To my friends and family: We have been planning this trip for many months now and the time is finally here. Our group will spend the first few days in Frankfurt, Germany more or less just for fun! We will then travel to Mombasa, Kenya where the real work begins. We will volunteer in the local hospital as well as spend many hours with the children of the orphanage in Mombasa. I will do my best to post at least once a day to keep you up to date on happenings and pictures. I hope you enjoy!
I am still absolutely in awe that my trip is coming to an
end. I woke up unusually early this morning. I think I am just anxious about
the next 20 hours I get to spend in a plane. We are going to get ready and make
sure the bags are all packed and under that 50lb limit. The vans will be here
to get us at 12:30 this afternoon and then the journey back home begins. I am
excited to see my family and get a Big Mac, but there is so much here that I am
going to miss as well. I feel like I have done so much and experienced more
than I could have even imagined.
The Lion King has been a common
theme this whole trip, and the words from the song “The Circle of Life” seem
fitting as I pack my bags to leave.
“There's more to see than can ever
be seen More to do than can ever be done. There's far too much to take in here More to find than can ever be found.”
Friday was more or less a day of bonding for us. While
leaving the hospital and Kenya will be hard, leaving these wonderful people
will be the hardest. For the last month we eat, work, and sleep right next to
the same group of people, and it will be hard to go back to the busy life we
all have back home. We will certainly do our best to keep in touch with each other.
So Friday we spent much of the morning and early afternoon hanging out by the
pool and reminiscing about all the things we have done and seen together while
we have been here. I wanted to get a head start on packing since I knew I would
be mad at myself if I left it all to do Saturday morning. It took me a while,
but I got most of it back in the suitcases and they zipped! We made dinner
plans at one of the best seafood restaurants in Mombasa. The food was
absolutely amazing! Once again, we spent most of the meal talking about how
hard it is to believe that our time here is done.
After
dinner a group of us took off for the hospital, for one last go around. Luckily
it was a slow evening in casualty. We spent most of the time taking vitals of
patients waiting to see the doctor. We went up to Main Theatre to see if there
was anything going on, but we had just missed the surgery and they were just
closing up. Before we left we gave all of our scrubs to the nurses there and
they were very grateful for them. It was a little after midnight when we made
it back to the compound. We discussed plans for Saturday, and headed to bed. It
would be my last nights sleep in Kenya.
This morning was kind of a sad realization that this was our
last morning at the hospital. Thursdays and Fridays are the days that surgeons
from around the world come to Coast General, so first thing this morning a
group of us headed up to main theater to check out the surgery list. We didn’t
really care what the surgery was so we just jumped in on the first one that
started. The patient was a man with esophageal cancer. The surgeon operating
was a cardiothoracic surgeon, and his plan was to open up the man’s abdomen and
attempt to reach the part of the esophagus that needed to be removed by going
up through the diaphragm and into the chest cavity. After nearly two hours of
searching, the surgeon said that he was unable to find the section of the
esophagus and they were going to close him up. That wasn’t the end, however. He
was going to keep trying. They stitched up the abdomen and rotated the man so
that the surgeon could then attempt to reach the esophagus by going through the
side of the chest cavity in between the man’s ribs on his right side. As much
as I wanted to see them open up the chest cavity, we had told our driver to be
there to pick us up at noon so we had to leave.
As
we are getting ready to walk out the door, Alexa tells me to go peak into
casualty. The night before there had been a massacre in Tana River just up the
coast from Mombasa. There had been a feud between two tribes over pastureland
and water. Warriors attacked the unsuspecting villagers in the early morning
hours on Wednesday. In total, they reported that the warriors killed 31 women,
11 children, and 6 men. When I walked into casualty, the doctors were
unwrapping the wounds on a woman lying on the bed. Words can’t tell you how
horrified I was by what I was about to see. Keep in mind, at this point, nearly
a day and a half has gone by since this woman was attacked. She was originally
taken to a hospital in Malindi, further north up the coast. She was then
transferred here because they didn’t have the medical capabilities to treat
her. Not that Coast General is much further ahead. They unwrapped the woman’s
head to reveal a four-inch gash on the top of her skull, still wide open, but
no longer bleeding. Her entire head seemed lopsided due to the massive swelling
around the gash. The doctors continued and my stomach clenched. The woman had
been sliced with a machete across her face. From her right ear diagonally
across her face, above her lips, to the lower portion of her left cheek. Her
upper left jawbone had been broken so badly that it was upside down and her top
left molar teeth were sticking out of her face upside down. It was difficult to
even make sense of what body parts were supposed to be where. Her lips were
intact, but located in the lower left corner of her face now. I just stood
there in awe, trying to hold back the tears. Next they went to her right arm
and hand, which were also bandaged up. At this point, I was ready for almost
anything. She had been sliced open on the inside of her forearm so deep that
muscles, tendons, and even bone were showing. Even though they had given her
some pain medication, she winced and mumbled as the doctors attempted to pull
the bandage out of her wound. It was painful to watch her try to speak because
her lips would move, but her mangled jawbone and exposed teeth remained still.
Next they moved to her hand wound. Her entire palm had been sliced open on her
right hand. From between her thumb and index finger, all the way to the outer
corner of her wrist. When they opened it up I could see the bone from her
forearm sticking out through the wound. Every tendon in her had had been
severed and were visible through the gash. The cut caused her to lose all
function of her fingers on that hand. It looked as though she had attempted to
grab the blade of the knife. While, it was painful to even look at, it was
amazing that the woman was still alive. The doctor informed us that her entire
family had been killed in the attack and a stranger had taken her to the
hospital.
I had seen about all I could
handle, and our ride was waiting outside. All of us made the assumption that
they would clean her wounds and then send her for emergency surgery right away.
Chris, one of the guys with our group, wants to go into reconstructive dental
surgery so he stayed with the hopes that he would get to watch her surgery.
Later that afternoon, Chris came
back to the compound frustrated. The doctors had sutured together the wounds
that they could, and that was it. She didn’t have money to pay for the surgery
so she wouldn’t get it. The surgery costs 6000 Kenyan Shillings: about 71 USD.
Omar, one of the doctors we have been working with here, said they would most likely
put in a feeding tube since she is unable to eat with the damage to her face.
I apologize for the graphic detail,
but even now, as I type it out, the image of this innocent woman lying there
burns in my mind. There is nothing more frustrating to me than to have to sit back
and watch as absolutely nothing is done to help her. Most of us had a hard time
ignoring the fact that it was bothering us that evening.
After
leaving the hospital that afternoon, a group of us wanted to make one more trip
to Old Town to enjoy the tourist area of Mombasa once more before we leave. We
spent a few hours there before heading back to the compound for dinner. We had
a get-together planned for the evening as kind of a going away party. We
invited Omar, the doctor from the hospital and the staff from the compound. We
had fun sitting around the pool playing cards and talking about how we weren’t quite ready to
leave Kenya.
Once again, this morning was spent at the hospital. One of
the last things I wanted to see while at Coast General Hospital was a live
natural birth, so I started off in maternity. There were two women in labor one
of which was expected to deliver naturally and the other was having some
complications and would most likely be taken up to have a C-section. We hung
out for a while (patience is key in this ward) and eventually the nurse came to
tell us that she was ready to push. The whole experience was almost exactly
what I would have expected, with one exception. The mothers don’t receive any
medication while in labor and I have yet to hear one scream. They just act like
it is no big deal. The natural birth completed my list of things I wanted to
witness, and now the adoption route is looking much more enticing.
The
delivery process took a while, so it was noon before I left the maternity ward.
A few of us girls had been planning to get some authentic henna tattoos. We
were admiring one of the doctor’s tattoos and she referred us to her aunt to do
them for us. Megan and I walked over there when we left the hospital and for
only 200 shillings I got a tattoo on my arm and my foot! I love it!
After the henna dries, you scratch off the paste and it leaves a temporary stain on your skin
After
lunch a few of us enjoyed one more day at the beach in the sun. When the tide
came in and the shade covered our towels, we went back to the compound for
dinner. We utilized the free WiFi at Café Mocha this evening, but I plan to
call it an early evening tonight now that my blog is up to date once again!
Sorry for the delay!
Tuesday
morning my sinus infection had settled to my lungs and every breath was
painfully accompanied by a cough. Regardless, I was back to my normal routine
and off to the hospital at 8am. I spent most of the day in Minor Theatre. I
removed my first stitches. A man had been cut in four different places with a
knife and had about 25 stitches to be removed. He was quite a character and
spoke very limited English. Next, I was confronted with a very sad case, which
I won’t soon forget. A woman, about 35 years old, came in for a dressing
change. As she undressed, I could see the massive tumors in each of her
armpits. I removed the bandage that covered the scar from having both of her
breasts removed due to cancer. When the bandage was off I could see more
tumors. Where the scar was, new tumors had begun to grow like little mountains
of skin out through the opening. The cancer was eating her body alive. The
doctor explained that the chemotherapy and radiation they have here is rather
ineffective and outrageously expensive. After her surgery to remove the
original breast cancer, she hadn’t been able to afford the therapy and the
cancer had grown out of control. The doctor had me redress the tumors and
gaping holes in her chest, and sent her to oncology. When she was gone the
doctor confirmed what I had already suspected; she was sent to oncology for
them to tell her that it was late stage wide spread cancer and she wasn’t going
to receive much help. It was a really hard concept for me to accept. A few more
wound dressings and a pretty insane debridement (removal of the infection and
dead tissue) of a man’s foot ended my day in Minor.
That
afternoon we all headed to the beach for a drink and some sand time. Even
though we have spent many days at the beach, every time I catch a view of the
ocean down that path, it takes my breath away. It’s so naturally beautiful.
Oh,
by the way….I finally got to ride the camel!
We
headed home for dinner, and then off to Cafesserie for dessert. Since the café
is in the City Mall, a few of us wandered the stores for a while. The City Mall
is one of the most modern places I’ve been while here in Mombasa. It has
escalators and four floors (even though each floor consists of only one small
circle around the escalator – 3 or 4 stores). Our walk around the mall ties
with the Dark Knight Movie going experience for “most American experiences”
while in Kenya.
Monday
morning came too soon, and we packed up once again to load the bus back to
Nairobi at 9 am. The trip was long and to top things off, I had woken up with
what felt like a horrible sinus infection. I couldn’t breath and felt like my
eyeballs were literally going to pop out of my face. Even with sleeping pills,
it was impossible for me to sleep or even get comfortable for that matter. We
rolled back into Mombasa bus station around 6:30 pm where our drivers picked us
up and took us back to the compound. A few people took off for the café that
evening, but I was headed straight to bed.
Sunday morning we were instructed to be up for a cup of tea
or coffee and then in the vans before the sun rose. We headed out to the park
and were among the zebras and wildebeest when the sun peaked over the
mountains. Absolutely one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen.
The sun
was up when we found a lioness feasting on her latest kill, a wildebeest. She
was absolutely content to let us watch her and take pictures. When she was full
she got up and wandered off as if we weren’t even there.
We saw all our
favorites one more time: lion, zebras, elephants, and giraffes before we headed
back to camp for a full breakfast, shower, and packed up. We were back in the vans
to tackle that awful two-hour stretch of road once again. When we finally
cleared the gravel and were lifted onto pavement we broke out in cheers! We
still had a two hour drive to get back to the same hostel we had stayed at
Thursday night in Nairobi. When we finally made it there, most of us took a short nap
since we had been up since 5:30 am and then got ready for our dinner
reservations. That evening we ate at the world renown best restaurant in Kenya,
“Carnivore”. We were all really excited to have some real meat after all the
noodles, rice, and bread we had been eating since we arrived in Kenya.
The
restaurant was all you can eat, and as we walk in the door, we see a huge fire
pit with tens of swords with huge slabs of meat cooking over the fire. We sat
down and ordered a drink before we were served, bread, mini corncobs, and mini
pizza as an appetizer. Then the salad showed up. Then rotating trays of special
dipping sauces and salsas. Then the real fun began. The waiters flooded our
table carrying swords of huge chunks of meat. They would set the tip of the
sword on your plate and use their machete to slice you a section. We were
served, pork sausages, roast beef, lamb, pork loin, pork ribs, crocodile, prime
rib, ostrich meat, fried chicken, ox testicles (yes, I tried them), ostrich
meatballs, chicken wings, and turkey. Since the meal was all you can eat, the
rounds kept coming. I had had all I could take. There was a white flag on the
table and when no one could eat any thing else, we waved the white flag in
surrender. They cleared our plates and brought us the dessert menu. I topped
off the night with a wonderful piece of cheesecake covered in passion fruit
sauce. DELICIOUS.
The circle fire pit where all the meat is cooked
We
headed back to our hostel and once again sat around the fire pit in the bar playing
cards and talking. It was a great ending to an amazing safari.
Saturday
was our full day out in the park so we were up for breakfast at 7am and in the
vans by 7:30. We headed out to the park and that’s when the fun began.
Alexa and I are ready to go...safari hats and all!
We drove around searching for the animals. The vans had radios in them
so if someone would find one of the animals they could let some of the others
know where to go look for it. It was weird since it wasn’t like a zoo. There is
no map that tells you where to find the lions. They are really just in their
natural habitat so we have to drive around the little trails looking for them.
Our driver told us that there were many to see, but gave us two lists to start
checking off on. There were the “Ugly Five”: Warthog, Wildebeest, Hyena,
Vulture, and the Crane. There were also the “Big Five”: Lion, Leopard, Elephant,
Rhino, and the Water Buffalo. When the trip was done the only one we hadn’t
seen was the leopard, which was common apparently. We found all five of the
ugly group and four of the big five plus many more. Check out some of the
animals we saw!
About
half way through the day we were driving along looking for some more animals,
when we came to a valley in the road that had been covered with water. We had
three vans total and the first van took a run at it and made it through the
water and up the steep hill that followed. We were next in line and our driver
started in and we made it through the water and started up the hill…then we
slid back down…right back into the mud and water. Then we were stuck. Our
driver took a look at in and then instructed us to get out of the van. Into the
deep water and mud?? Umm…no! So we took an alternate route! We all made it out
of the van dry and mud free. Another van came back and pulled our van out of
the valley and we were back on our way again. It made for a good laugh!
We
found a few more animals before stopping for lunch. We went out to a remote
area of the park near the river and sat down for a picnic under a tree. The
campground had packed us sack lunches that were surprisingly pretty good.
Picnic lunch at the park
After
lunch we had one more area of the part to discover. The river was at the very
edge of the park and makes the border between Kenya and Tanzania. The hippos
and crocodiles lived down there and we got to see a few of each.
We
made our way out of the park with the intent to be back to the campground by
4pm to go a small village that wasn’t too far away. Two men from the Masaai
Mara Tribe came to pick us up at our campground and walked us back to their
village. When we arrived they explained to us that we would here the men’s
welcome song, the woman’s welcome song, tour their homes, and see where they
kept their livestock. A handmade fence made of sticks surrounds their entire
village, but they intertwine the sticks to make the fence so thick you can
hardly see through it. It serves to protect the people and the livestock from
the dangerous animals that live around them. The village consists of about 120
people that all have the same grandfather. We entered the fence and all of
their houses were arranged in a circle with two more fenced in areas in the
center of all of the houses. The men explained that one of the corrals was for
the adult cows while the other was for the adult goats. The baby goats and cows
stayed in the house because they were too vulnerable to be left out for the
lions. First the men showed us their welcome dance and had our boys learn it
and join them. Then they explained that this dance is also used when the men go
out to kill a lion. As part of their becoming a man, they must go out and hunt
a lion, and the one to kill the lion brings back his skin and wears a hat made
of the lion’s fur. They also wear the lion claws around their neck for luck.
The men of the village also showed us their “Jumping Competition.” The men hold
a jumping competition to determine how much they will pay for their wives. A
wife cost ten cows. If the man wins the jumping competition he only has to pay
seven cows for his wife and if he kills the lion then he only has to pay five
cows for his wife. Their diet consists of only goat and beef meat, chicken
eggs, goat milk, and cow milk mixed with the cows blood (why? I’m still not
really sure).
He is wearing the hat made out of the skin of the lion
Showing us how to make fire
When
the men finished their dancing and jumping, the women came out to teach us
their welcome dance. It was quite simple (just standing and swinging your arms
back and forth) and we all caught on pretty quick. We didn’t get to participate
in any jumping competition, but we were informed that the women of the village
cook, clean, care for the children, and build the houses. After the guys with
us found out that the women do most of the work while the men follow the cows
around grazing all day and kill lions for fun, they all wanted to know how to
join the tribe.
When we went in for a tour of the
home, I asked what they made the walls of and the man said, “you touch!” So I
felt the walls as he proceeds to inform me they are made of
“dung.”….Splendid….hand sanitizer please! Their houses are made of a stick
frame then filled with cow dung. The roof is grass and dung so it doesn’t leak.
It takes a woman about four months to finish a house and it lasts for nine
years. After nine years they have to rebuild everything because the termites
eat the sticks out of their homes. In side there are four main rooms to the
house. The first room as you walk through the front door is the room for the
baby cows and goats to stay in at night. The main part of the house has a small
living area (four people could stand in a small circle around the fire pit and
that’s it), a bedroom for the parents, and a bedroom for the children. There
were no windows, just small holes to let the smoke escape. It was so dark that
the man let us just sit in there a few minutes to let our eyes adjust. When we
were finished touring the house, we headed to a little area where they had some
of the handmade things that they sell. It was fun to see all the beading work
that the women of the village make.
Masaai Village Houses
As
we left the village, the Masaai people thanked us for coming to visit them, and
we headed back to the campground before the sunset. We had dinner and once
again turned in for a pretty early night when the lights went out at ten. They
had a very early morning in store for us.
Friday
morning the safari vans came to the hotel to pick us up at 8:30 to take us to
the safari park. It was a four-hour drive yet, two of which would be an
interesting ride. The first two hours weren’t bad and we made a pit stop at a
lookout point that looked over the Rift Valley. It was a little foggy as you
can tell from the pictures, but cool to see non-the-less.
Our Safari Group at Rift Valley
Looking into the Rift Valley
Around noon we
stopped at a little café to have some lunch. To none of our surprise, it was
rice, noodles, and potatoes. (At this point in my trip, I would literally
sacrifice my first born for a Big Mac). After lunch it was on the road again.
When we got back in the van our driver warned us that the next half of the trip
was going to be on a rather rough road. He wasn’t joking. About fifteen minutes
down the road he says, “here we are…the bad road”. It was two fun filled hours
of driving down a gravel road that hadn’t ever been maintained. There were
potholes and huge rocks. In some places it was smoother to drive in the ditch,
so we did. It was similar I’m sure you’re thinking that we drove down this road
nice and slow…not at all!! Our driver went about 50 mph the whole way down it.
There are times that I am sure all four wheels of the van were off the ground.
Followed by, of course, all four wheels slamming into the hard ground as all of
held on for dear life. It was impossible to sleep and even hard to breathe
because of the dust swirling around in the van.
We
finally made it to the place where we would be staying. It was called “Rhino
Tented Camp.” We all split up into groups of about three people and I happened
to be in the one group of four girls. Since we had four we got to stay in a
room that was made of all bricks. The rest of the people had the thick canvas
military style tents. We had a bathroom that had a toilet (I specify because
most of the places we go simply have holes in the ground), a sink, and a
showerhead. Not an actual shower….just the showerhead in the corner of the
room. We were informed by the staff at the place, to keep all the windows and
doors shut and the tent fronts zipped all the way so that the monkeys don’t
come in and take your things…apparently that happens all the time there. We
were also told not to leave the gate of the property because all of the animals
that we would see on safari are still out there at night and it can be very
dangerous since they go out to hunt at night.
One of the monkeys at the campground
After
we dropped our things off in our rooms, we headed back to the van to spend a
few hours in the safari park before dark. The name of the park was Masai Mara.
When we all first drove in, there were a few zebras off to the side of the road
and we all started freaking out like it might be the only zebra we see. Later
we found out that there are actually thousands of zebras out there and we would
all eventually get tired of stopping for the zebras.
Zebra that we saw the first time out on safari
We
kept driving and saw a few more animals that evening. We headed in just before
dark and got cleaned up before supper. We all had a really long day in the car
and were all pretty exhausted. The electricity at the camp is only on from 5:30
to 7:00 am and 6:30 to 10:00 pm. Since we would be in the dark anyway, we were
all in bed by 9:30.
Thursday morning we headed for the bus station and our bus
to Nairobi left at 9:30. It was a terrifying eight-hour bus ride. The roads
here aren’t like they are back home. We were on a rather nice bus. The seats
reclined and there was a movie playing. Snacks and sodas were delivered
throughout the trip. However, the driving is rather scary around here. I guess
I was expecting a four lane divided highway, but this was one of the narrowest
two lane streets I’ve seen and busses and big trucks pass each other with
literally inches between them. Since its only two lanes, they pass traffic in
the oncoming lane…sometimes even when there is traffic oncoming! As scary as it
was at times, we made it to Nairobi around 6pm and were picked up at the bus
stop by the Elective Africa staff in Nairobi.
Alexa and I on the bus to Nairobi
As we drove to the hotel, I was
surprised to see how much more industrialized Nairobi was that Mombasa. They
have tall buildings and working traffic lights (even though no one pays
attention to them regardless of their presence). They took us to the “hotel” we
were all planning on staying at, but when we got there we were all a little
disappointed. Most of us heard the word “hotel” and thought “Thank goodness!
One night reprieve from the African lifestyle we’ve been living.” I mean I
wasn’t expecting mints on my pillow or anything, but a working bathroom and hot
shower would have been nice. We stayed at a Hostel where we had two rooms with
eight beds each. The whole thing was painted like a safari with animals and
fields. The bathrooms that worked were outside and on the far side of the
building along with the showers that didn’t have a working water heater.
The safari paintings on the place where we stayed in Nairobi
Once
we all got over the fact that we were still in Africa, we decided to head out
and find some food. The lady who picked us up at the bus stop recommended this
Italian restaurant. The food was amazing! After dinner we hung out at the bar
at the place where we were staying and played some cards before heading to bed.
Today
was my last day at the hospital for the week because we leave for our Safari
tomorrow! Right away when we got to the hospital, a few of us headed up to Main
Theatre to watch some surgeries. On the roster there were general surgeries,
eye surgeries, gynecological surgeries, and orthopedic surgeries. We decided we
were going to catch an orthopedic surgery today. When they brought the guy in
it was obvious that he had had some major trauma to both of his legs, but all
of the wounds looked healed up already. The doctor explained that he had been
hit but a big van and broken both bones in both of his lower legs and the big
bone in one of his thighs. He didn’t have the money for surgery at the time, so
the wounds healed up on the outside, but the broken bones healed together
incorrectly. Because I know my family, I wont put the pictures up here, but boy
did I find it interesting. The doctor had to saw apart the Femur that had broken
and the two pieces healed side by side rather that in a straight line. He
reattached them with a metal plate and a bunch of screws. He looked rather like
a mechanic than a surgeon. We watched the surgery for a more than three hours
and finally had to leave because our ride was at the hospital to get us. When
we left the doctor had just begun the same procedure on the patients lower
legs.
We
came back to the compound for lunch and a little poolside nap. I indulged in
yet another African sunburn. We just finished dinner and everyone is antsy in
anticipation of our safari. We leave tomorrow morning at eight. It’s and eight-hour
bus ride to Nairobi, where we will stay in a hotel. The next morning we will
take our safari vans out to the Mara. We will be staying in sophisticated tents
that do have electricity for a few hours a day and bathrooms. I am not taking
my computer with me since we have to travel very light, so you won’t hear from
me for a few days, but expect a huge update when we get back on Monday.
I
did end up going back to the hospital until about midnight last night to help
out in Casualty. Nothing too exciting happened, same old, same old. Since we
were out late the night before, I was glad that a few of us were going to the
orphanage this morning because it meant that I got to sleep in a little bit
longer. We took off for the Rebby Junior Acadamy around 10:30. It was within
walking distance so we just walked as a big group. I didn’t get any good
pictures, but we had to walk into one of the poorer areas. All the buildings
(houses and shops) are nothing but tin and a little plywood. Some of the
“nicer” ones are rocks held in place by mud. One of the alleys we cut through
was a garbage dump and smelled so horrible yet houses were right next to it and
completely open. The orphanage was somewhat hidden and not marked with a sign
at all. We all assumed it was for safety of the kids there. When we walked
through the door it was shocking to see that the floor was dirt, the walls were
rocks held with a frame made of sticks and the holes between the rocks (since
they aren’t bricks, they are literally rocks) were filled with mud. The roof
was tin, where there was roof anyway.
The street that the Orphanage was located on.
After overcoming the initial shock
we all settled in and the teachers introduced themselves. Then the teachers
introduced the kids and they sang a few songs for us. We danced and played with
the kids until almost 2:00. It was fun to see how enthusiastic the kids were
about us being there. They were so proud of the things they knew. For example,
they have tons of songs and poems memorized. They don’t have any music so they
would get up and sing solos acapella.
Introductions
Dancing
Sisters singing us a song.
Just before we left the owner of
the school gave us a little more information about the kids and the school.
There are 75 students total. Some are orphans and stay there while others come
from poor, single parent homes. They all have come from a little village called
Shauriyako. All of the children suffer from lack of healthcare, food, clothing,
and shelter. It was really sad.
As you can see in the pictures the
dirt walls and floors are horrible. One of the guys that is here right now,
named Joel, has raised some money and bought cement for the walls and tiles for
the floors. They are going to start work on it sometime next week.
When we were through at the
orphanage, we started back for the compound and about eight of the older kids
from the orphanage came with us for swimming lessons in our pool at the
compound. The few lifeguards that are here with us volunteered to instruct, so
I just watched, but it was fun to see how excited the kids were to play in the
water.
Swimming Lessons
After we ate supper a group of us
went into the market area to see a movie at the Cinemax. We went to “The Dark
Knight Rises.” The theater was huge and very modern. It was just like the
theaters back home with the stadium seating except it was twice the size of any
one I have been in before. I ordered popcorn and pop and both were exceptional!
It was the most American thing I’ve done since we left the country. The only
odd thing was that after we all got in and sat down, one of the ushers comes in
to the theater and says, “will you all please stand for the Kenyan National
Anthem.” A short video of the Kenyan flag played on the screen while we all
stood there for the anthem. That one took me a bit off guard.
To say the least, Monday was a frustrating day. We were up
at 7am to be ready and headed to the hospital by 8. Monday’s are usually very
busy because people wait until Monday morning to go in for things. First thing,
we had two re-dressings that took a while. Half way through the second, Alexa
comes back to the room to inform me that there “is no more sterile gauze.” Just
so we are on the same page, it’s nearly impossible to finish what we are doing
without the gauze. The patient was very understanding as we explained to him
that he had to wait for a nurse to get back with more gauze. More than a half
hour later we are officially informed that there “is no more sterile gauze”
…..”until tomorrow.” TOMORROW?! Yep, that’s for real. The nurse went out and
turned away every patient waiting to have their wounds redressed and told them
to come back tomorrow. I was shocked and once again reminded that we are so
lucky in the United States to have such simple things readily available. With
no more supplies there was little left to do in Minor, so we headed back to the
compound a little early.
As
frustrated as I was, I had the feeling that I would have a productive afternoon
doing laundry. I gathered all my dirty clothes, thinking to myself that this
could be interesting since here, we do laundry by hand in little wash bins. I
had quite the stack since I have already been gone for two weeks. I filled my
little tub and added my soap (special “hand-washing” soap that is) and then
filled a bucket to rinse. I started and immediately had a newfound respect for
my wash machine at home. I absolutely despise hand-washing clothing. It was
taking me forever and my arms were aching from attempting to ring things out. I
started throwing things out that I really didn’t want to wear again anyway and
just putting them back in the dirty clothes bag. When it was still taking too
long, I started skipping the rinse cycle. A little dried soap never hurt
anyone, right? I must have really looked like I was struggling, because
eventually Yvonne, who works at the compound, came over and helped me. Thank
God for her! I never would have finished!
When
the laundry was all done, I decided that I was going to reload my Internet
modem with time. I had just gone to the Market to buy 500 shillings worth of
more Internet time last night. As I’m looking around for the little paper card
with the numbers on it, I realize that I had placed the card in my back pocket
of the shorts that I was wearing last night….the shorts that were just
vigorously hand-washed. Yep, gone! That’s when I gave up; I put on my swimsuit
and stayed at the pool until dinnertime.
We
are all hanging out at Café Mocha now (I’m here for the free WiFi since I have
no Internet). A few people are going to head back to the hospital this evening
for a while, but I’m not sure if I’ll go or just call it a day.
