First impressions

This is about first impressions so lots of generalisations. I apologise in advance if this isn't the Kenya / Nairobi you know, but this is my blog, so I can say what I like - within reason.

Arrived Nairobi Jomo Kenyatta International Airport just after 9 pm on Saturday. Breezed through immigration and customs. (I gather that had I been travelling on a Nigerian passport, the experience might have been very different.). 

First impression of Kenyans: Kenyans are very friendly to visitors - everyone responds to a smile, says hello and welcome, and offers assistance. The staff at the luggage belt kept offering to help me with my bags, expressing concern that I was too small to manage my 4 large suitcases (I packed the kitchen sink, remember?). The customs lady decided not to open my bags so as not to delay me as 'it is getting late'. I was out of the airport in no time and immediately found a smiling gentleman called Josephat holding a sign with 'Dr Ebere IRC' on it. I must say that I was thrilled to bits! I have always wanted to be one of those people met at the airport by official-looking people holding signs! I can now tick this one off my bucket list - simple pleasures. 

Observation: despite my insistence, everyone I've been introduced to insist on calling me 'Dr Ebere' rather than just Ebere. I wonder why ...

I was whisked away in a Princess Taxi towards my accommodation. I say whisked away, more like crawling out - traffic at JKIA is pretty similar to that at any other major airport - gridlocked most of the time. My driver, called Bernard, was ever so nice and offered advice on dos and don't, brought me up to speed on the political situation and terrorist threats, and we learned that we had a UK university in common - his dad and I both studied for Masters degrees at Newcastle University (not at the same time I might add!)

Staff at the serviced apartment that is to be my home for the next few months were roused from their beds and without complaint, between them and Bernard, my suitcases were carried up 4 flights of stairs to what I have decided to call 'the penthouse suite'. Too dark and late to get any further feel for the place but reinforced my opinion that Kenyans are nice people. 

One final bedtime impression - this is coldest place in Africa that I've visited so far!

Went for a stroll the next morning and was again met by friendly faces. Discovered the apartment complex has a swimming pool, but decided it's too cold to take a dip.

The coffee shops and restaurants (there are a lot of Chinese restaurants about this area) were teaming with Kenyans out for Sunday brunch. I am told that this is the norm.

Monday morning - driver arrives a little late to pick me up and I discover that IRC had moved offices over the weekend. I arrived at the swanky new building amid chaos of hanging wires, unpacked crates and on and off intranet service. They must have been really pissed off to have to babysit a newcomer as well, but they didn't show it, everyone was nice and friendly. 

Sat in on an SMT meeting and learned some fascinating facts about Kenyan government gender equity initiatives; do you know that there is a '2/3 rule' in Kenya which requires that no senior management / leadership positions should be more than 2/3 one gender? Isn't that amazing? And I gather the county governments are actually making progress on this agenda. As an unapologetic feminist, I think this is wonderful and I love Kenya for doing this!

Downside - Nairobi is colder than I anticipated and essentials are rather expensive! 

Oh, I went to the bank at lunchtime to open an account and I think the young clerk fancies me - LOL! When you're approaching 50 and have been married for over 2 decades this is quite flattering. I didn't have the right documents, so I have to go back tomorrow and the young fellow gave me his personal mobile no ...

I think I'm going to like this place. Now if only I could find a place to buy a decent bottle of Merlot ...

Getting here

So I got the job and re-negotiated the terms of reference and was asked how 'soon can you get out there?' This was in January. I just got here 2 days ago!

Between January and last week, all sorts of things happened: 

Amazing daughter got into the drama school of her choice. We (I say we because every 'stage mum' knows that we might not be in front of the audition panel ourselves, but we live through every audition with our children), we applied to 6 schools, decided to audition for our top 3 and were offered places in 2. We accepted amazing daughter's top choice

So she's sorted and  I don't feel guilty going off on my adventure. I informed my employers I would be ready to leave by mid-February. Being a bit of a control freak, I went into full planning mode:

• I did 'le big shop' (almost had to hire the Costco self-drive van!) 
• Cooked enough food to feed an army for 6 months and filled the freezer
• Bought all amazing daughter's drama school supplies (apologies to the drama school admin for hounding them for information while they were still auditioning). 
• Started hunting for accommodation for amazing daughter for September (had to give this one up as Estate Agents and landlords just were not willing to hold a flat for me until September unless I actually started paying rent right away!)
• Got a health check and updated all my vaccinations (this is important folks; do as I say AND do, get your jabs if you're planning an adventure!)
• Invited all my friends for a big dinner and announced my imminent departure 
• Filled a gazillion forms for my employer in line with our 'international secondment policy'
• Bought a couple of new suitcases, read up a little bit on Kenya and waited ...

And waited...

For a work permit! 

Then the call from our international office at the end of March 'when do you want to fly out to Nairobi?’ the cheerful officer asks. Since this was just a few days before Easter, I opted for the weekend after Easter, mid-April.

Re-packed my suitcase, invited more friends over for dinner; went for my office leaving lunch, then...

Oops, we applied for the wrong permit; we need a 'Special Pass, not a Work Permit! How long will that take? Anything from 2 weeks to 6 months!!! Two weeks to 6 months!! I this point I was introduced to my first Kenyan phrase: 'pole pole' (means slowly slowly....)

Well it took another 6 weeks, but here I am, in Kenya, with the right paperwork, about to embark on my adventure

Now if I was one of those people who believe in signs and portends, I should still be home in Yorkshire (which I hear is having nicer weather than Nairobi right now). After all the delays for the paperwork, I was set to travel only for the British Airways website to refuse to allow me to check-in online. Called their customer service and spent one hour on the phone with the most incompetent call-handler in the universe who still didn't fix things. Spent over 4 hours in total on the phone with British Airways in the 24 hours preceding my departure before the problem was resolved. Then, just 3 hours before I was due to fly from Leeds to London on the first leg of my journey, British Airways cancelled the flight!!! You couldn't make it up!! 

But not being superstitious, I hopped on a train with my 4 large suitcases (never understood the concept of travelling light; I might actually need that kitchen sink!) and made it to London and caught the connecting flight to Kenya

Downside, family have already worked their way through most of the 6 months worth of food in the freezer, so long-suffering darling husband is going to have to brush up his culinary skills!

Next post, first impressions

Introduction

First of all, the title of this blog is deceptive; the only thing that's true is that I'm in Kenya. I'm not on a 'gap' - I'm still doing my regular job,  and I'm not here for a year. But since I never had a 'gap year' and a change is as good as a break, I'm calling this my gap year. 

A bit about me

My name is Ebere. I'm on the right side of 45 ( so right, I've started planning my 50th birthday!); I'm a women, correction, I'm a Phenomenal Woman (see why http://www.oprah.com/spirit/Phenomenal-Woman-by-Maya-Angelou; http://youtu.be/VeFfhH83_RE); mother to the most amazing daughter anyone could pray for; wife to a very long-suffering husband; a public health physician; and a stage mum (did I mention that said amazing daughter acts, sings and dances?).   

Why am I in Kenya?

I'm still asking myself that question! But here's how I got here. This is a long story, over 2 decades in the making. You might wish to skip ahead a bit. 

I've been a public health physician now for coming up to 20 years, working almost entirely in Yorkshire, the best county in England! I, like many other expatriates in Britain,  had a 'five year plan'.  In fact, I've had many '5 year plans'. You may guess from my name that I'm not a born Yorkshire lass, I'm a Londoner! Actually, I was born in London to Nigerian parents of Igbo ethnicity and spent most of my formative years in igboland in South East Nigeria, so awum onye Igbo. But I digress, back to the 5 year plan. 

 

My first '5 year plan' started right after graduating from medical school; I was going to spend a few years in specialist training in internal medicine in the U.S. or the UK. Three of those 5 years went according to plan in the UK (I also got married, which wasn't in the plan, but was a fantastic bonus). Then I realised that I actually didn't want to spend my life in internal medicine and I had no idea what I wanted to do. I resigned from my training programme! I did locums for a while and decided to study for the Diploma in Tropical Medicine & Hygiene from the Liverpool school of Tropical Medicine while deciding on an alternative career. During that course, I was introduced to community medicine and communicable disease control and I found my professional home. 

Second 5 year plan - specialise in communicable disease control. Again, this went more or less according to plan, with the added bonus of becoming a mother along the way (did I mention my amazing daughter?). Qualified as a consultant in communicable disease control and have worked in this field ever since. 

There was a third 5 year plan which was to take my public health skills and work in international health. That plan was suspended so I could be mum to said amazing daughter. So third 5 year plan stayed on the back burner for over a decade. Amazing daughter is now getting ready to fly the nest, so a year ago, I dusted off 5 year plan no 3 and decided to work towards getting into international health:

Step 1: Spring 2014, I went back to the place where I had my first career 'eureka moment' the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine (it's an amazing institution see http://www.lstmliverpool.ac.uk) and applied for the international health consultancy course, directed by the wonderful Dr Vicki Doyle (http://www.lstmed.ac.uk/learning-teaching/lstm-courses/short-courses/mg01-international-health-consultancy//).

Step 2: Get the family's support. That was amazingly easy! Husband said 'what took you so long, you've talked about it long enough'; daughter said 'go for it mummy!'

Step 3: Stop procrastinating Ebere (have I said how brilliant I am at procrastination?)  and make a public commitment! At TedXeuston (surely everyone knows about TedXEuston http://tedxeuston.com , curated by my brothers from another mother Chikwe Ihekweazu & Ike Anya?) I committed to move work in international health on the African continent within the next 5 years (5 year plan no 4). 

Now, moving into international health is not easy when you are not in the first flushes of youth and would rather not work for peanuts - I have responsibilities, bills (did I mention amazing daughter is an actor? somebody has to feed her ...). Jobs available at entry level don't pay much if at all and higher paid jobs want people with 10 years experience in international health. So I bought a lottery ticket and hoped to win enough to take an unpaid job. Shock- horror, I did not win the lottery!! Just as I was about to give up in despair, my current employer advertised an internal secondment to work in global health with the opportunity to work in Africa or the Caribbean. I applied - first job application in over 10 years (thank you Vicki and Emma from LSTM for the CV writing tips) and I got the secondment!

And that's how I got here! 

The actual logistics of getting from job offer to physically arriving in Nairobi will be the next instalment.