MMA

A movie from one of my two MMA classes a week. I'm improving and I do a lot of blocks and ducks. Las week I practiced take downs. This is good, and I got a lot of use of my previous judo training. MMA is really mixed martial arts!

Riding

I went on a safari last week, and ended up spending three days on horses. It was a lot of fun and I saw albino zebras for the first time. I also got up really early to milk the cows. The last day we saw a lot of animals, giraffes, zebras, warthogs, impalas and even cows and dogs on a big plain while riding. It was a lot of fun, even if my back was sore from all the riding.

Supporting mothers in Africa

Today I bought a T-shirt to support the Chase Foundations campaign to reduce maternity mortality for women in Africa. Every year in sub-saharan Africa almost 162 000 mothers die as a result of complications during pregnancy and childbirth. With this campaign AMREF aims to train 15 000 midwifes in 13 countries. One midwife can ensure the safe delivery of 100 babies every year. I think this is a cause worth supporting by buying a T-shirt for 1000 Kes.

Pad project in Destiny school in Mathare

My moms cousin contacted me from Paris. She has a connection in Sweden, that is selling washable pads. Knowing that there is a big need of pads in Destiny (I always bring a few packs when I visit), I was happy to be the connection for a pad project. Marie is writing a business plan, and I ordered some "sponsored" pads from Sweden, that I'm picking up next time I go there. I'm thinking that if these pads are good, the girls in Mathare can sew them for themselves. It would really help their situations. Now, the often have to stay at home from school every time they have their periods. The pads we got sponsored (16 of them, that are going to belong to the school) are really cute, and you can pack them and put them in a small envelope when they are used.

Start of construction

It turned out we could get enough money together to start the construction. We gave Dixon 100 000 Kes, and are planning to give him 100 000 more in two weeks. The constructions started, and it is quite amazing that it goes so fast. They are planning to be ready by the next few weeks. I got these images from Dixon (the headmaster) and are planning to visit soon so I can see the result in real life!

Next school project

The head master of the school in Mathare has now been allowed to rent a whole block of small rooms, and we need to start constructing it to classrooms. Together with other swedes in Nairobi, I'm going to try to fund the construction. It is not very expensive with Swedish standards, but it is still hard work getting the money. I'm asking my whole family to help and we have a few good sponsors that might want to give us some money. My brother did a lot of good projects when he was doing his CAS, and I have contact with a few IB students in Sweden that are working with this project and I'm hoping they could help raise the money too. I have to ask my brother for some creative ideas to help me in this project. It is also hard to find the time for all the work that needs to be done because my days are quite full as it is. I need some time to focus on the task ahead.

Disarm class with Scorpio Ltd.

Today we spent the whole day in a class that taught us how to disarm someone with a gun. I worked really hard, and was really strong. I was paired up with the teachers daughter who is one year older than me, and she knew the techniques. I got to learn a lot, met lots of nice people and trained hard. The class was all day 9-3, so now I'm a bit tired. My martial arts training was both good and bad, though I wanted to do a few moves that was not appropriate in a street fight. I need to practice more, but I felt comfortable with the gun and think I have a good chance If I'm going to need it. Of cause avoidance is the first option, to discourage the assailant is the next so this is only for when you have no other option.