I returned from my break one week ago – it already seems like two months ago! This time I went to Lamu, an archipelago off the northeast coast of Kenya, not very far from Somalia.
I flew in via Nairobi, and visited the animal orphanage (animals abandoned by their parents) in the Nairobi National Game Park. The monkey in this picture is named Barak Obama. Later, I walked to a modern shopping center to buy some “muzungu” (white person) products (toiletries, french cheeses, chocolate, books) that we can’t find in Congo. I even ate a burrito and had some gelato! The next morning I was off again by plane to Lamu.
Lamu Town is the oldest living village in Kenya. It is Swahili and Muslim, as is most of the coast of Kenya. It has escaped the modernisation of many of the coastal tourist towns – there are no high-rise hotels, and there are no cars on the whole island, except one car for the governor and one ambulance for the hospital! Transportation of people and goods is by foot, by bicycle, by donkey or by boat. The donkeys are everywhere,and so are their feces. One must be careful of this while navigating the medina-like maze of small streets. There is even a donkey sanctuary for mistreated or sick donkeys which is run by an order of Catholic sisters. The streets are between 3 feet and 6 feet wide. There is one big pedestrian square dominated by a huge almond tree in front of the old fort. The lifestyle is slow and easy.
I stayed in Shela, a smaller town about a 45 minute walk from Lamu Town. Lamu Town is livelier, and Shela is more upscale – Caroline de Monaco and her husband Ernst of Hanover have a house there. A pristine white sand beach starts at Shela, running 12 miles along the east coast of the island. I was in a small hotel, and since I was the only customer (it’s not right on the coast, and a bit difficult to find in the maze of narrow alleyways), the owner gave me the penthouse. I have never stayed in a hotel room so large, on the top two floors of the hotel with beautiful Swalihi furnishings. The top floor is an open roofed terrace and this is where I slept. The hotel restaurant, the Barakuda, is heavenly – everything is bought fresh each day and I took advantage of the incredibly good fish and seafood.
Lamu Town has a small museum explaining the history of the island, a Swahili house museum showing the typical layout of an old wealthy Swahili family home, and the old arab fort. All three of these can easily be visited in the same morning.
I ran into a deaf/dumb guy for whom I bought a Coke, and he was so happy that he gave me a tour of Lamu Town, the village west of Lamu and his own home where I met his equally handicapped wife. His explications were a bit difficult to follow, but it was really pleasant to see how the poor (the vast majority of the population) live – not unlike here in Congo. Although Kenya is a much more prosperous country than Congo with a certain infrastructure missing here, the wealth and amenities reach a very small percentage of the people.
I also also rented a kayak to cross the channel to Manda island to visit the Takwa Ruins. This is an old Swahili town which was abandoned at the end of the 19th century, due to a change in the water table which turned all the wells to salt water, and due to fighting with a tribe from another island. The ruins are well preserved. From my kayak, I also saw where they mine the coral blocks used to build the houses of Lamu. Once the blocks are sculpted, they are transported across the channel by dhow, loaded and unloaded by hand, and transported to the building site by donkey. The 1 ½ hours of paddling each way on this trip did me a great deal of good.
Being Muslim, nightlife is fairly limited. About the only places to buy a beer are Petley’s Inn on the waterfront in Lamu Town, and Peponi’s Hotel in Shela. Obviously, these two places are where to meet the tourists, and the locals who are not strict Muslims. And there is a floating bar in the middle of the channel. There is also a shop in the police canteen where I bought a bottle of white wine to take back to my hotel, to accompany the delicious seafood. At Peponi’s I met a really nice couple - Chende is from Lamu and his girlfriend Ilona is half Indonesian and half Dutch.
My last night in Lamu, which was a full moon, they took me across the channel in their boat for a night on the beach: music, Kingfish cooked over a bonfire, LOTS of beer, others coming across to join us, and sleeping tents on the beach before returning to their place in Shela for coffee the next morning. It was wonderful. 
In all, it was a peaceful and relaxing week.
Now I’m back at work, and things are hectic. We have a lot of journalists documenting the situation here on the east side of Congo (MSF is a strong advocate of bringing the attention of the public to ignored or forgotten conflicts which continue to endanger local populations). There are also technical visits from headquarters medical specialists, and our new department head getting to know the mission of Congo. I also have a small team from Paris here for three weeks to help advance the work (and hopefully get a decision from Paris) concerning our salary and job function grill, the policy concerning our remuneration of employees of the state health system working with us, and some other human resource issues. I’m really happy that they are here to work on these things. But I must admit that I am struggling to keep up with my daily work and the work required on these issues. I knew that this would be the case – that’s why I took my break BEFORE they arrived.
And after the departure of the team from Paris, my colleague taking care of finances will be leaving on break. I will be covering for her. A mission of 1 year in a war situation is not the easiest way of earning a living. I knew this already and I wouldn’t change what I do for anything, but I will really appreciate a 2 month pause starting in August before returning to work somewhere else.
I flew in via Nairobi, and visited the animal orphanage (animals abandoned by their parents) in the Nairobi National Game Park. The monkey in this picture is named Barak Obama. Later, I walked to a modern shopping center to buy some “muzungu” (white person) products (toiletries, french cheeses, chocolate, books) that we can’t find in Congo. I even ate a burrito and had some gelato! The next morning I was off again by plane to Lamu.
Lamu Town is the oldest living village in Kenya. It is Swahili and Muslim, as is most of the coast of Kenya. It has escaped the modernisation of many of the coastal tourist towns – there are no high-rise hotels, and there are no cars on the whole island, except one car for the governor and one ambulance for the hospital! Transportation of people and goods is by foot, by bicycle, by donkey or by boat. The donkeys are everywhere,and so are their feces. One must be careful of this while navigating the medina-like maze of small streets. There is even a donkey sanctuary for mistreated or sick donkeys which is run by an order of Catholic sisters. The streets are between 3 feet and 6 feet wide. There is one big pedestrian square dominated by a huge almond tree in front of the old fort. The lifestyle is slow and easy.
I stayed in Shela, a smaller town about a 45 minute walk from Lamu Town. Lamu Town is livelier, and Shela is more upscale – Caroline de Monaco and her husband Ernst of Hanover have a house there. A pristine white sand beach starts at Shela, running 12 miles along the east coast of the island. I was in a small hotel, and since I was the only customer (it’s not right on the coast, and a bit difficult to find in the maze of narrow alleyways), the owner gave me the penthouse. I have never stayed in a hotel room so large, on the top two floors of the hotel with beautiful Swalihi furnishings. The top floor is an open roofed terrace and this is where I slept. The hotel restaurant, the Barakuda, is heavenly – everything is bought fresh each day and I took advantage of the incredibly good fish and seafood.Lamu Town has a small museum explaining the history of the island, a Swahili house museum showing the typical layout of an old wealthy Swahili family home, and the old arab fort. All three of these can easily be visited in the same morning.
I ran into a deaf/dumb guy for whom I bought a Coke, and he was so happy that he gave me a tour of Lamu Town, the village west of Lamu and his own home where I met his equally handicapped wife. His explications were a bit difficult to follow, but it was really pleasant to see how the poor (the vast majority of the population) live – not unlike here in Congo. Although Kenya is a much more prosperous country than Congo with a certain infrastructure missing here, the wealth and amenities reach a very small percentage of the people.
I also also rented a kayak to cross the channel to Manda island to visit the Takwa Ruins. This is an old Swahili town which was abandoned at the end of the 19th century, due to a change in the water table which turned all the wells to salt water, and due to fighting with a tribe from another island. The ruins are well preserved. From my kayak, I also saw where they mine the coral blocks used to build the houses of Lamu. Once the blocks are sculpted, they are transported across the channel by dhow, loaded and unloaded by hand, and transported to the building site by donkey. The 1 ½ hours of paddling each way on this trip did me a great deal of good.Being Muslim, nightlife is fairly limited. About the only places to buy a beer are Petley’s Inn on the waterfront in Lamu Town, and Peponi’s Hotel in Shela. Obviously, these two places are where to meet the tourists, and the locals who are not strict Muslims. And there is a floating bar in the middle of the channel. There is also a shop in the police canteen where I bought a bottle of white wine to take back to my hotel, to accompany the delicious seafood. At Peponi’s I met a really nice couple - Chende is from Lamu and his girlfriend Ilona is half Indonesian and half Dutch.
My last night in Lamu, which was a full moon, they took me across the channel in their boat for a night on the beach: music, Kingfish cooked over a bonfire, LOTS of beer, others coming across to join us, and sleeping tents on the beach before returning to their place in Shela for coffee the next morning. It was wonderful. 
In all, it was a peaceful and relaxing week.
Now I’m back at work, and things are hectic. We have a lot of journalists documenting the situation here on the east side of Congo (MSF is a strong advocate of bringing the attention of the public to ignored or forgotten conflicts which continue to endanger local populations). There are also technical visits from headquarters medical specialists, and our new department head getting to know the mission of Congo. I also have a small team from Paris here for three weeks to help advance the work (and hopefully get a decision from Paris) concerning our salary and job function grill, the policy concerning our remuneration of employees of the state health system working with us, and some other human resource issues. I’m really happy that they are here to work on these things. But I must admit that I am struggling to keep up with my daily work and the work required on these issues. I knew that this would be the case – that’s why I took my break BEFORE they arrived.
And after the departure of the team from Paris, my colleague taking care of finances will be leaving on break. I will be covering for her. A mission of 1 year in a war situation is not the easiest way of earning a living. I knew this already and I wouldn’t change what I do for anything, but I will really appreciate a 2 month pause starting in August before returning to work somewhere else.
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