Our eighth hotel. woah!

Day 28 – Friday, February 26, 2010

Friday has been just as uplifting and incredible. We checked out of our hotel and went to a tourist market in old town Mombasa, right next to Fort Jesus. (Yes that is the name). It was owned last by the Portuguese but has changed hands many times. It’s the oldest site in Mombasa, around the 1500’s I believe. It was also used during the slave trade, which is a morbid but historical reference. We didn’t stay there long though as we were told about a market where all the locals go. That was so much fun! It was this tiny street, maybe 15 feet wide, that had cars moving both directions, hundreds of people wandering around, and wares on blankets on the streets in front of shops! You would not come here if you were claustrophobic! They sold beautiful fabrics, shoes, cocoanuts filled with the coconut juice! I thought Danelle was in heaven with all her new scarves in one hand and a coconut in the other! The word busy doesn’t describe that street well enough!

A funny bit about Mombasa I don’t think I mentioned, is that the taxis here are these 3 wheel contraptions that have a one cylinder engine and whine and rumble and can hold a few people. They’re called ‘tack-tacks’ and the drivers are just as wild as every other driver on the road, even though they look like oversized bicycles! Today, to top off the odd sight of a tack-tack, was that in the back of a passing one was a goat! I’m not sure if he was recently bought and about to be dinner, or just along for the ride! Also there are combies called ‘matatus’ that hold easily 15 people, I probably saw one with 25. It is the same size as our vehicle that we can only squeeze 9 people in and feel squished! Matatus are used in liu of buses here, and have routes similar to buses at home. It’s a neat form of transportation, but more than once we have seen so many people squished in that faces are pressed up against the glass because there is no other room. It’s nuts!

Afterwards, we headed to Serena Lodge out on the coast, our 8^th hotel for the trip…that’s a lot of packing! I can see why people come here as tourists. It has a beautiful white sands beach, palm trees everywhere, a beautiful room with a bathtub and a shower (what!?!), and even monkeys on the back patio for entertainment. Seriously! Apparently you can’t leave anything outside or they’ll steal it! Karen describes it as follows: Beachfront property is at our disposal for the next day and half, with monkeys as the porters….ha…they’re actually our backyard entertainment. It’s surreal!

Tonight I grabbed a drink from the swim up bar (okay more than one), had a fantastic dinner, took a walk in the surf of the indian ocean, and am about to go off into a beautifully soft bed....i could even have a hot bath if i wanted it! Boy things have changed from the first week!

Summary: Relaxation….for our last few days

Then we entered the slums

Day 26 – Wednesday, February 24, 2010

It is hot here. Very sticky, wet and disgusting. It’s due to the humidity, and yes…Nancy, we’re drinking lots of water. A lot has happened, as it has every other day. The pace we have consistently moved at has been truly incredible and should have been quite draining, but miraculously, we have all pulled through with energy and enthusiasm. (Especially after this week with the addition of severe humidity). To describe how gross this feels, you feel wet…all the time. During the day, you are hot and wet, and actually sweating. It didn’t seem that we sweat in Mikinduri or Mwengi because it was so dry. Here, we cut up a few of the large t-shirts to pass out small handkerchiefs to each person. It’s awesome how much of an improvement a 4” by 4” cloth makes to wipe away the sweat!

Anyway, Wednesday was another fantastic day. We aided many in the clinics, and in the afternoon went to perform walking clinics in the slums. About 10 of us, with a few guards, went to the slums, a mere 15 feet from the clinic, and walked around looking for people. When we saw someone, our translator/local Kenyan nurse jumped in and asked if they had anything that ailed them. Like the previous week we gave out albendazole (de-worming) and vitamin A (for eyes) to every person that would accept it. We also distributed different cremes (for scabies, ringworm, etc), pain medicine (aspirin, ibuprofen, etc), or other simple medicines we brought with us. The slums were hard to describe. Had I seen them directly from Mikinduri or Mwengi, I probably would have been shocked. However, after having been absorbed in the urban poverty all over Mombasa, I was definitely desensitized a bit. The shacks were long rows with wood covered n mud for walls. A few places had windows or electricity, but that was very seldom. Most of the places didn’t have beds and a 6 by 6 room would be the kitchen, living room, washroom, and bedroom for many. The huts did drop the temperature significantly. One hut had a bunch of couches in it that looked so dilapidated, I’m not sure there were cushions or a frame left. I can’t imagine sitting on it let alone sharing it with someone as a bed. The worst part was, there wasn’t a good sewer system, so apparently in the corner of the ‘house’ there was a hole that lead to an open ditch that ran to one part of the slum, were all waste went down. This smelled awful! There was no running water to flush it anywhere and the chickens and goats were all around the ditch. Somehow though, it wasn’t as sad as I thought it would be, or as dangerous, but then we had guards with us. We walked to a slightly busier area of the slum, or ghetto as they call it, and arrived at a school. It couldn’t have been bigger than 20 ft by 50 ft, and there were 80 primary students in it, divided into 6 classes, with 3 teachers to share the load. The students all looked very happy and had books to read, but it was a bit of a surprise to see how many of them were in there! After helping around 60 people, we headed back to the clinic. (On Thursday, Theresa went back to the slums to distribute a large bag of school supplies and posters for the children. They were thrilled!)

Afterwards went to a senior citizens home run by nuns. It was beautiful and the 30+ guests there seemed very happy. Ryan, Jenny, and Dr Joseph even had the opportunity to converse with a 110 year old man! While we were there, a woman was begging through the gates. I truly believe God spoke to us so she was allowed in the gates so we could converse further. As most of the women here do, she had her child on her back, attached to her with a beautiful large scarf. As Greg McKenna, Lawrence (our driver) and I were talking to her, hearing about her story of living on the streets, I asked to hold her child. She took her off her back and handed her to me. The girl weighed about 10 lbs and though I originally thought she was about 9 months old, I soon realized due to the length of her limbs, she was much older. Her mother confirmed that she was 27 months! This broke my heart. This little child had the eyes of a wise 60 year old woman, and she looked beaten down by life. She didn’t smile, couldn’t walk because she was too weak, and looked like her life held no hope in it whatsoever. She was wearing a filthy t-shirt and nothing on the bottom. I couldn’t believe it. Ann Josiah (the local coordinator for Chalice) came over and arranged for the girl and her mother to stay with the nuns and come to our clinic the next morning. Their story will continue later, but let me assure you, she stayed in Greg’s and my thoughts all night.

After the senior citizen home, we went to an amazing Italian restaurant over by the tourist side of town. The food was incredible and everyone had a chance to let their hair down. It was a bit of a change after everything we’d witnessed that day, but the relaxation allowed us to have one more day of helping people.

Summary: I met a girl that broke my heart in two, one who I won’t be able to forget.

Lina and the last clinic

Day 27 – Thursday, February 25, 2010

On Thursday, this was our last day of clinics for KenCan 2010. Karen recalls that our hugs are getting wetter and wetter as our clothes are dripping from sweat, and the team is slowly decreasing in size everyday as Kenyans are going back home. After a fantastic day of clinics, where during just the week in Mombasa, we saw 580 people in medical, pulled 324 teeth, and gave 1102 people a vision test, we were ready for it to be over. It has been fantastic helping so many people, but I think God gave us enough strength to make it this far, and not much further. After tearing everything down Thursday evening, the children gave us an amazing recital of dance and poetry. The dance was a different style than the previous tribes we had seen, though it was still fantastic! It also tickled me that there was one boy who could not get the dance for anything. He was offbeat, on the wrong step, and looking all around. Somehow this was quite comforting to know that not every Kenyan had this innate ability! The drummer was a 12 year old boy who never stopped! His beat was incredible and he just kept going and going! The poetry they recited was verses from psalms and proverbs, and they walked up in pairs and shouted in rhythm and with tonal changes beautiful short, inspiring verses, along with actions. Hard to envision, I’m sure, but it was interesting and made it appear that God’s word was alive! We then said goodbye to the amazing volunteers at the clinic, and a few of the local Kenyans that had been with us since the first day of KenCan 2010. Cheri adds that she nearly married the local dentist. He was quite enamored with her. She may just stay here with him.

That evening we were whisked away to a boat, a dauher (spelling!?!!!) that looked like a pirate ship, where we were to spend the evening on the Indian Ocean. Ted and Suzanne did a fantastic job mixing work with pleasure, so I feel like I have a real sense of both sides of Kenya….the real side, and the side the tourists see. Anyway the food was fantastic, we danced the night away to this regae band that played country, 60’s, Kenyan, Jamaican, 80’s, and anything you could throw at them! One of the few couples on board not with our group actually got engaged that night and danced with our wild group! It was so fun! The one down side to this, was that there wasn’t a breeze to be found and the boats were not moving fast. We were dying! Plus since we went straight from the clinic to the boat, we were pretty gross and dirty. When we got back to the hotel, many of us changed into bathing suits and jumped in the pool at 11pm! It was such sweet relief! Somehow being submerged feels better, because you’re supposed to be wet then, not when you’re just sitting above ground!

Now I know you’re wondering about the little girl and her mom, and no I haven’t forgot about them. They have been on my mind for days now. Joyce and her daughter Lina are cases you expect to see everywhere in Africa, but I was elated to find out they are the rare exception. If you are too soft hearted, you may not want to read this paragraph and skip ahead, as I’m tearful just thinking about them. They came to the clinic the next morning, and Joyce was so embarrassed that she wasn’t clean and hadn’t showered, that she didn’t want to get in the vehicle provided to get to the clinic. Her daughter Lina in 6kg, has HIV (like her mom), and Malaria. When I held this girl on Wednesday, she was skin and bones. Her hips protruded, her skin sagged over the bones in her arms as all muscle appeared to have deteriorated, and she had a very swollen stomach. It is very clear her mom loved her and was distraught at her situation. Her husband left her and her older daughter while she was pregnant with Lina. Her older daughter, who’s now four, lives with her brother a few hours away, and Lina and Joyce have been homeless for a year and a half. Joyce is a hairstylist but cannot keep a job because no one can watch Lina, and her family all lives too far away. She knows broken English, Swahili, and her tribal language. The pair of them came to the clinics in the morning, and once they found out the results of their tests, in addition to the severe malnourishment, it was decided that Lina should be admitted to the hospital. This is a huge step for them. Our groups stepped up and paid for her to go to the hospital, and once she gets out, there are programs in place to get Lina healthy and help Joyce maintain a job. Now for my part in the story as those are just facts. After spending the morning in the vision clinic, forcing a smile and cheerfulness, feigning that I wasn’t thinking about sweet Lina constantly, I heard they arrived in the clinic. I realized this because one of the seasoned Canadians walked by me in tears. This was somewhat encouraging to see, that their case was so severe and uncommon that others who were ‘used to it’ felt such distress as well. I went up to see them as they were to be admitted to the hospital, and tagged along because I couldn’t tear myself away from this pair. I can’t explain it, as I wouldn’t help the situation in any way, but I just couldn’t walk away and feign a smile for the rest of the afternoon; I knew it just wasn’t in me. We arrived at the hospital that reminded me of a community pool back home. It was just a giant concrete building, with benches on the outside and a few patient rooms. Behind solid bars at the end of hall was the ward where people were admitted. We saw a long line of folks waiting for TB testing (apparently this is quite contagious though you wouldn’t know it from the way the lines were set up), so we sat at the non-TB end of the giant open hall (that’s some isolation!). We arrived at 1130 and the doctors had all gone to lunch. Around 130 they came back, saw Lina first as she was with a few muzungos (white people). After her case was reviewed (around 2pm), the doctors left for the day, leaving all of the other sick babies stranded, and Lina was admitted. We followed them to this small ward behind the bars that was sparse at best, but clean. There were other children, but it was not overcrowded. Lina was sitting on her mom’s lap, not running around as a two year old should be, because she had no other choice. She was too weak to support herself. The plan was to get her into treatment, but first we had to go get them some supplies. We walked across the street and bought the items the hospital didn’t provide: a wash basin, soap, towel, diapers, clothes for Lina and Joyce, laundry detergent, a cup for water, a thermos to hold the water, a fork, a bowl, but, as the social worked described, not a bottle, as of course that would be provided by the hospital. All of this was 2600 shillings, less than $40. No wonder people don’t go to government hospitals here…if you get seen by a doctor in the short time they’re here, you have to pay a month’s wage just for the supplies. In contrast, it costs only 150 shilling per night for care (about $2) . Joyce would be able to stay with Lina in the ward for the two weeks she was admitted, and there was a shelter lined up for her when they got out. What struck me most about Lina, more than her haunting eyes that just seemed lifeless and hopeless, was her lack of movement. As we were sitting there, I must have cleaned my brow 50 times with a cloth, fidgeted, changed positions, and other common movements. Lina might have moved twice. I decided my role there was to be positive, and even if I couldn’t talk to Joyce, though I tried a few times, I was determined to smile and be positive. They received enough woeful looks from others. I think this was helpful as Joyce smiled back a few times, especially as we were leaving. In spite of this happy attitude, I’m not sure Lina knew how to handle it. I didn’t see that baby smile once or do anything with her face at all. I saw no emotion whatsoever. At one point, I gave her my ring to play with, assuming she was bored, not realizing that she waited all day every day for something to happen in her life. She looked at the ring, and after about 2 minutes, she grabbed it from my hand. After a few more minutes, she started fingering it, but she never really played with it. Then she displayed one emotion: anger. I’m not sure who or what at, but she threw the ring and with surprising force, hit my hand as well. Later on, when I got back to the clinics, this is what finally caused me to break down and cry. This little girl didn’t understand playing, even with the simplest of objects. The seasoned folk in our group assure me Lina will be fine, as getting that first help is the hardest part, but a small part of me keeps wondering. This will keep me praying for her survival and ability to thrive. As the same group that found Lina was leaving the hospital, Greg, Lawrence (the driver), and I, it is now obvious that none of us could emotionally leave her after discovering her the night before. We all had to see it through that she would be helped. Anyway, I asked Lawrence how he could see that poverty in his country and continue on, and he said the most profound thing, which I did not expect from him. Lawrence is a fantastic driver, very jovial, and I had not yet seen the depth he displayed at that moment. He said ‘Lina is a miracle from God’. ‘What!?!’I responded, ‘a miracle, she seems so overlooked, she has HIV, malaria, severe malnutrition, her muscles are wasting away, how can she possibly be a miracle!?!’ (I didn’t mean to sound so angry but in the back of my mind all day I was trying not to yell at God for letting his child fall so far, at no fault of her own. Joyce was only 27 years old with two kids and a very hard life…that’s a birthday I will be seeing shortly as well, perhaps one reason she touched me so). Lawrence responded with the same words I used, but they had such a different meaning. He said ‘She is 2 years old, has survived malaria, HIV, existed without food or water, and is still alive. She is God’s child and is a miracle.’ He’s right. I could now see that God was holding her in His hand, making sure she was still there, carrying on, until he could get us over to Kenya to find her outside of a senior citizen home. What an odd series of events to show us His power and grace, and as the returning Canadians on the trip say, it will be incredible to see her in the future, to see how much she has thrived. She is the reason we come to Kenya. All of us came to help her.

We have had an amazing trip, seen so many ups and downs, and clearly saw the impact that Chalice has made in Mwengi and MCOH in Mikinduri. Please continue to support these groups as I have seen firsthand how they can use anything you are willing to give them. As satisfying, enjoyable and exhausting as this trip has been, we’re all very excited to join our families on Monday and share with you our personal experiences. Kenya is a beautiful country, full of wonderful, amazingly hard working people. To those who were able to help us touch nearly 5000 people in our clinics, thank you for giving us the reason and ability to come. Even though each of us pay our own way, there would be no reason to come without your support. I have been so blessed to see God in all of these people and situations, and hope you were able to take a piece of what we experienced. We look forward to seeing you all and may God bless you as he has us these last three weeks. It is only by His power that everything has been so seamless and everyone has had the strength to continue.

Summary: Met a miracle touched by God, who was my first reason to cry here.

Craftmanship

Day 24 – Monday, February 22, 2010

Here in Mombasa, we’ve been so busy! Clinics started Monday morning. We were driven in our combies to clinics, which was about a 15 minute drive. Our hotel is on the island of Mombasa, which it turns out isn’t an island, there is one small strip of land connecting it. Our clinics at Camp David are on the edge of one of the slums on the mainland. The building we’re in has many windows, but is smaller than our previous sites. The vision clinic is downstairs and is an open building with no real walls. We added chalk boards to the beams holding up the ceiling so we could put up our vision charts. At this site, we are handing out de-worming and Vitamin A to everyone who comes, not just for those who come for medical as at previous clinics. The dental clinic is upstairs, which came as a surprise to me as we have to make many people wait after their extraction for fear they’ll fall downstairs. Today, the dentist came downstairs to treat one many who couldn’t make it up the stairs! Most of our medical and dental team has left, so the majority of the nurses, doctors, and dentists are local Kenyans, so we are still able to see a great number of patients every day. The clinic is beautiful but it is very close to the slums.

On Monday I worked in the vision clinic. It was very busy, as usual. The big difference is it was very very hot and humid! More so than every other day. An occasional breeze would come through, and you could see all of us muzungos instinctively turn our faces towards it and smile. Every time, it was a pleasant treat. Meanwhile we were all in the shade when many of the locals were standing at the gate waiting to get in. Jo Ann adds that the reading portion of vision clinic moved outside as it was actually nicer than being under the roof. They move their station then all day to stay under the shade of the tree and avoid the sun. Jenny mentions our lunch and coffee break was up on top of the roof, where the breeze was fantastic! Theresa recalls that a few people have come back a few times, insisting they need glasses. One woman was asked to leave 4 times and was eventually escorted out by guards! She was convinced she needed the dummy glasses (that have no prescription and helps us find out who is faking it). We made a lot of referrals to the optometrist, who came on Tuesday and Wednesday. Sam is a local optometrist who has joined us at the clinic, treating more severe cases. He individually assesses people with vision issues: cataracts, post surgical consultations, allergies in the eyes. Most of the concerns were minor, but he was able to listen and make them feel better. Most of the translators at this site are teachers at the school. They’re giving up their mid-term break to help us!

Monday afternoon, a few of us went to say goodbye to the Jewells, since they left without much fanfare the day before. They were spending a day at the resort. Ted, Greg B, Greg McKenna, Karen, and I were wandering around their resort looking for them, calling out ‘Edwin! Dawn!’ It was too funny. We found out they were on a glass bottom boat that was on its way in, so we went to the beach to greet them, and there were camels there! Well Karen is convinced to ride one and requests I go too. Now, I can’t really turn down a camel ride on the coast of the Indian ocean! It was surreal. It felt like we were playing hookey from the clinic (left about 30 minutes early) to go for a nice camel ride! We had a heartfelt goodbye with the Jewells and headed to the orphanage. (Again…so surreal!). The orphanage was beautiful! It was for children infected with HIV or who were affected by it (parents, etc). Cheri was dressed in her Clown outfit and the kids just loved her! There were 32 children there from 18 months to 12 years old. Their bedrooms were beautiful and everything was very clean. The children looked very healthy and we had 7 giant bags of clothes to donate, and they sure can use it!

No, our Monday is not yet over. We then headed to dinner at this Chinese food restaurant recommended. Unfortunately, our drivers took some of us to one restaurant, and others to a different one. We didn’t realize until the fateful call of ‘I’m here where are you?” Our very tolerant, easy going group got back in the car, went to the right restaurant, and enjoyed a fantastic dinner around 9pm. (And all this right after I applauded our drivers in the last blog!) We all found it funny but a little sad too. Driving around Mombassa at night was scarier than anything we’ve experienced so far. In the nice part of town, there are short one story shops, with street vendors on blankets outside. I know this sounds quaint, but it just looked dirty, dusty, and dark, as the only lighting on the street is small candles on the blankets. We were told that urban poverty is extremely different than the rural poverty, and boy were they right. The rural poverty looked so much more appealing. Even in the dirtiest of places I’ve been to in the states, there is nothing to compare with the nice parts of downtown Mombassa (not even the slums!) Also, driving is as crazy as every in Kenya.

Summary: I was at the clinic, then riding a camel, holding orphans, then eating Chinese – weird weird day!

Dichotomy Like no Other

Day 24 – Monday, February 22, 2010

Here in Mombasa, we’ve been so busy! Clinics started Monday morning. We were driven in our combies to clinics, which was about a 15 minute drive. Our hotel is on the island of Mombasa, which it turns out isn’t an island, there is one small strip of land connecting it. Our clinics at Camp David are on the edge of one of the slums on the mainland. The building we’re in has many windows, but is smaller than our previous sites. The vision clinic is downstairs and is an open building with no real walls. We added chalk boards to the beams holding up the ceiling so we could put up our vision charts. At this site, we are handing out de-worming and Vitamin A to everyone who comes, not just for those who come for medical as at previous clinics. The dental clinic is upstairs, which came as a surprise to me as we have to make many people wait after their extraction for fear they’ll fall downstairs. Today, the dentist came downstairs to treat one many who couldn’t make it up the stairs! Most of our medical and dental team has left, so the majority of the nurses, doctors, and dentists are local Kenyans, so we are still able to see a great number of patients every day. The clinic is beautiful but it is very close to the slums.

On Monday I worked in the vision clinic. It was very busy, as usual. The big difference is it was very very hot and humid! More so than every other day. An occasional breeze would come through, and you could see all of us muzungos instinctively turn our faces towards it and smile. Every time, it was a pleasant treat. Meanwhile we were all in the shade when many of the locals were standing at the gate waiting to get in. Jo Ann adds that the reading portion of vision clinic moved outside as it was actually nicer than being under the roof. They move their station then all day to stay under the shade of the tree and avoid the sun. Jenny mentions our lunch and coffee break was up on top of the roof, where the breeze was fantastic! Theresa recalls that a few people have come back a few times, insisting they need glasses. One woman was asked to leave 4 times and was eventually escorted out by guards! She was convinced she needed the dummy glasses (that have no prescription and helps us find out who is faking it). We made a lot of referrals to the optometrist, who came on Tuesday and Wednesday. Sam is a local optometrist who has joined us at the clinic, treating more severe cases. He individually assesses people with vision issues: cataracts, post surgical consultations, allergies in the eyes. Most of the concerns were minor, but he was able to listen and make them feel better. Most of the translators at this site are teachers at the school. They’re giving up their mid-term break to help us!

Monday afternoon, a few of us went to say goodbye to the Jewells, since they left without much fanfare the day before. They were spending a day at the resort. Ted, Greg B, Greg McKenna, Karen, and I were wandering around their resort looking for them, calling out ‘Edwin! Dawn!’ It was too funny. We found out they were on a glass bottom boat that was on its way in, so we went to the beach to greet them, and there were camels there! Well Karen is convinced to ride one and requests I go too. Now, I can’t really turn down a camel ride on the coast of the Indian ocean! It was surreal. It felt like we were playing hookey from the clinic (left about 30 minutes early) to go for a nice camel ride! We had a heartfelt goodbye with the Jewells and headed to the orphanage. (Again…so surreal!). The orphanage was beautiful! It was for children infected with HIV or who were affected by it (parents, etc). Cheri was dressed in her Clown outfit and the kids just loved her! There were 32 children there from 18 months to 12 years old. Their bedrooms were beautiful and everything was very clean. The children looked very healthy and we had 7 giant bags of clothes to donate, and they sure can use it!

No, our Monday is not yet over. We then headed to dinner at this Chinese food restaurant recommended. Unfortunately, our drivers took some of us to one restaurant, and others to a different one. We didn’t realize until the fateful call of ‘I’m here where are you?” Our very tolerant, easy going group got back in the car, went to the right restaurant, and enjoyed a fantastic dinner around 9pm. (And all this right after I applauded our drivers in the last blog!) We all found it funny but a little sad too. Driving around Mombassa at night was scarier than anything we’ve experienced so far. In the nice part of town, there are short one story shops, with street vendors on blankets outside. I know this sounds quaint, but it just looked dirty, dusty, and dark, as the only lighting on the street is small candles on the blankets. We were told that urban poverty is extremely different than the rural poverty, and boy were they right. The rural poverty looked so much more appealing. Even in the dirtiest of places I’ve been to in the states, there is nothing to compare with the nice parts of downtown Mombassa (not even the slums!) Also, driving is as crazy as every in Kenya.

Summary: I was at the clinic, then riding a camel, holding orphans, then eating Chinese – weird weird day!

Onto the big city....moving on up....to the west side of Kenya!

Day 23 – Sunday, February 21, 2010

This morning we woke up at 642am. AhhH! We were supposed to be at the lobby at 615 for the safari! NOoooOOOoooo! We threw clothes on (I’m wearing a pink shirt and red sports bra, and yesterday’s pants…nice huh?) We ran out, and sure enough everyone was gone. I said a quick prayer to accept whatever was going to happen with grace, and then saw a few of our drivers down in the lobby.

There was a group of zebras by the water (which you could see from the lobby). Apparently one had given birth to a still born baby, and it was soo sad! The baby was sad and the mother wouldn’t leave it. There were two jackals circling for when the mom left, but she just stood there confused, licking the bundle for some time. In reaction to this and missing the safari my mom blurted out ‘well good morning to me!?!’ It was really sad but a little funny.

One of the drivers was very kind and offered to take my mom and I on the safari (after her comment). Yea! Private tour! We had a blast! We saw tons more animals, close to the vehicle, including a group of zebras, impalas, and giraffes, all hanging out together. We saw tons (haha) of elephants closer to the vehicle. They were colored red because they put the red dirt over them to cool them. Sadly we did not see rhinos, lions, or other big cats, so we have only checked off 2 of the big five. (Right now I’m in the vehicle travelling to Mombasa and Alana – one of the teenagers is journaling too!) Also on the way back to breakfast, there was a tortoise on the road! I didn’t expect that! Also it was great because my Mom and I got to chat for two hours. We haven’t been able to do that as we’ve both been so busy. We had a great chat!

We went back for breakfast and the poor zebra was still there. Someone had binoculars and you could actually see the stripes on the little baby on the ground. L After breakfast, we packed up and I had to say goodbye to my mom, and a few of our other team-members who were leaving. They will definitely be missed this week. As we were pulling away, I definitely teared up, and not because of the nice beds, beautiful view, amazing massage, or the calming pool, I realized I was leaving my mom. (They were staying on for a few hours before going to catch their flight in Nairobi). Not just leaving her to see her in a week, but I wouldn’t see her until Easter. L I hate this part of travelling with family. The vacation is a blast, but leaving is the pits.

On our supposed 3 hour drive to Mombasa, we had a gas leak in one of the combis, so we had to pull over, and put 4 extra people in each of the other two combis (where no seats were available to begin with!). It worked out okay as we hired a combi a few miles down the road to take us the rest of the journey. It was interesting though because along the drive, in addition to the goats, donkeys, and cows along the road, we saw tons of camels and even a few zebras grazing!

An interesting thing about the speed limit here is that combis, trucks, lorries, etc all have to go 80kph, whereas cars can go 110. So when we hear it’s a 3 hour drive, it turns out that is for a car, whereas it takes about 50% longer in a combi. One of the oddities of driving in Kenya is that the two-lane highways are used for passing quite frequently. I have never passed so many large trucks in my life, at going such a high speed, and up a hill! I don’t want to give you the wrong impression, the drivers are very able and quite impressive with their skills, but it has happened more than once that you can see a car oncoming (as you’re in their lane) and you cut across just before colliding with them (as they never never slow down any for you!). It’s crazy! Another thing about the combi drivers – the company we are using to get us from place to place has been incredible. Everytime something like an oil leak happens, we are displaced for 30 minutes at the most and on our way again. I can’t imagine trying to find our way over all these back roads without them! They have been most professional and courteous.

As we were entered Mombasa, it became clear this was a very large city. There are about 3 million people here, and that fact alone explains the dramatic difference between the other sites and here. First off, as we were driving into town, there were very large factories with huge prison-like fences on the outside, surrounded by the little shacks selling food. It’s hard not to think these might be sweat shops as they look so imposing and controlled. (this may not make sense to most of you, but aside from the cars, it kind of reminds me of how Detroit would have looked back in its hay-day, with large buildings and small structures everywhere else).

We arrived at Camp David where the clinics will take place and said goodbye to 5 more team-members, including the teens. It was very sad to see them go. Camp David is literally on the border of the slums. We set up for a few hours, and then we were pleasantly surprised with a pizza party for dinner! The pizza was fantastic, and since we had only fruit for lunch, as is becoming common on travel days, it was very welcomed! We went to our hotel, which is on an island within Mombasa, near a different set of slums but not in them, and checked in. Now you may not believe me, but we have air conditioning, fans, a bath tub, and even a patio! A toilet and running warm water are just a given now! (I feel so spoiled!). Tomorrow we have clinics then are visiting a local orphanage at night. I hear our team-members made it safely to the airport and should be boarding their flight any minute now!

Summary: Mombasa is a very large city that would probably remind you of Detroit….take that however you want.

Books read: 10 (finally done of the left behind prequels. Don’t read them. Whatever you do…don’t read them!)

Hours in a combi: 30 (about half of those was on a dirt road too rough for Texas)

I was 1 ft from a monkey!

Day 22 – Saturday, February 20, 2010

Today was incredible! We went on three safari’s: one at 6am, 10am, and 4pm. Then we had a great Kenyan dinner including grilled lamb chicken and steak. Finally we had a nice team meeting to close the night out as we will be saying goodbye to 10 of the team members (including my mom!! L). We didn’t see lions or cheetahs, but there’s one safari left and I have high hopes!

The safari’s were incredible! We saw giraffes, a nose of a hippo, a few elephants, hundreds of monkeys, zebras, gazelle, dik diks, different birds, and crazy trees. The combis we have been riding in the last few weeks have the top open up, so you could stand on the seats and see out in every direction! Today was a amazing! At one point we got out of the combi to see the hippos, and Mom, Danelle, and I came across a group of monkeys that were pretty close, so we tried to get closer and take a picture with it. Then they let us way way closer and suddenly we were surrounded by these adorable monkeys! It was crazy! We were having a private moment with these amazing animals, and there were no cages! Truly incredible!

In between safari 2 and 3 we relaxed by the pool and had a great time! This was exactly what I needed to revitalize for next week in Mombasa! Before dinner, I took an amazing hot shower and since this place is so nice, I dressed in this beautiful dress I got while in Harrogate from H&M. With my new Kenyan jewelery (mom and I went shopping yesterday….), I feel like a girl again! Mom leaves in the morning so I want to spend my last few minutes with her. Talk to you all later!

Summary: No lions, tigers, or bears, oh my!

Are we there yet??

Day 21 – Friday, February 19, 2010

Today we travelled and travelled and travelled. It was a really fun combie to be in: my mom, the teens and their moms, and Danelle, one of the nurses who is really sweet. We were supposed to have a 3.5 – 5 hour ride (yep I know that’s quite a range), but it ended up being 8.5 hours. Over 3 of those hours was on a road that was so bumpy, I actually appreciated having a seatbelt on to keep my head from hitting the roof! It was unbelieveable how uncomfortable we all were for so long, but yet no one in the combies complained about the length of time. Not having a watch certainly helped…. But really people weren’t upset. I don’t think I’ve ever been a part of a group that was so collectively easy-going.

We arrived in Tsavano Animal Reserve and had a 22km ride to the Kilaguni Serena Safari lodge within the reserve, and got to animal watch the whole way! We saw giraffes, a kind of deer, the most beautiful blue bird that I’m sure was just like Zazu on Lion King, wart hogs, and a lot of elephant dung. That was hopeful for the next day! We were completely covered in dirt from the open windows all day long, but we all just thought we had a nice tan. J This illusion was shattered when we stepped off the combie to hot hand towels to wash our face and hands with and saw the white cotton turn to an ugly brown! We went in and had a lovely lunch around 530pm, with the plan to return for dinner around 8pm. Holy cow was this place gorgeous! This is the Kenya most tourists see. The lodge overlooks a beautiful water hole, that tons of animals were just sitting at, completely oblivious to us. It was unbelieveably surreal. Plus the food was so much more like what we were used to … and there was bread and cheese! My two favorite things that I have not had in so long! We went skipping to our rooms after dinner and were amazed to see them. Not a single thing was wrong. We were all so tolerant and easy going about our past rooms, that this beauty was really a shock. The mosquito net goes all around the beds, so as not to impose on you as you sleep. The shower is self contained with beautiful tiling. The toilet has a lid. There are mirrors everywhere. Oh, and apparently there is a problem with baboons coming and stealing stuff off your balcony. What a cool problem!?! Oh oh oh! I missed the best part….they have a gift shop, someone to do laundry for you, and a spa! My mom and I ran to the gift shop and bought stuff for the first time all trip! We have beautiful bracelets, new beaded sandals, and some other goodies! I will have clean laundry tomorrow for a mere $10! All meals are included! Wow we have really arrived. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief during ‘lunch’ as we were finally able to relax. I now know why the safari wasn’t after the first weekend. As I was leaving dinner, my mom and I booked a pedicure for the next day (for our new sandles) and I put down a $40 deposit to get a hair dryer! Yes everyone, my hair is soft and looks like hair for the first time in weeks! It is also surprisingly long. This also means I took a warm shower for the first time in weeks….not scalding hot or freezing cold! Wow! Wow! Wow! This is really energizing for the next week in Mombasa! Tomorrow morning we leave for a safari at 6am so I better call it a night, but golly gee is this a fun trip! My mom said it best ‘this is worth taking 1000 people’s temperature!’ J

Summary: So far the safari is already incredible! I can’t wait for tomorrow!

Books read: 9 (Left behind prequel book 2…only one more!)

Drug Renegades

Day 20 – Thursday, February 18, 2010

Today was the last day. My task was paperwork in the morning….I’m collecting all of the forms and inputting them in a database so we can have a better idea what drugs are used, the most desired prescription of glasses, etc. This is somewhat boring but a nice break, (plus I get to listen to music)! Then the power went out and my battery was completely dead, so I had to find a new task to occupy my time. I went out with Suzanne (the coordinator for Chalice…i.e. the boss), and one of the new girls who arrived: Tracy. We handed out Albendazole (anti parasite) and a huge vitamin A dose to everyone who didn’t get seen. Vitamin A is especially helpful for their eyesight as the dust and sun just reek havoc on the local’s eyes! To those in the vision clinic that don’t need glasses, we give hats or sunglasses to try to help prolong their good eyesight. Anyway, the people who were seen inside would all get these medicines, and we didn’t want to leave that people that couldn’t be seen with nothing. It was an interesting task as one of the pills had to be chewed and the other swallowed. Also, we opened the gates to distribute the pills, set up a table there, and people walked up. We had water to help the pills go down and I really would have thought people would have a couple of glasses, but the people outside the gate would drink ½ and throw the other half on the ground. This is the first time this wasteful behavior was displayed. Normally, people were so careful about water, not even the kids spilled. So, we poured ½ as much water in the cup. Same thing…people would toss half of it out. We have no idea if that was supposed to be an insult, but we just kept saying ‘asante…kwaheri’ (thank you….good bye) afterwards to be kind. This was more of what I expected we’d be doing in Kenya as it was a little crazy and more renegade, (it could never be done in the states!), but apparently this is along the lines of what we’ll do in Mombasa.

Afterwards we went to the school and they performed the most incredible dances for us! Better than any we had seen before! The girls’ hips moved in about 50 directions. I’m impressed when I can make mine swing left and right while I walk! Well of course they pulled a few of us up and stage with them and didn’t we look completely ridiculous in comparison. Even when they were swaying there were about 4 separate motions to the movement! After a heartfelt goodbye to the sisters…it is clear they run a tight ship and it shows. Chalice has been sponsoring the area for a number of years and about ½ of the children in the school, and they had the highest graduation rate (for 8^th grade) in their whole district! Plus all of the children looked healthy, unlike in Mikinduri where help has been available for a much shorter period. When we were leaving we had a nice walk through the town of Kamugongo, trying to meet up with the combie. It felt great to stretch your legs and see the town. And as usual we got quite the stares. We were moving to the safari the next day, so this was our last evening in town. It was a nice, low-key one, with everyone relaxing and sharing a drink.

Summary: Gave drugs to people on the street….literally.

Books read: 8 (Left behind prequel series…not good but I bought the other 2 so I’ll read them…)

Poker and Church...not in that order

Day 19 – Wednesday, February 17, 2010

Not much happened that was different than the previous day. I have really enjoyed getting to know everyone but am saddened with the idea that so many people are leaving on Sunday and I’m staying on an extra week. :*( My mom, the teenagers, the dentist and his wife. They’re all really sweet and I think the last week will miss something without them. I taught the teens how to play blackjack and poker, and have been collecting bottlecaps all week (from the nuns) in order to show them betting. Their parents are aware, but I’m pretty sure they’re not too impressed. Oh well! I also taught them high low today, haha! (no drinks…don’t worry!)

 

There was a beautiful mass today for Ash Wednesday, in this quaint little church that was decorated by the kids. The front half of the pews were filled with children from the school, and the interesting part was, I didn’t see a teacher in sight. All of the kids sat through mass without making a peep. If that were the states, there’d by a teacher on every row just to minimize the talking and figiting, and having gone to parochial school, I am sure of this! There one was little baby who sat in front of me and cried anytime a mazungo (white person) looked at her; she would go into hysterics! It was especially funny because her dad was one of our translators, and couldn’t have been any nicer!

 

Summary: Fun day corrupting youth…..while doing good in the vision clinic.

 

Vision Clinics on the Go!

Day 18 – Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Mercy Care Clinic, near Mwengi in the town of Kamugongo, is run by a group of Franciscan nuns from India. My goodness can they get things done! We’re no longer on African time with them. With the help of the locals, they built an amazing medical facility in 2003. Sister Bastian taught the locals how to make cement. She’d send them down to the dry river to collect buckets of sand to mix for the building. After a week in Mikinduri where so much was outside, this facility was ‘heavenly’.

A typical day for us: We have a great big breakfast at our hotel around 7am and get in the combie at 7:30 for a 30 minute very bumpy ride. When we arrive at Mercy Care Clinic, we go to our separate stations, and start with a prayer every morning. Then we meet at 11am for tea the sisters have prepared and a treat called Mondazi, like a doughnut. We are all starving for lunch at 1pm, but are so amazed every time for how tasty the food is. There’s an incredible stew, a fresh fruit from the grounds (watermelon, papya, etc), amazing Chapati (African pancakes that are tortilla-like), a coleslaw, and corn flour (a maize-like substance). Also there is often a special treat….a soda! We go back for a few more hours work, then head back to the hotel for a nice evening. Dinner is around 7pm, and I’m never hungry for how much I ate at lunch! We had a special dinner treat on Monday night: French fries and fried fish!

On Wednesday, the vision team split off in the morning to do local visits of local huts, more specifically Danelle, Alana, Ryann, Edwin, Jordan, Emily, George, Jenny, Theresa, Jo Ann, Cheri, Ted, and Greg. Here are thoughts from that group: They dropped us off in the middle of nowhere, where we walked up and down a crazy path where the local women were wearing heels! We arrived at a very humble farm that was very clean. They had a separate storage hut above ground with a thatched roof. There was a small hut for a house that is primarily a sleeping area. The third hut was the cooking area. The other two places we visited were similar, but the roof varied between tin and sticks and mud, and the walls were sticks and mud or home-made bricks. One man cultivated honey and he put 5 hollow logs high in a tree to attract the bees. They climb the trees once a year and get 50 litres of honey! It was ridiculously hot on this visit!

Meanwhile the vision clinic was running back at Mercy Care Clinic, and 5 workers (Karen, Greg B, Cat, Shawna, and Libby) saw 100 people! In vision today, there was a woman I tested who was 101! Shawna adds, she wanted reading glasses for sewing! What an inspiration!

Later in the afternoon, the group went to a local town and did an off-site vision clinic. It was the home town of one of our translators, and we met her grandmother: the chief of the town! We set up in a miraculous 5 minutes in the local school and were operating in no time! We helped 40 people in the local town! Theresa adds, the best part, there were no speeches! After the clinic we got back to Mercy Care Clinic in time for Ash Wednesday mass. As we were leaving for the hotel, all of the children burst into a simultaneous cheer! It was awesome! Jo Ann recalls, as one little girl yelled after we send ‘bye’, ‘hi I’m fine!’ It was totally adorable!

Shawna has been doing double duty in the vision and dental clinic. Here are some of her thoughts: I’m assisting Bill (the dentist). This entails loading the needles, passing the instruments, calming the patients, identifying which tooth is the problem, and other dental assist acts. It’s been a great team this year. Mwengi is the first time we’ve had a smoking hot shower. (We need to be careful what we wish for as the hot shower is unbearably hot!) Today we pulled 21 teeth in the afternoon, because Dr Bill hurt his foot and spent the morning in town getting an xray. Luckily there were no broken bones, and he got to go eat lunch with the nuns today. Yesterday, Dr Bill pulled 30 teeth! Bill and Shawna say: Hallelujah, Amen! We got through another day again!

From Karen: When counters were needed in the pharmacy, Cat and Karen leaped into action! Karen’s highlight was learning how to cut pills without crushing them! They counted pills into smaller bottles. Karen related a funny situation: Cat and I were sitting there pretending we could do this job. Ryan hands us a bottle and asked for 40 pills. Neither of us could get the bottle open! We thought it was childproof! Well Wycliffe made us feel better by pulling out a knife to open the bottle! It was a blast but Karen will stick to running the vision ‘kingdom’.

Today has obviously been a very busy day, and we’re quite happy to relax back at our hotel. We are just past the ½ point for most of the volunteers. We miss our families and are so appreciative of everything we’re experienced here so far!

Summary: Crazy day! Super fun! I held 2 babies!

From the Teens

Day 17 – Monday, February 15, 2010

Compiled by Alana (13), Jordan (14), and Emily (14) Jewell and Ryann Jinks (14) (with typing aid from Libby).

We visited four schools while the clinics were running: 3 in Mikinduri and one in Mwengi. In each school we went into classes and talked about Canada. The children had an opportunity to ask questions and they mostly cared about the rulers of Canada. They thought we had kings and presidents. They taught us about forestry in Canada and the changing relationships in Africa. They asked us about pastimes (sports). They didn’t understand ice hockey, ringette, or skating, as snow was such a foreign concept. They didn’t believe there was transportation in the winter either. Their textbooks were outdated, like they thought the main transportation of logs was via rivers.

The children had plaid and solid uniforms, with collared shirts. The girls are never in pants and do not show their shoulders or knees. Since most of their heads were shaved to prevent lice and to help them concentrate on class, it was hard to tell the girls from boys. At the secondary school, when we handed out soccer balls, we met a future soccer player: Joachim Mutethia. He was so good, we got his autograph. He was juggling the ball for 5 minutes straight!

Then we visited the primary school where the children surrounded us, even before we were at the entrance gate. Jordan said it was as if we were breaking into a bee hive and they swarmed us. We had a least 6 kids on each arm; it was impossible to walk!

The third school we went to was a secondary school 20 minutes down an extremely long bumpy road. We were rattled, literally. It was like a roller coaster ride, but it wouldn’t stop! Once we got there, we were greeted by the principal and we visited form 2 (grade 10) and started the t-shirt exchange. We tried to explain the plan, but no one understood, so we had Patronilla (the coordinator of the school visits) repeat it in again in English. It turns out they just couldn’t understand our accent. Emily and Theresa (an adult team-member) handed out the t-shirts and pictures. Everyone was really excited! Ryann took pictures of each person while Alana took their names and ages. Sadly the next day, one of the team-members was looking through the pictures and accidentally wiped the card! All of our pictures were gone, including the t-shirt exchange pictures! We felt awful but since we were leaving the next day, we knew our classmates would understand.

Today’s school experience had a dramatically different feel. We were in the primary school attached to the convent where we held the clinic (Mercy Care Clinic in Mwengi). The school consisted of 300 students who according to the Sisters, got the highest marks in the area. Many of them are orphans due to a high percentage of HIV/AIDS. We were in the school to perform HIV testing for the many children sponsored by Chalice. The nurses (Danelle and Jennie) pricked the children’s fingers and collected the blood. Ryann and Alana comforted the children with finger puppet shows and provided gauze. At the time, Emily was helping the nurses station taking blood pressure, respiratory, temperature, and heart rate. Jordan was helping one of the nuns at the laboratory, who couldn’t speak English and kept mispronouncing Jordan’s name. (Emily and Jordan had problems with the blood). It was sad, especially since three of the children out of the 122 tested positive while we were there, but we know they will have access to medication and ‘learn how to live positive lives’ (according to Nicholas, one of the testers).

The differences between the schools here are from one extreme to the other, but the teachers in every school said that the smartest children were nearly always the poorest. One such girl was Caroline, the girl from the first blog, and is in the attached picture. (Peace Easy)

More Chickens

Day 16 – Sunday, February 14, 2010

So we started off today by going to mass (it’s Sunday). In Africa, a Catholic mass is so much more lively than even the Baptists in the States. There is a pulse to the mass that everyone in it is part of the celebration. It makes you think about how excited the apostles must have been. The choir was easily 50 people, and every song automatically had about 15 different harmonies. It was incredible! I don’t think my ears even heard or could distinguish the different tones within each song! Also there were a group of 20 kids, 5-10 year olds, that danced up the aisle in front of the alter boys (but behind the initial alter boy with the cross), and to bring up the gifts, and to present the book for reading. Now I say they danced because it was gorgeous, but really it was more of a shuffle. However, every one of them were in perfect unity shuffling from side to side, and slightly up the aisle. Really there’s no way to sufficiently explain it, but it was beautiful. Mass was 2-1/2 hours long, though as much as I’m shocked to say this, it didn’t feel like it. Plus it was in the local tongue of Kombo, so not a lot was understood, but the priest did repeat the homily in English for us.

Of course we were the center of attention. Every child had their eyes turned on us and when we’d smile, they’d coyly turn away then look through their hands to see if we were still smiling. The coolest part of mass was during the bringing of the gifts. One little girl brought a live rooster, with it’s legs tied, put it on the alter, and left it there as if this were completely common. Apparently (if you read a previous blog), chickens are something that are highly coveted and a big gift. The crazy part was the rooster just sat there, didn’t make a peep; I think it knew it was in church too! No one really would have noticed it was there if you didn’t see the girl carrying it up.

Also I noticed the local people were surprisingly short (in height). I was average height (at 5’5”) with only a handful of people taller than me. That is not a feeling I experience very often. Everyone was very dressed up and there was a clear dichotomy in the population. The wealthy had very nice clothes and extensions, and poor people did not. Every child there, as I previously noticed, was perfectly behaved, didn’t squirm at all, and some as young as 10 were even there alone (without parents).

After mass, we took a combie to the clinics to set up for tomorrow. Apparently our new site is a 40 min drive each way. That will be a bummer, but the road isn’t too bad, and I plan to bring a book. The clinics are set in a local convent run by Franciscan nuns from India. The ladies that run the permanent clinic are lovely and enjoyed my very poor Swahili. We had a small valentine’s day celebration with decorations and red plates, and a few of us (mom and I included) brought chocolate for everyone else. It was fun! I got a card from my dad and one from my mom with a cute small gift. Plus the Sees chocolate I brought my mom are miraculously in perfect condition! Not melted in the slighted! I spent the remainder of the day relaxing and inputting data. That’s the problem with having my own room…I’ll use it to stay up late when I should be asleep….like now! Night! I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine’s!

Summary: Mass had a lively pulse but was not brief.

Read: 7 books (the new Miley Cyrus/Nicholas Sparks movie: last song….really good!)

On the Move

Day 15 – Saturday, February 13, 2010

Today the plan was to move to the next site in Mwengi with a stop at the Nakumatt (Walmart). This was very exciting as the town we had been in didn’t have stores with supplies at the ready, i.e. toothpaste, diet coke, pillows, whatever. So we had a bit of a delay getting in the vehicles as it was complicated packing all the supplies we needed and fitting the amount of people we had, but I ended up in the fourth row in the middle (there were only 4 rows and ours was the only one with the middle seat). That was fine as I had been lucky enough to get a window seat on the way up. The funny part was, there were so many organizer and planner type personalities that it took everything I had not to offer my two cents. There were too many chiefs (and no Indians necessary).

Anyway we got to the store after ½ an hour and I grabbed my few necessary supplies: chips, soda, rum, and a power adapter as mine had blown the day before. Then we were told there was a 2-1/2 hour drive to lunch. What they left out was that after lunch, there was a 3 hour drive to the next hotel. When we were contemplating stopping for lunch, everyone decided to skip it and go on (once they found out about the three hours) and we’d grab fruit at a stand. This was also a good plan because we had so much junk food from the nakematt, no one was really hungry. So: our combie driver pulls over to a fruit stand on the side of the road, and goes out to buy bananas as they don’t have to be cleaned. All of a sudden, our combie starts rolling down the hill. He had forgot to put the parking break on! It was hilarious! We were all so packed in with suitcases and bags no one could get to the break or front seat, and luckily someone jumped in and stopped us from rolling right into the stand! As we were about to leave, we saw that one of the other combies had a flat tire. So, we all waited as they unloaded the combie, changed the tire and reloaded. Quite a humorous day, with a 3 hour drive ahead! Plus it was a million degrees (okay, maybe 95 F), and no air conditioning!

The Kenyan roads are quite interesting. From what I can tell, there are no speed limits, but every so often, especially before towns, there is a speed bump. In a car I’m sure this is fine, but sitting in the back of the combie, my head was very close to touching the ceiling more than once! They were fun though, and it was always as you were in the middle of a nice nap that one would come up. I did get good reading time though on my Kindle (medium 4 for reading methods if you’re wondering: Computer, audio, paper, and kindle).

Another neat thing about the roads are that the building are all giant advertisements. The most common cell phone here is ‘safari’ (which means journey or trip, fyi). As you’d pass by a building, it could be anything: butcher, barber, convenience store, it would be painted exactly like a billboard. Really neat use of space and very effective. If I needed a Kenyan cell phone, I would certainly use Safari.

Now that we were moving to the Congo area of Africa, it finally looks like you expect. Previously, in Mikinduri and Nairobi, it seems so lush with thousands of trees and green everywhere. Hills and mountains all around, definitely not like the Lion King or Madagascar 2. Here in Mwengi though, I could see Simba hanging out. The plains stretch on for miles, and there are not many elevation changes. The grass looks more straw-like and yellow, and the few trees are more desert trees. I would not call this area lush, but there are still green parts to it. As you’d expect, the temperature increased as well, and the nice breeze seems to have disappeared.

Anyway we got to a very nice hotel. Mwengi is a bigger city than Mikinduri. All of the rooms have toilets and a shower with a hot water tap (yes my standards are quite high now). Plus the rooms are about the same size but these are now considered singles. I won’t argue. I love my mom, but after she blew my converter trying to plug in airplane headphones, I was definitely ready for just a little space. (Oh and I did buy my own pillow at the Nakumatt so life has been good). Additionally, my mom has had problems with migraines based on the bumpiness of transport and I have been staying out later than her, and I feel guilty coming in and waking her. This will alleviate that. Oh – I left out the best part – there’s a pool! It’s not encouraged to drink the water, but apparently it’s clear (enough) and a nice 85 degrees! I could hear my mom’s sighs all the way from my room! Also some of the couples got the honeymoon suites with a bath tub and king size bed. It’s such a cool group, I don’t think people are really jealous, just astounded that it’s available!

We were supposed to have dinner at 715 so we got a few hours to ourselves, but of course in Kenyan time, we didn’t eat until 830. No one cared too much. We played cards and I taught the teenagers black jack. I’m not sure their parents will let them hang out with me much longer…. Anyway, off to my own comfortable bed with clean soft sheets (not the sandpaper ones from the other place).

Summary: We moved locations and are now in what you think Africa should look like!

Christmas Party for Valentines

Day 14 – Friday, February 12, 2010

This was a day for speeches. We climbed into a small un-airconditioned bus (very small for 30 of us) and drove ’30 minutes’ to a town called Kaguwuru where MCOH sponsors many of the children and set up feeding stations. They bought the land and allow people to grow and harvest different food to make money for the community, and in addition Chalice sponsors many of the children. Anyway we were supposed to have a big celebration, a Christmas party for the kids, and a tour of their school. We took an hour to get there and were sweating profusely. Then after a wonderful greeting down the road, we walked with the children, similar to what we did on Saturday. The children had carried all of the wooden desks out of their classroom to a shaded spot near a grove of trees. All of us immediately were surrounded by the children when we sat down. The benches were 5 ft long and had 12 people to a bench! Then the speeches started….I think it’s because the food wasn’t ready, but there were literally 3 hours of speeches by the locals. First in English, then repeated in the local tongue (not Swahili). I have no idea what they were about, except that they were long and we were outside and hungry! I really don’t want to belabor how long the speeches were, but just to assure you how painful it was. We left at 9am and didn’t eat until after 2. Then the food finally came and we decided to serve the children first. It was incredible how patient they were. They sat there during the speeches, including babies, not making a peep the entire time, and I swear the muzungos (white people) fidgeted more! They had slaughtered a cow and a couple goats, and we were serving rice with a stew with these meats in it. This cow must have been pretty slim, because 90% of the meat was intestines, tongue, and other parts. It was pretty gross but the people were pretty happy to have it. Not surprising though, about ½ the village was vegetarian so they got rice and a banana. I would vegetarian too!

Anyway we served them food then got served ourselves (most of us only had rice as our stomachs were turned from serving), handed out all the stickers, pencils, sweaters, and candy we had, then got a tour of the school. What…you ask…did we really hand out sweaters in 90 degree weather? Well yes. Every child there was so bundled up! It’s the most interesting thing. Most of the children who came into the clinics had three or more layers on, including head coverings! Meanwhile, we were all in shorts and a cotton shirt. I equate it to May in Phoenix.

As we started to tour the school we finally looked around. There was the most amazing mountain next to us! It was gorgeous! Everything was lush and green nearby. There were caves up in the hills were people lived. The school was very simple, the newer building was much nicer than the older one that looked like a barn. There were two cutouts in each room for make-shift windows, and a door. Otherwise it was pretty dark, with stone and mud covering the walls to keep it cool. The children were very proud of their new school and excited about their new uniform sweaters. All of the schools in Kenya require uniforms, and most families have only one outfit per child, that gets washed like new every night. The children always look immaculately clean! (except for the scabies on their scalp, mucus under their nose, dirt under their fingers….but their uniforms were clean!)

Before we left, my uncle’s sponsor’s child (Isaiah)’s family came up to me, and gave me a chicken as a gift. A live chicken and two cooked (small) eggs. This was a big deal. His little sister named Joy had been the sweet 4 year old that was my shadow all day, when I wasn’t carrying her around. I couldn’t refuse it, so I said thank you, took a few pictures with the family and the chicken, and asked Fr B to take it back in his combie as I can only imagine how it would sit in the bus!

We left for the long hot drive back and saw fields of marijuana along the way. Apparently they grow it here, cut it, rush it to the Nairobi airport for shipment out of the country. Also the men here chew a stalk that has the effects of it. Crazy!

When we got back, we were filthy and disgusting, but we were dropped off at the sewing center and main building for MCOH and Chalice. It was far, but it was humorous because they were closed, so we just looked at the outside of the buildings. Apparently the office is where people come to get sponsors, and the sewing center employs locals (men and women) to make uniforms and other clothing for the locals to buy. We walked back to the hotel, I jumped in the cold shower, and I loved it! I had no idea a cold shower would feel so good! I took a picture of my leg before I got in as there was this amazing black dirtiness on my leg that immediately changed to stark white where my sock was. Oh boy I was filthy! I can’t imagine being that dirty every day without a running shower to clean off. Anyway ½ way through my shampoo, someone knocked on the door and said we were supposed to be at Fr B’s school for a tour. Oops! I finished my shower and put on a ‘fresh’ outfit (though it’s hard to say that with a straight face, as with only 3 outfits and cleaning them in the sink and all…they really aren’t fresh). I went to the school and saw the ceremony had already started.

All of my comrades were sitting in chairs facing the entire school; they were the stage! Needless to say, when I realized this, I stayed in the back far from everyone, until two of the teachers: Judah and Solomon came and got me. Apparently a muzungo is not hard to spot amongst the jungle. I stood behind all the students with the teachers just as my team was asked to do a dance since the children did such a nice one. This was awesome! They stood up in unison and did the chicken dance. The children were laughing soo hard and then started to join in. They all looked rehearsed, but awesome and silly at the same time! Then we got a tour of Fr B’s school. It was remarkably nicer. Two story stone building with a computer lab and everything! The teachers here were university educated, as opposed to the previous school that one of the teachers explained to me, he was now attending university.

We had dinner and packed in the evening, getting ready for the next two clinics as we were leaving the extra glasses behind in Mikinduri. Also the girls and I French braided each other’s hair! It was like a sleepover!

Summary: A beautiful day with beautiful children

Read: 6 books

Mikinduri Clinics Thoughts

Day 13 – Thursday, February 11, 2010

Our first week of clinics really was a neat week. We’d wake around 630 to a cold shower, run across the street to Father B’s church for breakfast by Bongo-man (yes that’s his name!) and his crew, walk up to the clinic site for 8am, do the clinic all day, pack up around 5, walk back, go up to the ‘Tusker room’ (we coined it this as we drank the local beer Tusker together in this room), get to dinner at Fr B’s around 730, hang out there until retiring for a nightcap in my uncle’s room around ten, and crash between 11 and 1am. The team is a cool dynamic. The main crew that have the most history with these trips (the veterans) were all put on the bottom floor with Uncle Ted, with the least amenities (cold showers, long drop, etc). We were also put on this floor. The cool thing about being on that floor is that this entitled Mom and I to be included in the veteran’s activities. Now, I have no doubt everyone was welcome to come for the night caps, but because we were right there, we were always included. It was cool to hear their stories and recaps for the day as their experience often lended more perspective. This was probably my favorite part of the day, though it’s hard to choose as there are so many highlights throughout.

Additionally on the team are a group of teenagers: 3 girls and 1 boy, 13 – 14 years old. They are the most well behaved, least typical teenagers I have ever met. They’re a joy to hang out with, and I have been quite a bit after dinner and at the clinics. I can’t believe they’re that young! A sobering thought though is that they are older than many of the children who drop out of school to get married here. One of the towns we visited, there was no one in 8^th grade because they all dropped out to get married. As mature as this group is, I can’t imagine them mature enough to care for kids right now. We have a great time though braiding hair and giggling, even though I’m twice their age!

One other thing that’s common to the area is taking multiple wives. Once a man has a million shillings (there’s about 70 shillings to the dollar, so that’s less than $15000), and/or his current wife reaches 40, he will often take a local 13 year old for a second wife (maybe an older woman). The girls have no choice in the matter. Even on the of the Kenyan professionals on our trip, who is a doctor from an urban area, has two wives and children with each wife.

Okay onto the clinics. On Monday, we saw the people from the local village of Mikinduri. I worked in the vision clinic and learned many of the different stations. There’s the triage area to see if they even need glasses, as many people come in and put on a great (but inconsistent) show about being blind, just to get free glasses, as that’s a status symbol here. It’s hilarious….they squint and scrunch up their eyes at the easy ones, but then on harder ones get it occasionally correct. If we are unsure, we have these special glasses called ‘the glasses’ that as soon as we put on them, then can miraculously see! Also in the triage room, we distinguish whether they need distance or reading glasses. Anyone over 40 was sent for reading, and a few of them needed distance as well. The interesting thing about these people is that for distance, they often needed a positive prescription, where for younger people who have problem with distance, they need a negative prescription. To test whether they need positive or negative, we use one of those double sided glasses and say that super annoying phrase ‘is this better or is this better’ and flip them over. Then we sent them off to either distance or reading which use the appropriate glasses strength (there’s a full range of strengths we try) and distance from the chart (distance is about 10 ft, reading is in a chair at arm’s length), to use trial and error to see which is the nicest. Then we send them to the dispensary using our runner, to get them their actual pair of glasses, or if they were faking it, a hat or sunglasses. A few people also got eyedrops, but these were not readily available so we had to be quite stingy. The vision clinic is for all of us lay people, including the teenagers. One day as we were headed to our hotel, a man stopped the teenage boy and said ‘doctor, why wouldn’t you give me glasses’. We thought it was hilarious because he was only 14 and the man really thought he was a doctor!

On Tuesday, we had people bussed in from a local poor town. Apparently last year they moved the clinic to the town, but this year we hired busses. Most of the people had never been in any kind of automobile before, so we got a number of people who didn’t really need anything, but they just wanted to go on the ride. I’d estimate we saw about 500 people each day, between medical, dental, and vision.

On Wednesday, I was supposed to do data entry. Each person received a form that we filled out with their prescription, dental, or medical treatment, in addition to their name and some stats (town, age, etc). This information is then entered into a database I made so the team can be better prepared next year and know which towns people are walking in from (as people were travelling 10+ miles on foot to come to the clinics, those that weren’t bussed in). Anyway the flaw in my plan was that I forgot someone had to enter this data….huh….guess that’s me. J So on Wed morning I went to the medical area as they have an extra room…the isolation room… and used a bed as my desk to enter data. It was really neat being down there as it was much busier and whenever a really neat case came in, someone would grab me. I saw one lady with a giant tumor on her lower lip and chin, to where I have no idea how she’d chew, talk, or even move her jaw. A little boy had a bone sticking out of his foot that doctors kept telling him was a vein because it had absessed. Obviously these patients are referred to the hospital, and should be supported by MCOH (Mikinduri Children of Hope) and Chalice to get them the help they need. As the afternoon rolled around, the nurses realized that the children coming in were very very small for their age. They were in the third percentile for their age group (most people are between 30 and 70, that means they are the smallest of the children of their age), and frankly they could have been lower. The chart only goes to 3%. One little girl was supposedly two years old but she was being carried around and couldn’t have weighed 20lbs. A second girl was 17 and didn’t weigh 80 lbs, and she was over 5 feet. It was so sad! Luckily, someone ran to the store and got whole milk and bananas, and my job for the afternoon was to feed starving children…literally. But since so many people were outside and were so hungry, we had to do it in secret otherwise there would be a stampede. So one by one I’d bring kids in and give them food, sometimes with their mother looking on, not eating as we didn’t have enough for them too. It was heart wrenching! The community that people were being bussed in from on Wednesday was an extremely poor area, and I was shocked at how young the mothers were. Also, they were completely unequipped to be mothers. Apparently they would have the child while they were in the fields working, unaware they’re pregnant, no idea what to do, i.e. to get the baby breathing, and in those first few seconds deprived of oxygen, the child would develop a disability; cerebral palsy was very common., and there were more babies there with a disability than without. So sad! One woman with twins was feeding one of the children with hot water because she thought it would make the baby healthier, meanwhile the other baby who was drinking breast milk was strong.

On Thursday, I worked in vision in the morning, and fed babies/data entry in the afternoon. The teenage boy came to help me enter data and let me tell you, it was so much faster with him! 6 times! I don’t think I’ll get everything entered while I’m here, but whatever I don’t bring home the better. Also that day we saw a few more cases of elephantiasis. There were at least 5 cases that week. My last case of the day I went up to help the vision clinic pack up. A man walked in who I’m nearly sure was drunk. That was hilarious. Everyone around said he was just staring at me, but I really think he was drunk. He walked away with glasses….though they may be the totally wrong prescription. J

Thursday evening there was a massive party with the local translators, after we packed up the clinic of course. Fr B and Ted had some fun random activities planned, lots of speeches, and a roasted goat. I tried it, but that will likely only happen once. With everyone there, we couldn’t waste any of the food, so even if you didn’t like something on your plate (i.e. goat on the bone that was put on your plate much to your polite objections) you still had to eat it. One thing that happened throughout the night too was I got hit on….a lot….by married men (who I guess were on the prowl for number two), boys in university, and even our combie drivers. It was really not funny. One of the married men gave me a nice beaded necklace (he was the chief of police of the town) and I made sure we weren’t engaged by my acceptance, as apparently rejecting a gift is not allowed here. It’s the ultimate insult. We danced the night away and were really amazed how well everyone (but us) danced. It was so much fun!

Summary: A good week of clinics, that was exhausting!

From Danelle Besaw (on medical team)

Hello from the medical team. We had a nutzo week on our first try. Starting early in the morning, we’d be the last to finish with the last doctor finishing at 7 at night, but what joys there were hidden inside. We saw everything from little babies to an 80 year old man who complained about sore knees from walking miles a day and climbing trees. We had a few emergencies that came in that thankfully turned out for the better. They are now happily in the Meru hospital, being looked after. We’d see many very disabled individuals who never had wheelchairs and were carried around all day. Thanks to Ed and his skills, many of them walked away with crutches. There was even a four year old who got a tiny wheel chair.

There were many interesting cases. People get malaria like we get colds. Many of the mothers were quite young. For the most part, we didn’t see very undernourished children, except for the third day when a bus came in from a far off community. Nearly every child had arms like twigs. There was Libby and Maribeth hiding in a closet corner secretly handing out food to the children, afraid that a mob of hungry people would swarm them. Unfortunately they weren’t so successful on Thursday when Libby and Jordan handed out milk towards the end of the day, right when the gates were opened to swarms of people. It was bedlam, but we’re happy to report they’re still alive and no bruises. On the first day, Greg McKenna took on quite the role in the clinic. First he switched watches with one of the nurses, but the dainty pink plastic didn’t quite match his outfit. Then he was found a few minutes later, holding a pair of newborn twins: Ivy and Dorothy. (Awww). Another exciting story, one of the babies in the maternity ward where the clinics were being held, was named after our very own Kathy Mutch, because she was seen the day before passing out blankets and hats.

At one point, I asked my translator, ‘oh my gosh, they’re fighting over there’, but she laughingly responded that they were simply having a conversation. ‘That’s just how we talk’, she said. The sheer volume of people we helped was overwhelming. We thought, what difference can we make when we’re only here one week, but with the amazing referral process, allowing people to get help while we’re gone, supported by the MCOH, and the amount of people we saw, it really is effective, long-term impact. Many people would try to find me after being seen. They’d smile and shake my hand, thanking me for help. Well that’s all from Mikinduri. We’re on the move again. Miss you all!

Here's a blog form the dental team:

I found it neat to work out of a tent versus being inside a building the last few years. The local dentists also found it easier because there was better airflow and lighting. We made great use of the dental chairs donated by the provincial (local) government. We used four of the chairs for the dental clinic and passed 3 of them to the medical clinic for their use. It’s an interesting dynamic to be in the middle of the camp where my patients can not only be seen, but heard all over. As before, the patients are in dire need of treatment and you’re only alleviating a bit of the pain, and could easily come back for a number of appointments. Our last case was to remove baby teeth out of a malnourished child with downs-syndrome, aged six and looked no bigger than the age of three. It was heart wrenching, but seeing the condition of his medical and dental health, it warmed my heart. Statistically we’ve taken out 530 teeth in four days thanks to the help of Mercy and George (local Kenyan dentists).

Faith, who’s mother runs St Anne’s orphanage that supports 21 infants, worked as my chair-side assistant. Her compassion put the patients at ease, and she was a great communicator. She pursuing an opportunity to study nursing in Canada, but we couldn’t quite convince her to become a dentist. Florine, a Mikinduri local volunteer, did all the oral hygiene instruction, post op instruction, handling paperwork, and patient movement. When walking home at night, I’ve never before had kids begging me for toothbrushes.

Monday morning in Mikinduri, we headed up to the clinic. While walking through the village, we felt a bit like a celebrity or rock star, as kids were pointing, laughing, and saying ‘muzungo’ (white person). The people were all very friendly and quite excited to come up and talk to us. We then walked up the dirt lane to get to the clinic and people were already waiting to get in. There were 3 main clinics set up, medical, vision, and dental, and an area set up for registration where they also learn about hygiene. We got the vision clinic situated and were open for business. I was working at the reading station the first day helping determine which reading glasses people needed. It was amazing to see their faces light up when you got the right pair and they could read their bible again. We were all a bit nervous to start the day, as you felt the weight of finding the correct prescription but that was soon assuaged. There was one gentleman, (as George relates), that was a preacher and he had memorized the bible since he could no longer read it. When he was fit for the correct glasses, his face lit up like a school boy when he realized he could read again.

The interpreters are the key to vision clinic; they are local Kenyans who have amazing English. Without them, it would be impossible to perform the duties. Plus, they’ve been super helpful in learning Swahili. Margaret and Evans taught us part of the local slang. ‘Mougo’ is followed by ‘Mougo Muno’ (Hi…hello). Also ‘Sasa’ (how are you) is followed by ‘fit’ (fine). It has really helping with the kids and walking up the street.

The vision and dental teams got to leave at the appointed time, but the medical team was working into the night. When we were headed back to the hotel we were praying there would be running water as only the ground floor had (cold cold) water when we left in the morning. Then most of us headed to the ‘tusker room’. It’s a room on the third floor that we can all meet and relax with the local beer ‘Tusker’. It’s becoming quite a highlight for developing bonds within our group. After a late dinner, and team meeting to discuss how we can improve. The teenagers with us have become addicted to the local Fanta soda flavors: orange, pineapple, and pear. Also, one thing I didn’t expect, we are all becoming one big family to fill the void missing our family and friends have left. We hope you all know how much we miss you!

Note: attached pictures (courtesy of Karen McKenna are Greg Butler with the children on Saturday and a few of the team (Jewell Family, Greg Butler, Ryann Jinks, George Likely, Catherine Sue, and Joann Boere) in the town of Mikinduri on the way back from the clinic.

Preparations

Day 9 – Sunday, February 07, 2010

This morning we had church at 7am (gasp! So early!) at Fr Bernard’s St. Massimo’s Church. It was a special service just for us, as the regular mass at 11am will include confirmation for 100 kids from the nearby area. The church was a massive stone building that could hold a few hundred people. It was sparsely decorated on the inside but was clearly a huge luxury for the town. On the way to mass, we ran into a woman who was much to skinny, and clearly a little touched in the head. She was dancing and singing with a metallic blue garland and she followed us into the church. The alter boy, a local seminarian, chased her out with a stick…literally. I guess she had been a nuisance before. That was my first shocked moment. I have never seen anyone chased out of church before, but I’m sure they had their reasons.

After a lovely mass followed by a hearty breakfast, (thank you Bongoman – yea…that’s our chef’s name!), we got back to sorting. So far the weather had been cool (80’s) with the occasional hot day. Today was hot! It was easily 100 degrees and not yet 11am. We had a nice lunch, a break in the afternoon as we worked so quickly, then headed up to the clinics to get set up and be oriented. After finding out how the vision clinic would run, I am a bit trepidatious as everyone else was trained previously in Canada (while I was in Arizona), but quite excited to see what this is all about. Today was a day for learning words (note: phonetic spelling): ‘Mouga’ (hello) is followed by ‘Mouga Moona’ (hello) for some local slang. Also, ‘Sasa’ (how are you) is followed by ‘fit’ (fine) or ‘nzuri’ (fine but also means pretty). You have to be careful though as just ‘Sa’ means what time is it. The local children all stand outside the hotel so when we stand on the second floor, we can converse with them. Caroline is there to help us with the English; she’s a local child, but a real asset to have nearby. We had some socializing time before dinner to relax and I tried a local lager. Then we went to dinner and had a great beef stew over spaghetti (not curry!) with some local wine called ‘mass wine’ that tasted just like a white port, not what mass wine typically tastes like. We had a bit more time for socializing, then it was off to bed. I have to say it was quite odd to walk down the street and have every face staring at you. Maybe this is what it is like to be famous, and if so, I don’t want it! They are all friendly, and often smile back, but it is a different feeling.

Summary: While not used to all of the attention when walking around the town, today was a day for setting up the clinics.

The first day in Kenya that my heart was touched

Day 8 – Saturday, February 06, 2010

I was awoken by my uncle with a giant pounding on the door, about 10 minutes before my alarm was set to go off. (Random, but should be documented). We trudged through the rain to breakfast and enjoyed a nice English breakfast. We saw an amazing view of the jungle with lush green everywhere! Apparently 9 elephants (including four babies) had walked through the day before but we just missed them. We jumped on the bus, for a 3 hour van ride, to a town called Meru, and had a lovely lunch (curry). In order to get to the town, we passed the equator. Cool! We also had 10 minutes to run to the internet and a walmart-like store.

Then we headed for a 20 minute drive to Mikinduri and on the way stopped at the dining hall that Mikinduri Children of Hope sponsors where the kids go once a week for a meal and education on nutrition or job training. We were going to serve a meal to them. Well that was the plan, but unfortunately we were about 30 minutes late. We pulled up to 100 children and adults cheering, singing and dancing on the side of the road. We got out and were enveloped by these adorable, loving children, who had an endless supply of hugs and were eager to hold our hands, even though we were complete strangers. They escorted us back to the dining hall, which was about a ½ mile walk from the road. It was incredible. All of the kids were staring up at you and as soon as you smiled at one, they’d shyly look away but give a great big grin back as soon as they’d raise their head. I walked with two adorable girls called Ruth and Margaret, who were quite happy to pronounce ‘My name is ___’, in very clear English. The rest of what they said was a bit hard to understand, but their English was way better than any other language I can speak. All of the children were a sea of dark skin, short, shaved hair, and purple uniforms. Shorts for the boys and dresses for the girls. It was nice to have this distinction, because with the short hair, it was a bit hard to tell boys from girls, especially because they were all so beautiful! Every child except Ruth had dark brown eyes, but Ruth’s were a captivating hazel that just made her stand out from the crowd. They gave a short presentation in which a girl named Caroline, with amazing English, explained to us that they were happy to have us there and they would do a dance for us. The song and dance were great! After a prayer from the local priest and a few speeches by local dignitaries, we got to serving rice, stew, and papaya. First for the kids, then for their parents. Then we had the opportunity to play with the kids: Macarena, chicken dance, hokey-pokey….all the classics! Upon leaving it was amazing to see how touched we were by these children and their parents in such a short time. I really couldn’t have expected it, nor am I putting it well in words.

Then we travelled to Mikinduri. This is the site of our first clinic and this town is the whole reason the foundation was set up 10 years ago. The town was remarkably different from every other town we had visited. It was very sparse and poor. We got to stay at the brand new 5 star hotel in Mikinduri. This is a bit of a joke as the 5 star is only a comparison to the other hotel in town. Apparently last year, they were run out of the other hotel by the number of beetles and cockroaches. Nonetheless, this is the experience we were expecting, so really we were spoiled the last few days by our previous hotels. The mattress was brand new, with the plastic still on, and felt like a combination of straw and dirt. Let’s say, it is very firm. J The pillow (yes only one) that mom and I shared on our double bed had the airplane quality with a scary cover, that I just don’t want to think about now. We added a few plastic chairs in the room so we could unpack our suitcase (as much as you can on two plastic chairs). No I’m not done. The bathroom was about 3 ft by 3 ft with the toilet tank mounted 7 ft up on the wall, and a pipe that ran to a hole in the floor. Odd….that was directly under the shower head as well. “Holy crap”, I realized, this is a ‘long-drop’ toilet inside the shower! It’s a one stop shop! Additionally the locks on the doors were quite indescribable, but I’ll try. It involved (from the outside) putting your arm through a small slot in the door to maneuver a deadbolt into the hole on the inside, then attaching a lock. All of this is unseen, (covered by a flap) for security and just to make it as hard as possible! All of these hardships were really only seen on the ground floor, which is meant for the people who have been on many trips before, and those lucky enough to be related to the organizer. All of the other floors have a toilet, a nice mattress, pillow, and a key lock. There were a few other issues with my room including a leaky ceiling in one spot, no electricity for my computer (gasp!) and a running toilet (yes that is somehow possible with only a hole in the floor), but I don’t want to go into that. Considering the local economy and housing, I feel quite fortunate and am so blessed to be able to complain.

We went to the church and had a lovely dinner (yes, an amazing curry!). Then sorted the glasses into strengths, sorted the pills, and did general preparations for the clinic on Monday. It was an exhausting day and I was quite happy to hit the plastic covered mattress with the mosquito net covering. Another amazing day, where we are getting a taste of what is to come.

Summary: An amazing welcome (Caribou!) by some beautiful (nzuri) children.