At last The Very Long Walk is but a distant memory and I’m walking properly again. It’s Sunday, so off to church we went, along with a fairly high proportion of the Nairobi population.

Religion is big in Nairobi. Historically, European colonialism and Christianity went hand-in-hand, and  for better or worse, much  Western aid is delivered via the churches today. Visually, the church is everywhere.  Large, smiling, charismatic pastors smile out from  large billboard hoardings in advertisements for Hillsong-like evangelical churches .  The slum areas along the main roads out from Nairobi are liberally sprinkled with small, congregation-built shacks with colourful Biblical names.  Gigantic white marquees act as pop-up churches, clearly visible from the air.  Hymns are often played in the supermarket and there are several Christian radio stations.  The matatus (passenger mini-buses) and buses often sport religious names and slogans.

Before I left Australia, I had tried to reach…