This year, we found a great simple nativity play – “Our First Nativity” which was really effective. I attended all 5 lives performances at the various churches and can confirm -

• incredible audiences! – parents, relatives and friends came out in droves this year, there were over 70 people at some of the venues.
• some amazing Oscar nominations -

1. the pregnant Mary with a cushion up her dress, who sat back and stroked her bump – method acting at its best
2. the wise man who shouted, ‘Mum, Dad, it’s my bit. Are you watching?’
3. the angel who performed an energetic Michael Jackson inspired solo disco routine
4. the Joseph who also boogied his way through the show

• Universal praise for the presentations, the children and the staff.

The guest arrived yesterday at Paintpots Mansions in the back of a van, taped up in a large cardboard box.

By the time I emerged downstairs for breakfast this morning, Mrs W had already adopted her alter ego and was posing out on the drive by the Paintpots mobile.

I hope she doesn’t scare the children in this guise. It terrified me!

I arranged a “Doodle” poll where between us we identified a “window” of availability in the first week of December. Our first project planning meeting will be in Vienna. We will arrange our activities for the rest of the project and get to visit some of the nursery facilities and local places of interest. Mrs W will accompany myself on this first meeting after which we will invite other interested staff members to apply for a trip.

We look forward to our turn at hosting – with the opportunity to show our friends from Europe around the area. We are also excited about the opportunities for our children to learn about other cultures and to extend our skype activities to other countries.

As lead country, we are investigating web hosting facilities for us all to add our contributions on the project. Quotes so far seem quite expensive and probably beyond our budget so we will keep looking.

Now everything is confirmed, I am sure it will be a really positive and exciting opportunity for us all to participate in this experience.

Anyway, it’s started to finally turn a little cooler this week. And it seems that parents thoughts have turned to winter attire. I know this because every time I enter a nursery or preschool I am presented with a fashion show of jumpers, shoes and coats. Generally, boys shoes flash or have Ben 10 imprinted on them somewhere, or a dinosaur. Little girls shoes are often pink with maybe flowers, butterflies and sparkle.

One girl was so excited she ran into the room on arrival, announcing very excitedly – “I have a new coat. Mummy bought it.” She ran back to the coat peg to get it and brought it in to show me. It was the brightest pink, with flowers on.  “We mustn’t jump in muddy puddles in case we dirty it.” she whispered to me conspiratorially.  Like I’m the sort of person to entice anyone into jumping in muddy puddles!

We are coming to the end of the apple crop. We have been submerged in an avalanche of fruit this year. Apple crumble has been a staple of home and nursery menus for some time. We have had a constantly full fruit bowl as well.

It is turning into a season of mists and mellow fruitfulness.

It’s very exciting to plan a new venture in the area to complement our existing settings. We already have a list of 26 families who have expressed an interest and 3 completed application forms.

We have staff raring to go and a lock-up full of little chairs, toys, books, scooters and other resources but there are a hundred jobs on the “set up a new preschool” list to get started on.

It was really helpful having the opportunity to test-run the site in the summer when the Howard Road preschool decamped there whilst we had our extension built. We got to know the staff who are really friendly and helpful.

We are eager to join the St Marks School community.

If you are looking for a preschool place in Shirley after Christmas, get your application in fast!

Having many years’ experience of car boot sales, myself and Mrs PaintPots know where to go; which stalls to avoid and how to haggle.

So here are a few observations -

• Choose your car boot sale area – head for “upmarket”
• Seek out families rather than “professionals”
• Look for someone who is fed up and looking to leave – they don’t want to take stuff home and are open to offers
• Do a deal – prices are always cheaper if you buy a bundle of items rather than 1 or 2 (why? – who knows!)
• Mention that you are buying for a pre-school (not a nursery), this even gets stuff thrown in for free!
• Check out prices at different stalls first before buying. Prices vary wildly and for no apparent reason

Why are there always drinking games and foot spas on sale? – not to mention items of a personal nature that no one in their right mind would ever purchase second hand! And what about the pasting tables covered in rusty junk that looks like it has been swept up from a garage floor?

Car boot sales – you’ve got to love them!

Part way through, a family of warthogs decided to run in have a drink and wander off into the bush again.  After elephants we had a quick lunch followed by the giraffe centre.

Similar to the elephants, the giraffes don’t do a great deal except eat the proffered feed out of your hand, or in the disgusting case of a loony American woman, lick the maize and molasses pellet from between your teeth! Spot Tessa Teddy – the Paintpots travel bear in the photo!

We drove back into Nairobi. Jacob dropped us off at New Life Homes where we spent a couple of hours feeding and cuddling babies. We walked back to our hotel, picked up our bags and waited for Francis to take us to the airport. Bags loaded into the taxi, we immediately drove straight into a traffic jam, 3 to 4 (sometimes 5) vehicles abreast. We were going nowhere.

Buses bumped across kerbs and the dirt tracks at the side of the road.  Francis manoeuvred his way through the mayhem then when the opportunity arose, he suddenly shot off down a side road which was more crater than road. He swerved round these. By the British High Commission he nearly grounded us as we clunked over road humps. Eventually we popped out onto the main airport road and arrived shortly afterwards at domestic arrivals.

Pippa’s flight was delayed by an hour due to the arrival of the President of Tanzania. An old friend of Pippa’s joined us as we waited. He hadn’t seen her for 6 years. When her plane finally arrived, they had a few moments of reunion before we crossed the road to international departures. The staff assured Pippa that she could check her bags in and come back out to talk to her friend. As usual, there was no system and it took over an hour to check in. Pippa was becoming understandably frustrated and upset. Having finally deposited our bags, she headed for the exit, only to be told she was not permitted to leave the building. All she could do was wave through the glass – a huge disappointment.

And that was it. After something to eat with our pooled kitty of remaining shillings we boarded the plane towards midnight. We were soon airborne. Several hours later, I woke up to the announcement that we were landing at Heathrow.

We had witnessed such poverty and sickness and heard tales of corruption, exploitation, greed and selfishness. This, as in so many other cultures, is the paradox, with flat screen tvs on sale for those driving Mercedes, a mile up the road from the utter poverty of those who have nothing and are dying.

And yet, a common strand in all the projects we encountered, was hope. Lives are being saved, children are being fed, nursed and educated, hopefully out of the cycle of poverty. Each one of these children is precious, each life significant and each act of kindness in the torrent of need and deprivation, is redemptive.

Firstly we had all been invited to a breakfast meeting at ICRI, where I had visited the day before. We checked out of the hotel but left our bags. A taxi arrived and I showed the driver the directions I had been given.  The driver got lost! Fortunately I had Janet’s mobile number and we eventually managed to navigate to ICRI 20 minutes late, where there was a waiting reception of early years teachers.

Janet gave us a quick tour of the building outlining their plans for development. I loaded my teaching materials and videos from a memory stick onto their computer and was then summoned to the main room where everyone was seated ready for the teaching session from the British “experts”. This was news to us!

Once again we were given a printed schedule of events. There then followed the customary introductions and the floor was mine. The Kenyans sat with pens poised ready for the pearls of wisdom to drop from my lips. I ended up giving an impromptu shortened version of the talk I had given at New Life Homes in Kisumu, the previous week. This was followed by a Q&A session – Do we have child abuse in the UK? What can be done to improve the quality of teaching on a ratio of 1:45?

We then dashed for the door, stopping for a group photo, before jumping back in the taxi and heading off to the elephant orphanage in time for the show at 11 o’clock.

With the mix up over directions, we had decided to stick with the taxi driver who was actually there with us rather than Francis we had booked to pick us up and take us on to the elephants. We cancelled Francis and Jacob drove us for the rest of the morning. As I was in the front again, I struck up a conversation with him. He told us a remarkable story.

He had suffered a terrible road accident several years ago in a matatu (minibus) which had been hit by a bus. The doctors in the hospital told him that his leg would have to be amputated. Jacob asked the surgeon how many wheels he had on his car. The reply was  5, 4 and 1 spare. Jacob said this was the correct answer and that if the Japanese were intelligent enough to provide a spare then he was sure that his God would also have thought to provide him with a third leg in the event that one got damaged. According to Jacob, the surgeon referred him to a psychiatrist. He was found to be of sound mind. A few days later, on examination, X-rays of his injured leg showed that the breaks had all healed miraculously. His leg was saved and in time he was able to walk again unaided.  Not the usual sort of banter you have with a cabbie!

Ken is a very interesting and charismatic character. I liked him a lot. A trained lawyer, he has worked in Early Years for many years. He shares his home life between the US and Sweden. Last year he had a brain tumour removed. ICRI works in over 50 different countries to improve Early Years Care and Education for all children. His role is very influential. The next week he was meeting the Malaysian Prime Minister. He had recently been in Haiti, Nepal, Pakistan, Zimbabwe and Gambia.

While Ken met with the developer, I talked to Ben, the driver. He told me he was 1 of 9 children from the countryside north of Nairobi. He has a wife and a 2 month old son, Wesley. He finds life in Nairobi tough. That evening he had to drive us back into the city, dropping us at our hotels by 7pm, he then had to take the 4 x 4 to a garage and travel 1- 2 hours home, dependent on traffic. If he gets there after 11pm, the compound gate is locked for the night. He was afraid that if he was heard banging on the gate at that time, someone would come and rob him or possibly kill him. Such incidents are not uncommon.  He had to collect Ken from his hotel the next morning at 6:15 to take him to the American Embassy. This would mean the 1-2 hour journey from home to collect the vehicle and then a drive across the city to the hotel.  So having got home at 11, he would need to be up again at 4.

After our tour, we were seated outside on 4 plastic chairs behind the only 2 tables the school owned, donated by ICRI. The children came up, class by class and performed their songs again, followed by the parents who sang a welcome to us in Kiswahili. Pastor Stephen then stood up and in a very official way welcomed the honoured guests (us!). The chief spokesperson for the parents did likewise followed by the principal from a neighbouring school. We then introduced ourselves and thanked them for their welcome. I hope I managed to sound official in response. I congratulated them on their achievements and said that they must be very proud of their children.

We presented them with rice and maize. This had to be photographed to a chorus of cheers and ululations. We then went back inside to sign the visitors book. Stephen shared his challenges – no money, no food for the children, no resources and teachers leaving because he can’t afford to pay them. Many of the children are HIV positive. Many parental relationships fail and partners separate with children frequently being displaced. Stephen praised the community who work together to carry water each day to fill the container at the hand washing station. They also make blocks of soap for the children to use. Both of these actions have seen a huge reduction in disease.

Stephen asked the parents’ spokeswoman to join us. He told her very clearly that we had not given him any money. The only gift we had brought was the rice and maize which he had insisted we give direct to the parents. She was to go and tell the other parents this. I thought this was very astute. White faces represent wealth, donations and sadly, often corruption. We were struck by the sign above his desk – ‘Feed my starving children’

We were offered snacks of biscuits, popcorn and juice – which they obviously couldn’t afford but it would have caused offence to refuse. We did wonder how germ free it was.  After this, pastor Stephen stood up and pronounced a blessing on all of us then told us, without irony, that we were now free to leave! Outside we had to high-five what seemed like several hundred small black hands.

Driving off in a cloud of dust through the slum, scattering chickens and goats, we were pursued by a crowd of grinning children until we sped off back into Nairobi.

It had been a surreal experience and humbling to think that merely by being white and taking the time to visit, we had somehow bestowed favour and honour on this tiny endeavour to improve the lot of such an impoverished community. Their lives are incredibly challenging, they have nothing and yet there is hope, commitment and common purpose in their daily struggle. We experienced a genuine welcome and there was a lot of smiling. Are we better off in our society with all our material wealth?