Hockey Night in Kenya

Never before has a game of ice hockey been played in Kenya, or East Africa for that matter. Not until last Thursday night. Some big hotel here in Nairobi just completed building the first ice rink in East Africa, the third in all of Africa. There was a group of Canadians coming to town for some company event and a member of the Mountain Club of Kenya wanted to organize for them a hockey game. When he mentioned last week at the meeting that we would be playing a game of hockey I just about crapped my pants. Hockey in Kenya? Yup.

Try to find an ice hockey stick in Nairobi, its not gonna happen. Try to explain to a Kenyan what an ice hockey stick is, ditto. The common reply I heard from sports store guys was, “no we only carry the normal kind.” But ice hockey sticks are the normal kind! What the hell is field hockey anyway? So I went to a carpenter that has a shop around the corner from my house and gave him the measurements for a hockey stick. I ended up with a custom made stick, very nice except for a little misunderstanding about how I wanted the curve bent. I explained that I wanted the blade bent, but for some reason he thought I meant the shaft. It looked kinda funny, but it did the trick.

The game was amazing. It was supposed to be Team Canada vs. The World, but it was a little uneven in favor of Canada. It ended up being Winnepeg vs. The World and even that was pretty unfair. I pretty much carried team world and needless to say we got smoked. I had 3 out of our 4 goals and an assist, but it was no match for the 10 or so team Winnepeg scored.

The ice was a little small and they use a snow blower as a zamboni so the ice was pretty rough too. The corners were actually corners, no curves. Fighting for the puck in there was pretty interesting you can pin someone real easy. What an experience! Playing hockey with a bunch of Canadians, for a while I forgot I was even in Kenya.

We are going to organize to have a monthly hockey game from now on. This means that we have the first hockey league in Kenya, therefore it is the Kenyan National Hockey League of which I am one of the founding members. I am finally fulfilling my childhood dream of playing in the NHL. K-NHL, but still, its pretty cool.

Bozzaya

Last week I attended a meeting in Kangemi, one of the slums outside of Nairobi, where I met some of the Youth Ambassadors we have trained in that community. I am starting a new project that involves setting up a system for NOPE employees and trainees to have their own blog and obtain access to important HIV/AIDS resources and training material. It is the beginning of a new web site for NOPE designed around easily updateable content. Currently it is a nightmare to update the website so I thought I would let everyone be responsible for their own. Anyway, I went to meet some of the youth and get some of their feedback, the experience was one I will never forget. First off, they do not see too many mzungus in the slums, so my presence was a big event. The realization that these people would not have any IT skills had previously occurred to me. That was what I was there to figure out. They loved my idea, but confirmed my fear. I told them that I could show them how to use this system, its designed to be easy. Their eyes completely lit up and they all cheered for me. So that was the beginning of my ICT training program, to be initiated later this year with the launch of the new website. I believe it will make them better Ambassadors for Change (NOPE initiative) and ultimately improve our impact.

While I was in Kangemi, I met Bozzaya (on the right). He is one of our Ambassadors for Change and uses his talents to send the NOPE message of abstinence (talk to George W.) and HIV/AIDS to his community. He is a reggae artist, a pretty good one too. Living in the slums is a difficult place to start from, especially the slums in Kenya. Somehow, Bozzaya has managed to record some songs on a CD, which he gave to me on the day of my visit. He now wants me to be his manager and help him to make it big. Essentially, he wants some money, something I don’t just hand out. I would rather give him something a little more tangible, I was thinking about making some copies of his CD or something like that. Production quality aside, the songs on his CD are really good.

Bozzaya is a rough looking kid; dirty, skinny and scarred. The day I met him he was all scraped and bruised. Some kids had tried to steal his phone and beat him up real bad in the process. He still had his phone though. He used to have a problem with heavy drugs, until his best friend died right in front of him. This was the turning point for him in his life, he has since found NOPE and became an Ambassador for Change.

He invited me to one of the clubs in town last Sunday that has an open mic/talent show type night. Mostly younger people show up to this thing and Ugo and I were definitely the only white guys there. I was constantly reminded by security to watch my phone. It was funny, our presence seemed to help Bozzaya ensure his registration in the event and get an early spot. Some dancing groups were up first, they received a mild applause from the audience. Then it was Bozzaya’s turn. Several hundred people surrounded this skinny street punk with his green Ambassadors for Change t-shirt on and I wondered how he would cope. He was more worried about whether or not I could see. He was amazing! The crowd went nuts. He sang, in Kiswahili, a song about how HIV/AIDS effects everyone. “Your grandma will cry, your mother will cry, the children will cry” and he asked the audience what they would do, “will you cry?” He got down on the floor and soulfully screamed “I will cry!” It was a powerful message, exactly the type of event NOPE wants their Ambassadors to perform.

The next day he phoned me up and asked for $2000 shillings ($30cdn) so that he could record a new CD. I was not surprised, I immediately said no, but it gave me a new idea for NOPE, one that will help him and us…..

I’m a Mountaineer!!

I made it to the top of Mount Kenya…. What a trip! From the front gate we hiked 26 km horizontal, 2km vertical to an altitude of 4985 meters above sea level. Then we turned around and went back to the front gate for a total hike of 52km. The air is quite thin at the top and several members of our group experienced altitude sickness including myself. Fortunately for me I did not feel the effects until the descent so I was able to make it to the top ok. When I made it back to base camp my lungs felt like I had just smoked 40 packs of cigarettes and it really hurt to breathe.

The first two days were spent hiking to McKinders camp, which is 22km from the front gate and close to the bottom of the mountain. Through jungle, bamboo forest, plains, hills, valleys and finally jagged rocks, a hiking we went. We left Mckinders camp at 2am of the third day so that we could reach the summit for sunrise. We hiked for 4 hours in complete darkness, lead by a guide of course, under the most amazing night sky I have ever seen. When you are that high up its like you are in space. We reached point Lenana at 6am just in time for sunrise. It was incredible. From the peak you can see right across Kenya all the way to Mount Kilemandjaro, virtually the entire country.

The funny thing about the whole trip was that I was completely ill equipped to climb a mountain. I left all my winter gear at home in Canada where I thought I was leaving the cold. I hiked the mountain in sneakers made of mesh a windbreaker a few t-shirts and a sweater. Everyone thought I was nuts, but I kept saying, “its ok, I’m Canadian, I’ve waited in lines to get into bars in worse conditions than this”; Big Bucks, you bastards!

On the way up several people were getting tired and wanted to stop or go back. I felt it appropriate to share a childhood memory that might help to add motivation. As a young lad, our hockey coach, Mr. Witrick, would run us through hard drills, especially after a bad loss. If you showed any signs of fatigue he would come over and grab you by the facemask and say, “do you know why they put plastic coating on this face guard? So the puke doesn’t stick to it! Keep going.” I don’t know why I thought of that while climbing a mountain, but it helped get me to the top.

That concludes my three and a half week Christmas holiday. Wow, I’m pooped. I am actually glad to be back at work because I don’t think I can take any more. What a trip.

Birthday Beach Party

I met up with some mountain club members in Tiwi Beach on the South Coast after coming back from Lamu. The beaches there are absolutely amazing. White sand, turquoise water and palm trees for as far as the eye can see. I setup shop on the beach and started mixing drinks using coconuts as cups for a very exotic beach bevy. I got a few funny looks “that crazy drunken Canadian, there he goes again”.

Well yup, I’m 25. What a birthday party/new years party. For New Year’s Eve, the 20 (or so) of us staying at the lodge all jumped into 2 pimped out matatus that took us further down the coast to Diani Beach. That is where all of the expensive and posh beach resorts are. One of the resorts was hosting a massive beach party for the celebration. I was a little disappointed to see so many muzungus because Kenyans really know how to party, but it was fun nonetheless. We danced all night long on the beach and ended up watching the sunrise over the Indian Ocean eating fried chicken and chips. A very different but memorable birthday.