Adrian Holmes

I was watching Stargate SG1 today - on DVD. This time it was "Memento Mori" which was about one of the main characters losing her memory and ending up working in a greasy spoon. There was a very cute actor playing the role of a peeler there. It was Adrian Holmes, a British actor born in Wrexham, North Wales. I tried to look him up but it appeared that he is not popular.

However he is gorgeous with his utterly gorgeous afro hairdo! :-)

Shiku & her mammy

The latest picture of Shiku and her mother :-)

Shiku was saying that Mami is recovering quite well and that her leg is now settled - it ll be a while before she can walk again without the assistance of her crutch.

Sign Language & Deaf Studies at Addis Ababa

Good news from Ethiopia!

Eyasu Tamene, a linguist working with Ethiopian Deaf Association, have informed me that Addis Ababa University will start the new degree in Sign Language and Deaf Studies next year. That means there is now an option for Deaf people in Eastern Africa to develop their skills - Africa do need more sign linguists, especially the ones who are Deaf and fluent in their signed languages.

Shiku and I are trying to support two smart Kenyans to become qualified linguists - Austine Otieno at Maseno and our Evans who is now at Machakos Teachers College being trained to be a P1 teacher. Austine have applied for a place at KISE to do the Special Education Diploma which he hope to continue on at Kenyatta University. Or even at AAU! We will see how we can afford it for Austine and Evans in Addis Ababa - fingers crossed.

The pic below is the Addis Ababa University - that palace used to be one of the Emperor's Palaces. Nice statues by the way!

update on my Kenyan family

Shiku's mother have broken her leg two weeks ago - she ended up at Kerugoya District Hospital. It was really awful for the family there. Poor Shiku managed to keep her wit around - keeping everyone busy etc.

Yesterday Mami (thats what Shiku calls her mother) had the operation at Kerugoya District - it was successful and the surgeon was very happy with everything. Mami is now positive as she was worried that she might never walk again - but with the money found for the operation, things are okay for now.

Today Kamau have harvested maize on Mami's plot today and we have three bags full now :-)

here is the video of Mami's plot (when maize were not ready!) which was taken way back in June this year when I visited Kerugoya.

Mount Mary Festival in Bombay

I subscribe to Mumbai Daily Photos - whoever runs the website is a really cool photographer

There is a fab photo taken at Mount Mary Festival - its to pay the tribunes to the Blessed Virgin - there's a interesting legend behind the statue that was brought over by the Jesuits.

Lamu

Lamu!

It is a magical island off Kenya's North Coast - an old Arab city, full of history and magic. Way back in 2000, when Monica and I have decided to go around Kenya for a week in the middle of our work at Kerugoya School for the Deaf - it would be silly if we come to Kenya and stay in Kerugoya all the time when there's so much to visit.

We went to Mombasa - it was a big let-down for us - its commercialised and it's full of tourists etc. I said to Momoca that we have to go up the Coast to Lamu to see if it's any good as there were a lot of good reviews.

It turned out that the coast road was fucked up because of heavy rain etc, Monica and I decided to go by plane (how European!) - it wasn't cheap but we were glad we went for it.

Our few-days stay at Lamu was amazing - it was a beautiful place - great to rest and recharge our batteries etc - it helped me to get over my Welsh love a bit!

Two Deaf Teachers at Humble Hearts

Tobias Ochieng & Mary are the two Deaf teachers working at Humble Hearts School in the Donholm area of Nairobi. The school was set up by Beatrice Anunda and her family to support the poor children of Donholm.

I am very delighted that more and more deaf schools have started to employ Deaf teachers - it is very important for Deaf children to have positive role models. There are 10 members of staff at Maseno School for the Deaf who are Deaf which is excellent.

But the battle is not over yet - Deaf teachers needs more training, more understanding of sign bilingualism, how to develop bilingual education and training in KSL linguistics which is very important for Deaf pupils and the deaf community.

Humble Hearts is proud of the fact that it is one of a few sign bilingual schools in Kenya - along with Kenya Christian School for the Deaf and Kisii School for the Deaf.