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English version sample

Download the full (Italian) ebook @ http://www.youcanprint.it/youcanprint-libreria/miscellanea/asante-kenya-la-mia-piccola-africa-ebook.html

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Seeds from Africa

Asante Kenya - Seeds from Africa (1974-1978)

INTRODUCTION

It's evening in Rome. And for the first time in my life I'm watching in a hotel room a strange but amazing screen full of lights, sounds and people singing and dancing. So fascinated by this magic rectangular object called TV, I am barely forgetting the most important thing: tomorrow we will fly down to Africa!After a while, in between the familiar notes of a pop song, here comes dad’s voice recalling me suddenly to the real world: "Paolo, let’s switch it off: time to go to bed, tomorrow we have to wake-up early".I do not remember now what was my reaction. Maybe I started crying or else, who knows. The only thing I still have in my mind after decades is that there, at that moment, I realised that something important was about to come in my life.

AFRICA… As a 4 years old little boy, "Africa" was still a great mystery for me. The only kind of savage world I knew at that time was eventually narrowed to the small jungle at the playground near home. The one, I somehow remember, animated by fierce tribes of ants near the swing and high picks of sandy mountains close to the yippy-dippy-slide. With a lot of confusion in mind, my big imagination immediately started at that very moment to work around this new adventure finally leading me to the childish conclusion that all in all - in that strange place called “Africa” – I was going to finally have the chance to get a puppy lion in the garden instead of the poor canary we had up to yesterday in our kitchen. Not that bad…

In my own memories that day stops there and switches on again some twenty hours later, in a new hotel, in front of another screen, this time full colours: the window of a new room, of a new town, with different shapes, sounds and smells: Nairobi, Kenya.

We were going to stay in Nairobi up to 1978’s Summer.At that moment I didn’t know it yet but Kenya was definitely going to change my life and give me also in return tons of fabulous memories. The ones that, in the following pages, I will try to assemble for you - Carol and Mat, my little kids. I do hope they will fascinate you and, above all, make you understand that - even if you are little – the world is something so big as your dreams!

Enjoy,

Dad

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1. Here comes the Concorde!

It 's official: today, the Concorde will land in Nairobi’s airport.Yes, you got it right: the Con-corde!Who has not heard about the Concorde??Yes, the plane that - like a lightning jet - is able to fly supersonic at Mach1, high in the sky, across the oceans with lots of VIPs and nice food onboard!So excited about the idea to see it from real, I turn back to my room and grab my own one… in the toys basket besides the bed, with his red and white British Airways livery, fresh gift from last Christmas.With the large delta triangular wings, the slim frontal landing gear, the distinctive droop-down nose that goes up and down during take-offs & landings and the thick and long cabin… wow, it was really a cute little bird!- "Hey Paolo… let's go, are you ready?".The voice of daddy – like a Mach 1 sonic boom - gets into my room soon after himself. He too appears tall and slim and in his usual “livery” (ops, dress) made of a distinctive white shirt paired with gray shorts and brown Clarks.- "Hey there, ready?" he asks.- "Hold on dad, just let me turn-on again for a sec my super Concorde".Yes, my toy was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l with an extra add-on feature: switching on the engines, there was a start-up sequence, followed by a all-lights-on & full-thrust-set take off. Finally I put my own shoes on and run downstairs to the garage, just a while before dad turns-on the engine of his white Renault 4 company car. Out of our compound’s gate in Jababu Lane, he turns right and – after bypassing the (think was) Swedish embassy – turns left, down the Ngong hills, heading towards the airport.Comfortably seated nearby daddy (yeees, no seat belts and back seat… at that time the rules on road safety were not that modern!), I start enjoying the trip. We cheer some people on a crowded bus while stopped at a traffic light and then - straight ahead along the road to Mombasa – we reach the large tire factory that I remember was just on the left before arriving at the airport. Time to destination was almost 40 minutes: well, not for the traffic, that was not definitely an issue. For sure the problem was the slow speed of the R4. But that slow and reliable, solid car has been always fascinating me especially for the gear lever attached to the dashboard. Not to mention the simple and essential design, the thick wheels or the levers which were used to manually open and/or close our windows: think that nothing was electric there (no AC and no ABS!). Before turning on a bumpy road that was leading to the new airport building yard, dad spills out some more details about today’s great event: first I learn that the Concorde that is about to arrive is the one that, after the first public test flights, has made promotional tours around the globe. Thence I hear from him that the plane is about to land in a hour but will leave soon.In front of a bunch of other white R4s and some green Land Rovers, dad eventually stops the car and soon gets off. - “I’m going for a while to my desk, you stay here around, ok?” tells me dad.Soon after my tremendously excited “yes”, I open the right door and rush out.Is the Concorde going to really drop down the nose on final? will be landing with all lights on?And how will be the supersonic engines sound? like the one of my toy-model?One hundred questions, a thousand answers.I start to run fast to the fence nearby the runway and immediately hug the horizon with my eyes and, ears open, I start also to scan for air traffic: perhaps the Concorde is already up there!Holding on my hands the white toy-model (…was so happy that I forgot to leave it home) I keep on waiting sticked to the fence: but mmmh, no ... there’s not yet any supersonic noise. OK, hold on, if dad told me the Concorde is going to land there’s no doubt, it’s sure: I just have to wait a bit more!

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Opposite at the “old terminal”, amongst some small Cessna planes and a lonely 707, I can see also a big DC8 aircraft loading passengers surrounded by a fleet of vans that go back and forth from the apron: Nairobi’s airport is not that congestioned…Time goes by, the clock ticks, but nothing still about the Concorde.I wait again for some minutes, then others more: but still no supersonic life.Then, sadly, I leave the spot and go back to the car and wait for dad. Just after few seconds, there he is: he opens the door and sits next to me with his usual silent calm.- “So son, have you seen the Concorde?”- “No dad” I tell him sobbed.He kindly smiles me and then turns on the engine moving to the exit, ready to go home.But just some meters after something happens: he stops and, turning off the car, stare at me. It's just a short second, then from distance here comes a distinctive airplane noise which gradually approaches us. Out of the car, I run back to the fence and turn my face to the left: there it comes the magical shape of a thick white plane with all the approaching xmas lights on. It's the Concorde! And has really lowered the nose down.Noisily flying gear down, approaching minimums, the plane safely touch down on the runway next to us. Wow, it looks more beautiful from real. Immediately after having touched down, the pilots activate the reverse engines in order to brake. Amidst the fragrant smell of JP oil, I still remember the big deceleration noise like a music that was hitting my heart. Like the stroke that – immediately after – landed on my little head from dad’s hand, quite unexpected but warmly welcomed. Still now, if I close my eyes for a moment, I can hear that emotion again. An emotion that – soon after smiling him back – got doubled when I realised that out there, behind us, many dozens of other people - suddenly out of nowhere – had joined us in order to spot one of the most famous aircrafts of the world, the Concorde...

Five years ago, in New York – at the Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum – after so many years I flavoured again the familiar shape of the Concorde. Parked on the pier nearby the Hudson and with the thick nose turned to Manhattan, Alpha Delta G-BOAD was able to give me another breathtaking moment.Although no more flyable and without engines, for quite a “Mach1 minute” that day I had the chance to jump in the past back again in Nairobi, on that runway, next to the fence, to that little crowd, to that sounds, to that lights, to the Concorde’s lowered droop-down nose and to all those feelings that also there, in NYC – like at that time – were still hitting my heart.Still in front of that mesmerizing white plane, at some point a light wind arose from the Hudson river refreshing the nice June sun.In that moment, in the midst of that unexpected breeze, I really had the sensation to feel my beloved father's hand stroking again my head. It was for a very short time. But as long as that beautiful moment we spent together.“Ciao” dad and thanks again for that great day1.

1 On 26th February 1975 Concorde 01 (G-AXDN) flew to Nairobi via Cairo.

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The Concorde

Created in 1969 by the Anglo-French consortium Aerospatiale-BAC, the Concorde was the first and only supersonic airliner. Entered in service in 1976, the plane – able to seat 100 passengers and a crew of 9 - was used by British Airways and Air France on transoceanic routes. Even if technically able to fly at twice the speed of sound at 60.000 feet, because of very high operating costs and partly due to the echo of the famous accident in Roissy/Paris, the Concorde was definitely retired from service in 2003.

Opposite at the “old terminal”, amongst some small Cessna planes and a lonely 707, I can see also a big DC8 aircraft loading passengers surrounded by a fleet of vans that go back and forth from the apron: Nairobi’s airport is not that congestioned…Time goes by, the clock ticks, but nothing still about the Concorde.I wait again for some minutes, then others more: but still no supersonic life.Then, sadly, I leave the spot and go back to the car and wait for dad. Just after few seconds, there he is: he opens the door and sits next to me with his usual silent calm.- “So son, have you seen the Concorde?”- “No dad” I tell him sobbed.He kindly smiles me and then turns on the engine moving to the exit, ready to go home.But just some meters after something happens: he stops and, turning off the car, stare at me. It's just a short second, then from distance here comes a distinctive airplane noise which gradually approaches us. Out of the car, I run back to the fence and turn my face to the left: there it comes the magical shape of a thick white plane with all the approaching xmas lights on. It's the Concorde! And has really lowered the nose down.Noisily flying gear down, approaching minimums, the plane safely touch down on the runway next to us. Wow, it looks more beautiful from real. Immediately after having touched down, the pilots activate the reverse engines in order to brake. Amidst the fragrant smell of JP oil, I still remember the big deceleration noise like a music that was hitting my heart. Like the stroke that – immediately after – landed on my little head from dad’s hand, quite unexpected but warmly welcomed. Still now, if I close my eyes for a moment, I can hear that emotion again. An emotion that – soon after smiling him back – got doubled when I realised that out there, behind us, many dozens of other people - suddenly out of nowhere – had joined us in order to spot one of the most famous aircrafts of the world, the Concorde...

Five years ago, in New York – at the Intrepid Air, Sea and Space Museum – after so many years I flavoured again the familiar shape of the Concorde. Parked on the pier nearby the Hudson and with the thick nose turned to Manhattan, Alpha Delta G-BOAD was able to give me another breathtaking moment.Although no more flyable and without engines, for quite a “Mach1 minute” that day I had the chance to jump in the past back again in Nairobi, on that runway, next to the fence, to that little crowd, to that sounds, to that lights, to the Concorde’s lowered droop-down nose and to all those feelings that also there, in NYC – like at that time – were still hitting my heart.Still in front of that mesmerizing white plane, at some point a light wind arose from the Hudson river refreshing the nice June sun.In that moment, in the midst of that unexpected breeze, I really had the sensation to feel my beloved father's hand stroking again my head. It was for a very short time. But as long as that beautiful moment we spent together.“Ciao” dad and thanks again for that great day1.

1 On 26th February 1975 Concorde 01 (G-AXDN) flew to Nairobi via Cairo.

5

The Concorde

Created in 1969 by the Anglo-French consortium Aerospatiale-BAC, the Concorde was the first and only supersonic airliner. Entered in service in 1976, the plane – able to seat 100 passengers and a crew of 9 - was used by British Airways and Air France on transoceanic routes. Even if technically able to fly at twice the speed of sound at 60.000 feet, because of very high operating costs and partly due to the echo of the famous accident in Roissy/Paris, the Concorde was definitely retired from service in 2003.