Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Judy to Jo 28 Mar 1975 –

Juliet and Helen both had their school swimming galas recently but Helen developed a boil the day before hers which effectively put her out of any swimming. Boils seem more common out here – usually insect bites which become infected. Both Helen and Fiona have had them for the first time in their lives.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 3 Nov 1975 –

The children are all keeping well apart from the usual bangs and grazes. Juliet managed to graze all down one arm and the side of her back doing acrobatics too vigorously on the rope which we have fixed up in our big tree – I gather she hit the trunk at an excessive speed ! It’s a source of constant amazement to me that we don’t have any serious damage when you see what they all get up to ! Helen has an outsize cut on her knee which needs dressing twice a day. You have to be more careful about things going septic here than at home but fortunately the children take after me and heal up very quickly.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 16 Nov 1975 –

We have just finished our annual visit to the dentist – the bill will be nearly 1000/- and that is only routine checks and refilling a few holes. I think we’ll leave our next visits til we get to England again. Actually we re-claim any sum we spend over £25 on medical expenses back from the ODA so it isn’t that bad, but it still seems like a lot of money.

Letter from Graham to Grandma & Grandad 25 Jan 1976 –

Fiona has been home from school for a week because of being a bit unwell with a large boil on her arm. She is better now though we are still waiting for the boil to clear up.

Letter from Judy to Grandma & Grandad 29 Mar 1976 –

We are all well here – it is nearly the end of term and it has been a happy term for us. Graham is keeping very free of his migraine headaches – he has discovered that putting cottonwool in his ears when driving long distances prevents him getting a headache as he often used to.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 15 April 1976 –

I’m afraid this letter has been rather delayed as I succumbed to the flu that is raging around the compounds – no doubt imported from England by some careless traveller ! Fortunately none of the children caught it so I have been well looked after and Juliet had some useful experience with catering etc, especially as Sarah (our housegirl at that time, having replaced Hannah) has been away for a few days as it’s Easter. I must admit fate has conspired to make life difficult for her ! Yesterday our big casserole dish exploded in the oven – unfortunately it contained 2 and a half pints of macaroni pudding at the time – she was most disgusted especially at the mess she had to clear up.

Letter from Graham to David 12 May 1976 –

While I was away caving the rest of the family had a quiet time. Judy had bronchitis after recovering from flu so she was resting all the time. Fortunately the girls are quite capable of cooking and doing the housework.

Letter from Graham to Diane and Sydney 9 Sept 1976 –

School has started this week for all of us. Juliet went on the first day of her term despite having an earache. It got worse and she has been suffering continuously, though it’s improving since she started on her penicillin. Helen had a bad cold but it got better quickly.

Letter from Judy to Grandma & Grandad 11 Oct 1976 –

The children have all been home at different times in the past fortnight with a bad cold that has been doing the rounds – fortunately none of them felt very ill so were able to enjoy their time at home – they find their days so full when at school that they don’t have time for all their favourite hobbies. Fiona hates missing school. Graham has been keeping very well – his headaches seem to be much less frequent these days so we are all hoping he is growing out of them, and in spite of working hard he hasn’t caught the cold that everyone else has had.

Letter from Judy to Nanny & Grandad 25 Oct 1976 –

We had a pleasant half term holiday and decided not to go away at all as the kids have all had some kind of flu bug that’s been going around and appears to be highly contagious. Helen was the latest sufferer – she became quite intrigued with the state of her temperature, so we took it every four hours and discovered to our surprise that it rose from just over normal at midday to 104°F at 5pm and had dropped down to 101°F or so by the next morning. However it all cleared up after a few days and now all of them are on their feet and back at school.

Letter from Graham to Grandma & Grandad 7 Feb 1977 –

It’s most amazing to find people catching bad colds in this near-perfect weather. First Helen and now Juliet, not to mention several other young children we know. Juliet went to bed when she came home from school and promptly read, completely, a library book we got for her only this morning. It’s good that she agreed to stay in bed; that’s what cured Helen last week.

Diary entry by Helen 4 Apr 1977 –

In the night I got diarhia so I told Mum and she gave me two tablets and thankfully it went away. In the morning I felt quite ill and I was nearly sick. I didn’t have any breakfast or lunch and by supper I was very hungry so I had a piece of dry toast which filled me up a bit.

Diary entry by Helen 5 Apr 1977 –

Today the others went to The Baobab (we were on holiday at the coast with the Charitys) but I stayed at home sleeping because I was still ill. I was a bit disappointed when I heard that they had had a coke but Mum said I could have one when we went to Twiga. In the evening I had some chicken and I seemed to have got better.

Letter from Judy to Valerie & Graham 9 June 1977 –

We were glad to hear that Ian and Sue Learner are cheerful despite the hepatitis – there seems to be a lot of it around at the moment. Our neighbour has just developed it and she has a 3 week old baby and a 2 year old. Now she has to rest for months.

Letter from Juliet to Grandma & Grandad 30 June 1977 –

Helen has a slight cold and was at home from school today but doesn’t seem to be too bad as she was having a three-legged race with Fiona this afternoon; otherwise we are all well and enjoying the weather which is just right at the moment – rain during the night and sun during the day.

Diary entry by Helen 12 July 1977 –

Today we had sports practice at school and I was sick – it wasn’t very nice at all. Mrs Vandervelde took me to the toilets but I wasn’t sick again. All day I didn’t feel very well which was a pity and I was sick two other times. When I got home I went to bed and slept until the morning.

Diary entry by Helen 13 July 1977 –

Today I stayed home from school in case I was still ill – in fact I wasn’t and I helped Mum pack our crates for shipping which was okay.