School Trip to Lamu

2nd - 7th March 2011

Norwegian Community School

Grade 5-7

After several weeks of fund raising in many different and creative ways, the day of departure finally arrived! Excited and happy students and teachers.

Day 1:

Arrival at Manda airport. A ferry boat brought us from Manda island to Lamu, and we were guided to Catherine house, where we were staying. We left our luggage, went out for lunch, and watched the dhow race while waiting for food. The Maulidi Festival was celebrated during our stay, as an extra bonus, and the dhow race was one of the events of the feast.

Girls just wanna have fun :o)

The house we stayed in was great! Plenty of space, and a nice roof terrace for eating, sleeping, relaxing, playing games, and having evening devotions.

Lunch in a local restaurant. Afterwards we hired a boat to take us to the beach at Shela, and we passed some beautiful places on our way.

Day 2:

Strolling around in Lamu town. Every day we passed the shop of this talkative salesman, who just loved to dress up our kids and arrange photos.

Ready for a day of cultural experience. Visiting the museum and the fort.

The donkey race final had been cancelled, so we had to arrange our own...

Outside the fort.

Day 3:

Going by dhow to Matondoni, a small village previously known for building dhows. Now the people mostly make baskets.

Life is hard...

We were not the only visitors in Matondoni this day. Maybe this fellow wanted some baskets, too...

As we passed these hospitable people, we were invited to taste sweet pasta. Nice :o)

On our way to the beach, after our visit in Matondoni, a lovely fish dinner was prepared aboard the dhow. Delicious! And lots of fruits were served, too.

Happy teacher!

In the evening we went downtown to watch the parade. Lots of people were watching, women in fashionable buibuis, and children nicely dressed up.

Day 4:

Snorkeling in the Indian Ocean

Lionfish and other beautiful fish praising God just by being what they are :o)

Math lesson. Trying to make a symmetric picture - need to work on that...

After the snorkeling we went directly to Shela to visit Mr. Thune, who is supporting many of the archeological and cultural projects at Lamu. His house was like a museum. The children enjoyed the swimmingpool and cold sodas, and the grown-ups had a chat on the roof terrace.

Day 5:

In the morning the girls went shopping while the boys went swimming.

Buying myself some new lamps...

In the afternoon, whenthe tide was high enough to go through the shallow mangrove passage, the crew of Mr. Thune`s dhow brought to Takwa, a ruin village at Manda Island.

Mangrove seed

Group photo in front of a baobab tree in Takwa village.

One of the two wells of the village. The wells were filled with salt water when the village became overpopulated, and the inhabitants were forced to leave the village and move to Shela.

Day 6:

Leaving for the airport...

Handwritten boarding pass.

Bye for now - I`ll be back in Easter :-D