I have just finished day five of the orientation. It has picked up quite a lot since I last posted!
On Monday, a bunch of interns and I went running in the morning. As soon as we got to the main road, a group of school children (ranging from 10-15 years old) asked us where we were going and started to follow us running. It was such a funny sight to see – 6 mazungus with 5 Kenyan children running behind us. One of them ran in front and started to guide us. He took us to their school and had us run three laps around their soccer field. One of the other interns started to do yoga on the field, so we all gathered around him (with about 10 school children) and did yoga together. I wish I could have taken a picture! After that, we had our first Kiswahili lesson (Swahili in English). Within just two hours, we had already learned how to conjugate in the present tense. It is crazy that they are hoping for us to learn an entire language in just one week! I think they are overestimating my language abilities…. I do think I will become much more comfortable speaking Kiswahili by the end of the two months, though.
Afterward, we had a bunch of meetings about the expectations and objectives of FSD in a conference room in the hotel, including a needs assessment, an asset mapping, and a work plan workshop. During the majority of the internship, FSD wants us to engage ourselves in day-to-day activities at our organizations (so in my case, working in the clinic with whatever job they want me to do). However, they also want us to come up with a project by the end of the two months that will have a long-term impact on our organizations. Therefore, after working at my clinic for several weeks, hopefully I will be able to do a proper needs assessment, or what they prefer to call “capacity enhancement,” and be able to come up with an idea that can benefit the clinic in the long run. During the meetings, they focused a lot on how we need to make our projects sustainable and create a partnership with our organization rather than have them see us as a “donor.” In this way, the community can gain ownership of the project to ensure its durability.
Yesterday, we had two Kiswahili languange trainings and a personal health talk with Dr. Bakunda. He is a local doctor in town and warned us about the most common diseases here: malaria, typhoid, and other food-born illnesses. I am currently taking doxycycline everyday to combat malaria, but apparently almost every single intern FSD has had has gotten malaria at least once during their time here. Malaria is VERY common here – so common that to them it is similar to having the flu. He told us that we would almost definitely get it during our time here, and advised us not to be scared when we do because it is treatable. He is a very friendly doctor, and his office is right in the center of town, so I feel very reassured with him here.
After that, I met with my host organization supervisor. He came to the hotel to meet me for an hour and discuss what I will be doing for the next few weeks. He informed me that the hospital has about five rooms and five medical technicians with no actual doctor. After I told him that I was in college and hope to become a doctor, he became very excited and told me that I can examine patients and treat them on my own. I told him I felt uncomfortable examining patients on my own, but he informed me that it would not be difficult because almost everyone comes with malaria anyways. It seems as though he has very high expectations for me. I am also afraid that he thinks of me too much as a “donor” because he was listing many of the things the hospital needs, so I tried to convey to him that I am just there to work and help wherever I can because I have no money myself. It was also interesting to hear him talk about America as a “developed” nation – I have never heard anyone say it from the other point of view. It really threw me off for some reason. I truly hope I do not let them down.
Today, we have had two more Kiswahili language training sessions and went to lunch at Caro’s house (the FSD local program coordinator from Kakamega who is amazingly nice and only 25 years old). She made us an entire buffet of the traditional food served in the homestays, and I am very pleased to say that I like most of it! The most common food here is ugali, which is made from corn and flour and tastes very much like dry grits. They LOVE ugali. It is both filling and cheap to make so they told us to expect it at every one of our meals at our homestay. Rice is very common, as well as chipati (which is like naan or tortilla). My favorite food is ndengu, which is made of lentil beans. When you put it on rice, it is amazing. That is all I have been eating. Chicken and meat is more expensive here so it is considered more of a luxury to eat, as well as with fruit. The fruit here is so delicious though! They eat bananas (ndazi) all the time (apparently there are five different types here), but pineapple, mango, and watermelon have also been served occasionally. At lunch today, they served kumbikumbi. I am very reluctant to say what it is: fried termites! Sadly, I could not even try it – I was afraid I would throw up if I did because I am a very picky eater. But the rest of the interns did and thought it tasted like burnt sunflower seeds. They also serve sukuma wiki – the most common vegetable that looks similar to spinach but tastes a lot worse to me. It translates to “push the week,” meaning that it is served a lot towards the end of the month until people get their paychecks. Apparently I will be served a lot of it at my homestay. At each meal, we have been served almost the exact same thing - it’s so different from America because there you can choose Chinese food, Italian food, Mexican food, etc. for lunch or dinner each day. I’m not used to being served the same thing for each meal. Kenyans also don’t like to use utensils much, so they eat all of these foods with their hands. I have not yet fully become accustomed to it yet, but luckily they do wash their hands before every meal.
Beyond the orientation, the interns have spent a lot of time hanging out together. We’ve gone out for drinks at a nearby restaurant at the end of each day, have been hanging out at night after dinner, and doing our homework together (yes we have been getting homework!). It’s been a lot of fun. I’ve also started reading a book about HIV/AIDS on my free time to be a little prepared before I start work.
It’s time for dinner now - I hope they are serving more ndengu tonight!
Also, here are a few pictures from Kakamega! The first is a picture of the downtown business district in Kakamega. The second is a picture from behind the hotel. The third is a picture of Chris, John, Dylan, and me in front of my favorite tree (and view) in Kakamega. And the last is a picture of the typical Kenyan plate!
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