Oranges Are Not Orange, They're Green!

First week of work=success! For the first half I attended a program about malnutrition in children and the protocols to diagnose and treat. The last two days, I went with Silas to a forum about the protection and sensitization of Kenyan children. Both are enormous problems. Acute Malnutrition rates are between 15-20% in children under the age of 5 and almost 80% of families in Kenya are below the poverty line. Children are shunned to the streets if born out of wedlock or from incest and are forced to find other means if their parents have died or are unable to adequately provide. They are dirty, turning into thieves, and often die in the streets. Francisca and I will be working to help these children and Andrea and I hope to set up a malnutrition program at the clinic this year.

At my first day in Rota, I was guided around the clinic and given a proper induction. The clinic is housed in two buildings and although small, offers a variety of different services. The dispensary also houses a mother’s ward and HIV counseling. Their resources are incredibly limited, however, and both electricity and running water are absent within the buildings. I assisted Andrea in seeing patients and learned that about 75% of her patients are positive for Malaria. Today, a 4 month old was brought to the clinic with infected mosquito bites and a very severe case of impetigo around the head and ear. Andrea informed me that the proper protocol would be to remove the scabs in order to allow the infection underneath to heal. Unfortunately, because of poor conditions, the risk of further infection is too immense. Tomorrow, the dispensary is sponsoring a discussion session for HIV patients. I am very interested to hear their stories and learn about life with HIV/AIDS. I’m still struggling to finalize the projects I will undertake but am attempting to absorb a wealth of information before I decide.

While the girls traveled to Nairobi for the Chilean Independence Day last weekend, Kenneth took Lilly and I out to eat at a nearby resort. It was a beautiful area overlooking the mountain side while monkeys surrounded us swaying from the tree tops. We stayed and watched the Arsenal soccer game before heading back to the house. At the market that evening, a little boy asked Kenneth if he could touch me. He had never touched a mzungu before and wanted to know what I felt like. I laughed and shook his hand but secretly felt comparable to a zoo animal. Most children here have never laid eyes on a mzungu and see us as a type of novelty.

Because of my continuous solo travel to Kisumu, I have officially mastered the Matatu! I am now accustomed to the stops, the stench of BO, and the everyday price negotiations. Besides the use of the Matatu, I also rode on the back of a motorcycle, cruised around town using a Tuk Tuk, and held on for dear life when balancing on the back of a bike. Each is an experience but I have definitely fine-tuned my transportation skills. On our Matatu to Rota today we were stopped by police controlling the Matatu loads. Regardless of our perfect status, the police wouldn’t let us pass without payment. Corruption in the police force is an extreme problem. Our Matatu turned around and dropped us off far from our final destination. No other Matatus were accepting passengers for fear of the police and thus, we began the treacherous 5 mile walk to work.
Once we hit the beautiful dirt road to the dispensary, we were provided with a sense of relief. The sun blazed down on our backs but the light breeze swaying through our skirts made the heat bearable. The lush green grass and crisp fresh air were enough to make me momentarily forget about all the problems at hand and simply enjoy the scenery. The people along the road are familiar with our faces and call out to us from their fields, taking a break from their work to smile and wave. After a lengthy day of work, Andrea and I took a deep breath, ate our green oranges (yes, oranges here are green), and began the long journey back to the house. Tomorrow we will wake up, head out, and gracefully tackle the challenges of a new day.


Love, Saskia

My New Home

How does one begin to describe life in Africa? Shall I first tell about the bugs that crawl around your feet when utilizing the facilities, the streets which are lined with trash and filth, or the children who shriek mzungu! mzungu! everytime you pass? Maybe I should portray the beautiful scenery, my first taste of real wildlife, or the unconditional kindness of the Kenyan people. I believe it is best if I just begin with my arrival in Nairobi after a long and exhausting journey.

After receiving my visa and collecting my bags I was greeted by two men holding a sign with my name.  On the car ride to the house, Calvin and Gems described Kenyan culture and how children are raised.  By the time a child is 7, they can speak 3 languages: their local dialect, Swahili, and English.  Impressive. Although it was dark, I could nonetheless sense that I was in a different world and surrounded by immense poverty. Gems house, however, was in a nice neighborhood and I was welcomed by his wife, Alice, and children 4 year old girl Gewell and 7 year old boy Gayang. Alice had prepared a big delicious meal for me and they all did their best to make me feel comfortable on my first night in Kenya.  I played a bit with the children, read Jack and the Beanstalk to Gewell, and then retired to my bed. 

The bus ride to Kisumu took about 8 hours and after my sleepless nights, it was extremely draining. Nonetheless, I attempted to remain conscious and was rewarded with the most beautiful scenery (as well as my sighting of zebras along the road!). Silas and Patrick, the chairman of the dispensary, were at the bus station to collect me and took me to the house where I will be staying for the next 6 months.  The first night in the house was very difficult for me. I was exhausted, homesick, and realized how different my life will be in Africa.

Getting a table this week!

After starting my day, however, my emotions drastically improved and I began to become accustomed to this new way of life.  I am living with Francesca and Andrea, both 26 and from Chile. Francesca is here working as a journalist and Andrea is a doctor working in the clinic. The house also belongs to Kenneth and Lily who are natives and are helping me adapt to the Kenyan culture. At 8pm every evening, we all become engrossed in Andrea’s favorite Spanish soap opera. It has terrible English voice-overs and highly exaggerated drama.  It is quite possibly the most horrendous show I have ever seen and I absolutely love it. We laugh hysterically at the actors and constantly strive to mimic their “acting skills.” The house is very big and nice by Kenyan standards but there is no running water and we must collect rain water from the big tank outside to shower.  This is also the water that we use for cooking, washing our hands, drinking, dishes, etc.  We boil the water for 2 minutes to make sure it is safe. No need for exercise in Kenya, lugging in buckets of water every day might possibly use more effort than I’ve exerted in years ;-). We purchase most of our food at the market located around the corner of our house and eat LOTS of cabbage, tomatoes, avocados and Ugali (flour and water mix). Definitely not my favorite.  

Today, Francesca took me to Kisumu to buy some essentials that I needed.  We took a Matatu which is basically a bus crammed with as many people as possible.  They attempted to charge us the “mzungu rate”, but Francesca refused to pay any more than the locals.  I am learning from her how to be stubborn and firm with the people here when it comes to negotiating prices.   It is a very good skill to have.  We strolled through the second largest market in Africa and I experienced the poverty first hand.  Kenyan people also rarely use a trash can so the streets are filled with trash, flies, and dead fish.  On a more positive note, all the people here are extremely kind and I am looking forward to my first day of work tomorrow.

Things are not perfect but I am quickly adapting.  I am on an amazing adventure and have been blessed with this opportunity. There are many obstacles that I must tackle but I have faith I will prevail. I learn from each experience and will become a better and stronger person because of it.  For the meantime, I am a Kenyan and this is my home.

Love, Saskia

 “When we make a change, it’s so easy to interpret our unsettledness as unhappiness, and our unhappiness as a result of having made the wrong decision.  Our mental and emotional states fluctuate madly when we make big changes in our lives, and some days we could tight rope across Manhattan, and other days we are too weary to clean our teeth.  This is normal.  This is natural.  This is change.”

                                                                                                                -Jeanette Winterson

One week 'till blast off!

Well, it is officially one week before I leave for Kenya!  I have so many emotions going in so many different directions that I am physically having trouble keeping up.  The preparations are well under way and I finally made a dent in packing last night (although it is a significantly small dent). Because women are required to wear dresses below their knees in Kenya, most of my wardrobe is void. After a treacherous search for long dresses and skirts that I didn't feel absolutely hideous in, I've decided to just buy most of my clothes when I get to Rota. I want to try and assimilate in the culture as much as possible and starting with my wardrobe seems appropriate. There are a lot of other things that I have had to get ready too.  Preparing for the attack of mosquitoes means buying mosquito nets, LOTS of deet, and taking anti-malaria medication.  I also already received most of my shots when I was in Europe this summer since it was much cheaper.  Just 1 more to go for a total of 6!!  
I've been in close contact with the head of the clinic in Rota, Silas.  He as well as the founder of Humanity for Children, Brad, have really made me excited to go these last few days!  Brad and I discussed a lot of what I will be doing once I get there.  In the clinic itself I will be helping with simple medical procedures, triage, or anything the doctor really needs.  I'll also be going out in the community and presenting educational sessions about washing your hands, boiling water, using a condom, etc. In addition, I found out that I'll be going in to the homes to help with the childbirths for the women who can't make it to the clinic in time.  I think that will definitely be quite the experience!  

This week I've been saying most of my goodbyes so i have of course been emotional.  Although 7 months really isn't that long in the grand scheme of things, it seems like forever!  Thankfully, I'll still have internet in my house and will be able to use it to keep in touch with everyone from back home. I'm going to be living about 7 km from Kisumu which is the 3rd largest city in Kenya.  The town where the clinic is located is Rota and it is literally right off of Lake Victoria 15 km from Kisumu. I'm a little nervous about my travel plans but Silas has been very helpful in making arrangements.  My flight leaves Wednesday afternoon from St. Louis to Detroit.  From Detroit I fly direct to Amsterdam and have a 2 hour layover there. Then I'll have about a 9 hour flight to Nairobi where i'll arrive about 8:30pm.  Silas' friend will pick me up from the airport and I will stay one night in Nairobi.  The next morning I'll get dropped off at the bus station and start my journey to Kisumu.  I've read a number of different time scales but the 160 miles journey is going to take about 7 to 13 hours :P  At least I'll have the night to recover from the flights!  


Love, Saskia
P.S. To Check out more information about the organization go to www.fightforthechildren.org