I’m making plans for Kenya now that I have a line of contact through to the UNHCR in Geneva and their officers in Nairobi. It will be interesting to see how much of the trip from here on in can be organised remotely, particularly flights. Given my replacement credit card will only work at point of sale, not via the net nor phone, I’m having to rely entirely on our travel agent to make all my bookings.

Here’s the proposed travel schedule that should see me leaving Cape Town on the morning of Monday, 10 March.

• 10 Mar: Cape Town to J’burg, late morning.
• 11 Mar: J’burg to Nairobi
• 13 Mar: Nairobi to Lokichoggio, Kenya (leaves from Wilson Airport, Nairobi)
• 16 Mar: Lokichoggio to Nairobi
• 16 Mar: Nairobi to J’burg

I’m working on the basis that I wouldn’t need to spend more than 2 -3 days in Kakuma covering traveling time and other unforeseen logistics.

I hope to travel with Peter Mabouch, a young Sudanese refugee who had been in the Kakuma Refugee Camp since 1992. He’s been briefed by Archangelo N. Madut, or Nyuol as we’ve got to know him, a counselor/advocate based at Foundation House. Peter is keen play the role of identifying participants to the project in the camp, or alternatively, recruit others in Nairobi should we find too many limitations hindering involvement of participants in Kakuma.

At the outset of this research project for Home Lands we’d planned to look at the Thailand end of the project. With the problems in Kenya and subsequent uncertainties, it seemed unfeasible. However, being as I was in South Africa, if there were to be any possibility that I could get there, and if my colleagues back in Melbourne approved, I’d head in.

It was during the Home Lands presentation I’d made at the APC Eboard, staff and management meeting in Ithala, South Africa, that the first step to Kakuma had been taken. Not only were APC people enthusiastic about the possibility of having me there, Karen Banks and Anriette Esterhuysen were confident that our contacts through to UNHCR in Geneva would help to pin point the right people to get the necessary protocols for my visit seen to.

They were right! Karen asked me to prepare a briefing paper and after it had been sent, it was only a matter of days before we had a contact in Geneva who subsequently put me directly in touch with his colleagues in Nairobi, asking them to assist in making the necessary arrangements for my visit to Kakuma. The first thing I had to do was just get to Nairobi to ensure their support for the Home Lands project, my research trip and the logistics required to get me in and out of there.

I’ve also been in touch with James Nguo, Regional Director of the Arid Lands Information Network-Eastern Africa (ALIN) and Tony Roberts from Computer Aid, a frequent visitor to Nairobi. Given that ALIN are APC members, working with James has been entirely necessary as he’s provided views to the political situation in Kenya that are not widely known, at least not in my circles. Tony has joined the Home Lands team as part of the growing reference committee and will be an invaluable resource as I take my first steps on Kenyan soil.