogue with the science department at Archbishop Temple School, Fulwood, might lead to a international relationship of considerable quality and mutual benefit – and this initially does not have any financial implication, only a desire to foster a global community link between educational establishments.


Another cultural boundary crossed

After so many new experiences, it was good to sit in the domestic departure lounge at Nairobi Airport for a few hours to wait for our flights to the coast for the final part of our family holiday. Kenya Airways had deleted me from their passenger list because I was a no-show on the flight they had changed to be a taxi ride and flight! So after a frantic call in the morning – I am so grateful for Megan having given me a spare local phone company sim card for my mobile – I was given a seat on a flight out one hour earlier than the rest of the family, but we eventually all met up together again, and reached the Sun n’sands resort at Kilimani, north of Mombasa at 9 p.m. Time for rest and recreation – surrounded by package tour Brits….. but also many more interesting folk. Watch this space.

Safari

The Samburu Safari

Despite having re-arranged my internal flight with Kenya Airways

to avoid the long drive to Mombasa from Watamu, I arrived at Malindi Airport at the suspiciously long 2 hour pre-flight check-in to be told that I was to be driven to Mombasa. I had suspected as much when I arrived at the airport and reps from a rival airline Flight 540 tried to encourage me to get on board their plane that was just leaving. When the unfortunate KA official, Philip, arrived, 5 minutes after the opposition had flown, he told me that whilst they had been intending to fly from Malindi from July 1st, they still hadn’t got their act together. More about KA later! I spent a happy three hours with him in his small office before the next well-organised flight 540 departure to Nairobi. Again a wonderful and unexpected opportunity to hear from a Kenyan about their hopes for the future, and their awareness of all their problems, not least regarding the environment and lack of rainfall. He arranged for coffee and cake on the house, and got a message to the rest of the family and the Somak tour rep who was to meet me at Nairobi informing me of my late arrival.

At 4 p.m. I arrived at the Holiday Inn, Nairobi, and waited for a short while whilst Jenny, Peter and James, who had caught up on a bit of sleep after their over-night flight from Manchester via London, together with Megan from St. Cuthbert’s, finished their trip round the national museum, just around the corner. After quickly rectifying a mistake by the UK travel agent (using wi-fi internet access at KES 400 per hour), we had a good time with Megan, beside the (coldish!) pool, and then a lovely fish buffet supper and early to bed to catch up and get ready for safari-time!

Wagons roll!

With Ahmed, (known as “Major” to his fellow safari drivers and many others along the way, because he once was a major in the Kenyan army), and our mini-van companions for the duration of the week-long safari Chris and Sue, a honeymoon couple from Bristol, we set off north east through the foothills of Mt. Kenya and along the still-being-constructed transnational Cape Town – Cairo road. It is going to be a few years before anything other than a well-sprung 4-wheel drive can make the journey along that part of the road we travelled, but north of the town of Isiolo, and to the point where we left to go into the Samburu national park, the Chinese had funded and built the road, enticed by the prospects of oil in north and east Kenya, and the very real possibility of a new port being built at Lamu. If sea levels rise as predicted by global warming scientists, then the port of Mombasa will be badly affected, and a second major gateway into East Africa would be absolutely vital. However, there are environmental considerations that would affect the Lamu area that have not yet been given serious thought.

After four hours and a couple of official stops and a few others as Sue was poorly, we arrived at the Samburu Lodge – an oasis in a very dry landscape. And it was even drier than usual, as there had been no heavy seasonal rains this year, and the river Ewaso Nyro was bone dry. The crocodiles had migrated to nearby Buffalo Springs, and whilst the water table was quite near the surface here, it was sad to see locals having to dig into the river bed in order to help the animals which bring the tourists, who in turn are their only livelihood , survive. We had a couple of nights here, and Jenny and I had a very interesting conversation with Oscar, a safari driver for another tour company, about the problems Kenya face at the moment: environmental and political. But, again, there was a real sense of hope and confidence in the younger generations.

As for the animals, we saw elephants, monkeys, gerenuk, giraffe, Grevy’s zebra, and a leopard kill stashed in a tree. As often happened, Ahmed spotted it first, and had we stuck around and looked a bit closer, we would have seen the leopard’s tail in an adjacent bush. We returned later to get a better view by which time it had moved to a distant tree. More about leopards later!

Only one sour note that spoilt our stay at the first of a succession of top-end lodges: the waiter at lunch offered us a fruit drink, and didn’t mention that it was not “on the house” The cost of that severely dented the funds we had set aside for tips. This was a whole new kind of holiday experience for we who are accustomed to visiting friends and staying in self-catered accommodation, and we rapidly had to get into the habit of changing big KES notes to smaller ones to keep waiters, porters and domestics tipped up. Many of the staff we met along the way had travelled from far and wide across Kenya to get work, and would only get back to their home villages for maybe a week every 2 – 3 months. Technology, in the form of mobile phones being used to communicate the transfer of funds right across the country was proving a real benefit, as was an innovative bank called Equity, which was providing loans without land or house being required as security. This was helping many of the poorer start small-scale businesses, and the more we spoke with Kenyans – and read their daily papers when available - the greater we sensed that there were many of the rapidly growing population who were not content to just sit back and do nothing all day.

Our second day at Samburu saw us “tick off” lions, warthog and buffalo on our must see list, and many, many other wonderful and exotic ( to British eyes) species of animal and bird.

The next day we were off early. Every morning was an early start, either to go on a game drive or to move on to the next location. In all we covered about 1800 kilometers from Samburu in the north through the Aberdares, Lake Nakuru and then the long haul down to the Masai Mara before returning to Nairobi after one week of real excitement and adventure.

Treetops
Back south down the dusty road, passing an exquisite little church in the middle of nowhere that stood out from the dry and dusty landscape because of the exuberant frangipani, and through some chaotic and busy settlements, we entered another world: the world of the former colonial power in the Aberdare. A much more lush landscape and coffee and tea plantations. We had lunch at the Outspan hotel, where the founder of the scout movement had one lived, and were then transferred to the famous Treetops game lodge, where, once again the impact of the drought was immediately evident, with very few animals coming down to the salt lick. James was the first to note the arrival of ah hyena, which merited 1 ring on the bell system which notified the overnight residents of anything of interest. The bell was not invoked for the rest of the stay there. However, we did enjoy a wonderful sit-down, served meal in the narrow dining room, which gave us opportunity to get to know some of the other people from the tour, who we kept spotting in different mini-vans whilst out on game drives. In particular it was a real delight to meet Thomas and Kristine from Denmark, but shortly moving to Sydney, and Carol and her daughter Victoria from Toronto as well as Ken and Margaret from Northern Ireland. Who knows if these people might get a visit from Peter and or James should they travel the world in the future!

A short hop

The next day we headed north, west and south and in the process crossed or drove parallel to the equator a few times, without the hassle that the obligatory stop on the first journey south brought with it. All the places we stopped for formal breaks in the long journeys necessitated dodging sellers of curios or traders interested in anything they could get. A pair of Jenny Wren exclusive hand-crafted earrings found their way into the hands of one trans-equatorial entrepreneur, in exchange for a measly couple of tatty cardboard bookmarks. This despite the advice and lessons on avoidance given by the other members of her family and travelling companions!

We visited the beautiful Thomson waterfalls and then arrived in the Lake Nakuru national Park, where the journey through to the splendid lodge gave us sight of black and white rhinos, flamingos, storks and baboons. This was my favourite overnight stop, with small chalets with individual solar panel water heaters that worked. I discovered that they had been removed from the next place we stayed because tourists complained their water wasn’t warm enough. Lake Nakuru National park had three distinct vegetation zones – savannah, forest and the lake which was receding at an alarming rate, and was 1.5 – 2 meters lower than it had been 5 years ago. Deforestation of the near by Mau forest – motivate by politicians giving land to their supporters, was also having a knock-on effect, as Ahmed told me. In the pat it used to rain for about one hour every afternoon in Lake Nakuru region, and that helped keep the water level of this lake high. Sadly this is no longer the case.

The long and winding ( and very bumpy ) road

Nearly 400 km drive south west brought us eventually into the Masai Mara National Park for the final two night of our safari. Again a beautiful lodge in an oasis, but for how much longer? The mighty Mara river was a trickle of its former self, and the landscape much paler than it should have been for the time of year. That did work to our benefit as we saw some wonderful wildlife, including a cheetah family, a leopard having its supper and two different lion prides having breakfast in full surround-sound glory. Our encounter with the leopard also brought us into a close and not altogether pleasant encounter with the park wardens on their early evening patrol, and our driver had the “pleasure” of their company for a few hours after we returned to the lodge.

Consequently the following day was much more relaxed, and the huge expanses and horizons of classic East Africa was allowed to soak into our being. We actually had a couple of short rain showers during the stay in the Mara, but it was stored water that provided the right environment for the hippo family to stay near the lodge.

After our final self-service buffet meal – we really did do very well on safari, and I kept thinking of the excesses of tourists and the amount of wasted food, but the stark contrast with real Kenyan life was yet to come, as the next stage of our journey records.