Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Wednesday, December 23, 2009
Safari, my last few weeks and being back home
For the second week that my mom and sister were visiting me, we went on a 7-day safari. There is no way I can describe how amazing it was. Instead of the animals being in cages, we were the ones in our Land Cruiser cage looking at the animals in their natural habitat. Not only did we get to see lions, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, gazelles, buffalo, flamingos, and many other exciting animals, we saw beautiful landscapes in the Maasai Mara National Park and Lake Elementaita, a soda lake near Nakuru. We also saw the unfortunate effects that humans have had on Kenyan nature.
The last two weeks of my stay in Mombasa, I continued working at Calvary Zion, becoming very good friends with the three mothers (caretakers) and playing with the children. Since the school year finishes at the end of November, all the high school students were back from boarding school, which made Calvary very crowded.
Caleb, the youngest baby, was being treated for malaria but wasn't getting any better, so he was taken to the government hospital in Mombasa where he was admitted for malaria and pneumonia. I visited him with one of the mothers, and luckily he is a strong baby and was becoming healthy very quickly. The hospital itself was very different than hospitals in the US. All the babies were in one long bed, separated by inch-high divisions, which I imagine can't be good when contagious diseases are involved. In Kenya, all children under five years old are offered free health care at government hospitals-which is more than the US can say about our health care system. While I was there, a baby in the next row over died which was a huge shock to me. Someone told me that the doctors often don't respond fast enough to what the mother's are observing about their children. It took me completely by surprise and made me think about what I could do with my interest in public health. Being able to see things happen in real time instead of reading about them is scary and completely hits home as cliche as that sounds. Fortunately, Caleb is healthy and back at Calvary, he lost some weight but with the appetite he has, he will gain in back in a week or so.
I was also invited to go with Florence to her village, Kaloleni, to meet her mother and her brothers. Her village is 45 minutes outside of town by matatu, had to slouch the whole time because the matatu had a low ceiling and every bump in the road meant a potential bump on my head. When we got to her village, we walked to her family's part of the village. There were tons of coconut trees because they can be sold for a nice profit upcountry in Nairobi. When we got there, I met her mother and two of her brothers and then we all got coconuts to drink "African soda" and eat the flesh which is weird but good. For lunch, we had kuku choma (grilled chicken), ugali and kachumbari (a salad with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and lots and lots of salt) all of which were absolutely delicious.
My last night in Kenya, I was invited for dinner at my friend Ann's house. She made pilau with kachumbari and the most delicious mango and passion juice. It was a perfect ending to a great experience.
Now I am back home and it is very very cold! I went from humid 90s to snowy 20s, quite the temperature jump. I am currently planning my spring, looking for jobs and going to volunteer at the Boston Medical Center.
I will post pictures very soon.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Years!
The last two weeks of my stay in Mombasa, I continued working at Calvary Zion, becoming very good friends with the three mothers (caretakers) and playing with the children. Since the school year finishes at the end of November, all the high school students were back from boarding school, which made Calvary very crowded.
Caleb, the youngest baby, was being treated for malaria but wasn't getting any better, so he was taken to the government hospital in Mombasa where he was admitted for malaria and pneumonia. I visited him with one of the mothers, and luckily he is a strong baby and was becoming healthy very quickly. The hospital itself was very different than hospitals in the US. All the babies were in one long bed, separated by inch-high divisions, which I imagine can't be good when contagious diseases are involved. In Kenya, all children under five years old are offered free health care at government hospitals-which is more than the US can say about our health care system. While I was there, a baby in the next row over died which was a huge shock to me. Someone told me that the doctors often don't respond fast enough to what the mother's are observing about their children. It took me completely by surprise and made me think about what I could do with my interest in public health. Being able to see things happen in real time instead of reading about them is scary and completely hits home as cliche as that sounds. Fortunately, Caleb is healthy and back at Calvary, he lost some weight but with the appetite he has, he will gain in back in a week or so.
I was also invited to go with Florence to her village, Kaloleni, to meet her mother and her brothers. Her village is 45 minutes outside of town by matatu, had to slouch the whole time because the matatu had a low ceiling and every bump in the road meant a potential bump on my head. When we got to her village, we walked to her family's part of the village. There were tons of coconut trees because they can be sold for a nice profit upcountry in Nairobi. When we got there, I met her mother and two of her brothers and then we all got coconuts to drink "African soda" and eat the flesh which is weird but good. For lunch, we had kuku choma (grilled chicken), ugali and kachumbari (a salad with tomatoes, onions, cucumbers and lots and lots of salt) all of which were absolutely delicious.
My last night in Kenya, I was invited for dinner at my friend Ann's house. She made pilau with kachumbari and the most delicious mango and passion juice. It was a perfect ending to a great experience.
Now I am back home and it is very very cold! I went from humid 90s to snowy 20s, quite the temperature jump. I am currently planning my spring, looking for jobs and going to volunteer at the Boston Medical Center.
I will post pictures very soon.
Happy Holidays and Happy New Years!
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