A Month in Kenya

Dear everyone,A month in Kenya now and I’m pretty well accustomed to life here now. I’ve gotten used to pumping water by hand for the cold water showers, the frustratingly lackadaisical concept of ‘African Time,’ and the staples of the Kenyan diet Ugali and sukuma wiki. On the project front we’ve continued to be unsuccessful with meeting the District Minister of Health. We’ve managed to make some progress though with Ruben having made contact with him. This week we were able to have a preliminary inspection of the clinic building, and shall hopefully have a preliminary VCT inspection soon. We interviewed two potential counselors this on Wednesday as well. One of them looks promising. It’s getting frustrating waiting on the local Ministry of Health for any substantial progress to be made on the project. We’ve had a bit of scare this past week concerning the finances of the project. Luckily we were able to review our finances, and hopefully things are resolved now.I was able to make my first leisurely trip out to explore the sites of Western Kenya two weekends ago. Sunday morning Ellision, Stephanie, Vince and I set out to see Webuye Falls. Departing ICODEI we went up to the road in Kabula to catch a matatau, only to have to wait about an hour before we could catch a ride. Once we got to Webuye we decided to pick up some food, ended up at the shadiest restaurant I’ve ever eaten at. The place was on the side of the road next to a welding shop, with a tank connected to the gutters to supply water to wash your hands with. Once inside we decided to order to discover that the posted menu on the wall really wasn’t useful. We ordered two of what the guy across from us was eating, since it appeared to be the only thing available. It ended up being some fried mystery meat looking like gristle with a very odd and pungent flavor, along with ugali and sukuma wiki. After just a few bites we decided to move on a get a ride to the falls. This ended up being a lot more frustrating task than we expected. Initially we arranged for a car to come and take us up to the falls for Ksh300, only for the driver to try to charge us 500 after he got gas. We ended up arguing with the guy for a few minutes before getting fed up and walking away from the car to try to get another ride to falls. Riding in the back of a pickup the surging torrents of muddy water cascading down came into view as we winded our way down a hillside to the viewing area. Once we were at the falls we proceeded to explore the surrounding area climbing up the stones that offered natural viewing points before going up the path alongside the falls. Atop the falls we were able to walk down to the water’s edge, where Ellison decided to take a plunge in some of the calmer waters. A choice we were later informed wasn’t so bright or hygienic even by African standards. While there the evening thunderstorms decided to surprise us coming in the mid afternoon to provide us with a drenched hour walk back to town to catch a matatau back. Hopefully this tomorrow I shall be heading down to Kakamega to the national park there. It is one of the last stands of equatorial rainforest in Western Africa, with unique wildlife more similar to that of the forest of the interior like the DRC than Kenya.Two weeks ago I had my first real experience with African medical care. Three Fridays back I had been helping the mobile clinic as pharmacist in Kitale when I got a headache. The headache persisted over the weekend with the development of fatigue and lethargy along with general malaise. I figured, and still do, that I probably was just exhausted from lack of sleep along with general life over here and possibly a cold when Ruben said he believed I probably had malaria. He said that based on his experience with international volunteers over eight years that I should go get a malaria test. That evening there was a bit of a joking witch hunt that I was sick with malaria with the other volunteers. The next morning when I was loading out to work with the mobile clinic I was suddenly really nauseous, and decided to stay behind. I returned to bed to sleep away the morning, still feeling like I just had a slight cold. That next day I started feeling feverish, so resolved to finally go get a malaria test.I caught a matatau into Bungoma and walked the mile to the district hospital. The hospital was about a 2 acre compound scattered with one story concrete and mud building and outdoor waiting areas. Not knowing what to do, I asked a man in business attire coming out of an office where I could get a malaria test. Without a word he led me down a hallway to room where two doctors and a woman were sitting around a table. They immediately moved the women to the side of room and told me to take a seat. When I asked if I had interrupted and offered to wait they said that they were done with the women. Meeting with the doctor was bit of joke. I asked for a malaria test, and then proceeded to describe my symptoms. He then asked if I was competent to take four pills twice a day for three days, then wrote me a prescription for AL and told me to pick it up in the morning as the pharmacy was already closed for the day. When I asked for a test, he simply waved me off and sent me on my way. I now understood why Ruben avoids going to the district hospital versus the private one in Mumias. The whole experience seemed pretty shady to me, and I’m unsure if being a muzungu got that treatment or not. None the less, a few days later I got better and felt as good as one can feel living in rural Africa. I still feel that the likely hood it was malaria is slim, so hopefully if it was the strain that doesn’t have a life cycle in the liver so I don’t have flair ups later in life.African time has ensued to provide me overly ample amounts of free time, frustratingly so by the lack of progress on the project. Luckily I’ve been able to find some ways to occupy my time while I wait for word from the Ministry of Health. There’s a small library at the school in the ICODEI compound with books donated by past volunteers and Indiana University. Initially I read Ishmael, which was a philosophical argument about humanity’s obligation and role to its environment set in a narrative. Since finishing that I’ve taken to the old James Bond novels by Ian Flemming, having never read one before. They’ve been a nice easy and wonderful distraction from the frustrations of life out here. I was a bit surprised how much different they are than the movies as I remembered them. Along with reading I’ve been helping Ellison with his project. He’s working to create a small factory to produce ceramic water filters and more efficient stoves. His project has been an outlet to do some physical labor building the structures for the factory. On Thursday we lit up the kiln for a test run but unfortunately were only able to get it up 850 degrees Fahrenheit, instead of the 1600 that he needed. That’s about all for now. Hopefully I’ll get computer and internet access more often so I can keep you all updated. Josh