I am finally visiting the land of Kenya. For years I have dreamt about this moment. As a child, this was one of those places that I learned about through books and television and could only imagine what it would be like. I am looking forward to seeing some of the notorious wildlife here in this beautiful country.
Remember our airplane is back in Uganda getting some maintenance done to it so I decided to take ground transporation to this country in the mean time. It was only a few hours to the Kenyan border, so after checking on the progress of our airplane, I took a local bus company. Welcome to Africa my friends. Remember that I keep telling you a few things about this continent – like the fact that time means nothing here, things are not always the cleanest and equipment and/or supplies are not in the best of quality…
My bus ride is expected to take seven to eight hours in total and we are already getting off to a late start. The bus is very old, very uncomfortable and has a suspension system in as bad of shape as the roads seem to be. It was quite an adventurous ‘outback’ type ride that I had to take and my bones will never forget all of the pounding that they got on this jarring ride. The only thing we were missing was a view of any animals that you might see on a real safari.
We reached Nairobi around 4:00am, so I quickly found a hotel downtown next to the bus station to catch a few hours of sleep. This hotel wasn’t half bad, there were great people working there and it was right within my budget. It was so nice to lay down in a bed after all of those hours riding in a bus that felt more like a horse’s chariot bouncing you around.
After a few hours of sleep, I was up and ready to attack another full day of mission work. I quickly showered and ate a small breakfast and went to work on finding a taxi driver who was willing to cooperate with my budget and my price. The next few days I spent running around like a madman, going from media house to media house in order to get some good coverage for our Kosovo cause. I need to stop here and thank all of the media personnel here in Nairobi for their excellent work.
I was very impressed with the determination and assertiveness that I saw in the people that I met here. They were really hard workers, strong characters and real go-getters. It looks like Kenya is one of those successful nations that not only has great people, but has great leaders as well.
Thank you to everyone at the Nation newspaper, especially Mr. Eric Shimoli (news editor) who was excited to have me there and offered his support and hard work to help out our country. He has such an awesome personality – very persistent in nature, hard working, very professional, etc. He assigned Mr. Walter Menya to my story right away. Mr. Menya was very helpful and knowledgeable about Kosovo too.
The Nation newspaper is very influential and respected here in Kenya and also has a television and radio station. Teams as dedicated, honest and hard working as this one make a big difference in their world and their communities. Thank you to all of my journalists, editors and their bosses who have helped me in our mission work.
While I was at the headquarters of the Nation (and thanks to the team who introduced me), I met with the head of their national station, NTV, Mr. Emmanuel Juma, who was interested right away in getting me an interview with his sation. Mr. Juma authorized his very determined and intellectual journalist, Mr. James Smart, to do the interview. Mr. Smart was very precise and dedicated and had an awesome personality.
Mr. Smart not only did great work covering our story with his own employer, he also called in one of his colleagues at another television station. Thank you to the television host Mr. Jasiel Njau at Good News Broadcasting or GBS TV, who graciously gave me nearly thirty minutes of airtime to speak about our country’s cause. Not only that, but he called me many times before I left his country to make sure that we could get everything accomplished. Thank you to the rest of the GBS team who were all excellent people to work with: Mr. Michael Onsaga, James Mambo, Ms. Jacquelin Gule (editor); Lilian Kabura; Mercy Munagi, Mambo Nduati and finally, Ms. Winnie Adisa, who helped out a lot.
Another great person was Mr. Charles Kyalo from Citizen TV. He was very helpful in getting Kosovo exposed to his nation. I want to also thank Mr. William Okoth with The Citizen newspaper. He was an excellent journalist who offered his time and attention to our cause.
Finally, thank you to the team at Kenya Broadcasting Company (KBC), whom I got to spend some good time talking with about our country. This station actually belongs to the government, which normally would be a little harder to deal with and to get fair coverage from. However, this great team was convinced right away that something needed to go on the local airwaves about Kosovo so that we could hurry up and get recognized by their country. People like this team make a big differnce in the world – they strive for fairness and justice no matter if they might face repurcussions from their bureaucratic bosses or not. Their broadcast was transmitted the nationwide the very next day and I was able to see it on the evening news. Thank you Mr. Danie Waitere, a political editors who, along with his coworker Ms. Wangari Kanyongo (the journalist who interviewed me) and Mr. Moses Waweru (who recorded the interview). Ms. Kanyongo is a great journalist who is very detailed, humble and knowledgeable. Each person played an excellent part in building a bridge from our nation to the people of Kenya.
Back in the print media, I enjoyed working with The Star newspaper, thanks to their editor Mr. Wycliffe Muga. He had a great character with remarkable leadership skills and gave his time, attention and dedication to making sure that Kosovo would be shared with his people. He expressed a lot of respect and admiration for what I was doing and even brought in his journalist Grace Kerongo to help with the interview. He wanted to make sure that it was collected in both written format and audiotape. People like Grace and Wycliffe are important leaders for their generation and will be remembered for a long time to come.
Over at People Newspaper, I want to thank the editor, Mr. Erick Nyakagwi and his journalist Ms. Ann Wairimu. Ann wrote an excellent article, which I was pleased to see in their newspaper the next morning. Working with great people like that makes my mission work easier and much more productive.
Thanks to Mr. Peter Orengo with The Standard. He knew a lot of information about our nation and was willing to get our intentions out there to the rest of his country.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, I was pleased to find a very accomodating and professional staff as well. Thank you to First Secretary, Mr. Fredrick L. Matwang’a; Deputy Chief of Protocol, David K. Musyoka and Samson K. Koech, Personal Assistant to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs. They all offered to help us and promised that they would bring Kosovo’s independence to the attention of their bosses.
I was able to get a lot of our mission work accomplished here in Kenya rather quickly, thanks to my taxi driver Mr. Godfrey. He knew the city very well and really helped make my time more productive. It also helped to have amazing and talented media personnel working hard on quality articles, interviews, etc. I know that our issue is certainly safe in their hands and that the people of Kenya now know about our little country Kosovo, all the way on the other side of the world.
Another amazing thing happened to me in this country was that, while grabbing a bite to eat in a restaurant after such a hectic pace of work, I was approached by a small group of people. My friends, would you believe that it was a small group of friends from back home. I was able to spend about an hour with Kadri Abazi, Fitore Hajrullahu and Orman Gogo who all work for the United Nations here in Kenya. The world feels like it just keeps getting smaller to me by the second.
I am very pleased with my visit here in Kenya. It is one of those nations that is successful and where you can see the determination to keep this country moving forward. I have met so many talented and hard working people here in Nairobi. Even the city itself is taken care of. There is lots of great architecture, good roads that are well-organized, nice green parks, etc. You can really tell that this country is a role model for Africa in many respects. It is really possible to see here what can happen when a government reduces some of the barriers to local talent and allows its own people to shine. And let’s not forget another important fact about Kenya – that it is the birthplace of Barack Obama’s father.
After working very hard on our mission here in Africa for seven months now, I wanted to finally take a small opportunity to act like a tourist. There are only a few things that I have wanted to do here in Africa that are once in a lifetime opportunities. One very important wish that I have had all along is to actually get to see some of the African wildlife. Since Kenya is my last chance to see the beautiful creatures before heading any farther north, I wanted to make sure that I would actually get to experience the many animals that this continent is famous for.
It is a Saturday here in Kenya and my mission work is completed. I have found a taxi driver who is willing to take me into the wild and experience the animals of Africa. Though the wildlife park is not far from the city, this taxi driver is a very brave man. Usually tourists rent sturdy vehicles like Land Rovers or Land Cruisers, but my budget is of course, limited, so we will see how well we can get through all of those dirt roads that are filled with potholes as tall as I am. Let’s hope that the animals don’t find us stranded on the side of the road and eat us for lunch.
We arrived to the park around noon on Saturday and my main objective for the day is to get to see a lion in real life. I have never actually seen one in this lifetime, not even in a zoo setting, so you can imagine my excitement today! As soon as we enter the park we start to encounter wildlife. Usually, animals tend to run away from us humans, but these animals must have been already used to all of the tourists. We were able to see creatures like gazelles, buffalos, ostriches, giraffes, zibras, etc… but alas, no lions yet.
My friends, it feels so good to be out here in this open land. Though I love flying more than anything in the world, it is so nice when I get to be on the ground and in the middle of nature. It is where I feel most at home and it helps to recharge my battery from time to time. I’m sure that this has to do with my being raised in the countryside, but this is part of who I am now and is truly a place where I can find true joy. Plus, it helps me get away from the routine things in life and if I didn’t connect with it every now and then I’m afraid that I would start to loose it.
So today is an amazing day for me. I am eating roasted corn and tuna fruit that I bought just before entering the park, the birds are singing, wildlife viewing is great and all of god’s creatures are running free out here. They look as though they don’t have a care in the world and I’m so happy that I get to enjoy them in their natural habitat and not in a zoo where they would be stuck in tiny little cages.
From time to time we stop the car and I am able to get out in the fresh air and feel this place. It is so beautiful; there is a nice breeze blowing and small ponds nearby where you can see the animals stop to take a drink. I am in nothing less than paradise on earth right here and I feel like I could not be happier than this moment.
After a few hours, I see many beautiful animals, but no lions. Some of them are very familiar with us humans and are not afraid to get up close to us. The zibras and giraffes stay close by and pretty much ignore us. They are more interested in grazing and feeding themselves instead. I even spot a bunch of giraffes a few meters from us who are walking one by one behind each other. I could spend days here in this environment, but it’s time for us to start heading back to Nairobi. I am kind of sad that I have not seen one lion all day long, but what can you do? At least I have seen most of the other animals.
On our way out, I spot a beautiful owl with very bright colors. He is sitting right next to the road that we are driving on. It is kind of strange to me to see him so close and to see that he is not even scared of us. He doesn’t even move at all. I even start to take pictures and he still doesn’t seem bothered by our presence. It doesn’t look like he is sick or injured or anything, but he just sits there staring at us and not moving. I go even closer to him and take more photos and that owl still doesn’t move. I at least wanted a picture of this him flying, so I had to scare him off in order to make that darn bird fly.
After chasing him away, I finally see what was really on his mind. He had been guarding his lunch from me. Underneath where he was sitting laid a dead rabbit. That owl was being stubborn and wanted to make sure that I would not take his lunch from him. So, I stopped taking pictures and left him alone to enjoy his lunch. As we drove away, I could see him flying back to his catch.
A few hundred meters later a miracle begins to happen. My friends, an animal that I have wanted to encounter for my entire lifetime is suddenly within my eyesight. Wow! A real-life lion! My heart is beating so fast and I am so excited to be having this experience. My taxi driver quickly pulls over to the side of the road, along with about five other vehicles. Soon, we start to see two more of them. I was both nervous and excited to be near them, but they did not seem to be bothered by having an audience – they were interested in more important things.
We had a front row seat to two lions fighting it out for one lioness. They were fighting and growling and things were getting very intense. The other observers and I were getting all excited. A few times we were scared though, because the lions started getting only a few meters away from us. And there I was in a taxi and all of these other people were sitting around in their sophisticated, sturdy Land Rovers and such. But by that time it didn’t matter much because the lions were more interested in fighting over this lioness thank god.
As we watched, the lioness started fighting back one of the lions while he was trying to chase away the other male lion. It looked like she had made her pick already of which lion was going to win her over. We watched this magnificent site for about an hour before we had to head back towards Nairobi. My dear friends, this was one of the most exciting experiences of my life and I will remember this moment forever.
As we were leaving the park, we got to see another set of monkeys on the way out, just running around free in nature. On my way back into town I start to feel a strong sense of accomplishment in this country – both in our mission work and in my personal dream of experiencing African wildlife. Tomorrow is Sunday, so it will be back to work as I travel to Jinja to pick up our airplane and fly to Ethiopia.
On Sunday morning I wake up and check the prices for a flight back to Jinja, Uganda. That option was quickly out of the question when I realized that last minute ticket prices are very expensive. So I decided to take a chance and check bus prices again. During the last few years, I have had to use many different types of transportation (planes, trains, boats, buses, you name it), but it seems like when you take a bus, you end up finding a lot of shady characters. This is especially the case in the U.S. with the Greyhound busline. But what can you do? When you are broke and trying to save money, you have no other options.
I find a bus that will leave at 8:00pm and it is a different company than the one that brought me out here. As I board the bus, I can already see that it is much nicer than the one that brought me out here. Thank god. Now, I can feel comfortable trying to catch some sleep. That way, I can be ready bright and early in Jinja when I have to deal with our plane. Plus, I will save money since I don’t have to pay for a hotel room.
At 5:00am, we reach our destination, but it is too early to get any business done. Thank the lord that gas stations in Africa (like most businesses) have security guards with machine guns to protect their valuables because I end up having to wait at one for two whole hours before it is finally daylight. I am hoping that today I can get our airplane, head to Entebbe to get our AVGAS (they don’t have any at the airport where our plane is being maintenanced) and start my seven-hour journey to Ethiopia.
Of course, things never go according to my schedule and when I arrive at the airport, I learn that they are still working on the plane. I am dissappointed, but hey, this is aviation and things are never as fast as the speed of the aircrafts themselves. So I try to make the most of my time by cleaning and preparing the plane while the maintenance workers are finishing up.
I was finally ready to go and that is when the big surprise hit me. Being in Africa, you never know what is going to happen, especially when you start to pay your service fees. The bill was close to $5000USD. Holy freaking hell I said. I definitely was not prepared for that as I had budgeted for the bill to be a third of that. At this point I was boiling, but I tried to stay calm.
It turns out that the company was trying to make some extra cash off of my business, but I am the wrong person to try that with folks. As we went over the bill together, part of the problem was that the careless, supposed accountants overcharged me for several things (this is a common experience down here). So the owner of TPSC of South Africa and I had to have a nice little chat about all of the nonsense charges on my bill. After finding the mistakes and negotiating the hours of labor that they charged me for, the bill was still nowhere near what I had planned for it to be and was still around $3500 USD.
I was really upset, but I told the owner that I could not pay the total bill and that my expectations had been a lot different. I told him that I would have to wait for more cash to come in from Europe and that I was totally broke in our bank account. I was very frustrated at this point, but calm as I emptied the aircraft again and left it knowing that I would have to postpone my trip to Entebbe.
Now, our mission was at the mercy of the Kosovo government. Though they had promised me some funding (which was nowhere near my requested amount) a while ago, it took them a full two months to make the decision. Even now, they were still ‘finalizing’ everything and did not have the money ready for us. I ended up waiting another six days in Jinja, wasting time and awaiting someone to execute the order and deposit the money into our bank account. Even still, this was only after intense pressure on our part.
For those six days, I waited as patiently as I could, all the while wasting the money that my brother Nazim had recently sent me. My brother works very hard, struggling to earn his own money. Yet he has always made sure not to let his brother starve down here in Africa. Folks, I get so frustrated when our government has promised us only a small amount of funds and then takes over two months to deliver it while my brother has spent several thousands of dollars on this mission.
Further, I know firsthand that Flying for Kosovo is very well-respected in Kosovo and with Albanians in general, so I can’t understand for the life of me why our government will not help our efforts out more. Our mission is so much cheaper than most other types of lobbying. Not to mention that by me being an average citizen of Kosovo, the governments and media tend to listen to me and our story more than if a government official were to do the same thing. Instead, I see so much money wasted in our government for things that are much less important than this mission. What could be more important than funding lobbying efforts around the world? Especially if it is an effort that is well respected by our country’s citizens? I shake my head at this dilemma quite often.
On Saturday, I finally get word from our assitant Lumnije Gashi that the money is being wired today via MoneyGram. There are only a few hours before the banks close here, so I must hurry to get this transaction completed. And remember, it takes forever to exchange money down here, not to mention the fact that each time that you do, you always end up losing some on both ends of the deal (services fees for the transaction, exchange rates, etc.).
Once I arrived at the airport, I was able to pay our fees in no time and TPSC was very happy to hear the news. I might mention here that I avoided taking a taxi to the airport this time and chose a MotoBike instead. I have taken them lots of times down here, but they are so much cheaper than a taxi, though they do take a lot longer to get you where you are going. At least I can use this money for something more important, like AVGAS.
After I paid TPSC for their overpriced services, I had filed our flight plans, had the plane cranked up and was ready to fly in no time. After a forty-minute flight I was landing in Entebbe at an airport that I can fuel up with AVGAS. It’s late afternoon now and too late to fly all the way to Ethiopia today, so now I have to spend more money on another hotel and wait until morning to take off – more money being wasted. At least now I am out of Jinja and some of the financial pressure is off.
After enjoying a cold coca-cola near Lake Victoria, I headed to bed early in order to get a headstart in the morning. I arrived at the airport by 7:00am, filed flight plans, paid the airport fees and fueled my plane within two hours time. Here in Entebbe, they tried to charge me 2.71 for a liter of AVGAS, but luckily I was able to negotiate it down to 2.51. Since I will need 305 liters in order to fly all the way to Addis Ababa, .20 cents off is not much of a deal. But, what choice do I have? We only have a few countries left to visit with this portion of the mission and I need to get them finished before our money runs out again.
The weather is nice today as I take off for our flight. During the next seven hours, I already know that I will need to cross many different terrains. From water to countryside to mountains, when you have a flight this long you are bound to see a lot of different landscapes. Even the weather patterns will be different – going from dry, hot weather to wet and tropical and back again.
During the last two hours of my flight, I needed to fly our baby plane as high as 12,000 feet above sea level in order to fly over the high mountain peaks. Ethiopia is home to 80% of Africa’s tallest mountains and is sometimes called ‘the roof of Africa’. For a plane our size, this is a very difficult task and I was very nervous that our small plane would not be able to make it that high. Though it was a struggle, it was also an amazing experience to fly that high and to clear those peaks for sure. I was able to see the many beautiful landscapes of Uganda, Kenya and Ethiopia.
Just south of Addis Ababa, when I was flying at those very high altitudes, it was amazing to see that people actually lived all the way up here. I was very worried that I was flying too close to them. There they were down there with their crops, farmland, cattle, etc. and because we were already at a high altitude, my baby plane had to fly very low to them. A few times I thought I would be ending up landing in their farmland because the plane couldn’t go any higher.
Thank god I finally spotted a shallow valley before hitting the rooftop of these farmer’s homes. After that, I didn’t have much time to get the plane down a 4,000 ft. descent to be able to land in Addis Ababa. Though it was a struggle to get our plane up to 12,000 ft., it also wasn’t easy to have to descend 4,000 ft. in such a short amount of time. I soon touched down in Ethiopia after sundown and cleared customs in no time. Tomorrow is another busy day of mission work, but I am looking forward to making progress again.
