Vital signs and community health workers

Wow, I cannot believe I’ve been here over a week already! Time flies for sure. Today was my fourth day at the clinic – it’s been good to spend time there, getting to know the staff better, meeting some patients and helping out where I can. I am going a little stir crazy, because I don’t really have a role at the clinic, so although sometimes they need me to help with vital signs, they are a pretty well-oiled machine and, most of the time, do just fine without me. Actually, even the times I do do vital signs, I think they are just being nice because they know I’m looking for something to do!

The good thing is, I was able to do some interviews with women at the clinic yesterday and today. Wednesday women come for antenatal care (ANC) – they can actually come Monday, Wednesday or Friday – and also come for immunizations for their new infants. I talked to a few, which was really helpful in editing my questions a little and figuring out the best way to ask about what I want to know. The problem is, a lot of the time, it’s pretty clear they’re not telling me everything or that they’re just telling me things they think I want to hear. Which is a common problem, especially when doing interviews like this through a translator. I could tell several of the women were pretty nervous and I don’t think it helped that my translator is male (and pretty young!) – he seemed just as nervous himself sometimes! Soti and I decided that Milicent, who is the registering person, should be my translator instead – the women all know and LOVE her and her English is great. I’m so excited about that – she is so much fun! She is going to have me to her house next weekend, which will be such a blast. She has the cutest little boy, Felix and a little girl, Kennedy, that she adopted from a husband’s distant relative who couldn’t support her.

Today, I met with the community health workers again to firm up the schedule of when I’m coming to each community. They are hilarious! Great women and they do so much good work in their communities. Each time they would tell me what community I was going to on what day, they would also say the name of the community health worker who would be meeting me there. I would repeat everything and they’d laugh and laugh, because of course, I was getting it all wrong. I don’t know how to spell these things! So then they’d spell it out SUPER slow: N-Y-A-H-A-R-A and the person’s name was Mary Oluocho – seriously, they say these things soooooo fast and expect me to remember it all. J I’m just giving them a hard time (like they give me!) - they’re super sweet. I just laugh and say “please teach me!” and then they do!

I’ve heard some say they think they have to join to comment, but just to let you know, I don't think that it's true. Others who've commented said it looks like you're joining something, but then you really aren't (not totally sure how it works). so keep those comments coming!! It’s so much fun knowing you are all reading along – you are all such a blessing. Can’t wait to see everyone in August!

cutest little girl EVER...

Isn't she great? She was VERY serious - definitely a little scared, but her mom loved the picture.

At the clinic...

Today was my second day at the clinic – yesterday was mostly spent observing and learning how everything runs. Soti and I each rode a moto in (that’s our mode of transportation every day) – no, I wasn’t driving, but the driver did ask for my phone number. J He said it would “be nice, just in case I need to talk to a woman.” Ha ha. I told him my phone wasn’t working (total lie, but it worked!). He drove SUPER slow – said that he thought I might be scared – and he talked and talked. Pretty funny, but also kind’ve the norm when I’m here!

The clinic is great! It’s been fun to see it in working order – I wish I could help more, but the language barrier makes that pretty hard. I have been able to help with taking vital signs and might help with immunizations when we have the immunization clinic, but for now, I’m going through some of the records, collecting more detailed information on the antenatal care and postnatal care they provide, learning about the different counseling that is given, etc… Today, I spoke with the community health workers and set up a schedule for coming to each of their villages. I was hoping to get started this week, but they each wanted a little bit more time to find women for me to speak with, so I start next Monday. They are super organized and have me going to three villages a week. The interview days are going to be really long because I am only going to each village once (they all have other commitments as well, so it is difficult for them to carve out more than one day), so I’ll have to get all of the interviews for a particular village finished in one day. But the good thing is, I shouldn’t have any problem interviewing enough women and men.

Tomorrow, I will most likely interview some women here at the clinic, as Wednesday is one of the antenatal care days. It will feel good to finally get started! I learned how to make ugali last night and made a sort of spaghetti sauce with tomatoes and sakuma (greens that are similar to kale). It actually turned out pretty good! Next, I need to learn how to make chapati and then I’ll be all set.

A tiny little watermelon at the farm.

Walter standing on the edge of the unfinished fish pond. Walter has been working with YGC for "many years."

Faith, and Matron collecting vegetables for the week. Matron (pronounced "Ma-trone" by the kids) cooks for them and sleeps in the younger girls hostel.

An action shot during football practice.

In Mbita!

I made it - finally. I don't have to worry about re-packing my bag anytime soon. Whew! I met Soti this morning at Tusky's (a HUGE supermarket) and we took a taxi to the ferry - which, incidentally, cost me the same as my taxi in Nairobi, even though the ride to the ferry was 2 hours and the taxi in Nairobi was 20 minutes! What a rip-off - but it was hired for me, so whatever. Mostly, it's just funny.

So, my first animal story. Last night, (still at YGC) I got out of the shower and went into my room, flipped on the light and there is a massive rat sitting on my bedside table. So, I did what any strong woman does - I screamed and jumped on a chair. Harold told me I should have stomped on it - I said I didn't have any shoes on and he asked "Why should that matter?" Okay, next time, maybe... Anyway, it immediately scurried out of my room, but I woke up all night thinking it was there again. I need to toughen up a little.

Okay, lunch time! More later...

.........

Okay, I ate (cooked cabbage, rice and scrambled eggs – mm, mm, good) – feeling much better. So, we made it to Mbita and I am at Soti’s house. It’s very nice – it has two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living room. Very simple and I get a space to myself, which is so nice. I will have to head back to Kisumu in two weeks in order to extend my visa – that was a story. When I came into Nairobi, I went to the visa counter, gave them all my paperwork and, when they asked what I was going to be doing, told them I was visiting friends and helping at a clinic. Well, this guy either doesn’t like mzungu’s (white people), was having a bad day or just decided to have it out for me, but he got all mad and lectured me about how I needed a special pass to do that in Kenya and I should have done my research, etc., etc… Then, he would only give me a four-week visa instead of a six-week visa – seriously, can you believe that? I was so mad, but didn’t want to make things worse – he could have just reneged the whole thing and then where would I be? It won’t be hard to extend, but a major pain. I’m pretty sure he was making everything up about the special rule – no one knows what he’s talking about when I’ve told them.

I’m having a great time – it’s been a little crazy, but I have this feeling it might be a little crazy the whole time. J Tomorrow to the clinic.

It took about 20 minutes to upload these pics, so that's all for today. Right above is Pauline - she's a favorite from last year. And she's gotten so much taller! Above are the youngest here at YGC - the rest were in school.

Here at YGC

I have definitely arrived – right when I walked off the plane in Kisumu, I snuffed a bug up my nose and I thought “I’m here!”. J It’s funny how the smells of smoke, gasoline and b.o. conjure up such fond memories, but they do. I got to YGC (the orphanage I worked at last time) last night – the kids were all waiting outside and sang me a welcome song. So much fun! I slept a full 9 hours last night (awesome) and have just been hanging out with the kids all day. I did get to go to Momballeo (not sure on the spelling) to a farm that YGC has – we went to gather vegetables for the week. There are many “in progress” projects there – they eventually want to have fish ponds and more crops, but don’t have the funds. Right now, they have the ponds carved out and ready, but the dirt is too absorbent, so they need to line each pond with a special lining that costs something like 300,000 shillings (approx. $3300). So that’s on hold. The crops are doing well, but aren’t getting weeded, leaving a lot of work to be done. They have many different types of greens (kassava and kale are the only two I can remember), pineapple, watermelon, tomatoes, onions, coriander, etc… They water it by drip irrigation, which is the most economical (I learned). It was really pretty though – reminded me a little of Mbita.

I’ve been having a lot of fun with the kids – many familiar faces and some new ones. We played some football (soccer) this morning, I showed them some pictures from last time, and they taught me more words in Luo. I am definitely going to sleep well tonight!

I'm almost there!

I arrived in Nairobi last night and am headed to Kisumu later this evening, but I have a few hours to kill here at the hotel, so I thought I would put in a quick entry. Travel was pretty smooth - I would say the last leg of the trip felt a LOT longer than the first. My flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi was delayed by two hours and we had to go through security twice (they have security at each gate and after we had all gone through the first gate, they said our plane was having problems and we were going to take off from the gate next door, which meant everyone had to go back out of security and then going through it again at the next gate). That was a little bit of a mob scene - no one really had any sense of standing in line and people just kept "joining" halfway down whatever line there actually was. But we all made it on the plane! Then, on the plane, my personal t.v. didn't work (just my luck!) and the guy next to me seriously had no sense of personal space - his elbow protruded into my seat most of the ride. I decided to sleep (probably not the smartest since it was technically daytime here, but who really cares?).

Now I'm just hanging out, waiting to meet up with Lavenda (she is Simon's sister - I know her from the last trip) - we'll hang out a little bit and then it's off to Kisumu for the weekend! Sunday, I go to Mbita.