Journal Entry 1 - Mombasa, 4th July 2007

Three days in and Dublin seems so far away now. Another world. Things have been busy and eventful. I've seen more in the past three days than I have over the past three years! It's so surreal yet all in front of me.

Right now I'm sitting drinking Tusker in the terrace of the Jawambe Hotel B+B. Maria is quietly strumming my bargain €60 guitar I found in the Buy and Sell before I left. Charlie is reading up on Lamu in his East African Lonely Planet and informing Craig about our third destination. I feel like we've done and seen so much in so little time and have so much ahead of us. I'm very excited.

The neon lights of Jawambe, the place we called home.

We have two days of teaching behind us and I really feel they were very successful. The teachers we taught were really interested and enthusiastic about what we were showing them. Wikipedia was definitely the highlight - understandably. (On every Camara computer that goes out to Africa there is a special Wikipedia CD-ROM included with 2,000 articles so the internet isn't needed, and the people using it can get a feel for what Wikipedia can do). The concept of there being millions and millions more articles online really wowed them. The fact that they can't afford an hour online in an internet cafe is a sad truth.

We crammed a lot into the two days we had. It was very impressive that the teachers could take so much in - something like that should take quite a few weeks as computing is so complex! Everything seemed to lead onto a million new things. You tell them to put their file into a folder and realise they don't know what a folder is. Explaining is harder than you might think. I take so much for granted! Personally I would have liked a bit more time to explain some things better but I am very very happy with what we have achieved so far. Let's hope the next three days are as successful.

Maria in the classroom in Mbehni.

Today we had a day off and spent the day sightseeing. We started the day off making a de-tour with ali though, who wanted us to take some photos and footage of a school receiving some computers. Sadly there was a bit of a communication breakdown along the way meaning things didn't go quite to plan. Still found it interesting. Ali is the coolest guy ever. You know those people who just have so much charisma and warmth and wit and just everything? That's Ali. He's funny and interesting and just so good to have around. It's great having him look out for us here, even if he does purposely teach us the wrong Swahili words and phrases to create misunderstandings and awkwardness.

After the computer detour we got into a Tuk Tuk and made the now familiar bumpy ride to Fort Jesus. The whole Tuk Tuk thing is unreal. They nearly kill about twenty people every trip but manage to somehow not. I adore them.

Tuk tuk tastic.

Anyway we headed to Fort Jesus which was fantastic. The highlight though was probably the Old Town which we visited afterwards. Really cool old shops full of people trying to get you in to buy what they have to offer. We didn't hang around there too long but hopefully we'll get back again before we head off. We stopped off along the way when we met up with Eileen, Kevin and June and some coffee in the most lovely little Swahili coffee shop. Had to remove our shoes before entering. The food there was incredible, I'm really surprising myself here.

Kevin in the cafe in the Old Town.

Last night Ali took us to quite possibly the most amazing nightclub I have ever been to - situated overlooking the Indian Ocean. It's called The Florida. I tried Tequila, drank lots of Tusker and ate the most incredible bar-b-que chicken I have ever had. Something I find myself saying everyday here. At midnight a huge ship arrived into dock and passed right by the nightclub - it was amazing.