All Posts

Now that Wenzel and Leo Ferdinand have left, the atmosphere has shifted. Everything feels a little quieter, a little slower. It’s fascinating to notice how different constellations bring out different sides in the children. The weekend, however, was anything but quiet. On Saturday morning, we joined the Ocean Sole Mamaz for a beach clean-up and collected an impressive 140 kg of rubbish. We found countless toothbrushes, plastic bottles, flip-flops, plastic bags, and lolly stic

My feet are hurting, we’ve been baking pancakes for the orphanage tomorrow.We thought it was a great idea… and we still do. But we definitely underestimated how long it would take to bake 275 pancakes with just two pans. They’re finally done now, and we’re happily ready to fall into bed, excited for tomorrow. As I was just sitting outside at the dining table writing this, an animal came and grabbed a pancake! I heard a noise, rushed into the kitchen, and there it was, a panca

We are slowly approaching a small goodbye.The past few days with Wenzel and Leo Ferdinand have been so special, and tomorrow they head back to Nairobi and then on to Europe. We won’t see them for almost seven weeks. Leo Ferdinand remarked in disbelief that the week had flown by, he can hardly believe he’s leaving tomorrow. Our last evening together was simple and perfect. Leo Ferdinand made his wonderfully sweet and salty popcorn, and we all just sat together, enjoying each o

We spent a beautiful, and slightly different, Easter here in Kilifi. Different, for example, because the chocolate melted almost as quickly as we could unwrap it. On Saturday, we spent the day preparing for Easter Sunday: painting eggs and crafting little Easter “nests.” Between these small projects, life unfolded in its gentle, joyful rhythm, moments of arts and crafts at the table, splashing in the pool, wandering along the beach, and greeting the quiet monkeys who have now

We ended the day quietly, playing cards and simply enjoying being together. Card games are always a bit of a mixed experience: on one hand, they’re fun and the kids love them; on the other, there’s almost always someone who ends up a little disappointed. That said, I’ve noticed a change, there are fewer emotional outbursts when someone isn’t winning. Slowly, they’re beginning to understand that luck plays a big role in whether you make it to the next round or not. By the even

Last night, Wenzel and Leo Ferdinand finally arrived, and with them came a wave of excitement that filled the whole house. It was so special to watch the children all together again. The energy shifted instantly: voices overlapping, stories tumbling out, everyone eager to share what they had seen, learned, and experienced. They could hardly contain themselves. Each one wanted to give advice, what to do, what not to do, what to look out for. But what struck me most was which  

We spent these past days still carrying Friday evening with us, the powerful play, the songs that lingered in our minds, and the story of Rwanda in 1994 that continued to unfold in our conversations. I was deeply impressed by how much it moved the children, not only the storyline itself, but also the remarkable performance by the children of Kivukoni School. Those impressions stayed present as the weekend unfolded in a gentler rhythm: slow mornings, arts and crafts around the

The last couple of days have felt a little slower when it comes to homeschooling. Especially Julius finds it hard to concentrate if we start too late in the day, so we were all quite happy when the weekend finally arrived. While the rain has made the evenings pleasantly cool, it has also brought along a small army of mosquitoes during the day. This morning alone I counted at least ten bites on my legs, they clearly have a favourite spot! I’ve tried all kinds of repellents, bu

It feels like we have settled into our new, beautiful home. In the mornings, we discovered huge snails in the garden after coming back from a beach clean-up. We learned that they are called Giant African land snails and can grow up to 20 cm long, quite impressive! After this little excitement, we settled into our homeschooling routine. The children are really enjoying learning more about Kenya, especially as we explore all aspects of the country in our NMG lessons (Nature, Ma

The past few days have been quiet, in the best possible way. Simply being here. We’ve slipped into an easy rhythm: school in the mornings, long afternoons at the beach, card games appearing three times a day, and evenings shaped by the sound of the ocean. In between, monkeys in the trees and the occasional night storm, often followed by a sudden electricity cut, is already part of daily life. One moment made us all smile. Walking along the beach, Assunta suddenly found hersel

The last two days have been a little quieter, but full of small moments that made them special. As usual, the kids started their mornings with homeschooling. Today, Assunta and Polyxena wrote their first test, and they both did really well. We are so proud of how committed they are. Our first real highlight came during the night: a proper storm. I woke up when the ventilator stopped. Outside, rain was pouring and the wind was howling. We opened the windows, and soon the girls

A new rhythm is quietly settling in: school in the morning, exploring in the afternoon. The day began gently, with pancakes, mango, and muesli, Assunta proudly making the pancakes. But our peaceful breakfast quickly turned into our first real lesson in tropical living. We had left the sugar on the counter, still sealed in its plastic packaging. Within minutes, tiny red ants had found their way inside. Not around it, inside it. Fascinating, and slightly unsettling at the same

After a wonderful pancake and mango breakfast, we said goodbye to Nairobi and set off for the airport, ready for the next part of our journey. At the airport I realised that I hadn’t read my emails carefully enough, our flight had been changed and was now leaving an hour later. So instead of boarding, we found ourselves waiting another hour at the small domestic terminal. There isn’t much to do there apart from waiting, but luckily we had brought a few games, so we passed the

We couldn’t have finished our stay in Nairobi any better. This afternoon the children were invited to a wonderful pool birthday party at the German School, a perfect way to cool off after a warm day. Later we met my cousin for a lovely Indian dinner, a beautiful way to end our time in this vibrant city. And the highlight was that it suddenly started to rain like a monsoon! The girls commented that here it rains for two minutes and suddenly there are 20 centimetres of water on

The last two days have been absolutely amazing. Back home in Switzerland, Assunta made a flyer about a city during one of her English lessons. The assignment was simple: create a flyer highlighting the city. She chose Nairobi and added a section called “City Highlights.” Looking at her list yesterday, we realised something quite funny, in just two days we had already visited four of the six places she had written down. It felt a little like we had accidentally turned her home

Yesterday our journey to Kenya finally began. In the morning I have to admit I felt quite tense. My mind was full of questions: Will we make the flight? Will everything be on time? Will we catch the connecting flight? Will the luggage be too heavy? Will something go wrong along the way? But once we had checked in our bags, arrived at the gate on time, and the plane to Frankfurt took off exactly as scheduled, we all started to relax. There were also some lovely little moments

We started the day with a lovely brunch, we love brunch. The kids set up the table, which was very sweet, and their excitement is almost contagious. Tomorrow we are leaving! Right now it feels especially beautiful at our house. Spring is slowly arriving, and over the past few days I have become much more aware of our surroundings. The small river next to our house is flowing and splashing again as the snow melts. Birds are singing softly, and you can feel nature slowly waking

Over the past few days, we have been trying out a bit of home-schooling at home — a small test to see how it works, and to figure out what we might still need to take with us. The two girls adapted to the routine quickly. They were very focused and managed to complete their work with lots of concentration. Our youngest, who is only six, started the day very motivated, but his attention span is naturally a bit shorter. So I will need to think of a few activities to keep him en

We are a family of six who have called the Swiss mountains home for nearly six years. Our life has been shaped by snow-dusted peaks, quiet valleys, and steady routines. Our oldest son now attends boarding school, and my husband has recently built his own business, travelling often during the week. I grew up internationally and rarely stayed in one place for long. After six years in the same landscape, something in me longed for a shift — not because life wasn’t beautiful, but