Juliet's Kenya Days blog

Letter from Graham to Diane & Sydney 16 Dec 1976 –

Judy and Juliet have been making dolls clothes and all the girls have been doing secret things for Christmas. We have to walk about the house cautiously and look out for notices on doors that ask us to knock before going in. They seem to be so enthusiastic about it all although I don’t try to encourage them.

Diary entry by Juliet 31 Dec 1976 –

At the moment it is 8:25pm and there is a terrific thunderstorm; the rain is pelting down and I have got only a candle burning in a Tia Maria bottle. Every few minutes there are blinding flashes of lightening so that for a few moments the land is lit up. Next comes the claps of thunder rolling around overhead. Mum & Dad were out doing shopping and business in Nairobi so I started to make the dolls in the set of three that were sent to us from Nanny & Grandad Pring.

Diary entry by Juliet 1 Jan 1977 –

My alarm did go off as planned before midnight last night but I didn’t manage to stay awake. Today I played with Catherine most of the day although it was very muddy from yesterday’s rain. All the plants in my garden have revived and I tilled the ground with a jembe. A geranium that I thought was dead because termites had eaten it has sprouted and so have lots of weeds ! Catherine and I went bike riding down onto the lower field to look for mushrooms but we didn’t find any. The lower field consists of a rugby pitch, two football pitches and two hockey pitches as well as a 1000m running track with hurdles, long jump, high jump and pole vaulting areas. To get to this field you go down the hill past the Williams (Fred, Joy, Rachel and John), turn right past the Industrial Arts Centre, continue on past the hall and Pam & Colin Kinshott’s house, then straight on down the hill. On these fields is where Alex often exercises the ponies. We were going to play badminton but the hall was locked. In the afternoon we went swimming and I did 2 lengths breaststroke in 51 seconds according to Mummy. Catherine’s Mum had made a Christmas cake which had marzipan in it. They started the cake today but no-one liked the marzipan so I had it all !

Stills from our ciné film. Pic left: L-R Helen, Jane Stevenson & Fiona. Pic right: L-R Juliet, Catherine Stevenson & Helen.

Diary entry by Juliet 4 Jan 1977 –

Today we found some safari ants or ‘siafu’ by a tree. They had made a nest and were carrying their eggs into it. Covering the mouths of the holes were the huge soldier ants who are triple the size of the ordinary ones. When we threw a stick or stone into the midst of them they seemed to become one single, moving mass of ants. They are a nuisance because they pinch you very hard with large pincers at their fore. Daddy poured boiling water on them and they are now on the move.

Diary entry by Juliet 6 Jan 1977 –

Today we went swimming with Catherine Stevenson. We played picking up a ten cent coin from the floor of the pool. Catherine and I used our goggles and Helen used Catherine’s flippers. Catherine and I spoke to each other under water – we shouted the words but they had to be simple . This morning we made a wigwam from the four 20ft bamboo poles which we placed around the flame tree. We then covered the sides with kangas, kikois, blankets and towels and made beds out of cushions, a table out of a cardboard box and cupboards out of upturned stools. Helen made a house on the verandah and we put the tent up for Fiona and Jane. Helen and Fiona are sleeping in the tent tonight.

Diary entry by Juliet 7 Jan 1977 –

Today we went swimming twice. In the afternoon all the Stevensons came and we met Grace, Ruth, Carol and Gathoni Wangombe and their cousin Wangeshi and friend Wangari Gachui. Helen gave a mini buffet in her verandah house and Catherine bought some food from her home. We made a herb tea out of thyme, parsley, cornflour, cinnamon, clove, Spanish paprika, tea, coffee, jasmine tea, salt, pepper, saccharine, sage, a kei apple and hot water. We stirred all this together and got people to taste it !

Diary entry by Juliet 8 Jan 1977 –

We went swimming again and Fiona learned to jump in and Helen learned to dive in. I had a nice time diving off the spring board.