Warm sunny January

The new term has began well, everyone having benefited from the Christmas break. The rains only just ended (later than last year) as we returned to school, but now most days are beautifully sunny and warm after cold early mornings. It is very strange to be missing the freezing weather and snow in England for the second consecutive year.
This term the main sport is hockey and it is quite perilous to be on duty around the school after lessons, with all the pupils brandishing their sticks wherever they go.
I've been going for jogs in the woods to join in the general post-Christmas return to fitness. Last Monday I jogged past a colobus monkey foraging amongst the trees and, unlike when I first arrived, did not stop to stare in surprise and wonder. I've also started to take all the lovely birds and butterflies for granted too; I know I will miss seeing these when I leave Kenya in the summer.
The woods at Turi School are constantly changing shape because of all the felling (for firewood) and replanting. The trees in the school grounds and much of the replanting in the wider area beyond the school consists mainly of eucalyptus, which is not indigenous and therefore not good for the wildlife. Apparently as recently as twenty years ago, most of this area was covered with trees, but has now been cleared by the timber business. The estate manager here at Turi has begun a policy of creating areas of slower growing indigenous trees (acacia, bottle brush etc), in addition to the fast growing eucalyptus, which are essential for the school's firewood. New houses being built in the school grounds all now have solar panels instead of wood fires, so perhaps in a few years the tree situation, at least within the school, will have improved.

TCP centre

The news of the Turi Children's Project is that the building is nearly completed, thanks to generous donations from many sources, and will be able to open before too long, providing services for orphans in the locality.

Today during games lessons, the pupils here played five-a-side football matches against the children from the village primary, Turi Sulguita. The haves versus the have nots.