So today is the official presidential nominations, much like our primaries. But unlike our primaries, they happen just one month before the election. WEIRD, but its not like no one knows who is running. Its basically between Kibaki (the current president) and Raila the ODM and Luo presidential candidate). So because the nominations are today, all night last night some major campaigning was going on. I mean, LOUD, door-to-door visitations spreading the word on Railas platform, and "ODM" chants periodically penetrating my dreams. Music and dancing, and neighborhood parties until the wee hours of the morning, and I I still hear them today.
People are so passionate about politics here, on every corner I hear the sporadic "ODM" word peppering conversations and flyers, billboards and campaign posters everywhere. I asked my good friend Dr Orero what the voting process is like and he explained that the polls open at 6am, and last time he began to line up at 3:45 in the morning and still didn't get to vote until near lunch time. People treat their voter registration card like gold, locking them in a safe so they wont be stolen, and only bringing it out for the big day. How do we get the youth of America to become so passionate and enthralled with the presidential nominations? If there was a line longer than 10 people at the voting polls in American, I guarantee you many will turn around and go home. I am not sure how it happened or why, but I am very impressed with how serious the general population of Kenya views their government and their freedom to vote! We need to adopt some of these behaviors in the West.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
The Camera Heist and updates
Again, sorry for the delay. I have been busy with meetings and it has been a challenge finding time and or access to the internet at times. So there is a lot to talk about, sit down and relax and enjoy…
Since last time…I wrote about my camera being lost, well it turns out it was picked from my bag and I know who did it. Luckily there was a pic of my friend William in the camera and someone approached him and told him that he saw his picture in a camera with some wazungu in it. William acted like he didn’t know what the guy was talking about and asked to be taken to the man who had the camera. So William so the camera and the man was asking 15000 shillings for it, like $250 US. So instead, William (oh he is a trained and professional boxer) decided to plan a heist. He got his cousin who is unknown to the man Sam who has my camera, he is going to act like he is interested in buying and as soon as the cousin has the camera in his hand “pretending to look at the product he is about the buy” William and friends will attack. I think it’s all pretty amusing, but its great that I am going to get my camera back (hopefully).
Last Friday, I traveled to a placed called Sagam for a medical camp. KMET is taking over management of a hospital there and this was the official launch of the hospital under new management. It was an interesting day; my role during the camp was to register patients coming for the free medical care. It was free because they are trying to build up the reputation of the hospital again since previously it had been failing in service quality. So, free treatment was offered this day and it was full of entertainment, food, etc. Quite interesting and people flocked from all around for the medical care. On a tour of the hospital we saw the mortuary. Although not as big and brightly lit as the ones in the States it was not that bad. They had a freezer and the place reeked of formaldehyde and I came up close and person with 4 dead bodies, one in which had this horrible “The Ring” movie facial expression. It was crazy; I don’t think I have ever seen dead bodies before they have been doctored with makeup and embalming fluid. UGH. And one was of a lady who was over 100 years old! WOW considering the average life span is 55-60 for women.
So this week has been the Hindu holiday called Diwali, from what I understand its similar to Christmas for the Hindus. They have been shooting fireworks all week long and the other night I stumbled across a field where they were shooting big amounts of fireworks. It reminded me of the 4th of July! And my Kenyan friends had never seen then up close and personal like that so that was fun to see their expressions.
I slaughtered a chicken! One was given to us as a gift so over the weekend we decided to prepare the kuku for dinner. I was very freaked out, it took myself and 4 other people to catch it (those suckers are fast!) but we finally caught it. I held it in my right hand and the knife in the left and worked up the nerve….OK OK I never worked up the nerve so I passed it over to my friend to do the dirty work. I just couldn’t do it. Haha. It was my first time even witnessing a chicken being slaughtered so I couldn’t do it, but I think I can after I get used to the idea. My friends want to slaughter a goat for when my Dad comes so I have to get prepared for that! The chicken was good though, much better than store bought meat. Maybe because it was extremely fresh?!?
A few nights ago I was invited to dinner at a friends house in the slums of Kisumu. No power or running water, and as soon as I arrived on the motorbike, the entire neighborhood came to investigate why the mzungu was in the slums. I drew quite the crowd but it was exciting. That time we had chicken too, but I arrived too late for the slaughtering. And they served my favorite, Chapati which is like tortillas but thicker and flakier. YUM. After dinner we drank Kenya Cane by the candlelight and talked for hours. It was nice. This weekend I have been invited to my friends ancestral home in Maseno. From what I understand it is a huge compound, with each son having built his own mud hut, and the grandma is going to denounce me 3 times telling me I cannot stay in her home, but then she will open her doors with joy and welcome me in her home after the third time of telling me to leave. I am glad I was warned because I would probably cry if she told me to leave and I didn’t know any better. Not sure what that is all about, but us wazungu should have a good time there. I hope to work in the shamba a bit and gather food for dinner. I hope they don’t ask me to slaughter to meat.
I went to Kibuye (the big Sunday market) and went shopping. I got these really awesome shoes made from tires and called Akala. They are awesome although they are very uncomfortable. Apparently I have to break them in and eventually they will form to my foot and last the rest of my life. I am stoked. When I get my camera back I will be sure to send pictures.
I had a project coordinators meeting the past 2 days, which no one informed me about. I was so angry because I was expected to present and have a big report prepared. So now I am scrambling to finish the report and I had to prepare the powerpoint presentation over my lunch break on Monday. And you better believe I put as one of my project challenges the communication barrier I experience all the time. I am always left out of the main communication because I am “just a student” but my role here is of a project coordinator, along with 10 others so I really shouldn’t be left out of things, pretty much my job is equal to everyone else in this office. Oh well, I am flexible and can adapt (thank goodness!)
Well, that’s about it. I am still waiting on the year supply of Misoprostol that is coming from Egypt. It was donated for our project from Planned Parenthood and as soon as it arrives I can make my rounds again and distribute it to all the providers in our network. And planned for the next 2 months (the rest of my internship) this is what I have planned:
1. Create a newsletter for the providers about the MUE project and its successes, motivational tools for them to promote and provide more every month, etc
2. Distribute Miso to providers
3. Find funding and write grants for educational and advocacy campaigns
4. Organize a better way to collect data from each of the providers monthly
5. Create IEC-information, education and communication- materials (one idea was to make t-shirts with positive messages about family planning and safe abortion for the motorbike and bicycle drivers to wear around town)
6. Recruit and train 20 more providers on the MUE method
7. Publish the standards and guidelines I have been writing
8. Print and laminate message posters for clinic use.
9. Provide contraceptive education sessions to our staff and the girls at SFC
10. Travel to ugunja with the girls for a training of the trainers session. Our girls are training new girls to become RH peer educators
11. Create IEC materials in Swahili and Luo for the inhabitants of the slum areas.
12. And write reports and more reports on everything I am doing.
13. Leading a last meeting in January before I leave to update the next person on my project and the progress.
Enough? I think so. UGH busy busy. So that’s it for me. Hopefully it wont be so long before I blog again, and hopefully I will have my camera back to post some pictures.
Email me please!!!!!!
Since last time…I wrote about my camera being lost, well it turns out it was picked from my bag and I know who did it. Luckily there was a pic of my friend William in the camera and someone approached him and told him that he saw his picture in a camera with some wazungu in it. William acted like he didn’t know what the guy was talking about and asked to be taken to the man who had the camera. So William so the camera and the man was asking 15000 shillings for it, like $250 US. So instead, William (oh he is a trained and professional boxer) decided to plan a heist. He got his cousin who is unknown to the man Sam who has my camera, he is going to act like he is interested in buying and as soon as the cousin has the camera in his hand “pretending to look at the product he is about the buy” William and friends will attack. I think it’s all pretty amusing, but its great that I am going to get my camera back (hopefully).
Last Friday, I traveled to a placed called Sagam for a medical camp. KMET is taking over management of a hospital there and this was the official launch of the hospital under new management. It was an interesting day; my role during the camp was to register patients coming for the free medical care. It was free because they are trying to build up the reputation of the hospital again since previously it had been failing in service quality. So, free treatment was offered this day and it was full of entertainment, food, etc. Quite interesting and people flocked from all around for the medical care. On a tour of the hospital we saw the mortuary. Although not as big and brightly lit as the ones in the States it was not that bad. They had a freezer and the place reeked of formaldehyde and I came up close and person with 4 dead bodies, one in which had this horrible “The Ring” movie facial expression. It was crazy; I don’t think I have ever seen dead bodies before they have been doctored with makeup and embalming fluid. UGH. And one was of a lady who was over 100 years old! WOW considering the average life span is 55-60 for women.
So this week has been the Hindu holiday called Diwali, from what I understand its similar to Christmas for the Hindus. They have been shooting fireworks all week long and the other night I stumbled across a field where they were shooting big amounts of fireworks. It reminded me of the 4th of July! And my Kenyan friends had never seen then up close and personal like that so that was fun to see their expressions.
I slaughtered a chicken! One was given to us as a gift so over the weekend we decided to prepare the kuku for dinner. I was very freaked out, it took myself and 4 other people to catch it (those suckers are fast!) but we finally caught it. I held it in my right hand and the knife in the left and worked up the nerve….OK OK I never worked up the nerve so I passed it over to my friend to do the dirty work. I just couldn’t do it. Haha. It was my first time even witnessing a chicken being slaughtered so I couldn’t do it, but I think I can after I get used to the idea. My friends want to slaughter a goat for when my Dad comes so I have to get prepared for that! The chicken was good though, much better than store bought meat. Maybe because it was extremely fresh?!?
A few nights ago I was invited to dinner at a friends house in the slums of Kisumu. No power or running water, and as soon as I arrived on the motorbike, the entire neighborhood came to investigate why the mzungu was in the slums. I drew quite the crowd but it was exciting. That time we had chicken too, but I arrived too late for the slaughtering. And they served my favorite, Chapati which is like tortillas but thicker and flakier. YUM. After dinner we drank Kenya Cane by the candlelight and talked for hours. It was nice. This weekend I have been invited to my friends ancestral home in Maseno. From what I understand it is a huge compound, with each son having built his own mud hut, and the grandma is going to denounce me 3 times telling me I cannot stay in her home, but then she will open her doors with joy and welcome me in her home after the third time of telling me to leave. I am glad I was warned because I would probably cry if she told me to leave and I didn’t know any better. Not sure what that is all about, but us wazungu should have a good time there. I hope to work in the shamba a bit and gather food for dinner. I hope they don’t ask me to slaughter to meat.
I went to Kibuye (the big Sunday market) and went shopping. I got these really awesome shoes made from tires and called Akala. They are awesome although they are very uncomfortable. Apparently I have to break them in and eventually they will form to my foot and last the rest of my life. I am stoked. When I get my camera back I will be sure to send pictures.
I had a project coordinators meeting the past 2 days, which no one informed me about. I was so angry because I was expected to present and have a big report prepared. So now I am scrambling to finish the report and I had to prepare the powerpoint presentation over my lunch break on Monday. And you better believe I put as one of my project challenges the communication barrier I experience all the time. I am always left out of the main communication because I am “just a student” but my role here is of a project coordinator, along with 10 others so I really shouldn’t be left out of things, pretty much my job is equal to everyone else in this office. Oh well, I am flexible and can adapt (thank goodness!)
Well, that’s about it. I am still waiting on the year supply of Misoprostol that is coming from Egypt. It was donated for our project from Planned Parenthood and as soon as it arrives I can make my rounds again and distribute it to all the providers in our network. And planned for the next 2 months (the rest of my internship) this is what I have planned:
1. Create a newsletter for the providers about the MUE project and its successes, motivational tools for them to promote and provide more every month, etc
2. Distribute Miso to providers
3. Find funding and write grants for educational and advocacy campaigns
4. Organize a better way to collect data from each of the providers monthly
5. Create IEC-information, education and communication- materials (one idea was to make t-shirts with positive messages about family planning and safe abortion for the motorbike and bicycle drivers to wear around town)
6. Recruit and train 20 more providers on the MUE method
7. Publish the standards and guidelines I have been writing
8. Print and laminate message posters for clinic use.
9. Provide contraceptive education sessions to our staff and the girls at SFC
10. Travel to ugunja with the girls for a training of the trainers session. Our girls are training new girls to become RH peer educators
11. Create IEC materials in Swahili and Luo for the inhabitants of the slum areas.
12. And write reports and more reports on everything I am doing.
13. Leading a last meeting in January before I leave to update the next person on my project and the progress.
Enough? I think so. UGH busy busy. So that’s it for me. Hopefully it wont be so long before I blog again, and hopefully I will have my camera back to post some pictures.
Email me please!!!!!!
Wednesday, November 7, 2007
Booo Hooo I lost my camera
It has been another week since I last blogged, sorry for the delay. We have been having internet problems (among other things).On Halloween, I made up small bags, drew a little ghost on them and filled them with candy for both my colleagues and the children at the clinic. I had a lot of fun trying to explain the significance of Halloween and what candy has to do with it, but I think they got the gist of it.
First is first, I wish I could send pictures but I lost my camera over the weekend. We were at a place called Tamiez dancing and drinkin the night away, and I handed the camera off to Patrick to snap a pic of me dancin on the stage (thats become a regular occurrence for me - who knew?) and last thing I knew he said he slipped it back in my bag later in the evening, and it was not in my bag. Hmmmm, so it has been lost. I feel like crying, not for the camera but for the amazing pictures that I had yet to download. Oh well, that's life I guess. I looked into purchasing a new one, 20,000 shillings about $300 US, No thank you. I am going to have to go back to old school film I guess. BAH!
First is first, A group of friends and I traveled to Migori to attend the Peace Corps Halloween party this past week, and to my chagrin no one else dressed in costume. Patrick had a little boys school uniform, and I dressed in my Sugar Momma outfit. The party was fun, there was tons of food and people but we had a slight electricity problem and could not have the stereo on for longer than one song, but you better believe as soon as the stereo cut on, we all jumped up and got as much dancing in as possible! The matatu ride down there was very crowded and long - about 3 hours, and we had to transfer 3 times! At least the roads were decent, I am thankful for that. On the way home, we took a bus, and it was direct (in the sense there was no transfers) but we still stopped every few minutes to let people on and off. And when the cops came on the bus, I got a good yelling at for not having my belt "tied" - scared the bejeezus outta me!
Another issue we have been having, which isnt that bad, we have been out of running water for about a month now. My "momma" has bought tanks and has "water pushers" come by periodically to fill them. We have started to refer to our bathing routine as whore baths, grabbing a bucket and washing up that way. I never thought about it before, how much water I actually use, but flushing the toilet, bathing, brushing teeth, laundry, dishes, etc...it really takes A LOT of water. Between 2-3 people we are going through 500 liters of water every 3 or so days. WOW. Pretty sad, and it has really made us realize and cut down on the amount of water we use, and this excludes drinking water. The neighborhood has been digging for water pipes and in the meatime, all of us who already had running water does not. Oh well, it could be worse.
Somewhere between that crowded matutu ride, holding babies, or just general dust in my face, I managed to get sick. I knew it was just a cold, but my colleagues insited I go get a malaria screen. I guess that was my first ( I say first because i am sure its not the last) scare with malaria. But there were no malaria bacteria in my blood, I saw it with my won eyes, so I got a dose of antibiotics and an antihistamine and was sent home. That set me back little over a dollar for the clinic visit and medicine. Nice! And I am feeling much better, thanks!
Patricks program has found him a new home stay family. I guess the homestay component is a requirement of his semester abroad and he runs the risk of failing if he stays with me, so I am all alone again, well aside from my momma, but she travels so often I fear I will be alone most of the time. My watchman is slowly but surely gaining my trust so at least I have his company, although he asks me for money periodically. He owes me 200 shillings so far! But luckily, Patrick will be just around the corner from me, and I hope his host family will feed me sometimes :)
So about work, since Kristen has left, Patrick and I have decided to carry out the last leg of her project. The SFC girls were to go to a town called Ugunja and train a group of girls who are beginning a program similar to ours. The project is still on, it was just not approved for the NOvember budget, so we are going to try again for December. Hopefully, sooner or later we can accomplish this 5 day workshop and get the data back to Kristen so she can finish her thesis/public health practicum.
My manual is still in the works. The director keeps looking at my work, and getting bigger and brighter ideas. Now, she wants tables, and diagrams, and a page for acknowledgements, etc. And instead of it being just a providers manual, it has turned into something that will be published and distributed Africa wide, as we are the pioneers of the MUE provision in Africa. Its nice that I will be published (finally) but stressful at the same time. Every time I approach her with my final product, she gets new ideas. Oh well. It will be an astonishing piece of work when its done!
OK enough for now, the day is over. I will write more soon. PS- I love to get emails so feel free. Karibu emails!
First is first, I wish I could send pictures but I lost my camera over the weekend. We were at a place called Tamiez dancing and drinkin the night away, and I handed the camera off to Patrick to snap a pic of me dancin on the stage (thats become a regular occurrence for me - who knew?) and last thing I knew he said he slipped it back in my bag later in the evening, and it was not in my bag. Hmmmm, so it has been lost. I feel like crying, not for the camera but for the amazing pictures that I had yet to download. Oh well, that's life I guess. I looked into purchasing a new one, 20,000 shillings about $300 US, No thank you. I am going to have to go back to old school film I guess. BAH!
First is first, A group of friends and I traveled to Migori to attend the Peace Corps Halloween party this past week, and to my chagrin no one else dressed in costume. Patrick had a little boys school uniform, and I dressed in my Sugar Momma outfit. The party was fun, there was tons of food and people but we had a slight electricity problem and could not have the stereo on for longer than one song, but you better believe as soon as the stereo cut on, we all jumped up and got as much dancing in as possible! The matatu ride down there was very crowded and long - about 3 hours, and we had to transfer 3 times! At least the roads were decent, I am thankful for that. On the way home, we took a bus, and it was direct (in the sense there was no transfers) but we still stopped every few minutes to let people on and off. And when the cops came on the bus, I got a good yelling at for not having my belt "tied" - scared the bejeezus outta me!
Another issue we have been having, which isnt that bad, we have been out of running water for about a month now. My "momma" has bought tanks and has "water pushers" come by periodically to fill them. We have started to refer to our bathing routine as whore baths, grabbing a bucket and washing up that way. I never thought about it before, how much water I actually use, but flushing the toilet, bathing, brushing teeth, laundry, dishes, etc...it really takes A LOT of water. Between 2-3 people we are going through 500 liters of water every 3 or so days. WOW. Pretty sad, and it has really made us realize and cut down on the amount of water we use, and this excludes drinking water. The neighborhood has been digging for water pipes and in the meatime, all of us who already had running water does not. Oh well, it could be worse.
Somewhere between that crowded matutu ride, holding babies, or just general dust in my face, I managed to get sick. I knew it was just a cold, but my colleagues insited I go get a malaria screen. I guess that was my first ( I say first because i am sure its not the last) scare with malaria. But there were no malaria bacteria in my blood, I saw it with my won eyes, so I got a dose of antibiotics and an antihistamine and was sent home. That set me back little over a dollar for the clinic visit and medicine. Nice! And I am feeling much better, thanks!
Patricks program has found him a new home stay family. I guess the homestay component is a requirement of his semester abroad and he runs the risk of failing if he stays with me, so I am all alone again, well aside from my momma, but she travels so often I fear I will be alone most of the time. My watchman is slowly but surely gaining my trust so at least I have his company, although he asks me for money periodically. He owes me 200 shillings so far! But luckily, Patrick will be just around the corner from me, and I hope his host family will feed me sometimes :)
So about work, since Kristen has left, Patrick and I have decided to carry out the last leg of her project. The SFC girls were to go to a town called Ugunja and train a group of girls who are beginning a program similar to ours. The project is still on, it was just not approved for the NOvember budget, so we are going to try again for December. Hopefully, sooner or later we can accomplish this 5 day workshop and get the data back to Kristen so she can finish her thesis/public health practicum.
My manual is still in the works. The director keeps looking at my work, and getting bigger and brighter ideas. Now, she wants tables, and diagrams, and a page for acknowledgements, etc. And instead of it being just a providers manual, it has turned into something that will be published and distributed Africa wide, as we are the pioneers of the MUE provision in Africa. Its nice that I will be published (finally) but stressful at the same time. Every time I approach her with my final product, she gets new ideas. Oh well. It will be an astonishing piece of work when its done!
OK enough for now, the day is over. I will write more soon. PS- I love to get emails so feel free. Karibu emails!
Tuesday, October 30, 2007
We got a new student!!!
Sorry it has been so long since I last updated you all. I guess its been about a week so lets see if I can remember everything that has happened. Last week I traveled to Nakuru to visit a clinic and distribute the goods. It took about 4 hours, but the drive was beautiful! We went through a town called Kericho (its where my friend Marcus is living) and it’s the tea harvesting capital of Kenya. It is beautiful, the rolling hills in the middle of the rift valley, covered in a bright green, lush tea plantations. It was a nice drive, but unfortunately I accidentally fell asleep and the potholed roads gave my head a good beating and I developed a migraine headache the rest of the evening. My colleagues dropped me off at a nice hotel while they went to stay somewhere else. I begged them to take me with them, that I can “rough it” and stay where they are staying, but they insisted that I stay there. It worked out well in the end because my migraine got the best of me and I spent the evening vomiting and unable to sleep. It would have been horrible if I was sleeping somewhere else. But it was nice to take a hot shower!!!
So we visited with Dr Rose, gave her the supplies and that was it. But Rose’s receptionist sat me down while I was waiting and very seriously explained to me that she was looking for a mzungu husband to take her to America and asked if I could help her. So many of these women think all their problems will be solved if they could just marry a white man and get out of Kenya. So if anyone is interested let me know, I got the hook up with some cute Kenyan girls! Haha
The next day we drove back to Kisumu stopping on the way for some fresh tea and vegetables when we passed through small towns. When I got home, I wrote up a quick field report and was done. Now I just wait for all the data to come in from the clinics. It’s the end of the month, and I am baffled that it took a month to get the medication and paperwork out to the providers, but at least it is done now.
We got a new student last week and he is a ton of fun. He is an undergrad in Minnesota and this is part of a semester study abroad program. He spent the first 6 weeks in university in Nairobi studying the medical systems, issues and the like, and then he came here for his internship. He is part of 37 students in Kenya, 11 of which came to Kisumu for their internships. So its nice to have a few more friends. He is not staying with us though, he is staying with a host family, and he explains that his host mom is bipolar or schitzophrenic or something. She is always snapping at him one day then telling him how much she missed him the next day. Hmmmm,
Kristen got a bad phone call yesterday from her dad and he informed her that he mom is very sick so she is leaving Kenya today. Finding a ticket on such short notice, you can imagine is very expensive, and not many places take credit cards here. So it was a challenge finding her a way out of here. But we did and she is leaving tonight. I am trying to see if Patrick (the new student) can leave his home stay and come and take her room seeing as how I am going to be so bored without her company, and I really hate cooking for one (I have withheld the food from this new guard until he proves himself to me). Hopefully he can be my new roommate.
Oh, so Patrick already has one bachelor’s degree in modern dance, so he is quite the character at the clubs we go to. But before we get into that, I finally found this grate type thing that sets atop the jiko (outdoor cooking stove thing) and it works great as a grill. I visited the neighborhood butcher and got some steak and chicken and cooked it up Texas style on the grill on Friday night. Minus the barbeque sauce, I was able to make a pretty good marinade and went to town with steaks and mashed potatos. On Saturday, We went to Tamiez a club that I hadn’t yet gone too. It was pretty fun, and Patrick busted his dance moved out. He looks like he came straight from a Duran Duran video ☺ So he was quite popular at the dance club.
Sunday I went to Impala Park with my friend Ben. It’s an animal preserve with impalas (really?) and lions, and ostriches. But of course they wanted to charge me the tourist price, even though technically I am a resident but I couldn’t prove it. Ben tried to negotiate in Luo for a cheaper entrance fee for me but it didn’t work. So we didn’t go. I will have to get Monica motivated on filling out the paperwork for the resident card so I can go to these places cheaper. So instead we went to Dunga beach, watched the fishermen come in with their catch of the day, and watched the neighborhood women all rush around the boat to buy the fish stock to sell in the market. Its was quite entertaining, and it amazes me that the fish go straight from the lake to the market. YUM! Tilapia, Nile perch, catfish, and minnows (which they pop whole into their mouths like a snack- not me).
On the work front, I am not very busy. Waiting for data to come in is an easy job. So I have decided that I am going to try and finish up Kristens project with the SFC girls which entails creating a manual for them, so they are equipped with all the materials, activities and educational materials so they can be great peer educators. Once they have the manual, we are taking 8 of them to a town called Ugunja where there is a similar girls group trying to get started. Our girls are going to teach those girls all the ins and outs of reproductive health so they can then turn around and empower/educate their youth in their community. It sounds like a great opportunity and I am excited to finish it out for Kristen. Hopefully, if we finish the project, report the pre and post test data back to her, along with the demographics of the girls in the new group, she will have enough info to finish her report and thesis/practicum requirement, even though she is leaving early.
Last night, we had some friends over to kind of give her a farewell dinner. We stayed up very late and I am extremely tired today. After running around tying up her loose ends, I will see her off to the airport. That’s what is in store for my day. This weekend is a Peace Corps party for Halloween in Migori, which is about 2 hours away. I think most of the Peace Corps volunteers in the country will be there. It should be fun. I will be wearing a big burlap sugar bag, pregnant underneath and going as a sugar momma. Hey – it’s the only thing I could think of in this low resource setting.
Sorry it’s so long, but like I said, it had been a while and a lot happened. So deal with it ☺
More later - bye
So we visited with Dr Rose, gave her the supplies and that was it. But Rose’s receptionist sat me down while I was waiting and very seriously explained to me that she was looking for a mzungu husband to take her to America and asked if I could help her. So many of these women think all their problems will be solved if they could just marry a white man and get out of Kenya. So if anyone is interested let me know, I got the hook up with some cute Kenyan girls! Haha
The next day we drove back to Kisumu stopping on the way for some fresh tea and vegetables when we passed through small towns. When I got home, I wrote up a quick field report and was done. Now I just wait for all the data to come in from the clinics. It’s the end of the month, and I am baffled that it took a month to get the medication and paperwork out to the providers, but at least it is done now.
We got a new student last week and he is a ton of fun. He is an undergrad in Minnesota and this is part of a semester study abroad program. He spent the first 6 weeks in university in Nairobi studying the medical systems, issues and the like, and then he came here for his internship. He is part of 37 students in Kenya, 11 of which came to Kisumu for their internships. So its nice to have a few more friends. He is not staying with us though, he is staying with a host family, and he explains that his host mom is bipolar or schitzophrenic or something. She is always snapping at him one day then telling him how much she missed him the next day. Hmmmm,
Kristen got a bad phone call yesterday from her dad and he informed her that he mom is very sick so she is leaving Kenya today. Finding a ticket on such short notice, you can imagine is very expensive, and not many places take credit cards here. So it was a challenge finding her a way out of here. But we did and she is leaving tonight. I am trying to see if Patrick (the new student) can leave his home stay and come and take her room seeing as how I am going to be so bored without her company, and I really hate cooking for one (I have withheld the food from this new guard until he proves himself to me). Hopefully he can be my new roommate.
Oh, so Patrick already has one bachelor’s degree in modern dance, so he is quite the character at the clubs we go to. But before we get into that, I finally found this grate type thing that sets atop the jiko (outdoor cooking stove thing) and it works great as a grill. I visited the neighborhood butcher and got some steak and chicken and cooked it up Texas style on the grill on Friday night. Minus the barbeque sauce, I was able to make a pretty good marinade and went to town with steaks and mashed potatos. On Saturday, We went to Tamiez a club that I hadn’t yet gone too. It was pretty fun, and Patrick busted his dance moved out. He looks like he came straight from a Duran Duran video ☺ So he was quite popular at the dance club.
Sunday I went to Impala Park with my friend Ben. It’s an animal preserve with impalas (really?) and lions, and ostriches. But of course they wanted to charge me the tourist price, even though technically I am a resident but I couldn’t prove it. Ben tried to negotiate in Luo for a cheaper entrance fee for me but it didn’t work. So we didn’t go. I will have to get Monica motivated on filling out the paperwork for the resident card so I can go to these places cheaper. So instead we went to Dunga beach, watched the fishermen come in with their catch of the day, and watched the neighborhood women all rush around the boat to buy the fish stock to sell in the market. Its was quite entertaining, and it amazes me that the fish go straight from the lake to the market. YUM! Tilapia, Nile perch, catfish, and minnows (which they pop whole into their mouths like a snack- not me).
On the work front, I am not very busy. Waiting for data to come in is an easy job. So I have decided that I am going to try and finish up Kristens project with the SFC girls which entails creating a manual for them, so they are equipped with all the materials, activities and educational materials so they can be great peer educators. Once they have the manual, we are taking 8 of them to a town called Ugunja where there is a similar girls group trying to get started. Our girls are going to teach those girls all the ins and outs of reproductive health so they can then turn around and empower/educate their youth in their community. It sounds like a great opportunity and I am excited to finish it out for Kristen. Hopefully, if we finish the project, report the pre and post test data back to her, along with the demographics of the girls in the new group, she will have enough info to finish her report and thesis/practicum requirement, even though she is leaving early.
Last night, we had some friends over to kind of give her a farewell dinner. We stayed up very late and I am extremely tired today. After running around tying up her loose ends, I will see her off to the airport. That’s what is in store for my day. This weekend is a Peace Corps party for Halloween in Migori, which is about 2 hours away. I think most of the Peace Corps volunteers in the country will be there. It should be fun. I will be wearing a big burlap sugar bag, pregnant underneath and going as a sugar momma. Hey – it’s the only thing I could think of in this low resource setting.
Sorry it’s so long, but like I said, it had been a while and a lot happened. So deal with it ☺
More later - bye
Monday, October 22, 2007
Hyacinth and guard trouble
Maybe its the pesky mosquitos buzzing outside my net, or the several feral dog fights that occur nightly, or maybe it’s the random Muslim mosque prayers beginning at 4:30 in the morning, or our new guard that marches around the compound in full riot gear and TB mask, whatever the reason, I have not been able to sleep all that well at night. It’s not too bad because I discovered as part of this “Kenyan clock” concept, the employees in my office either sleep on their desks for 2-3 hours (“this Kisumu heat is terrible, we just need to sleep it off after lunch”), and luckily for me my house is around the corner so I have been “going home for lunch” and taking naps.
We got a new guard because our old one resigned, all we know is he left when his wife became ill during childbirth. We don’t know anything besides he is no longer a guard for the security company. We got another guard George who was about 18 years old and thought he had life good guarding the mzungu girls. Understanding that we fed our guards a good meal, he began to take advantage of us. We didn’t like his behaviour (cutting down our garden, taking his clothes off and working in his underwear on hot nights, and asking for money from us) we requested a new guard. This one wears full riot gear and a TB mask. He literally salutes us as we enter the compound, and marches around “on patrol” around the wall. One night I woke up when I heard crunching leaves behind my house right outside my window, then a heard a series of farts. That fool took a dump right outside of my window. It freaked me out, so needless to say, I went with some guys from the office to request yet another guard. We will see what happens with this new one tonight…
This past weekend, we celebrated Moi Day – Moi was also a previous president. There were basketball and football (soccer) tournaments all weekend at the Jomo Kenyatta sportsground. Ben, a piki piki driver that I have come to rely on for transport, took me there with his family on Saturday. We spent all day sipping sodas and watching so really good matches between the various East African university sports teams.
He also took me down to the Lake to see the hyacinth phenomenon. Just Friday, the crazy overtaking hyacinth blew in with the winds and completely covered the Kisumu side of the lake. What used to look like a lake now looks like a field. I tried to ask where hyacinth comes from, whether it grows on the bottom of the lake and rises up, or what but all they tell me is that “it comes with the wind”. It is quite strange, but the worst part is it disrupts fishing and water treatment activities, and is killing off all the native vegetation and animal life. The hippos get stuck in it when they try to come on shore to eat.. I heard that the government has introduced a type of fish that feed on in, or something to try and control it, maybe that will save Kisumu!
I haven’t had much to do as far as work goes. I still have not distributed the manual, since the person with the final say in the finished product will be in London for another week. I have spent the last two work days on developing an excel spreadsheet to collect data and analyze it. Now I just wait for the data to come in. I am not sure what to do in the meantime since my supervisor is not in the office this week either. It’s going to be a boring week for me., but I am looking forward to watching more DVD’s on my laptop and catching up on some reading.
I discovered a new restaurant which has pretty good food, but the only people who go to it are Indian and Chinese men who are resentful that they even have to live here, they are living and working here on business and really could care less. But I get to practice my Chinese, which I never thought I would do in Africa. I was actually translating (very little) Swahili into Chinese so this man could understand.
More later, I gotta catch my ride to Nakuru
We got a new guard because our old one resigned, all we know is he left when his wife became ill during childbirth. We don’t know anything besides he is no longer a guard for the security company. We got another guard George who was about 18 years old and thought he had life good guarding the mzungu girls. Understanding that we fed our guards a good meal, he began to take advantage of us. We didn’t like his behaviour (cutting down our garden, taking his clothes off and working in his underwear on hot nights, and asking for money from us) we requested a new guard. This one wears full riot gear and a TB mask. He literally salutes us as we enter the compound, and marches around “on patrol” around the wall. One night I woke up when I heard crunching leaves behind my house right outside my window, then a heard a series of farts. That fool took a dump right outside of my window. It freaked me out, so needless to say, I went with some guys from the office to request yet another guard. We will see what happens with this new one tonight…
This past weekend, we celebrated Moi Day – Moi was also a previous president. There were basketball and football (soccer) tournaments all weekend at the Jomo Kenyatta sportsground. Ben, a piki piki driver that I have come to rely on for transport, took me there with his family on Saturday. We spent all day sipping sodas and watching so really good matches between the various East African university sports teams.
He also took me down to the Lake to see the hyacinth phenomenon. Just Friday, the crazy overtaking hyacinth blew in with the winds and completely covered the Kisumu side of the lake. What used to look like a lake now looks like a field. I tried to ask where hyacinth comes from, whether it grows on the bottom of the lake and rises up, or what but all they tell me is that “it comes with the wind”. It is quite strange, but the worst part is it disrupts fishing and water treatment activities, and is killing off all the native vegetation and animal life. The hippos get stuck in it when they try to come on shore to eat.. I heard that the government has introduced a type of fish that feed on in, or something to try and control it, maybe that will save Kisumu!
I haven’t had much to do as far as work goes. I still have not distributed the manual, since the person with the final say in the finished product will be in London for another week. I have spent the last two work days on developing an excel spreadsheet to collect data and analyze it. Now I just wait for the data to come in. I am not sure what to do in the meantime since my supervisor is not in the office this week either. It’s going to be a boring week for me., but I am looking forward to watching more DVD’s on my laptop and catching up on some reading.
I discovered a new restaurant which has pretty good food, but the only people who go to it are Indian and Chinese men who are resentful that they even have to live here, they are living and working here on business and really could care less. But I get to practice my Chinese, which I never thought I would do in Africa. I was actually translating (very little) Swahili into Chinese so this man could understand.
More later, I gotta catch my ride to Nakuru
Friday, October 19, 2007
Traveling through the Mountains
So we finally got everything together and made the rounds as planned. Since the truck was repaired, we took off around 9am heading into the mountains to visit 4 more clinic locations. It was such a beautiful drive, the mountains, rivers, stones and villages. We went through several police roadblocks and got stopped only twice. The first time, we had to either give the police a lift into town or give them money. We opted for the lift, so they clambered into the back of the truck with me and stared me down. I felt really uncomfortable with those guys ogling me for the next hour of our trip. UGH but what are we to do?
We finally made it to our destination; first stop Stand Kisii, which is inside the Kakamega forest. It was gorgeous, and had plenty of monkeys running around. I learned that that clinic had been very busy with the MUE procedure, and they had (luckily) been keeping good records knowing they didn’t have any of the record keeping documents yet. I guess the doc is used to the system in Kenya and knew what to expect. So now he has to transfer all his notes on his patients to the documents I provided him. Second stop, Bungoma where I learned that the doctor there was administering the drug under improper protocols because he heard about a “trick” that you could use Misoprostol on women with gestations longer than 9 weeks (9 weeks is the max gestation that we and Planned Parenthood had instructed them to use miso on), by just giving them one pill every 4-6 hours until basically she delivers her fetus. He had been performing them up to 26 weeks! WOW, that’s something to make sure and report about, but the doctor said as long as it is working then he would do it.
We moved on to Kitale where we saw an OB/GYN whose practice was so incredibly busy. I couldn’t believe how packed the waiting room was, which is a good thing I guess. It is great that women are seeking prenatal and antenatal care. We traveled to the district hospital after that because part of our objectives of this trip was to get some contraceptives from the district hospital and drive around distributing it at other lower clinics and facilities, but guess what? The district hospital only had depo provera, no pills, condoms, IUD’s, emergency contraceptive, or Norplant. I have realized what the underlying problem is behind unsafe abortion, lack of family planning supplies. How can we stop these women from becoming pregnant in the first place if they do not have regular access to contraceptives, there is a severe problem somewhere and when I asked the guy in charge of the supply closet, he said he didn’t know where the problem was, so not only a supply problem, but a communication problem. Hmmmm……
On the way home, my driver decided to buy a machete because we would be traveling for a short distance after dark. He said you just never know when a group of street kids were going to try and carjack you, and if for some reason the truck broke down, then we would be finished, so he bought a machete “to kill them before they kill us”. WOW, but don’t worry, nothing happened. It was a nice trip home, and I even got to see a double rainbow over the mountains. That’s got to be pretty rare.
Since returning, I have been diligently trying to create an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all the data I will be beginning to collect monthly. It’s coming along pole pole.
3 of our SFC girls got chosen to attend an HIV workshop on Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was quite an honor for them to sit alongside doctors, nurses, and other health workers to learn about the issues that are facing health professionals in the provision of ARV therapy and Nevirapine for prevention of mother to child transmission. The girls had never been to a hotel as nice as that, and asked if “that food is for us – WOW its so much food”. I think they enjoyed the food the most, but really they learned so much and even got a certificate at the end of it. Today, as appreciation for all the girls in SFC, and for those 3 girls to relay the information they learned at the workshop, we took them all to Hippo Point and had a picnic. It was nice, and many of those girls had never even seen the lake. Living on the other side of town and not ever having transportation or money to get out there kept them from seeing such a beautiful sight right there in their own city. About half of them decided to strip down naked and jump in (not me – bilharzia and schistosomiasis is a real threat in that lake) and they had a blast.
So now, back at the office, working on the excel spreadsheet (well actually taking a break to blog at the moment) and heading out soon. Kristen and I are hitting up Simba Club again tonight for the all you can eat Indian buffet. We can’t get enough and since it is only open to the public on Fridays, we have to take full advantage.
More later
We finally made it to our destination; first stop Stand Kisii, which is inside the Kakamega forest. It was gorgeous, and had plenty of monkeys running around. I learned that that clinic had been very busy with the MUE procedure, and they had (luckily) been keeping good records knowing they didn’t have any of the record keeping documents yet. I guess the doc is used to the system in Kenya and knew what to expect. So now he has to transfer all his notes on his patients to the documents I provided him. Second stop, Bungoma where I learned that the doctor there was administering the drug under improper protocols because he heard about a “trick” that you could use Misoprostol on women with gestations longer than 9 weeks (9 weeks is the max gestation that we and Planned Parenthood had instructed them to use miso on), by just giving them one pill every 4-6 hours until basically she delivers her fetus. He had been performing them up to 26 weeks! WOW, that’s something to make sure and report about, but the doctor said as long as it is working then he would do it.
We moved on to Kitale where we saw an OB/GYN whose practice was so incredibly busy. I couldn’t believe how packed the waiting room was, which is a good thing I guess. It is great that women are seeking prenatal and antenatal care. We traveled to the district hospital after that because part of our objectives of this trip was to get some contraceptives from the district hospital and drive around distributing it at other lower clinics and facilities, but guess what? The district hospital only had depo provera, no pills, condoms, IUD’s, emergency contraceptive, or Norplant. I have realized what the underlying problem is behind unsafe abortion, lack of family planning supplies. How can we stop these women from becoming pregnant in the first place if they do not have regular access to contraceptives, there is a severe problem somewhere and when I asked the guy in charge of the supply closet, he said he didn’t know where the problem was, so not only a supply problem, but a communication problem. Hmmmm……
On the way home, my driver decided to buy a machete because we would be traveling for a short distance after dark. He said you just never know when a group of street kids were going to try and carjack you, and if for some reason the truck broke down, then we would be finished, so he bought a machete “to kill them before they kill us”. WOW, but don’t worry, nothing happened. It was a nice trip home, and I even got to see a double rainbow over the mountains. That’s got to be pretty rare.
Since returning, I have been diligently trying to create an Excel spreadsheet to keep track of all the data I will be beginning to collect monthly. It’s coming along pole pole.
3 of our SFC girls got chosen to attend an HIV workshop on Monday and Tuesday of this week. It was quite an honor for them to sit alongside doctors, nurses, and other health workers to learn about the issues that are facing health professionals in the provision of ARV therapy and Nevirapine for prevention of mother to child transmission. The girls had never been to a hotel as nice as that, and asked if “that food is for us – WOW its so much food”. I think they enjoyed the food the most, but really they learned so much and even got a certificate at the end of it. Today, as appreciation for all the girls in SFC, and for those 3 girls to relay the information they learned at the workshop, we took them all to Hippo Point and had a picnic. It was nice, and many of those girls had never even seen the lake. Living on the other side of town and not ever having transportation or money to get out there kept them from seeing such a beautiful sight right there in their own city. About half of them decided to strip down naked and jump in (not me – bilharzia and schistosomiasis is a real threat in that lake) and they had a blast.
So now, back at the office, working on the excel spreadsheet (well actually taking a break to blog at the moment) and heading out soon. Kristen and I are hitting up Simba Club again tonight for the all you can eat Indian buffet. We can’t get enough and since it is only open to the public on Fridays, we have to take full advantage.
More later
Tuesday, October 16, 2007
Work challenges and a broken truck
With my friend Marcus and Hannah still in Kisumu from thier posts with the Peace Corps, we had a very interesting weekend. We went out every night, and for the most part it was fun. But one evening, a piki piki driver took us out to this place called Kisumu Railroad Institute and as soon as we got there, Marcus almost got in a fight with a very drunk man wearing a Shriners hat, he accused us of taking his chair in which the waiter provided for us. He started yelling and telling the waitstaff they were worthless, etc. Needless to say we moved to the back of the club to get away from the drunk yelling man, then had a good night. That was the first time Marcus and Hannah rode on a piki piki because apprently the Peace Corps will not allow them to ride on them(motorbikes) or bicycles, its too dangerous. I mean of course you run a risk of getting in an accident, but you do with any mode of transportation right? So they felt rebelious, it was pretty funny.
Saturday night, they stayed with us at our place, and I made a big ol' country dinner for us, complete with fried chicken and mash potatoes. I just wished I had a peach cobbler or apple pie, that would have been sooo good. But my mom should be proud of me for whipping up a southern dinner in this low resource setting. The gravy was the best part.
Another night we went to the Simba Club, all you can eat Indian food. NICE! We ate so much, it was almost the best meal I have had since I have been here (besides my country dinner). Can you tell I am missing food? I have asked my parents for a package with all the fixins for a thanksgiving dinner. The Sisterhood for Change catering class has a stove/oven so I think I am going to try and give Thanksgiving a try this year. And maybe teach those girls a thing or two about our holidays.
So this week has been a test of my patience. Dealing with the "Kenyan Clock" has become a real challenge. See, the Kenyans are apparently on their own clock I have been told, but really its just a bunch of procrastination. I am told to have this and that done by a certain deadline, but then I can't get anyone to approve it, before it goes out. The whole manual I worked so hard on last week is still sitting on my desk because my colleagues can not get motivated to read it and make sure its OK before I send it out. Its just one of things I have to get used to, the work ethic is much different here, and I am OK with that. I just have to adapt and not let it get to me like it has. What is sad though, is that the providers are already providing the MUE services without a providers manual, without record keeping tools and without counseling guides, because they are all sitting here on my desk. There is not much I can do though, besides "feedback" and make a note of it for my report.
So yesterday, I was scheduled to drive around and deliver some more medication to the clinic sites. We had 5 stops to make, we made one at God's Will clinic with no problems, but on our way to the next clinic, the truck broke down (these bad Kenyan roads of course, not the fact that the back of the truck was loaded with about 5000 lbs of nutriflour) so we spent the remainder of the day looking for a garage who can repair a broken axle. One place wanted to order the part from Nairobi, another wanted to fix it by welding it together, and yet another just tied some rope around it to try and keep it together. Yes, thats a solution to the problem. So of course we got nothing done and I went home with nothing accomplished. Oh, what we deal with in developing countries.
So basically I have not had a very productive week as far as work goes.
My security guard advised us on Friday that he had to go home to his village in Kisii because he got a phone call that his wife was delivering and she was having complications. That was all he knew at the time, so we got a substitute guard. Our poor little Bernard has not yet returned so I fear that something terrible has happened to his wife because he was determined to come back by Sunday he said. I feel horrible for him. And I don't like our new guard. He is arrogant and not a very smart cookie. The lady of the house asked him to keep the grounds a little more some extra money, and he thought he was cutting down weeds but instead uprooted our whole garden. Ugh, and this guy is supposed to be straight from the village, how can he not know that those plants are food and not weeds? Whatever! The nini!
So this morning, I was told to be at the office by 7:30am because the truck would be ready and we were going to try and make all the stops we were supposed to yesterday plus all the ones we had planned for today. So its 8:30 and no one is here yet. I could have still been sleeping. Lets see how well this actually works out today, I doubt the truck is even finished. How can you repair an axle in one afternoon, using garages like the ones I have seen? They must be putting more rope around it!
Well, I guess thats it for me. Nothing new and too excited has happened this week, but I thought you would like to know about the daily life I experience here. Hopefully the next blog will be more uplifting. I am off to ride on the bad Kenyan roads...hopefully.
Peace
Saturday night, they stayed with us at our place, and I made a big ol' country dinner for us, complete with fried chicken and mash potatoes. I just wished I had a peach cobbler or apple pie, that would have been sooo good. But my mom should be proud of me for whipping up a southern dinner in this low resource setting. The gravy was the best part.
Another night we went to the Simba Club, all you can eat Indian food. NICE! We ate so much, it was almost the best meal I have had since I have been here (besides my country dinner). Can you tell I am missing food? I have asked my parents for a package with all the fixins for a thanksgiving dinner. The Sisterhood for Change catering class has a stove/oven so I think I am going to try and give Thanksgiving a try this year. And maybe teach those girls a thing or two about our holidays.
So this week has been a test of my patience. Dealing with the "Kenyan Clock" has become a real challenge. See, the Kenyans are apparently on their own clock I have been told, but really its just a bunch of procrastination. I am told to have this and that done by a certain deadline, but then I can't get anyone to approve it, before it goes out. The whole manual I worked so hard on last week is still sitting on my desk because my colleagues can not get motivated to read it and make sure its OK before I send it out. Its just one of things I have to get used to, the work ethic is much different here, and I am OK with that. I just have to adapt and not let it get to me like it has. What is sad though, is that the providers are already providing the MUE services without a providers manual, without record keeping tools and without counseling guides, because they are all sitting here on my desk. There is not much I can do though, besides "feedback" and make a note of it for my report.
So yesterday, I was scheduled to drive around and deliver some more medication to the clinic sites. We had 5 stops to make, we made one at God's Will clinic with no problems, but on our way to the next clinic, the truck broke down (these bad Kenyan roads of course, not the fact that the back of the truck was loaded with about 5000 lbs of nutriflour) so we spent the remainder of the day looking for a garage who can repair a broken axle. One place wanted to order the part from Nairobi, another wanted to fix it by welding it together, and yet another just tied some rope around it to try and keep it together. Yes, thats a solution to the problem. So of course we got nothing done and I went home with nothing accomplished. Oh, what we deal with in developing countries.
So basically I have not had a very productive week as far as work goes.
My security guard advised us on Friday that he had to go home to his village in Kisii because he got a phone call that his wife was delivering and she was having complications. That was all he knew at the time, so we got a substitute guard. Our poor little Bernard has not yet returned so I fear that something terrible has happened to his wife because he was determined to come back by Sunday he said. I feel horrible for him. And I don't like our new guard. He is arrogant and not a very smart cookie. The lady of the house asked him to keep the grounds a little more some extra money, and he thought he was cutting down weeds but instead uprooted our whole garden. Ugh, and this guy is supposed to be straight from the village, how can he not know that those plants are food and not weeds? Whatever! The nini!
So this morning, I was told to be at the office by 7:30am because the truck would be ready and we were going to try and make all the stops we were supposed to yesterday plus all the ones we had planned for today. So its 8:30 and no one is here yet. I could have still been sleeping. Lets see how well this actually works out today, I doubt the truck is even finished. How can you repair an axle in one afternoon, using garages like the ones I have seen? They must be putting more rope around it!
Well, I guess thats it for me. Nothing new and too excited has happened this week, but I thought you would like to know about the daily life I experience here. Hopefully the next blog will be more uplifting. I am off to ride on the bad Kenyan roads...hopefully.
Peace
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