Safe & sound..Nairobi-bound

Here I am, after some 8 or 9 long prep and plan months, blogging from my new short term Kenyan home.

I arrived late last night to find the driver that icipe had arranged for my airport pickup waiting outside the arrivals hall. He actually waited for sometime, as I managed to purchase a Kenyan sim card at the airport just in case I did not find an instant internet connection in icipe’s guesthouse.

The drive to Kasarani, a sub county of Nairobi was smooth, luckily my late night arrival contradicted with Nairobi’s day time heavy traffic and I managed to reach the guesthouse in no time. The driver was nice, he offered me a bottle of water and informed me about the streets he was driving around until we reached icipe’s campus where the guesthouse is also located.

Icipe’s campus is safely guarded and we had to report at the gate to the security guards. They recorded my passport number as well as my laptop serial number and then we were welcomed to proceed to the guesthouse.

The guesthouse front desk staff were waiting for me and I was directly taken to my room that felt like home at first sight.

I woke up early the next morning, excited and very eager to explore the campus and see the people I was communicating with for a long time through e-mails but never met in person before.

I saw the picture of my supervisor and our ZEFc director Prof.Dr.Christian Borgemeister (who was previously the director of icipe) hanging on the wall of the guesthouse along with the current and previous directors of icipe. The more I talk to people here, the more I know how much they appreciate and miss him. This makes me realise that change makers and fair leaders are forever appreciated for their imprints and efforts.

I had my breakfast at the dinning tables outside the canteen. I have to be honest, the weather in Nairobi right now is amazing. There is no humidity in the air, it rains now and then and it’s also sunny in a friendly way 🙂 and the cool breezes are very refreshing.

I met some of the members of my supervisory team albeit for a short period of time. I was still exhausted from the trip and had the rest of the day to spend on my own pace and space. I saw more of icipe’s campus and even more.I walked to a nearby mall, bought some apples, mandazi and water from the mall’s supermarket and had real encounters with the daily life in Kasarani as I saw people walking to and from work as well as children walking out of schools.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day. That’s all for this post. So far,everything seems so good in Marwa’s hood. Marwa is very excited and looking forward to her research stay at icipe and is blessed to be surrounded by many good people who have provided her with so much support….