3-20-12–Nairobi walk to museums

Brad and I decided to check out the Nairobi museums, particularly the Snake House. Everyone, I mean EVERYONE walks everywhere in Kenya. That’s probably a good thing because the traffic and driving and traffic circles are horrific enough without another 2 million cars.

We looked up the directions on Google, and set off with a handwritten list of road names and turns. This probably would have worked out great but we discovered that the roads rarely have road signs. Not to mention about 2 blocks from the Guest House the construction started. If there had been road signs they were now long gone. We asked several people for directions along the way (tipping them uselessly) and ended up getting not so much lost as turned around. We finally found the back gate of Arboretum and wandered through to the main gate where we discovered that it cost $10000 Ksh  to take any photos! That’s over $12.00 for a couple of shots of a cactus. We said no way and walked right on out of that park.

 

Stopped at the State House to ask directions from yet another person with a big honking gun. Then ran into Kenyan Boy Scouts who were collecting donations to go to camp. They did their little scout creed. It was precious.

Finally hoofed it nearer to the museums but got accosted by a man with no arms begging for money. While I was curious to hear his story I refused to make eye-contact because I have some ingrained fear that they’ll see weakness and attack me for more money. The guy had lost his arms in a motor vehicle accident when he was a child. The doctors had (surprisingly) done a really cool thing and took the two bones of his left forearm and skin & muscle grafted them so that the two bones actually are separate, wrapped in skin, and act as a set of pincers. Creepy, yet cool at the same time. We gave him some money but he just kept following us.

Along the way we discovered some more mzungas from Seattle and chatted with them. They were also on a medical mission.

Brad and I headed into the Kenya National Museum. It was pretty nice. The exhibit on the bones found here in Kenya that helped piece together our evolution was really cool. I think they were the real bones, actually! There was another good exhibit discussing whether evolution is still occurring even though we are no longer permitting natural selection to occur. They cited some good examples such as disease resistance.

Nairobi also has a Snake Park so of course we had to go there. That’s when we discovered that the snake we’d seen in Ol Najura gorge in Hell’s Gate park was actually a BLACK MAMBA. How totally cool is that? The Snake Park is really quite shabby. Kris’s garage exhibition is nicer, I believe. But there is a central garden area where a variety of species were just living, wandering through rocks and little bushes and climbing trees.

Decided NOT to hoof it back up to the Methodist House so we got a cab. The cab driver and everyone we’ve told since were amazed that we walked to the museums. We figured everyone walks so what’s the big deal? However, I guess they don’t walk as far. Big difference.

Pumula was our restaurant of choice for the evening and it was totally delicious. Peter, our waiter, provided terrific service and we left quite satisfied.

3-17-12–Clinic, Day 4

We all decided to make this last day of clinic a half day. We were running low on many medicines, but to finish them off Dr. PJ literally walked out in the line of people waiting and doled out pain meds for those hurting, worm pills for those complaining of stomach/intestinal issues, multivitamins to everyone and folic acid to women of childbearing age.

As always, the view was phenomenal. Mt. Kenya seemed to be just over the hill. The wind was blowing hard and the dust was settling everywhere. I’m not sure I’ll ever get all the dust out of my camera’s nooks & crannies (or mine!).

Ending this day was bittersweet – we had accomplished a lot, but there were so many more people who needed help, ongoing help. Our pain pills might work for days or a week, but will they be able to get more when they need them? It’s heartwarming to help them, and so hard to leave.

We had a great band of workers on board and it was sad to break down that last day.

3-16-12–Day Three of Clinic

Back to the clinic. The one memorable thing about this day was one child. He was a two year old boy who had cerebral palsy. Mom was demonstrating how he couldn’t support his own head or move his arms or legs. Dr. PJ had to explain to the mother that he would never have use of his extremities and that he had severe, incurable problems. Brad said mom was young, maybe 19. It was very sad.

I’ll post photos tomorrow…

3-14-12–The Clinic, Day 1

 

		The Clinic VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

This will be quick because I’m getting tired and I haven’t even tried to hook up to the Internet yet.

The day started quite cool and crisp. It was perfect for a walk to the church where were were holding our clinic. We met around 8am and got working on arranging the check in tables, the triage area and the pharmacy. Dr. PJ and Brad generally ran the front desks using some incredibly helpful interpreters and Julie, Nikki and I worked in the pharmacy handing out meds. Generally people were coming in for aches and pains for which we prescribed 1x2x10 Ibuprofen pills (1 pill, twice/day for 10 days – I’m learning a lot of medilingo and medicines in general). We had one abscess, which Brad was all sorts of excited to suck out/cut open/whatever, I avoided watching and Nikki was excited to see. Dr. PJ was a little like, “OMG, who knows what kind of staph we have floating around here, wear a mask.” We had a couple of shots for kiddos, a lot of worm medicine and some random other stuff. I really believe we went through more than half of the common medicines, and we are just getting started.

The people are all very sweet and the translators are essential. The church folks have been super accommodating and served us morning tea, lunch, and afternoon tea. They are a great group of folks.

The kids are really wonderful and deserve a blog post of their own, so I’ll stop here for the time being. Tomorrow we’ll be heading to another location down the road. After seeing 257 (official) patients today, I wonder what we have in store for tomorrow!

3-15-12 – Kinoria Church, Meru, Kenya, Day 2 of our Clinic

Another beautiful day in Kenya. The road to this church was long and incredibly bumpy. I really can’t imagine how they do it in the rainy season. And the people who come to our clinics are all walking, except for a very rare motorcycle. No cars. Not one. In fact, one centenarian was delivered to us via wheelbarrow (a photo I’m very, very sorry I didn’t get, although I do have photos of her). They travel great distances to see us. There are no subdivisions, just small, random plots of land that they use for farming a little bit. Our host mother, Catherine, also has sheep and a man who comes in the mornings to take them to graze somewhere and brings them back at night.

The one memorable thing for me this day was my new friend, Purity. She was a real sweetheart; 13 years old, gentle and kind. She sort of followed me around for a bit, then brought her friends to meet me. Purity even wanted my phone number so she can call me in the states.

Right now we are traveling to Meru, which is on the other side of Mt. Kenya. It’s on the windward side of the mountain so it is much greener and quite lush. They grow tea, coffee, bananas, mangos, avocados, arrowroot, just about anything you can think of. Rev. Kaburu’s mother lives here and we will eat lunch with her. Newton is also from somewhere along our route. We bought big straw baskets for 100 Ksh each – they might be my best African purchase!

3-13-12 = Kirimba Church School

The church we are working with has a school associated with it. It’s a co-ed elementary school and we got an opportunity to tour it while most of the kiddos weren’t there. This little gentleman is showing us how he knows so many English words. He did a great job! English is actually the official language of Kenya, although most everyone speaks Ki Swahili (I may have spelled that wrong, but I’ll check later). There are about a zillion other “mother tongues” but apparently most people can understand several, and speaking many languages isn’t unusual.

While we were touring the facility I couldn’t help but think about the schools we have and compare them. The worst school I’ve been to work is a high school near the University of Houston (WAY scary). They had their computers all chained together and I could hear raucous fights in the halls and hollering coming up through the radiators near the windows. That school was like a castle in comparison. Think back to when you’ve seen photos of your grandparents sitting on benches in rows writing with chalk and a chalk board. This is kind of similar, actually.

		Kirimba School VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

It’s a boarding school, so there are bunk rooms and a dining hall and the kids wash their own clothes, and they get a gorgeous view of Mt. Kenya every day, which is certainly something very special.

3-13-12–The Samburu Tribe Village

 

After leaving Samburu Sopa Lodge, Newton took us to a native village right outside the reserve. It was definitely interesting to talk to them, see how they lived, ask questions, check out the inside of their homes (OH MY) and explore the small village. The Samburu basically herd cattle, no gardening involved here. For meals they drink a poison mixture of milk and blood. Yes, gag, blood. Uh, yeah, that’s about it. Oh, here’s the real kicker, though. The women do everything. Yup, everything. The guys teach their kids how to herd animals and then sit back and retire. The women cook, MAKE THE HOUSE, not CLEAN, but MAKE, take care of the kids, keep the camp clean and anything aside from just sitting there. The men literally retire by about 40 years old and what might their life expectancy be? Well, one old dude just passed away at a ripe old age of 120. That means he was retired for 2/3 of his life. Oh, and he’s buried in the middle of the camp. Make sure to always walk to the left when going around his pile of rocks & thorn-covered acacia branches.

I would have enjoyed the village visit more if I hadn’t felt like all they wanted was money. I can appreciate that this is how they actually make money (gotta buy more goats sometimes, of course) but we paid $60 for Brad and me to get in, plus another $40 for two bead necklaces. With the cost of goats nowadays they’re raking in the dough. And I don’t think the sticks and random plastic bags are too expensive. Oh, maybe they’re paying for ER care after they are circumcised. Both sexes. At like 17 years old. By the way, they aren’t allowed numbing medicine and they can’t blink while it’s happening. AND they are having warm milk (blood milk?) poured over their heads at the same time. There’s something about the eyelashes but I’d shut down by that time.

On the way back to Nanyuki I got to really check out the cool cactus trees that were here and there along the way. Our truck overheated. The area here is very hilly; it’s kind of the foothills of Mt. Kenya. Actually, it’s amazing to me how many different climates or climactic regions we passed through in about 6 hours. Some were flat and incredibly hot and arid while other areas were very, very lush with massive rolling hills and some areas reminded me of the west Texas Guadalupe mountain range. The temperature range was vast, too. Most of the time it was comfortable to have the window open, sometimes it was too hot (but we didn’t have AC, so whatever) and at one point I was so cold I had goose bumps. The elevation changes are vast.

So, with all the hills, POOF, the truck fries. Newton goes trucking off down the road to get some water, but for some reason didn’t get any, then he went somewhere else and they guy came back with water, then charged us (btw, the kids along the side of the road expect you to pay them for your taking their pictures. Apparently they think we make money off our photos. HA!). There’s a lot of money-making going on in everyday (non-working) life here.

Regina at Fountain Tours was super speedy and miraculously we got a private van to take us into Nanyuki where we were planning to meet our host families and hook up with Julie Denney, another nurse on the mission.