Sa-far-i-way from home by Kevin Barron Part 6 Executive Chef Ole Sereni Hotel Kenya

The Staff Canteen
Kevin Barron is Executive Chef at Ole Sereni Hotel Kenya, Kevin shares his overseas journey, offering a Chefs' eye view, of the life of an Ex-Pat in Kenya. PART 6 (Part 5 can be viewed HERE) Ok New Year's New"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦ Ania and me go for a Check Up for her and little bubba who is expected in around 2 weeks time, the Doc then turns round and says ok you go to the hospital right now we have to make the baby come. Christ I sit there like a non-stick pan has been swung round my bonce im due in work in an hour I recall is my first thought then oooohh what is happening. So we drive home and Ania packs her stuff, it's a little calmer by now and we drive to the hotel and I check all is in place before heading to the hospital, luckily my contract has private health cover in a very good hospital and Ania will have her own room. We check into the hospital at around 2 as I recall, all forms and paperwork is done and Ania is settled down to get comfortable, now I wont go into too much detail but she is given medication to encourage Bubba to come out. We wait and wait and wait and"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦..nothing, She is given more medication and starts contractions around 4ish then nothing it all stops, so more medicine and then nothing again, she is in a lot of pain by now though and it's a worry, day becomes night and she drops off, I kip on a blanket on the floor next to her, cant leave her now, morning comes and I don't know if she feels worse or I do, still nothing more medicine and lots and lots of contractions and pain so out comes the gas!! Hours go by and around 1.30 pm ish the Doc comes in and says ok to the delivery unit, hooohaaa its gonna happen, we wheel her in and they get her ready I hold Ania's hand and try and be a man!! Then wallop at 2.26 and some 2 weeks early little bubba Kasia Alayna Barron joins us and she seems to be good, lungs certainly work!! She is whisked away to be cleaned up and checked and not long later she is in Ania's arms now there are 2 babies and only one of us (me) is crying, now I have never thought babies are cute really and even though she is greyish coloured she is ours and she is gorgeous, Whilst the girls are being tended to I call my ma and tell her the news it's a very very sad call as we lost my dad a couple of years before and it hurts knowing she will never really know him, again more tears and Mum is happy. Then the shittiest week starts for us, Kasia is taken away and Ania back to the ward, we keep asking to see her and are told to wait by the Doc, something is wrong we are then told she has breathing problems and is on a machine to help her breath, then she gets jaundice so our little girl is in an incubator with a UV lamp over her with her eyes bandaged so the light doesn't hurt them. We cant hold her or pick her up it's a really hard few days eventually we are allowed to hold her every so often and after a week she is allowed to sleep in Ania's room but its still days before she gets home. A real helpless time for us both. So back to the pan shuffling"¦"¦"¦"¦"¦.. The hotel is getting very busy and we get busier and busier the hotel seems to be well received we have done a few functions for the Vice President and are doing well, Menus change and in March we get home and take Kasia to meet my mum and Ania's Mum and Dad in Poland we have great few weeks and its already time for me to get back and I have to leave the girls behind whilst they stay a while longer, it is hard being back and the house so empty. Things with this GM are not going well and we don't really get on he doesn't communicate well and prefers to sit and have lunch and dinner in the restaurant with the f and b manager and the feeling amongst all the other HOD's is not good, I start to think I cannot work like this and cant move the food forward working in such a way when the old CEO calls me up and tells me about a group chef job overseeing 2 resorts and a small 7 bed boutique hotel in Zanzibar, part of the interview is being flown out there for 3 days staying In the resort and having meetings but they have also invited Ania and Kasia out so we head off to the Island of Zanzibar! An incredibly beautiful place the interview goes well and by then end of it I'm offered a huge ex-pat deal to run the food offerings for the group, we come back very excited and I get ready to resign!!!!!!!!!

Kevin Barron Executive Chef | Ole Sereni Hotel

Nairobi | KENYA

Kevins Blog

http://anafricookingadventure.blogspot.com/

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Editor 25th May 2011

Sa-far-i-way from home by Kevin Barron Part 6 Executive Chef Ole Sereni Hotel Kenya