And another diary … From Western Kenya again Sunday 20 Nov The Godbotherers have incredible stamina. They are still marching around, dressed in white chanting and drumming as I drink my tea at 8.30. Mama B also restarts Ernest ( my landlord) in his bakery business. He is obviously skilled. And he cannot just spend...Read More

Last Diary ! Thursday David and I get asd far as Corner before the Davidmobile starts making some very funny noises that a car should undoubtedly not be making. I know the Sounds Of the Davidmobile. I know the click and whirr of the dodgy wheel, the stacatto beat referred to as “it is the...Read More

Another Mama Biashara Diary from November visit … nearly done now November 2016 The Final Wednesday Felista calls to ask if I can buy a phone for one of the kids from the home who was born with a hole in the heart and is now resident in Kenyatta Hosapital. I think someone is paying...Read More

Sunday I am looking through the order from Evans The Soapstone. It is a load of crap. I start packing the rest of the stuff into boxes and then – as the box of soapstone is to heavy for me to carry on a matatu – I call David. I leave the stuff with Evans...Read More

Saturday My trip to the market is irritating as a) the old bloke who makes the shakers hasn’t turned up b) the lad who makes the beaded bracelets has forgotton to make my Palestine order and c) perople will not stop bothering me. However I do find some fab Nativities from Fatuma’s Ugandan disabled group,...Read More

Thursday We get a call from the lady in Dagoretti Market who is supposed to be organising the deworming. She is hysterical. The elders of the village want to burn her, she says. They have said she is bringing the Devil (me) to poison the children. In an interesting twist, they also claim I am...Read More

DAY ONE FRIDAY A new family has arrived at DECIEP, Felista Kibe’s wonderful openhearted rescue and refuge home for orphaned, abandoned and vulnerable children in Waithake, Nairobi. Their story is as common in Kenya as typhoid in the rainy season.  Their mother died of AIDS and their father abandoned them. They were helped by a...Read More

A harvest in Tuscany. What images does that conjure? Undulating hills in autumnal sunshine?  Happy harvesters with floppy hats and brown faced smiles plucking warm fruit in scented air between laughter filled breaks for alfresco pasta and red wine? Yup. That’s more or less what I imagined too when I offered to help my friend...Read More

A wonderful serenity has taken possession of my entire soul, like these sweet mornings of spring which I enjoy with my whole heart. I am alone, and feel the charm of existence in this spot, which was created for the bliss of souls like mine. I am so happy, my dear friend, so absorbed in...Read More

Diario d’un Cuore Spezzato (Diary of a Broken Heart) I have never been to Tuscany. Not ‘real’ Tuscany. But then I have never had my heart broken either. So I have run away, from everyone and everywhere I know,   to the top of a hill in the middle of nowhere. If you can call the...Read More