KENYA - March/April 2003 

I, lived three years in Kenya (NAIROBI) in the early eighties and revisited several times after leaving. Now the first time I would travel with the wheelchair in a plane, arriving in a country where one of my best friends - Kikuyu - lived.
I e-mailed my friend the dimension of my wheelchair, the ramp needed to get in the van and got quickly the answer that everything was perfectly ready for my visit, a guestroom and bathroom on the groundfloor included. She had an airport pass to pick up the clients for her Safari business, “Not to worry, I’ll be at the plane to pick you up”, she wrote in her last e-mail. I ordered my ticket and got the confirmation that SN BRUSSELS AIRLINES would look after me – help me through customs and pick up my luggage - until I was safely in hands of my hosts in NAIROBI AIRPORT. I was convinced that all was well organised and that everyone would do what they promised - how could I be so easily mislead?

All went well till I arrived at NAIROBI AIRPORT. I had to wait to leave the plane till two little very young Africans with large badges from SWISSAIR arrived with an antique dwarf like manuel wheelchair with the rubber tires missing. My joints where swollen and painfull from the ten hour flight, my bones and back ached and I was exhausted. No sight of my friend. I hoped for the best, wriggled my rather long body in this tiny wheelchair and got wheeled to customs. It took them half an hour to let me through. After filling in my name, date and place of birth, my parents name and place - no idea - and birth date on some antique forms they let me go with a wry smile. One of the customofficers said “sorry, its because of the Iraqui war that we have to be so carefull” – I wondered what my dead parents had to do with that. I arrived at the luggage department sweating and trembling, out of breath and saw my wheelchair with all the lights on lying on its side on the luggage roller together with some spares of the wheelchair - that they obviously took apart – and my suitcase of which they broke one of the locks. Still no friend in sight.
Suddenly all went dark and I think I was unconscious for a few minutes? Seconds? when I felt my friend’s arms around my shoulders whispering in my ear “its all right now, you’re safe now”. She had ordered the little incompetent assistents from SWISSAIR to lift my wheelchair off the luggage roller and bring it close to me. I finally sat back in my comfortable buggy and could only relax when the rest of the luggage and the demounted gadgets where all back in place. SWISSAIR is definitely off my list of travel companies! How could I ever thrust them again.
All the above took more than an hour. We arrived at the van that was supposed to get me to my guestroom and there I got the following huge obstacle to overcome. The safari bus was full of seats, there where no ramps and no toolbox to take out one seat. My friend only then realised that she did not really understand my mails and had assumed that all would be well.
It took another two hours with histerical fits of laughter to get to a bed where I stayed for three days before being able to move. My african friends meant well but had absolutely no clue how to deal with such a wheelchair, they said “my god, what a machine, even our new president (Kebaki) did't get one of those”.

I did not succeed in getting better after this terrible arrival and the planned trip of seven weeks got shortened to 4 weeks. SN BRUSSELS AIRLINES put me in first class for the trip home to make up for the disaster of my arrival...
 My Kenyan sister is a great woman, she cares for her people and is the best Safari guide in Kenya. The previous visits, when things ran smoothly, she took very well care of me, invited me to a safari trip in MASAÏ land and arranged my first and only airballoon trip which I'll never forget. She was used to manual wheelchairs that fold up and was amazed by the size of my machine. Fair enough.
Alone going to Kenya, never again.
The day that I find a buddy to go back to Nairobi I will go and my dear Kenyan sister will be well prepared, that's one thing I know. If Brussels Airlines is still using SWISSAIR to help their wheelchairusers I will look for another company.

Most important luggage: wheelchair and batterycharger! Keep all demountable gadgets connected to the wheelchair together in a separate bag, headrest included, before allowing the wheelchair to be put on the airplane! And switch off the electrical parts without telling them how to switch it on otherwise you find them using your wheelchair as a toy.