Saturday, February 19, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
On our way ... it's actually happening
~MIRIAM
Wednesday, January 26th
I can't believe this is actually happening. On my way to Africa. Sarah is sitting beside me. I'm feeling so incredibly blessed that Grandparents will be helping Matt with the girls and that I can go on this adventure and mission trip with Sarah. The last time we spent this much time together was when we were 18 yrs old, living at home. We've become very good friends over the years and I am so glad she is along. Right now, we are on the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam (an 8 hr flight); then an 8 hr fight follows from Amsterdam to Nairobi. I have no idea what time it is right now. We left Grand Rapids at 330pm. We met up with the rest of the group (13 of us in total) at 130pm. I am so thankful for Matt who has been so supportive in me going on this trip. Right now, I feel like I'm about to bust with excitement and anticipation! I'm feeling restless (even though we are early into this long flight) ... gotta get into a groove here of sitting, eating, reading, watching movies, reading, talking to Sarah. I walked the girls over to Michelle's (the sitter) this morning and they have no idea or comprehension really of me leaving for 2 weeks. I really hope they do OK. I am really looking forward to having a break - I love them dearly, but I really am looking forward to shutting my '24 hr Mom-duty' off for awhile.
Awhile later ... again, no idea what time it is.
We are now on the flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi. I was not able to sleep on the first long flight; I woke up after sleeping for about 3 hrs. I'm guessing it's about 5-6am back home. I feel so tired. I just have never been very good about sleeping while traveling in the car or on airplanes. On this flight, there are more empty seats, so, Sarah and I each have a row of 3 behind/in front of each other that we can stretch out a bit.
As I look out the window, bright warm sun rays beam at me and I love it. Sun and warm. Looking down, I notice round circular formations, but nothing that looks like roads. I asked a flight attendant what I was looking at and where we are. She wasn't sure, so she took my camera to the cockpit (and got a picture while she was there!). Apparently, we are over the desert between Egypt and Sudan. What I am seeing is an irrigation system, but the pilot was really puzzled why they were there in that location. Interesting.
Time to destination -- 2 hrs 45 minutes. We have had complimentary wine / beer on both of our long flights ... I did have 2 glasses of wine in the hopes of it helping with sleep. They have been passing meals and food about every 3 hours. I feel like I have been eating continuously for about 20 hours! And, the food has been pretty good.
Thursday, 9pm January 27th
ARRIVED IN NAIROBI, KENYA, AFRICA !!!!! YEAH!!!!
- On the way to our hotel / guest house, a bunch of zebra ran across the road! Crazy and so amazing! Just like deer back home!
Wednesday, January 26th
I can't believe this is actually happening. On my way to Africa. Sarah is sitting beside me. I'm feeling so incredibly blessed that Grandparents will be helping Matt with the girls and that I can go on this adventure and mission trip with Sarah. The last time we spent this much time together was when we were 18 yrs old, living at home. We've become very good friends over the years and I am so glad she is along. Right now, we are on the flight from Detroit to Amsterdam (an 8 hr flight); then an 8 hr fight follows from Amsterdam to Nairobi. I have no idea what time it is right now. We left Grand Rapids at 330pm. We met up with the rest of the group (13 of us in total) at 130pm. I am so thankful for Matt who has been so supportive in me going on this trip. Right now, I feel like I'm about to bust with excitement and anticipation! I'm feeling restless (even though we are early into this long flight) ... gotta get into a groove here of sitting, eating, reading, watching movies, reading, talking to Sarah. I walked the girls over to Michelle's (the sitter) this morning and they have no idea or comprehension really of me leaving for 2 weeks. I really hope they do OK. I am really looking forward to having a break - I love them dearly, but I really am looking forward to shutting my '24 hr Mom-duty' off for awhile.
Awhile later ... again, no idea what time it is.
We are now on the flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi. I was not able to sleep on the first long flight; I woke up after sleeping for about 3 hrs. I'm guessing it's about 5-6am back home. I feel so tired. I just have never been very good about sleeping while traveling in the car or on airplanes. On this flight, there are more empty seats, so, Sarah and I each have a row of 3 behind/in front of each other that we can stretch out a bit.
As I look out the window, bright warm sun rays beam at me and I love it. Sun and warm. Looking down, I notice round circular formations, but nothing that looks like roads. I asked a flight attendant what I was looking at and where we are. She wasn't sure, so she took my camera to the cockpit (and got a picture while she was there!). Apparently, we are over the desert between Egypt and Sudan. What I am seeing is an irrigation system, but the pilot was really puzzled why they were there in that location. Interesting.
Time to destination -- 2 hrs 45 minutes. We have had complimentary wine / beer on both of our long flights ... I did have 2 glasses of wine in the hopes of it helping with sleep. They have been passing meals and food about every 3 hours. I feel like I have been eating continuously for about 20 hours! And, the food has been pretty good.
Thursday, 9pm January 27th
ARRIVED IN NAIROBI, KENYA, AFRICA !!!!! YEAH!!!!
- On the way to our hotel / guest house, a bunch of zebra ran across the road! Crazy and so amazing! Just like deer back home!
Monday, February 14, 2011
A sneak peak
Sarah and I are going to get loading our journals and more pictures over the next month or so - bear with us!
Here are just a few ~
Holding another set of twins
I was counting to three for the picture, but it looks like I'm giving the peace sign - guess that works too! The kids had all just been given fresh mango
Here are just a few ~
Holding another set of twins
I was counting to three for the picture, but it looks like I'm giving the peace sign - guess that works too! The kids had all just been given fresh mango
Sunday, February 13, 2011
We are back!
An absolutely wonderful and amazing adventure. I can't wait to share my journal and pictures with you. It will take me quite awhile to get this all done. I took over a thousand pictures. And, the group that went - we are all combining our pictures so we can all share them. I want to take extra time to write about as much as I can because Sarah and I will have this blog printed into books for each of us when it's done. BUT, I have asked my friend April if I can cheat and copy and paste her blog entries. I really want them in our book -- I love her writing, all the facts she has written about and her wonderful description of so many things. April is a good friend of mine; a wife; a mother to 2 girls; a nurse ... we have known each other for about 5 years, but had not really spent much time together prior to this trip. I was so excited when I walked into the first informational meeting and April was there! It was soo good to get to hang out and bond more with this trip.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
By APRIL BERESFORD
February 6, 2011
Getting up at 05:00 was really rough, but I was so excited about going on a real African safari that I was ready to go in about 25 minutes. The elevation in Nairobi is significantly higher than Ndalani and yatta, so it was much cooler this morning. I actually broke out a sweatshirt. The safari vans picked us up at 06:00 and, in two separate vans, our group headed over the Nairobi National Park (NNP). The roof on the van pops up so we were able to stand up straight and view the serenghetti without a window pane. On our way to the NNP, we drove past a bad accident. A man was laying in the middle of the road, half undressed with a couple of Nairobi medics trying to care for him as traffic carefully drove around and continued on it's way. By the look of the accident, he was driving in our same direction but for one reason or another lost control and flipped his vehicle in the ditch separating the lanes of traffic going east and west. The car was trashed.
Once we arrived at the NNP it didn't take us long to find the animals. Our van had five people: Kayley, Anita, Karli, Marijo and myself. We had plenty of room to manuver around for the perfect snapshots. My camera was still acting funny and making an odd sound in between photos, and I was just praying that I'd get some good photos out of this. Who knows if and when I'll ever get to go on safari ever again? We saw water buffalo, herds of zebras, giraffes, ostrich, gazelles, warthogs, colorful birds, impalas, babboons, elots, and a huge black rhinosaraus. It was totally surreal. One of the moments that will stand out in my mind is how close we got to a live, wild African lion! We were about 20 yards away, and he was watching us with laser-like intensity. He was totally unimpressed and just watched us with curiosity, but his stare was icy cold. I was in awe. There was a car that pulled up behind us and started overheating, so the driver got out to pop his hood and look at it not knowing that there was a lion just beyond the tall patch of grass. My heart was in my throat as we shouted at him to "GET BACK IN THE CAR!!!". By the time the lion stood up, he had dove back into his car. Oooooh... close! Just an hour later, when we were trying to zoom in on a black rhino behind a tree, a car full of (stupid) men pulled up and GOT OUT and started walking toward the rhino to get a better photograph. Again, we were screaming for them to get back in the car and they were so pissed off that we were yelling at them that they actually came up to our driver and started picking a fight with him. They are soooo lucky that the rhino decided to run away. With 30 yards between them and their vehicle, there was no way that if the rhino decided to charge after them that they would have survived the attack. Some people are so unbelievably dumb!
The weird part about the location of the NNP is that it borders Nairobi. If you look out in one direction, you can see the serenghetti go on forever and ever. Turn around a hundred and eighty degrees and you can see buildings and condos. Angela was telling us that a couple of times a year one of the carniverous cats wanders onto the campus of Nairobi University. They actually have a "lion on campus" drill where everyone runs into the first available building. That just blows my mind. We drove around the NNP all morning, then when our safari tour ended our driver took us to a Masai tribal gift shop. It was small little shop with lots of handmade bracelets, masks (those frighten me), wood-carved animals, and other souveniers. No doubt that the driver had some sort of contract or agreement with these guys. It was all severely overpriced. After that place, we went to Kazuri, a small shop that employs over 200 women to make handmade jewelry to sell around the world, and I bought a pretty pair of earrings. By then we were really hungry. We went to the Karen Blixen coffee plantation restaurant. After doing some research, I found that Karen was a British citizen that moved to Nairobi with her family to run a large coffee plantation in the early 1900's. It was restored recently and converted into a REALLY nice restaraunt with quaint little tables set all throughout the restored home and around the lush green yard. Where just hours earlier we were hard pressed to find any white-skinned people in Nairobi, this place was filled with white ex-patriots from the USA and Europe. The food was AWESOME! They had a curry lunch buffet set up outside on a long linnen-lined table and I helped myself three times and sucked down two Coca -Colas. (Matt dislikes curry, so I had to get my fill!) It was a bargain at just $18.00 American. Yummy!!!
After all that excitement, we had a few hours of 'down time' at the hotel to relax before heading back to the airport. Jen and I sat outside and chatted for a while, then while she took a nap I went for a swim with Kayley. In a pool full of about 200 people, we were the only white folk and we stuck out like a sore thumb. It's so interesting to be the focus of all the curious stares, to be the foreigner. Mostly it's just the kids that stare. The pool felt great. It's SO hot outside! I'm so far removed from the Michigan winter happening at home that I just can't remember how cold snow feels. At 18:30 (6:30pm) our bus came to pick us up and take us and our baggage to the airport. One last ride across Nairobi. Charles followed us in his blue Isuzu and got caught in a cop-trap set up outside the aiport. The police here set up checkpoints to check tags and registration right in the middle of the road. They pull cars over randomly and try to find something 'illegal'. Charles got pulled over. In Kenya, the police officer does not issue the ticket on site, he escorts the offender to the police station. Charles was allowed to bring Phil and his bags up to the airport but was escorted away after bidding us "goodbye". (We later find out that his offense, having slightly expired license plate tags, was forgiven once the chief of police realized who Charles Mulli was. In a country the size of Texas, Charles is quite famous for his good works!)
One one hand, I can't wait to get home and throw my arms around my husband and kids, and sleep in my own bed. (You know, that spot on the left side that is the exact size and shape of ME? And my super-fluffy pillow!) But the other side of me knows that I am going to miss Kenya. A lot. As I write this, it is 04:21am Michigan time (12:21pm Kenya time) and we just flew over Scotland. the flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam was OKay, and I actually slept for 5 hours of the 8.5 hour flight. We flew over Africa in the darkness, overnight, so even though I finally scored a window seat I saw nothing but vast black darkness. We had a 2.5 hour layover in Amsterdam, and now we are on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. All I was able to see was a smidge of the lush green and rocky coastline of Scotland, and now it's just miles and miles of ocean. The morning sunrise took almost an hour, as we are flying through the longest day in history; we are taking the day with us as we travel west. Just six more hours until we land in the USA, a quick 90-minute layover in Detroit, and I am homebound to Grand Rapids again. I'm so excited to see my family!!!
This has been an amazing adventure, to say the very least. I hope that, by taking lots of photos and journaling a lot of my thoughts and feelings, that I can remember this forever. And I can't wait to share it with friends and family. I have grown so much on this trip - personally, professionally, and spiritually. I have been happy, devastated, disturbed, joyful, satisfied, frustrated, hopeful and sad and everything in between. I want to come back soon, and do it all over again, and hopefully bring Matt with me. I never want to forget the people here, the things we did here, or the lessons I have learned. But I also can't wait to get home....
Getting up at 05:00 was really rough, but I was so excited about going on a real African safari that I was ready to go in about 25 minutes. The elevation in Nairobi is significantly higher than Ndalani and yatta, so it was much cooler this morning. I actually broke out a sweatshirt. The safari vans picked us up at 06:00 and, in two separate vans, our group headed over the Nairobi National Park (NNP). The roof on the van pops up so we were able to stand up straight and view the serenghetti without a window pane. On our way to the NNP, we drove past a bad accident. A man was laying in the middle of the road, half undressed with a couple of Nairobi medics trying to care for him as traffic carefully drove around and continued on it's way. By the look of the accident, he was driving in our same direction but for one reason or another lost control and flipped his vehicle in the ditch separating the lanes of traffic going east and west. The car was trashed.
Once we arrived at the NNP it didn't take us long to find the animals. Our van had five people: Kayley, Anita, Karli, Marijo and myself. We had plenty of room to manuver around for the perfect snapshots. My camera was still acting funny and making an odd sound in between photos, and I was just praying that I'd get some good photos out of this. Who knows if and when I'll ever get to go on safari ever again? We saw water buffalo, herds of zebras, giraffes, ostrich, gazelles, warthogs, colorful birds, impalas, babboons, elots, and a huge black rhinosaraus. It was totally surreal. One of the moments that will stand out in my mind is how close we got to a live, wild African lion! We were about 20 yards away, and he was watching us with laser-like intensity. He was totally unimpressed and just watched us with curiosity, but his stare was icy cold. I was in awe. There was a car that pulled up behind us and started overheating, so the driver got out to pop his hood and look at it not knowing that there was a lion just beyond the tall patch of grass. My heart was in my throat as we shouted at him to "GET BACK IN THE CAR!!!". By the time the lion stood up, he had dove back into his car. Oooooh... close! Just an hour later, when we were trying to zoom in on a black rhino behind a tree, a car full of (stupid) men pulled up and GOT OUT and started walking toward the rhino to get a better photograph. Again, we were screaming for them to get back in the car and they were so pissed off that we were yelling at them that they actually came up to our driver and started picking a fight with him. They are soooo lucky that the rhino decided to run away. With 30 yards between them and their vehicle, there was no way that if the rhino decided to charge after them that they would have survived the attack. Some people are so unbelievably dumb!
The weird part about the location of the NNP is that it borders Nairobi. If you look out in one direction, you can see the serenghetti go on forever and ever. Turn around a hundred and eighty degrees and you can see buildings and condos. Angela was telling us that a couple of times a year one of the carniverous cats wanders onto the campus of Nairobi University. They actually have a "lion on campus" drill where everyone runs into the first available building. That just blows my mind. We drove around the NNP all morning, then when our safari tour ended our driver took us to a Masai tribal gift shop. It was small little shop with lots of handmade bracelets, masks (those frighten me), wood-carved animals, and other souveniers. No doubt that the driver had some sort of contract or agreement with these guys. It was all severely overpriced. After that place, we went to Kazuri, a small shop that employs over 200 women to make handmade jewelry to sell around the world, and I bought a pretty pair of earrings. By then we were really hungry. We went to the Karen Blixen coffee plantation restaurant. After doing some research, I found that Karen was a British citizen that moved to Nairobi with her family to run a large coffee plantation in the early 1900's. It was restored recently and converted into a REALLY nice restaraunt with quaint little tables set all throughout the restored home and around the lush green yard. Where just hours earlier we were hard pressed to find any white-skinned people in Nairobi, this place was filled with white ex-patriots from the USA and Europe. The food was AWESOME! They had a curry lunch buffet set up outside on a long linnen-lined table and I helped myself three times and sucked down two Coca -Colas. (Matt dislikes curry, so I had to get my fill!) It was a bargain at just $18.00 American. Yummy!!!
After all that excitement, we had a few hours of 'down time' at the hotel to relax before heading back to the airport. Jen and I sat outside and chatted for a while, then while she took a nap I went for a swim with Kayley. In a pool full of about 200 people, we were the only white folk and we stuck out like a sore thumb. It's so interesting to be the focus of all the curious stares, to be the foreigner. Mostly it's just the kids that stare. The pool felt great. It's SO hot outside! I'm so far removed from the Michigan winter happening at home that I just can't remember how cold snow feels. At 18:30 (6:30pm) our bus came to pick us up and take us and our baggage to the airport. One last ride across Nairobi. Charles followed us in his blue Isuzu and got caught in a cop-trap set up outside the aiport. The police here set up checkpoints to check tags and registration right in the middle of the road. They pull cars over randomly and try to find something 'illegal'. Charles got pulled over. In Kenya, the police officer does not issue the ticket on site, he escorts the offender to the police station. Charles was allowed to bring Phil and his bags up to the airport but was escorted away after bidding us "goodbye". (We later find out that his offense, having slightly expired license plate tags, was forgiven once the chief of police realized who Charles Mulli was. In a country the size of Texas, Charles is quite famous for his good works!)
One one hand, I can't wait to get home and throw my arms around my husband and kids, and sleep in my own bed. (You know, that spot on the left side that is the exact size and shape of ME? And my super-fluffy pillow!) But the other side of me knows that I am going to miss Kenya. A lot. As I write this, it is 04:21am Michigan time (12:21pm Kenya time) and we just flew over Scotland. the flight from Nairobi to Amsterdam was OKay, and I actually slept for 5 hours of the 8.5 hour flight. We flew over Africa in the darkness, overnight, so even though I finally scored a window seat I saw nothing but vast black darkness. We had a 2.5 hour layover in Amsterdam, and now we are on a flight from Amsterdam to Detroit. All I was able to see was a smidge of the lush green and rocky coastline of Scotland, and now it's just miles and miles of ocean. The morning sunrise took almost an hour, as we are flying through the longest day in history; we are taking the day with us as we travel west. Just six more hours until we land in the USA, a quick 90-minute layover in Detroit, and I am homebound to Grand Rapids again. I'm so excited to see my family!!!
This has been an amazing adventure, to say the very least. I hope that, by taking lots of photos and journaling a lot of my thoughts and feelings, that I can remember this forever. And I can't wait to share it with friends and family. I have grown so much on this trip - personally, professionally, and spiritually. I have been happy, devastated, disturbed, joyful, satisfied, frustrated, hopeful and sad and everything in between. I want to come back soon, and do it all over again, and hopefully bring Matt with me. I never want to forget the people here, the things we did here, or the lessons I have learned. But I also can't wait to get home....
Saturday, February 5, 2011
By APRIL BERESFORD
February 5th
We woke up at 06:00 and were eating breakfast at 06:30 in preparation for an early morning mountain climb up Mt. Mulli. Normally, I would protest with all of my wit and charm to NOT get up so early on my day off, but I was really quite eager to go. We filled up our water bottles and hit the trail through MCF and off the property. We passed through a half dozen settlements on our way, mud-brick and stick huts like we had seen yesterday. Some were fortunate enough to have doors and sheet metal roofs, and a few owned livestock (cattle, goats and/or chickens). Much like MCF, they graze the goats and cows during the day in the bush, and either pen them up (stick and rope construction) at night or tie them by their back legs to a sturdy tree or bush (which makes me visibly cringe when I see it). Every house had at least one scraggly little guard dog, and there were a few that I thought might come after us. They were all skinny, with protruding ribs and hips. Not like the well-nourished dogs at MCF, which we also had represented in the group (Blue came with us). I'm happy to report that nobody was bitten.
Our climb up Mt. Mulli took about an hour up and an hour down. Half of the trek was foot trails and the other half, the upper half, was blazing our own path. At a few points we had to climb up rock with our fingernails and tiptoes. I have never climbed like that before, and throroughly enjoyed the adventure. Angela, Rama, Lydia, Celestine, Timothy and David came with us as our guides. They hardly even broke a sweat, while the rest of us plodded along. :o)
The view from the top was phenominal. It was way past "amazing". We were high enough, and it was a clear enough day to see Mt. Kenya which is the higest point in all of Kenya. It was so beautiful and peaceful way up there, but in the quiet we could faintly hear crowing chickens, braying donkeys, and at one point we heard some sort of tribal drum, beating slow and steady. I sat in the sun at the top and just basked in the vastness of it all, both of the climb and the whole week I just had. Experiencing the beauty of Africa has been a lifelong dream for me and it was surreal just to be there. At the top of a mountain in the middle of Kenya with friends. I had to laugh when Angela got a call on her cell phone while we were taking photos at the top. Seriously... I lose calls when driving down 84th Street near my home in Alto, and she can get calls way up here??? LOL.
The trip down the mountain was just as long and exhausing as it was going up. My calves burned a little afterward, but it felt great to get some good exercise. Once back at MCF, we showered, packed, and had one last meal there: arrow root, chipati bread, ugali, and sukuma wiki. I'm looking forward to more of a food variety in Nairobi. I hate to sound like a pretty pretty princess, but if I eat green beans one more time this week I might start turning green myself. I hugged Julia goodbye (the young woman from Germany here to teach for half a year) and thanked Esther again for her wonderful hospitality and for inviting us into her home here at MCF. She thanked us for coming, and let us knwo how much she and the children and the community enjoyed and appreciated our services. I said goodbye to my friends who life at MCF with a sad heart. I'm never good at goodbyes. I hate them. As much as I am really looking forward to scooping my kids up at the airport, and hugging them like crazy, I have really come to love it here. I love the people here. As our bus pulled away kids ran up and waved goodbye to us, including the precious little girl that I fell in love with earlier that week. (If Kenya and USA had an adoption treaty, I would for sure be doing everything I could to bring that precious little sweetheart home with me.) She was tall and slender, much like Madeline in size and stature. She found me first when we visited the children's classroom mid-week for evening devotions. She climbed right into my lap and snuggled with me. I never did get to learn her name because few of the younger children know English yet. That surely didn't slow down their curiosity with us. She snuggled with me, and stroked my hair just like Charlotte does. She was so quiet and sweet and sharing that moment was special. She found me the next day and ran up to me with open arms. Having to say 'goodbye' to her (in Swahili: Kwaheri) was hard. I hugged her and then had to set her down and walk up to the bus. I got all teary-eyed. If only I could bring her home with me. On one hand, I am so thankful that she has a home here. She will grow up with a large family of other orphans and a bunch of adults who love her and will provide her with food, a home, and education and she will grow up to know God. But on the other hand, none of that replaces having a Mom and a Dad.
Although I was exhausted from the early wake-up and the mountain climb, I didn't sleep during the three hour bus ride to Nairobi. I find everything too exotic and interesting to close my eyes. This was my last chance to absorb it all: the livestock being paraded down the road, the children walking home from school or tending to the livestock, the huts speckled in the near and the distant landscape, walking trails snaking through the dry, dead bush carved out like veins of the bare earth through the tough terrain connecting valleys and huts and rivers and roads. I saw women carrying packages on their heads (how do they DO that???) or babies on their backs using colorful scarves, saw clusters of homes made out of mud and/or sheet metal and make-shift shops lined up in long rows, fruit stands, men pushing two-wheeled carts loaded with itms to sell. I watch these things go by mile after mile. The land is flat with a randomly-placed mountain here and there. Much of the road is not paved, or paved well. It is narrow and chipped with billions of potholes that cause our driver to constantly speed up and slow down, sometimes to a crawling pace, to avoid wheel damage to the bus. The road has no lines and no cross streets for miles. We passed through Thika one last time. It's dirty. We finally came to Nairobi around 3:30pm. Nairobi is littered and dirty. It, too, is a city built on what I can only describe as randomness. The highway that brought us into Nairobi has a sign up explaining that the construction, for which we have been weaving into and out of, will be complete in 2030. Until then, traffic is routed onto new sections here and there, onto old sections for quite a bit, and even off the edge of both in some spots. Nairobi has almost no stop signs, and I only saw one street light and it was not even working. It's crowded and chaotic, but at this point I am getting used to it. I am even learning my way around a bit.
We finally make it to the hotel (same one we stayed at last week). We were planning a quick pit stop and then back on the bus to go see the Kiberi slum, then dinner and a little shopping. Due to time constraints and an extended driving time because of the construction, we decided that going into the slum at sunset was not a safe thing to do. We took quick showers, climbed back onto the bus and drove to a lookout point over the slum. The road leading to that point was the worse I have seen here yet. I can't tell you why we didn't blow a tire, or worse. Bumpy, bumpy, bumpy! It took us like 10 minutes to go 1/4 mile. People were walking by us at the same speed we were driving. Angela told us that people in the slum who have jobs get up and start walking as early as 4 or 5am, as there is no public transportation offered out there, nor could most of them afford it. We parked the bus at the overlook and my jaw just dropped. Spread out below us was the slum, a chaotic, crowded assembly of mud huts and sheet metal, clothing lines, small animals (dogs, chickens, goats) and small children. And it spread out all around me, from side to side like a big letter "C". Angela estimated that about 2 million people live here. By my vantage point, I'd gander to say that most of these were children. It looked like a scene from "Slumdog Millionare". Was I really standing here? Was this really happening? I was too far away to see faces, but could tell that many the children I was seeing down there were running around in tattered clothing and many had no shoes on. Angela and Tom explained that living in the slum is not free; slumlords charge an average of $12 a month for a 10 X 8 foot room, and often an entire family will live in one room. For that whole slum, there was no waste management. Garbage was everywhere and people used 'flying toilets' - you pee and poop in a bucket and fling it on the neighbor's roof when they aren't looking. There is no running water, and the huts that have electricity only have it for a few hours a day. Two of the MCF kids that were rescued from this slum came with us to Nairobi. "C" told us that it was just one year since he was plucked from this slum and brought to MCF and it was quite emotional for him to tell us about how bad his life down there was. His family was still down there, and he had not been back since he had joined MCF. It is a valley of disease and abuse and destruction. Probably the saddest part was learning that most of the slum owners are members of the Kenyan parliment. The slum exists because it makes money. How deepy sad. Police don't even go down there. The slum rules itself, and not many people graduate away from it. I was a bit relieved that we ran out of time to go walk down in and around it, though Angela said that during the day we would be fine. But I'm not sure my heart would.
Back down the ripped-up road, onto the main road again, and over to the NakuMatt shopping center again. I was able to get some new batteries for my camera (it ran out at the top of Mt. Mulli - I was horrified!) and we all sat down for dinner at Kava Mediterranean Restaurant. After eating small, light meals all week I pigged out, but my stomach had shrunk so I wasn't able to finish my normal "April-sized" portion. I felt a little guilty not finishing my meal after seeing what I had just seen.
My head is swimming as I lay here in bed, trying to process it all. I can hardly believe that tonight is my last night in Kenya. I am going to miss my roommate, Jennifer. She's so funny and I enjoy her company so much. :o)
We woke up at 06:00 and were eating breakfast at 06:30 in preparation for an early morning mountain climb up Mt. Mulli. Normally, I would protest with all of my wit and charm to NOT get up so early on my day off, but I was really quite eager to go. We filled up our water bottles and hit the trail through MCF and off the property. We passed through a half dozen settlements on our way, mud-brick and stick huts like we had seen yesterday. Some were fortunate enough to have doors and sheet metal roofs, and a few owned livestock (cattle, goats and/or chickens). Much like MCF, they graze the goats and cows during the day in the bush, and either pen them up (stick and rope construction) at night or tie them by their back legs to a sturdy tree or bush (which makes me visibly cringe when I see it). Every house had at least one scraggly little guard dog, and there were a few that I thought might come after us. They were all skinny, with protruding ribs and hips. Not like the well-nourished dogs at MCF, which we also had represented in the group (Blue came with us). I'm happy to report that nobody was bitten.
Our climb up Mt. Mulli took about an hour up and an hour down. Half of the trek was foot trails and the other half, the upper half, was blazing our own path. At a few points we had to climb up rock with our fingernails and tiptoes. I have never climbed like that before, and throroughly enjoyed the adventure. Angela, Rama, Lydia, Celestine, Timothy and David came with us as our guides. They hardly even broke a sweat, while the rest of us plodded along. :o)
The view from the top was phenominal. It was way past "amazing". We were high enough, and it was a clear enough day to see Mt. Kenya which is the higest point in all of Kenya. It was so beautiful and peaceful way up there, but in the quiet we could faintly hear crowing chickens, braying donkeys, and at one point we heard some sort of tribal drum, beating slow and steady. I sat in the sun at the top and just basked in the vastness of it all, both of the climb and the whole week I just had. Experiencing the beauty of Africa has been a lifelong dream for me and it was surreal just to be there. At the top of a mountain in the middle of Kenya with friends. I had to laugh when Angela got a call on her cell phone while we were taking photos at the top. Seriously... I lose calls when driving down 84th Street near my home in Alto, and she can get calls way up here??? LOL.
The trip down the mountain was just as long and exhausing as it was going up. My calves burned a little afterward, but it felt great to get some good exercise. Once back at MCF, we showered, packed, and had one last meal there: arrow root, chipati bread, ugali, and sukuma wiki. I'm looking forward to more of a food variety in Nairobi. I hate to sound like a pretty pretty princess, but if I eat green beans one more time this week I might start turning green myself. I hugged Julia goodbye (the young woman from Germany here to teach for half a year) and thanked Esther again for her wonderful hospitality and for inviting us into her home here at MCF. She thanked us for coming, and let us knwo how much she and the children and the community enjoyed and appreciated our services. I said goodbye to my friends who life at MCF with a sad heart. I'm never good at goodbyes. I hate them. As much as I am really looking forward to scooping my kids up at the airport, and hugging them like crazy, I have really come to love it here. I love the people here. As our bus pulled away kids ran up and waved goodbye to us, including the precious little girl that I fell in love with earlier that week. (If Kenya and USA had an adoption treaty, I would for sure be doing everything I could to bring that precious little sweetheart home with me.) She was tall and slender, much like Madeline in size and stature. She found me first when we visited the children's classroom mid-week for evening devotions. She climbed right into my lap and snuggled with me. I never did get to learn her name because few of the younger children know English yet. That surely didn't slow down their curiosity with us. She snuggled with me, and stroked my hair just like Charlotte does. She was so quiet and sweet and sharing that moment was special. She found me the next day and ran up to me with open arms. Having to say 'goodbye' to her (in Swahili: Kwaheri) was hard. I hugged her and then had to set her down and walk up to the bus. I got all teary-eyed. If only I could bring her home with me. On one hand, I am so thankful that she has a home here. She will grow up with a large family of other orphans and a bunch of adults who love her and will provide her with food, a home, and education and she will grow up to know God. But on the other hand, none of that replaces having a Mom and a Dad.
Although I was exhausted from the early wake-up and the mountain climb, I didn't sleep during the three hour bus ride to Nairobi. I find everything too exotic and interesting to close my eyes. This was my last chance to absorb it all: the livestock being paraded down the road, the children walking home from school or tending to the livestock, the huts speckled in the near and the distant landscape, walking trails snaking through the dry, dead bush carved out like veins of the bare earth through the tough terrain connecting valleys and huts and rivers and roads. I saw women carrying packages on their heads (how do they DO that???) or babies on their backs using colorful scarves, saw clusters of homes made out of mud and/or sheet metal and make-shift shops lined up in long rows, fruit stands, men pushing two-wheeled carts loaded with itms to sell. I watch these things go by mile after mile. The land is flat with a randomly-placed mountain here and there. Much of the road is not paved, or paved well. It is narrow and chipped with billions of potholes that cause our driver to constantly speed up and slow down, sometimes to a crawling pace, to avoid wheel damage to the bus. The road has no lines and no cross streets for miles. We passed through Thika one last time. It's dirty. We finally came to Nairobi around 3:30pm. Nairobi is littered and dirty. It, too, is a city built on what I can only describe as randomness. The highway that brought us into Nairobi has a sign up explaining that the construction, for which we have been weaving into and out of, will be complete in 2030. Until then, traffic is routed onto new sections here and there, onto old sections for quite a bit, and even off the edge of both in some spots. Nairobi has almost no stop signs, and I only saw one street light and it was not even working. It's crowded and chaotic, but at this point I am getting used to it. I am even learning my way around a bit.
We finally make it to the hotel (same one we stayed at last week). We were planning a quick pit stop and then back on the bus to go see the Kiberi slum, then dinner and a little shopping. Due to time constraints and an extended driving time because of the construction, we decided that going into the slum at sunset was not a safe thing to do. We took quick showers, climbed back onto the bus and drove to a lookout point over the slum. The road leading to that point was the worse I have seen here yet. I can't tell you why we didn't blow a tire, or worse. Bumpy, bumpy, bumpy! It took us like 10 minutes to go 1/4 mile. People were walking by us at the same speed we were driving. Angela told us that people in the slum who have jobs get up and start walking as early as 4 or 5am, as there is no public transportation offered out there, nor could most of them afford it. We parked the bus at the overlook and my jaw just dropped. Spread out below us was the slum, a chaotic, crowded assembly of mud huts and sheet metal, clothing lines, small animals (dogs, chickens, goats) and small children. And it spread out all around me, from side to side like a big letter "C". Angela estimated that about 2 million people live here. By my vantage point, I'd gander to say that most of these were children. It looked like a scene from "Slumdog Millionare". Was I really standing here? Was this really happening? I was too far away to see faces, but could tell that many the children I was seeing down there were running around in tattered clothing and many had no shoes on. Angela and Tom explained that living in the slum is not free; slumlords charge an average of $12 a month for a 10 X 8 foot room, and often an entire family will live in one room. For that whole slum, there was no waste management. Garbage was everywhere and people used 'flying toilets' - you pee and poop in a bucket and fling it on the neighbor's roof when they aren't looking. There is no running water, and the huts that have electricity only have it for a few hours a day. Two of the MCF kids that were rescued from this slum came with us to Nairobi. "C" told us that it was just one year since he was plucked from this slum and brought to MCF and it was quite emotional for him to tell us about how bad his life down there was. His family was still down there, and he had not been back since he had joined MCF. It is a valley of disease and abuse and destruction. Probably the saddest part was learning that most of the slum owners are members of the Kenyan parliment. The slum exists because it makes money. How deepy sad. Police don't even go down there. The slum rules itself, and not many people graduate away from it. I was a bit relieved that we ran out of time to go walk down in and around it, though Angela said that during the day we would be fine. But I'm not sure my heart would.
Back down the ripped-up road, onto the main road again, and over to the NakuMatt shopping center again. I was able to get some new batteries for my camera (it ran out at the top of Mt. Mulli - I was horrified!) and we all sat down for dinner at Kava Mediterranean Restaurant. After eating small, light meals all week I pigged out, but my stomach had shrunk so I wasn't able to finish my normal "April-sized" portion. I felt a little guilty not finishing my meal after seeing what I had just seen.
My head is swimming as I lay here in bed, trying to process it all. I can hardly believe that tonight is my last night in Kenya. I am going to miss my roommate, Jennifer. She's so funny and I enjoy her company so much. :o)
Friday, February 4, 2011
BY APRIL BERESFORD
February 4th
I can hardly believe that this was our last clinic day. I have had a total change of heart, and instead of feeling homesick I am sad to be leaving tomorrow. I am much more relaxed (my Type-A finally found a way to chill out) and able to enjoy myself during the work day instead of worrying about efficiency and details. Finally, our work day ran like a well oiled machine, just in time to go. It's still hot outside, but my body is coping with it much better and I have adapted to the point that I no longer notice the smell of sweat and body odor. I have come a long way, indeed!
I have formed friendships with some of the young adults here at MCF and I am going to really miss them. I will remember them forever. "E" who has resided at MCF for about 5 years now is headed to Germany this summer to study nursing. She is so smart, and because she helps at the clinic for the MCF kids she is already familiar with a lot. "C" is also hoping to study nursing. She was rescued about 7 years ago when her mother died from AIDS and left her and her sister all alone. She and her sister lived in a slum with their grandmother who could not afford to feed or clothe or educate them, so they were referred to MCF after all of their other relatives refused to take care of them. Before they were rescued they were living on the streets, fending for themselves. I think of my two kids and I just can't bring that picture to mind. "C" is a beautiful young woman with a great sense of humor and a wonderful singing voice. It amazes me that she is strong enough to keep on living and trying to have a better life after suffering so much as a child. How does anybody get past that much pain? But her story is not uncommon here. "R" is very smart and very professional and is a dynamic athlete. "A" is funny and has a flare for the dramatic. She is always dressed up in her fanciest shoes with painted toenails. "G" is a very hard worker, she's so observant and knows what you are going to need before you do, and most times if you turn around she's got everything ready for you. She is so sweet and so genuine. "A" is our hostess and our guide while we are here, and has arranged all of our accomodations from the bus travel and the hotel in Nairobi to the menu here to the clinic translators to the safari plans we have for tomorrow. She takes her job very seriously and she does a fantastic job! She is the last one to bed and the first one up in the early morning. She came to MCF as a young girl after her father died and her mother and sister were not able to provide for themselves. Her mother works at MCF and while they kids were young they attended school there. "A" did really well in school and went on to study at University and finished her degree. She is not employed at MCF and lives at MCF with her mother and sister and young daughter. She is usually quite serious but I have been able to get her to crack a smile a couple of times. Love her to pieces. "B" is very funny and is extremely smart. I wholeheartedly believe that, if given the chance, he will do very well at university and become an excellent physician. "L" shared her story this week with us, too. She came to MCF in 2003 after both of her parents died from complications of AIDS. She and her twin sister and little sister lived with family members who were not able to care for them, and her twin actually died from malnutrition. Something so preventable. I can't fathom how hard it would be to lost a twin sister. "L" and her sister were rescued by Charles and Esther Mulli and are now loved and appreciated and cared for. She has a BEAUTIFUL singing voice and leads the worship singing team at church. She is quite shy until you give her a microphone. :o) "T" has worked tirelessly for our clinic all week, and he has done it all with a smile. he is so fun to joke with and he honestly cares about everyone around him. It's easy to see. He is the first one to volunteer for a job. He was rescued from a slum in Vilpingo as a child. He was born to a mother who was a prostitute. She abused him for years, and left him alone for days or weeks to fend for himself in the slum. No clothing. No food. No schooling, No comforting. No hugs. No bed. No healthcare. No hope. She spent her money on clothes and drugs for herself, and often left him to go beg for food. He ran away from home with his brothers to pursue a life on the street, begging for food and at times stealing food. He lived on the streets for a few years. In that time, he saw girls raped and people hurt badly or killed. Then Charles Mulli found him and changed his life. There are so many kids here with similar stories. I love that they are safe and given opportunities, I love that they have each other and can help each other heal, that they are safe and loved and respected. But I have a hard time holding tears back when I hear of how bad their lives were before they arrived here.
Back to the clinic.... we saw over 200 people again today. That brings our total this week to about 1,000! Wow! I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment. Although a lot of what we were doing was just putting band-aids on much larger problems (ex. treating water-borne diseases and sending the families back to that same water source) but there were a few people that I feel we were really truely able to help.
After we finished up at the clinic, about half of the group got ready to bring supplies to a family in the area that was in need of some help. We quickly packed up a duffle bag with some of the children's clothing I had brought from home to donate. Esther Mulli got some flour and sugar and salt ready with a crate full of vegetables. It was a little emotional for me to give away some of the clothes that my daughters wore, and remembering those days when they were so little, but I was happy to be giving them to someone who really needed it. We got our things together and set out to walk down the road and through the bush to where the family lived.
The woman of that faimily had just given birth to her fourth living child. They had no money, no food, and no resources. She had come to Esther eariler that week to ask for help. Her husband was not providing for the family. So we carried the food and clothing about 3/4 mile down the road and a foot path. Our little procession ended at a little 8' X 8' mud home with a thatched roof and a scrap metal door.
We rewrapped the infant in clean clothing and in a clean receiving blanket, and gave the big bag to the family, along with the food. They were quite grateful. The children were either curious about us or terrified of the white skin and light hair.
It is still hard ot put into words the thoughts and emotions I had. I'm still trying to process all of it. It was like being in a scene from National Geographic. This whole trip I had really tried to shed all of my pretenses and opinions and judgements. Different is not always bad, right? But as a mother, visitng with another mother who was desperate to provide basic needs for her children but was failing to do so just broke my heart into tiny little pieces. This was a whole different kind of 'poor'. It was a type of poor that just doesn't exist anywhere I have ever seen in America. And for so many here, this is normal daily life. Standing in their presence and using all of my senses to soak it all in was a really powerful experience for me.
Walking back at disk to the MCF compound along side the dirt road was a little frightening. The bats were out in full force, and the traffic, though infrequent, flew by rather quickly and kicked up a LOT of dusk. I couldn't get too far off the side of the road because I am night blind and have virtually no vision in the absence of adequate light. I can't imagine living out here in the African bush without electricity.
We had a very late dinner that night and we were joined by Charles and Esther as some of the Missions Team singers seranaded us during our last MCF meal. I will never ever tire of hearing their voices lifted up in song! :o) I LOVE IT! A few of the young adults shared their testimonies and I shed a few tears, both because of the utter devastation of their stories and the joy at having a home and the hope for a future.
My last night of bush-baby hunting was not sucessful. I can hear them but they are hard to find and I was a little hesitant to go out hunting them with the group for fear of the large snakes that live in the trees. I hear there is quite a variety here, but none that I want to meet.
I can hardly believe that this was our last clinic day. I have had a total change of heart, and instead of feeling homesick I am sad to be leaving tomorrow. I am much more relaxed (my Type-A finally found a way to chill out) and able to enjoy myself during the work day instead of worrying about efficiency and details. Finally, our work day ran like a well oiled machine, just in time to go. It's still hot outside, but my body is coping with it much better and I have adapted to the point that I no longer notice the smell of sweat and body odor. I have come a long way, indeed!
I have formed friendships with some of the young adults here at MCF and I am going to really miss them. I will remember them forever. "E" who has resided at MCF for about 5 years now is headed to Germany this summer to study nursing. She is so smart, and because she helps at the clinic for the MCF kids she is already familiar with a lot. "C" is also hoping to study nursing. She was rescued about 7 years ago when her mother died from AIDS and left her and her sister all alone. She and her sister lived in a slum with their grandmother who could not afford to feed or clothe or educate them, so they were referred to MCF after all of their other relatives refused to take care of them. Before they were rescued they were living on the streets, fending for themselves. I think of my two kids and I just can't bring that picture to mind. "C" is a beautiful young woman with a great sense of humor and a wonderful singing voice. It amazes me that she is strong enough to keep on living and trying to have a better life after suffering so much as a child. How does anybody get past that much pain? But her story is not uncommon here. "R" is very smart and very professional and is a dynamic athlete. "A" is funny and has a flare for the dramatic. She is always dressed up in her fanciest shoes with painted toenails. "G" is a very hard worker, she's so observant and knows what you are going to need before you do, and most times if you turn around she's got everything ready for you. She is so sweet and so genuine. "A" is our hostess and our guide while we are here, and has arranged all of our accomodations from the bus travel and the hotel in Nairobi to the menu here to the clinic translators to the safari plans we have for tomorrow. She takes her job very seriously and she does a fantastic job! She is the last one to bed and the first one up in the early morning. She came to MCF as a young girl after her father died and her mother and sister were not able to provide for themselves. Her mother works at MCF and while they kids were young they attended school there. "A" did really well in school and went on to study at University and finished her degree. She is not employed at MCF and lives at MCF with her mother and sister and young daughter. She is usually quite serious but I have been able to get her to crack a smile a couple of times. Love her to pieces. "B" is very funny and is extremely smart. I wholeheartedly believe that, if given the chance, he will do very well at university and become an excellent physician. "L" shared her story this week with us, too. She came to MCF in 2003 after both of her parents died from complications of AIDS. She and her twin sister and little sister lived with family members who were not able to care for them, and her twin actually died from malnutrition. Something so preventable. I can't fathom how hard it would be to lost a twin sister. "L" and her sister were rescued by Charles and Esther Mulli and are now loved and appreciated and cared for. She has a BEAUTIFUL singing voice and leads the worship singing team at church. She is quite shy until you give her a microphone. :o) "T" has worked tirelessly for our clinic all week, and he has done it all with a smile. he is so fun to joke with and he honestly cares about everyone around him. It's easy to see. He is the first one to volunteer for a job. He was rescued from a slum in Vilpingo as a child. He was born to a mother who was a prostitute. She abused him for years, and left him alone for days or weeks to fend for himself in the slum. No clothing. No food. No schooling, No comforting. No hugs. No bed. No healthcare. No hope. She spent her money on clothes and drugs for herself, and often left him to go beg for food. He ran away from home with his brothers to pursue a life on the street, begging for food and at times stealing food. He lived on the streets for a few years. In that time, he saw girls raped and people hurt badly or killed. Then Charles Mulli found him and changed his life. There are so many kids here with similar stories. I love that they are safe and given opportunities, I love that they have each other and can help each other heal, that they are safe and loved and respected. But I have a hard time holding tears back when I hear of how bad their lives were before they arrived here.
Back to the clinic.... we saw over 200 people again today. That brings our total this week to about 1,000! Wow! I'm pretty proud of that accomplishment. Although a lot of what we were doing was just putting band-aids on much larger problems (ex. treating water-borne diseases and sending the families back to that same water source) but there were a few people that I feel we were really truely able to help.
After we finished up at the clinic, about half of the group got ready to bring supplies to a family in the area that was in need of some help. We quickly packed up a duffle bag with some of the children's clothing I had brought from home to donate. Esther Mulli got some flour and sugar and salt ready with a crate full of vegetables. It was a little emotional for me to give away some of the clothes that my daughters wore, and remembering those days when they were so little, but I was happy to be giving them to someone who really needed it. We got our things together and set out to walk down the road and through the bush to where the family lived.
The woman of that faimily had just given birth to her fourth living child. They had no money, no food, and no resources. She had come to Esther eariler that week to ask for help. Her husband was not providing for the family. So we carried the food and clothing about 3/4 mile down the road and a foot path. Our little procession ended at a little 8' X 8' mud home with a thatched roof and a scrap metal door.
We rewrapped the infant in clean clothing and in a clean receiving blanket, and gave the big bag to the family, along with the food. They were quite grateful. The children were either curious about us or terrified of the white skin and light hair.
It is still hard ot put into words the thoughts and emotions I had. I'm still trying to process all of it. It was like being in a scene from National Geographic. This whole trip I had really tried to shed all of my pretenses and opinions and judgements. Different is not always bad, right? But as a mother, visitng with another mother who was desperate to provide basic needs for her children but was failing to do so just broke my heart into tiny little pieces. This was a whole different kind of 'poor'. It was a type of poor that just doesn't exist anywhere I have ever seen in America. And for so many here, this is normal daily life. Standing in their presence and using all of my senses to soak it all in was a really powerful experience for me.
Walking back at disk to the MCF compound along side the dirt road was a little frightening. The bats were out in full force, and the traffic, though infrequent, flew by rather quickly and kicked up a LOT of dusk. I couldn't get too far off the side of the road because I am night blind and have virtually no vision in the absence of adequate light. I can't imagine living out here in the African bush without electricity.
We had a very late dinner that night and we were joined by Charles and Esther as some of the Missions Team singers seranaded us during our last MCF meal. I will never ever tire of hearing their voices lifted up in song! :o) I LOVE IT! A few of the young adults shared their testimonies and I shed a few tears, both because of the utter devastation of their stories and the joy at having a home and the hope for a future.
My last night of bush-baby hunting was not sucessful. I can hear them but they are hard to find and I was a little hesitant to go out hunting them with the group for fear of the large snakes that live in the trees. I hear there is quite a variety here, but none that I want to meet.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
BY APRIL BERESFORD
February 3rd
My best day yet! I was out at the triage station all day. I had some very good translators, who not only made my job easier but were fun to talk with. They would ask me questions about America and our culture, and teach me words and phrases in Swahili, and teach me about their culture. Most of the beneficiaries that are working with us are those that are aspiring to join us in the healthcare field. They are really very bright. "B" is 20 years old and is waiting to go to a university to study medicine. He wants to be a physician. While he is waiting for a sponsor, he teaches biology here. I taught him how to take a blood pressure with my stethoscope and my cuff. He already has a good working knowledge of the major systems of the body. He is very smart. Many of the older kids (young adults) are quite nurturing of the younger MCF children. "S" reluctantly disclosed to me during our day that one of the sick children coming to us was HIV positive. From a medical prospective, you would follow a different thinking pathway for patient who are immunocompromised so it was important for us to know which kids had HIV, but "S" was also concerned that anyone would treat him differently. He said, "He has HIV but we don't treat him any differently. We love him dearly, he is our little brother." That touched my heart. I met some really precious people today.
My favorite part of the day was when they brought the pre-teens and young teenagers to us in classes for a quick medical screening and vitamins/deworming. I asked each kid how school was today, what their favorite subject is,and what they wanted to be when they grew up. I was genuinely interested and loved it when they would return the smile and chat with me. A few wanted to be pilots, a few doctors or nurses, and a few wanted to be hostesses. (I'm still not sure what that entailed, as there aren't a plethora of restaraunts here... It must have a different connotation.) I was really happy to meet them all. Truely blessed.
After we wrapped up for the day (over 200 patients!) and locked up, Melissa and Kayley and I went to visit the younger children during their devotional time. We sat with about 50 kids from ages 2 to 10 in the middle of their classroom and sang songs like "Father Abraham" and "If you're happy and you know it". I was in my glory. The sound of these beautiful children singing happy songs and knowing that they are safe and have a family to love and encourage them, even if it was non-traditional and not ideal, was the most beautiful sound ever. As soon as we sat down we had kids in our laps. The little kiddo on my lap, Victor, was totally snuggled into me and he was about Charlotte's age. It felt so good to snuggle! It felt so good to share that time with the kids. Just before I stood up to leave, I realized that Mr. Victor had peed on my leg. Oops.
Still no bush baby sightings for me. They come out at night. I can hear them, along with the bats and the bullfrogs. It's very pleasant to go to bed with that white noise outside of my window. The night sky is so HUGE and so BLACK. There are no city lights here to mess it up. I have never before seen so MANY stars in the night sky. Evenings are quite comfortable, in the low 70's. I wear just a tee shirt and capris, but the locals here consider this to be chilly and many of them wear sweatshirts or jackets. They don't know what cold really is. :o)
My best day yet! I was out at the triage station all day. I had some very good translators, who not only made my job easier but were fun to talk with. They would ask me questions about America and our culture, and teach me words and phrases in Swahili, and teach me about their culture. Most of the beneficiaries that are working with us are those that are aspiring to join us in the healthcare field. They are really very bright. "B" is 20 years old and is waiting to go to a university to study medicine. He wants to be a physician. While he is waiting for a sponsor, he teaches biology here. I taught him how to take a blood pressure with my stethoscope and my cuff. He already has a good working knowledge of the major systems of the body. He is very smart. Many of the older kids (young adults) are quite nurturing of the younger MCF children. "S" reluctantly disclosed to me during our day that one of the sick children coming to us was HIV positive. From a medical prospective, you would follow a different thinking pathway for patient who are immunocompromised so it was important for us to know which kids had HIV, but "S" was also concerned that anyone would treat him differently. He said, "He has HIV but we don't treat him any differently. We love him dearly, he is our little brother." That touched my heart. I met some really precious people today.
My favorite part of the day was when they brought the pre-teens and young teenagers to us in classes for a quick medical screening and vitamins/deworming. I asked each kid how school was today, what their favorite subject is,and what they wanted to be when they grew up. I was genuinely interested and loved it when they would return the smile and chat with me. A few wanted to be pilots, a few doctors or nurses, and a few wanted to be hostesses. (I'm still not sure what that entailed, as there aren't a plethora of restaraunts here... It must have a different connotation.) I was really happy to meet them all. Truely blessed.
After we wrapped up for the day (over 200 patients!) and locked up, Melissa and Kayley and I went to visit the younger children during their devotional time. We sat with about 50 kids from ages 2 to 10 in the middle of their classroom and sang songs like "Father Abraham" and "If you're happy and you know it". I was in my glory. The sound of these beautiful children singing happy songs and knowing that they are safe and have a family to love and encourage them, even if it was non-traditional and not ideal, was the most beautiful sound ever. As soon as we sat down we had kids in our laps. The little kiddo on my lap, Victor, was totally snuggled into me and he was about Charlotte's age. It felt so good to snuggle! It felt so good to share that time with the kids. Just before I stood up to leave, I realized that Mr. Victor had peed on my leg. Oops.
Still no bush baby sightings for me. They come out at night. I can hear them, along with the bats and the bullfrogs. It's very pleasant to go to bed with that white noise outside of my window. The night sky is so HUGE and so BLACK. There are no city lights here to mess it up. I have never before seen so MANY stars in the night sky. Evenings are quite comfortable, in the low 70's. I wear just a tee shirt and capris, but the locals here consider this to be chilly and many of them wear sweatshirts or jackets. They don't know what cold really is. :o)
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
BY APRIL BERESFORD
February 2nd
The 'wild' dogs pulled my lime green scrub pants off the laundry line last night and dragged them through the dirt. Naughty dogs! But if they keep the hippos and baboons and leopards out of our yard, I'm willing to overlook it. Once.
I am feeling more lively today. After fighting bad sinusitis all week, and losing my voice for a pretty good portion of the afternoon yesterday, and fighting a touch of homesickness, I am feeling fully engaged again. I was able to talk to Matt and the girls again today. Matt always knows what to say to me when I need motivation, and I'm feeling recharged and focused again. (I am such a lucky girl that I married my best friend!) Phil came back from Nairobi today with Charles and he had brought us a Safari phone (Africal version of a Trac Phone - pay as you go) to call home. He also brought Coca Cola and candy. I don't think a nice cold Coke has EVER tasted so good! I called home and then made a quick call to my parents. Apparently there is a three foot snow drift in our driveway, and all schools in lower Michigan are off today. Matt had to bring all of the farm animals into the barn and lock them up because the blizzard was so bad, with 50MPH winds. I just can't fathom it. All I got today was a sun tan. :o) I'm such a brat.
The clinic was better today. For the first time, there was a good, efficient flow through the process. I am getting used to having to clean up the clinic in the morning following the all-night lizard parties, and the fact that electricity cuts in and out throughout the day, and we sometimes don't have running water. My husband would be proud that I have learned to adapt and 'roll with it', which is not always one of my stronger attributes. Today I worked in the pharmacy with Jen. I counted pills, mixed solutions, gave injections and did about 100 patient education/discharge instructions. Most people are very thankful, and will smile and shake my hand, even after I stab them with a 24 gauge needle. :o)
We are still seeing a lot of the same illnesses and a handful of musculoskeletal injuries. I met an adorable young girl who was HIV positive who probably had tuberculosis (we don't have the benefits of a chest Xray and sputum cultures to assist in diagnosis) and had already lost her parents to HIV. She was living with her grandmother. There are so many sad stories. Anita had a middle aged woman who had cervical cancer that had metastasized throughout her pelvis and who had a tumor so large that it was actually compressing her sciatic nerve. She walked with excruciating pan for two hours to come to our clinic. Another woman came to us with abdominal pain after the 'local' hospital mistreated her during her pregnancy and it resulted in the death of her unborn, full term baby. Women come to us with wounds from being physically abused. There is no police force to settle domestic issues, and no real public stance aginst it like there is in the USA. At least not that I am seeing. I love what I am doing here, but I don't feel like I am doing a lot to drastically improve the lives of the patients who come to see us. I feel like we are just putitng bandaids on a much larger problem. There is not enough clean water, not enough food, not enough paying jobs, not enough clothing, not enough opportunity for education, and not enough love for these people. On a basic enough level, I feel like the people here are my brothers and sisters. I'm getting to know several of the beneficiaries on a personal level; they sit with us all day and translate for us. They are smart and beautiful and precious young adults who have really bright futures if they are only given the chance to fly. They deserve that. They deserve the opportunity to live up to their full potential. Everyone does.
I will never, ever get tired of waking up to the sound of children singing in Swahili. :o) I just hope I never forget that sound.
The 'wild' dogs pulled my lime green scrub pants off the laundry line last night and dragged them through the dirt. Naughty dogs! But if they keep the hippos and baboons and leopards out of our yard, I'm willing to overlook it. Once.
I am feeling more lively today. After fighting bad sinusitis all week, and losing my voice for a pretty good portion of the afternoon yesterday, and fighting a touch of homesickness, I am feeling fully engaged again. I was able to talk to Matt and the girls again today. Matt always knows what to say to me when I need motivation, and I'm feeling recharged and focused again. (I am such a lucky girl that I married my best friend!) Phil came back from Nairobi today with Charles and he had brought us a Safari phone (Africal version of a Trac Phone - pay as you go) to call home. He also brought Coca Cola and candy. I don't think a nice cold Coke has EVER tasted so good! I called home and then made a quick call to my parents. Apparently there is a three foot snow drift in our driveway, and all schools in lower Michigan are off today. Matt had to bring all of the farm animals into the barn and lock them up because the blizzard was so bad, with 50MPH winds. I just can't fathom it. All I got today was a sun tan. :o) I'm such a brat.
The clinic was better today. For the first time, there was a good, efficient flow through the process. I am getting used to having to clean up the clinic in the morning following the all-night lizard parties, and the fact that electricity cuts in and out throughout the day, and we sometimes don't have running water. My husband would be proud that I have learned to adapt and 'roll with it', which is not always one of my stronger attributes. Today I worked in the pharmacy with Jen. I counted pills, mixed solutions, gave injections and did about 100 patient education/discharge instructions. Most people are very thankful, and will smile and shake my hand, even after I stab them with a 24 gauge needle. :o)
We are still seeing a lot of the same illnesses and a handful of musculoskeletal injuries. I met an adorable young girl who was HIV positive who probably had tuberculosis (we don't have the benefits of a chest Xray and sputum cultures to assist in diagnosis) and had already lost her parents to HIV. She was living with her grandmother. There are so many sad stories. Anita had a middle aged woman who had cervical cancer that had metastasized throughout her pelvis and who had a tumor so large that it was actually compressing her sciatic nerve. She walked with excruciating pan for two hours to come to our clinic. Another woman came to us with abdominal pain after the 'local' hospital mistreated her during her pregnancy and it resulted in the death of her unborn, full term baby. Women come to us with wounds from being physically abused. There is no police force to settle domestic issues, and no real public stance aginst it like there is in the USA. At least not that I am seeing. I love what I am doing here, but I don't feel like I am doing a lot to drastically improve the lives of the patients who come to see us. I feel like we are just putitng bandaids on a much larger problem. There is not enough clean water, not enough food, not enough paying jobs, not enough clothing, not enough opportunity for education, and not enough love for these people. On a basic enough level, I feel like the people here are my brothers and sisters. I'm getting to know several of the beneficiaries on a personal level; they sit with us all day and translate for us. They are smart and beautiful and precious young adults who have really bright futures if they are only given the chance to fly. They deserve that. They deserve the opportunity to live up to their full potential. Everyone does.
I will never, ever get tired of waking up to the sound of children singing in Swahili. :o) I just hope I never forget that sound.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
BY APRIL BERESFORD
This trip is drastically different than my medical mission trip last year to Valladolid, Mexico. For one, I speak Spanish; I don't speak Swahili. For two, the mission in Valladolid ran like a well-oiled machine. Everyone had a job, and although we remained flexible to the needs of the mission and the clinic, I had a clear idea of what the day was going to be like. Plans here seem to change like the wind, and it's hard for me, and my type A personality, to roll with it. I'm trying hard, but this is so far the biggest challenge for me.
This is the 'midway point' of my trip. This is Day #6 of my 12 days away from home. I am really, really missing my family right now. I got a text from home that said that Michigan is getting pummled with a really bad snowstorm. It's hard to imagine it when I am sweating through my second outfit of the day. Somewhere between here and there has got to be a happy little spot where the weather is just perfect.
Today we didn't see any extremely ill patients, which was a relief for me. We again saw around 200 patients, and this included a few of the MCF children. When we finally worked our way through the day's crowd of villagers who had come for medical care, we visited with the youngest members of MCF and did a quick little health check on each one. We looked for rashes or scrapes, and asked them if there was anything bothering them or if they had any concerns. 99% of them didn't. They each got a toothbrush and toothpaste, a sticker, a multi-vitamin and deworming medication. A couple got antibiotics and a couple got asthma inhalers, but that was the extent of it. When the kids all came to the clinic is really the highlight of my day. I had the biggest smile on my face and cherished the time I got to spend meeting them.
I am trying to soak up the Kenyan culture every chance I get. I really enjoy learning how other people live. Here life is quite different than my life in Michigan, but different is not always bad. There are lots of life lessons to learn here, and I am so happy to be living and eating and serving and learning with my brothers and sisters on the other side of the globe.
I only know a few words in Swahili. Here's the list (prepare to not be impressed):
Karibu: welcome
Kuja Hapa: come over here
Umeshindaje: How has your day been?
Sasa: How's it going? (informal)
Habari Yaku: How are you? (formal)
Nyanya: grandma
Babu: grandpa
Dada: sister
Kaka: brother
Asante: thank you
Kwaheri: goodbye
I have an explanation now for the barking at night. I was trying to figure out how the two dogs I see during the day can cause such a large ruckus at night. There are about a dozen dogs that life in a kennel behind the kitchen that sleep during the day and are set loose at night to roam the MCF property and drive away theives and wild animals. They go out around 10pm and come back for breakfast and naps at 6am.
This is the 'midway point' of my trip. This is Day #6 of my 12 days away from home. I am really, really missing my family right now. I got a text from home that said that Michigan is getting pummled with a really bad snowstorm. It's hard to imagine it when I am sweating through my second outfit of the day. Somewhere between here and there has got to be a happy little spot where the weather is just perfect.
Today we didn't see any extremely ill patients, which was a relief for me. We again saw around 200 patients, and this included a few of the MCF children. When we finally worked our way through the day's crowd of villagers who had come for medical care, we visited with the youngest members of MCF and did a quick little health check on each one. We looked for rashes or scrapes, and asked them if there was anything bothering them or if they had any concerns. 99% of them didn't. They each got a toothbrush and toothpaste, a sticker, a multi-vitamin and deworming medication. A couple got antibiotics and a couple got asthma inhalers, but that was the extent of it. When the kids all came to the clinic is really the highlight of my day. I had the biggest smile on my face and cherished the time I got to spend meeting them.
I am trying to soak up the Kenyan culture every chance I get. I really enjoy learning how other people live. Here life is quite different than my life in Michigan, but different is not always bad. There are lots of life lessons to learn here, and I am so happy to be living and eating and serving and learning with my brothers and sisters on the other side of the globe.
I only know a few words in Swahili. Here's the list (prepare to not be impressed):
Karibu: welcome
Kuja Hapa: come over here
Umeshindaje: How has your day been?
Sasa: How's it going? (informal)
Habari Yaku: How are you? (formal)
Nyanya: grandma
Babu: grandpa
Dada: sister
Kaka: brother
Asante: thank you
Kwaheri: goodbye
I have an explanation now for the barking at night. I was trying to figure out how the two dogs I see during the day can cause such a large ruckus at night. There are about a dozen dogs that life in a kennel behind the kitchen that sleep during the day and are set loose at night to roam the MCF property and drive away theives and wild animals. They go out around 10pm and come back for breakfast and naps at 6am.
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