Arnica Hof, House of colours and Mocha the kenyan village.

Hilde and her husband Michel are the heads of Arnica Hof and House of Colours.
I met Hilde the other week at the Wereldwerf in Olen. She told me something about an international familycamp and an authentic kenyan village they have built at Arnica Hof. During my stay in Le Pinte I´ve got the invitation for the familycamp and I decided to go there. I called Hilde to ask her if I could, instead of paying for food and accommodation, help to organize the meeting. Hilde agreed. On Friday morning I sat off to Arnica Hof. Arnica Hof is situated between Hoogstraten and Merksplas in the north of Belgium in a very quite area with some beautiful oak tree alleys.
Arnica Hof itself is a flat plot of land with a little lake on the grounds. As soon as you open the gate to enter the grounds you´ll see horses, dunkeys, ponies, goates and some chickens. Chickens seem to be very common in Belgium. There are chickens everywhere I go.
I helped Hilde with some shopping and afterwards she showed me the house of colours in Turnhout. The house of colours is a meeting point open to everyone. It is a small bar in the center of Turnhout who´s got an international touch. Everybody I met is friendly and helpful. So is Michel who is actually running the house of colours.

But back to Arnica Hof. There is a young guy living in a caravan who turned up one day with horses and three dogs. Theo is his name. He didn´t know where to go but Hilde gave hin a home. Ever since Arnica Hof turned into a colourful place. The house itself is to accomodate two refugees, Mont and Josphat both from Keyia.
On Saturday morning I left early to go to the airport in Charleroi 45 min. south of Brussel.
There were 5 people to pic up. It should have been 8 but one of them lost the passport at the airport in Belfast . They will come later.
At first we were all introducing ourselfs, where we came from why we joined in etc. These guys are actually all living in Belfast, but only one of them, Aiden,is Irish. Chris is from London, Stan from South Africa and Endrew and James, twins by the way, from Kenia. They want to open up a house of colours in Belfast similar to the place here.
On Sunday David and his two daughters joined us. They are originally from Ruanda, but were living a long time in Egypt. But now like the others live in Belfast.
The next four days we had workshops like social painting and drumming going on. The social painting was actually very interesting. You have to imagine: One group each of four people have a blank sheat of paper in front of them. Now without saying a word everybody is painting what ever comes into his mind. It started with some shy lines, but later on we had braver things like a "peaceful explosion" etc.
going on. At the end when there was no more space on the sheat the first impression is just a abstract piece of art. But after we had accentuated some of the details, it was really a picture. Even the pictures of both groups hold up together. Amazing.

Another highlight was the drumming. Aiden is a passionate drummer. Drumming and rhythm is his live. He showed all of us the basics how to use a drumm. We had more than one drumm session going. Stan from South Africa was as well a fantastic drummer who gave the whole thing a brilliant touch. The twins, good musicians as well, joined us when ever possible with a guitar or the piano.
But, THE reason why I came here was the Mocha village. It is a village built like they do in Kenya. Josphat welcomed us and showed us around. The kitchen with an open fireplace on the ground, The place outside where the head of the family spend most of the time of the day to see what is happening, the actual house which is divided in a living room and a sleeping room. Most families use one oil lamp for both rooms. So imagine when you want to study. We carried as well water from the lake to the village to get the impression how hard it is to carry every drop of water you need. In Kenya a distance of 10 to 15 miles is normal. and we talk about water which is used by animals and used to wash clothes etc. The same water is used for cooking and drinking.
And the garden, the garden has to be watered as well with water carried from the lake in cans .
I was sitting there listening to all the explanations and was thinking, this would be a perfect place to build a so called rope pump. I have this idea in my mind since last year, and that is actually exactly what I would like to do in Africa. Building a pump mostly out of trash and combine it with a water irrigation system. I asked Hilde what she is thinking about this idea, and she was very interested. If you are interested as well: there will be a extra page about how to build a rope pump in this blog.
The four days of the meeting were pasing by very quickly. We had dicussions about many subjects and in some points we couldn´t have been more different but still we had the feeling we are all part of the same group.
I should not forget Lucy who is from Kenya, but living in the Netherlands. She is travelling every three month to Kenia to see where money is most needed and to look for future projects. She is a woman of great knowledge with a good sence of humour. She made me laugh until my stomach started to hurt.
And Paul who is the one having contacts to the government.
As a bonus on the last evening we witnessed the birth of two goats. Amazing, 10 min after birth they started to walk on their own legs.
At last we hired a van and at 3.00am on Wednesday morning I gave them all a lift back to the airport.
After all I have to say I came to this place by my own and left with the knowledge I have won some friends.
Thank you all very much for the good time we have spent together.
Ps. Not to forget Lars the dog who always had something to tell.
To see more pictures click on the link below.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/constructafrica/sets/72157624369055089/