Tomorrow will be the grand opening of the VCT as well as my goodbye party at Shibwe! We have advertised the official opening throughout the village and expect many to come. The hospital has even invited church members to pray for the VCT and sing for my farewell. Plus, they want me to give a speech and cut the opening ribbon. I have been planning this day all week, moving boxes to clear out the Nurses’ Office, painting the walls, putting up flyers, etc. We even have a Plan B in case too many people show up to be tested. (We will be opening other rooms in the hospital for counseling.) Wish us luck tomorrow!
Tomorrow will also be my last day with my host family. In the evening, I will be staying at Sheywe Guest House, and waking up early for my flight from Kisumu to Nairobi where I will have a convenient 12-hour layover to explore Nairobi. And then off to Amsterdam and finally Los Angeles. I CANNOT believe how quickly the time has gone by! I will write my final post at home. But for now, I have a lot left to do – a grand opening and a million goodbyes.
PS. I have a total of 15 mosquito bites…on my left foot. Thank god I am taking antimalarials!
Wednesday 20 July 2011
Wednesday 13 July 2011
Masai Mara
This past weekend eight interns decided to visit Masai Mara – the national park most famous in Kenya. The trip consisted of:
-My bus getting stuck in the mud and slipping off the road because of the rain. I then trekked in the mud all the way to the closest market where I would find a motorcycle to take me into Kakamega Town.
- 2 14-hour bus rides to Masai Mara and back
- 3 –day safari
- Stepping foot into Tanzania
- The viewing of many lions, giraffes, zebra, cheetah, and the migration of the wildebeests
Masai Mara is also known for being home to the Masai tribe. The tribe is famous throughout Kenya for being the more stereotypical and traditional “African tribe.” They live in a very remote and rural village in south Kenya, dress in robes, pierce HUGE holes into their ears, and have dancing ceremonies and traditions, such as killing a lion once a year.
For a small fee, one of the Masai villages near our campsite let us visit them. They performed one of their dances, showed us how to make fire without matches, and took us into their mud huts. Here is the Masai during their jumping competition:
and them teaching me how to make fire using sticks:
The culture of the tribe seems to be dying, though, because many of the children are now being sent to government-run schools in which they are forced to wear uniforms and are not allowed any piercings.
On my way home, I was again stopped by the rain and mud and was unable to use the road back to my village. I therefore stayed at Matthew’s house (a Duke student) for the night. For the first time, I went to the bathroom in a bucket in my room because it was apparently too cold to go outside. Always experiencing something new in Kenya!
I have officially started my project as of Monday. The fundi (carpenter) has already built the partition and doors, and today we began to paint the rooms!
On a sidenote: Last week, Kenya's Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation (with help from USAID) began a national campaign to distribute 11 million mosquito nets to combat malaria. Shibwe was the location to distribute the nets throughout my village, so last week I helped the hospital accomplish this.
One of the workers at Shibwe took pictures of the mass distribution. So here are pictures of me distributing the nets, sitting with the matron (head nurse), and posing with the district officer:
-My bus getting stuck in the mud and slipping off the road because of the rain. I then trekked in the mud all the way to the closest market where I would find a motorcycle to take me into Kakamega Town.
- 2 14-hour bus rides to Masai Mara and back
- 3 –day safari
- Stepping foot into Tanzania
- The viewing of many lions, giraffes, zebra, cheetah, and the migration of the wildebeests
Masai Mara is also known for being home to the Masai tribe. The tribe is famous throughout Kenya for being the more stereotypical and traditional “African tribe.” They live in a very remote and rural village in south Kenya, dress in robes, pierce HUGE holes into their ears, and have dancing ceremonies and traditions, such as killing a lion once a year.
For a small fee, one of the Masai villages near our campsite let us visit them. They performed one of their dances, showed us how to make fire without matches, and took us into their mud huts. Here is the Masai during their jumping competition:
and them teaching me how to make fire using sticks:
The culture of the tribe seems to be dying, though, because many of the children are now being sent to government-run schools in which they are forced to wear uniforms and are not allowed any piercings.
On my way home, I was again stopped by the rain and mud and was unable to use the road back to my village. I therefore stayed at Matthew’s house (a Duke student) for the night. For the first time, I went to the bathroom in a bucket in my room because it was apparently too cold to go outside. Always experiencing something new in Kenya!
I have officially started my project as of Monday. The fundi (carpenter) has already built the partition and doors, and today we began to paint the rooms!
On a sidenote: Last week, Kenya's Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation (with help from USAID) began a national campaign to distribute 11 million mosquito nets to combat malaria. Shibwe was the location to distribute the nets throughout my village, so last week I helped the hospital accomplish this.
One of the workers at Shibwe took pictures of the mass distribution. So here are pictures of me distributing the nets, sitting with the matron (head nurse), and posing with the district officer:
Wednesday 6 July 2011
Thank You! Thank You!
I apologize for the delay on the fundraising update – the internet has been down for the last couple days.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED!!!! The fundraising came to a total of $1100!! I am so grateful for all the contributions that have been made and for all the generosity! The funds will be making (what I hope to be) a huge difference at Shibwe Sub-District Hospital and for the people of Kakamega. Thank you, thank you!
In other news:
- Went on FSD’s ‘midterm retreat’ this past weekend with all 16 interns. We hiked to Crater Lake on Friday, and on Saturday biked 30 km in Hell’s Gate Park to a beautiful gourge. The weekend ended Saturday night with MILLIONS of Siafu ants invading our campsite (we were camping outdoors in two-person tents). The ants completely covered the tents that you could not even see the zipper! These ants are only found in East Africa and look almost like scorpions. They bite people by sticking their entire head into your skin and must be pulled out. (I did not get bit because I was perfectly happy to leave my stuff in the tent overnight.) It was GROSS. Needless to say, we slept elsewhere for the night.
- South Sudan is soon to be the newest country in Africa on Saturday, July 9!! Exciting news here (one of the interns is even courageously taking a matatu all the way to Sudan to be there on Saturday!).
Here is a picture of the group in front of Crater Lake and a picture of the gourge:
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO DONATED!!!! The fundraising came to a total of $1100!! I am so grateful for all the contributions that have been made and for all the generosity! The funds will be making (what I hope to be) a huge difference at Shibwe Sub-District Hospital and for the people of Kakamega. Thank you, thank you!
In other news:
- Went on FSD’s ‘midterm retreat’ this past weekend with all 16 interns. We hiked to Crater Lake on Friday, and on Saturday biked 30 km in Hell’s Gate Park to a beautiful gourge. The weekend ended Saturday night with MILLIONS of Siafu ants invading our campsite (we were camping outdoors in two-person tents). The ants completely covered the tents that you could not even see the zipper! These ants are only found in East Africa and look almost like scorpions. They bite people by sticking their entire head into your skin and must be pulled out. (I did not get bit because I was perfectly happy to leave my stuff in the tent overnight.) It was GROSS. Needless to say, we slept elsewhere for the night.
- South Sudan is soon to be the newest country in Africa on Saturday, July 9!! Exciting news here (one of the interns is even courageously taking a matatu all the way to Sudan to be there on Saturday!).
Here is a picture of the group in front of Crater Lake and a picture of the gourge:
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