Final Kenya Days

After 5 weeks, tearful goodbyes, a safari, and 36 hours of traveling, I am back to home in Pleasanton! Sorry for the delay in a post, the power was out in Kenya for practically the entire week, so we didn't have access to a computer. I'm so satisfied with the amount of time I spent there. It was long enough to feel immersed in the culture and to be comfortable and in routine at the clinic, but I was excited to come home by the end of the month. And wow, food is just as good as I remember.

The last week at the clinic was slow. One afternoon, we only had one patient, so the staff all bought Fantas and we sat outside and talked about swine flu. The day after the crazy rainy delivery, I developed a gnarly cough, so I had to deal with that for the remainder of my trip, but I'm starting to feel better now. I'm just hoping it's not tb or some Kenyan giraffe flu (just kidding, but seriously).  In the afternoons, Somerlyn and I learned how to make Kenyan food! I can now make Ugali, which is great because I really needed that recipe for home (sarcasm). It was really fun though. They cook it for over 100 people in a giant cauldron with a wooden paddle spoon. When it thickens, it becomes so hard to stir and fold! The Kenyan cooks develop some serious strength making it everyday for so many people. We also learned how to cook crepes and chapati-YUM! I love how much they use their hands to mix and cook on one pan over a fire. Everything is fresh (even the milk) and made from scratch without any fancy toys or gadgets. It was fun to spend time with the people who cooked for us all month long! On Friday, I went with a group to the HIV clinic in another town. The social workers take a different group of patients to this clinic every Friday for their check ups. I sat in with a fabulous Kenyan doctor for the day and helped him see patients. It was quite an incredible experience and I saw a wide range of patients, but mostly children and young adults. As heartbreaking it was to see so many babies and children with HIV, it was really awesome to see how good their lab values were because of the (free) treatment they were receiving and to know that their quality of life is hardly affected. Some patients opened up about how they were struggling and feeling hopeless and rejected, and it was amazing to see a doctor that was comforting and encouraging. On one patient's appointment card, in the comments section, it read, "Express care, show love", and I was so encouraged by that. How important it is to not only physically treat a disease and symptoms, but also to show love and care. It sounds so obvious, but trust me, if any of you have had many experiences at the hospital, you probably understand how most patients don't feel loved or cared for. I was blessed and inspired by the entire experience. The rest of the weekend was spent saying goodbye to certain people in the community, packing, and spending as much time as possible with the children. On Sunday at church, during the offering, people gave live  chickens!! I was so confused, I thought they were going to be sacrificed or something, and then they were auctioned off! It was so hilarious. I pictured that going down in Crosswinds and it was an entertaining daydream. That weekend, some serious violence broke out in the community, so ELI was busy dealing with the situation. On Sunday, I had lunch at a staff member's house and in his living room were 3 Kenyan officials with AK-47's. Just a little intimidating!  There are some deep rooted issues in the community and very little justice from the government (I heard that a man accused of raping his children bribed the police officials, paid them off, and was let go), so the people tend to form mobs and take matters into their own hands. Sunday night, after a heartbreaking goodbye to the children, I saw 2 huts burning down in the village. It was sad and scary, but very real, and I was glad to see things the way they really are in Kenya. 

Saying goodbye to the children was really difficult for me. Not only are they adorable and wonderful and am I going to miss them so, but I felt so guilty breaking the hearts of orphans. They have already been abandoned by their parents and families, and now, here I am, a random American stranger that jumps into their lives long enough to develop relationships and pour in some love, and then leave. I felt like I became their older sister, and then I left. I just feel really guilty and selfish for hurting them when they've already been abandoned. I will be processing this for the next few weeks, but I am struggling with trusting that the love I gave them outweighs the pain I inflicted by leaving.

Monday morning, we began our travels bright and early by driving 4 hours to a safari! It was so much fun! We went to Lake Nakuru, a national park. We saw monkeys, baboons, zebra, impala, gazelles, water buffalo, flamingos, a wart hog, a giraffe, and a rhino! It was really exciting and I will probably never go to a zoo again. It is so fun to observe the animals in the wild! We had such a great time and it was a wonderful way to end our trip. From there, we drove 4 more hours to the airport, flew a red-eye flight to London, and then caught our connecting flight to San Francisco! Got our luggage, no delays, no cancellations, it seemed like a miracle!

Time is so strange... the month went by slow, but at the same time, I can't believe it's over! Somerlyn and I were really overwhelmed as we landed in San Francisco. We felt like we were dreaming and that we were going to wake up and be back in our hut! Every Kenyan we said goodbye to insisted that we "greet our family and church", so I send you all their greetings! I will post pictures really soon on facebook so you can see what I've been talking about these past 5 weeks! I can feel that I have grown and learned so much as a person and in my identity as a nurse, but I can't quite define it or summarize it. I think it's a type of experience where you have to return to where you came from to see how you've really changed, so I'm excited to continue in my nursing semesters and see how I see things/people/nursing differently. I have a lot more processing and reflecting to do, and I am excited to see how the school year goes, and then to graduate! Wow, I'm going to be a nurse in less than a year. That is pretty crazy!! Who knows if I'm ready, I kinda feel like a 15 year old with a drivers permit anticipating their license with only a couple more "behind the wheel" lessons. I better make this year count. Balancing my senior year of college with my last semesters of nursing will be another interesting experience worth blogging, but I'll spare you all from my stress and breakdowns. 

Thank you everyone for reading this and supporting me along this journey. I couldn't have done it without your love and encouragement. I missed you guys and it already feels so good to be home sweet home. If anyone wants to meet up to hear more details or stories or ask questions or share their own stories, I would love to, so please feel free to contact me! I love you guys!!!! 

ANOTHER delivery!

OK, before I get to the delivery, I will cover the weekend. It's been so fun! The time is flying fast now, I can't believe my time is running out already. On Saturday, we drove to Kerio View and celebrated birthdays admiring the Rift Valley. We stood at the ledge of a breath-taking cliff looking down into a huge valley, then just beyond that stretch was another ledge/cliff with another drop off! I've never seen anything like it. We took tons of pictures. I was so happy to explore some more of Kenya and to see such a beautiful place! Our meal was amazing too.

Later that night, I got to drive our kenyan ambulence/safari jeep! It was awesome. I drove stick shift lefty style and it was a fun experience. Later that night (I was not driving) we got into another little fender bender! This has been such a wild adventure. Also, we went to the Childrens Home and tone of my girls, Maureen, made me a necklace out of seeds and shells and i love it! It was such a nice gift and I've worn it everyday.

On Sunday, we started Somey's birthday with a good ol 3 hour church service! It is so different from American church. People randomly stand up and start a song, or come up to say a sermon, and groups of people are invited to come up and sing a song or do a dance or share something. It's so fun and interesting, but hard to follow when it is in Swahili. Then we went to the Childrens Home and hiked to a bridge with the kids. Som and I carried little baby Brian on our backs tied with an African blanket and it was tiring, but fun. These African women are tough, strong ladies! The kids stopped along the way to climb guava trees and eat the small, hard, bitter, unripe guavas. I ate a few just for fun... when in Kenya! We then had to sprint back to our hut to beat the rain clouds... the ominous storm was following like 100 yards behind us! We then held eachother during the craziest storm of our life! The thunder was ear-piercing and sounded like a bomb crashing outside our door. Then, the power went out, and it has been pretty much stayed out until right now (Tuesday night). It was terrifying and amazing! We had dinner that night with some ELI staff and ate chapati.. mm! hopefully this weekend we will learn how to make it.

Monday, we did more home visits with the social workers which was very similar to last week. Lots of walking and listening and praying. I really like seeing how people live in the village. In the first hut, the size of a small bathroom where this single woman and her 3 children sleep, the woman was roasting corn on a burner and the smoke was so thick I could barely breathe or keep my eyes open, but they cannot roast outside because of the rain. I met 3 wonderful women and their children. On friday, I am going to the town of Turbo with some nurses and social workers to take the HIV patients for treatment. I am looking forward to learning more about it. Also on our visits, we stumbled upon Pride Rock! From the Lion King! Haha, not exactly, but it looked kinda like it and when we reached the top and I wanted to hold up baby Simba and when I looked down I expected to see the gazelles, zebras, and elephants.

Today, we had another delivery! We got the call JUST as the storm was beginning, and we sprinted through the pouring rain and cow poop rivers. We were soaked when we got to the clinic. It seriously looked like we jumped in a pool! So we had to wring out our skirts and sweatshirts but were still dripping wet. Only in Kenya, would I then enter a clinic and deliver a baby! We gloved up, and 30 minutes later, the head appeared, and two silent pushes later, the baby was OUT! It was beautiful and easy and just like the textbook... what a miracle. It was a boy (the first boy I've ever delivered) and he peed on the table to introduce himself into the world. Somey and I cleaned him and dried him and swaddled him while the nurse took care of mom. We joked about how the American nurses would be barking at us "APGARS! TEMPERATURE!....." The mom named him Kipto, which means "born with visitors" haha! So then we ran back to our hut in the rain, and the electricity was still out, so we took a cold shower to clean ourselves and now we are at Michelle's for our last "American Night". The end is so bittersweet. I am so much looking forward to home, the fall, and being back at APU, but it will be so hard to say goodbye to these children and beautiful land. It's been such an adventure and I am so grateful. Like I mentioned, I am so bad at goodbyes, so please pray for me! Also, please pray for my travels home. The airlines have had some strikes, and I don't really want to be stranded in Nairobi like I was on the way here. Thanks for all the love and prayers! I miss you all so much and can't wait to see you again!

DELIVERY!!!

Yup.. 8 AM we got the phone call. Delivery at the clinic! 8 cm dilated! We sprinted and got there just in time for the action to begin. It was quite an experience. Terrifying, horrifying, and miraculous. It was on a table with a cushion. No sterile feild, no sterile gloves- only regular gloves splashed with bleach water, no fetal heart monitor, no EKG, no ultrasound, no epidural. Oh she did have a bottle of IV pitocin that we manually controlled- literally hanging from the window and counting the drops and adjusting the rate with our fingers. By the end of the delivery the pitocin was spraying everywhere out her hand. We could only periodically check up on baby's heart beat with the fetal dopler. We heard the beat slow down with the contractions and I could picture the decel's on the fetal heart monitor and Professor Richmond testing me on the spot. Enough boring nursing stuff...When we saw the baby's head, we told mama to push! She was trying and trying, but the baby wasn't coming far. Michelle felt tuberosities sticking out of her pelvis into the birth canal and she was really concerned, but the mom had delivered a child previously so we had hope. The mom pushed and pushed, and finally, the head emerged, but nothing else was coming. The body was stuck and I was so scared. Michelle whispered to me, "I think this is my nightmare." and I felt the same way. I'd seen fetal demises in my clinical rotations, but they were not my patients and I had never witnessed someone dying before my eyes, especially a baby! Michelle ordered us to get the suction and infant ambu bag ready for resuscitation. It seemed like an eternity, and tears filled my eyes and I had just about given up hope, when the mom pushed with all her might and the baby was delivered! Michelle suctioned her and she cried! We dried her up and warmed her and wrapped in a donated matching blanket and beanie and it was so amazing. We let mom rest, then cleaned her up a little and handed mom her baby! Her kenyan name is Cheptipken (or something like that) and it means She who took a long time. Mom and baby laid and rested together for the afternoon and mom breastfed her little by little. The delivery was truly a miracle! I'm so blessed to have witnessed that.

Later that day I saw a malnourished baby with white, thin, fuzzy hair, and a pregnant mom with an oblique positioned baby, then gave lots injections. The next day, I saw a couple patients with arthritis and nobby joints, and a woman who came in complaining of coughing, and we found her pulse of 46 (really low) and blood pressure 170/85 (really high), so we thought possible congestive heart failure and referred her to a cardiologist. And many more malaria and typhoid. It's been fun! I saw a precious little girl named Dorcas and she had white polka dots all over her bald scalp and I was concerned and then found out that they were tan lines from the braids she used to have in her hair.

Sorry for the boring nursing stuff, on a different note, Somerlyn got electrocuted twice in one day! Once, in the shower by touching the electric heater (she's a smart girl), and second, ironically by trying to move the lamp away from the leaking window during the most intense thunderstorm we've had all month. Her choice words were quite entertaining... I felt bad laughing but it was hilarious. I'm laughing out loud thinking about it again... O somey. She is totally fine now, but she had a twitching issue for the remainder of the day.

And on another different note, my digestion is backed up like the LA freeways on friday afternoon rush hour. Fricken Ugali. We are buying mangoes today to clear the traffic. (See somerlyn's blog for more details). Haha, sorry if that's too much information. Just keepin it real!

I'm off to celebrate Somerlyn and William's birthdays at Kairyo View! Just a bit more than a week to go.... I'm so excited to end strong and see what this week will bring. Then I have a safari, and home sweet home. I will keep in touch!!! I love you all! Thanks for the love and prayers!!!!

I'm not eating corn for 10 years when I return to America

This week has gone by so fast! The village looked like pure chaos because of the annual youth camp going on. The missions team from so cal ran it and hosted seminars on topics like furthering education, business, making choices, and also spiritual disciplines and forgiveness. "Youth" in kenya are between the ages of 12 and married or 30ish so it was older people with the kids. Somerlyn and I stayed busy at the clinic but we could hear the music and preaching all day long, and we fell asleep and woke up to it everyday. The older kids from the Childrens Home attended and it seems like they learned a lot and were inspired to go to college and start a business or do some other type of work which is awesome. It's truly a miracle that these children who are orphans are now given homes, parents, food, clean water, healthcare, and education because of ELI.

The clinic has been fun! It goes through waves of being really busy to really slow. When we work n the treatment room we see all sorts of patients and I like that experience much better than the mama/baby clinic. Last week we pulled a 4 inch stick out of a little boy's thigh! We also saw a man with an eye infection that was hit with a nail in May. We examined it under a slit lamp microscope and saw scar tissue on his cornea. We also saw a broken hand from a piki piki (motorcycle) accident, a boy with mumps, and many malaria, typhoid, and upper respiratory infections. Today we had a woman with widespread swelling and rash. I thought she was 60 years old because of her facial swelling but she was only 28! She was on all sorts of medication from the last clinic she went to so we thought the worst case scenario was Stevens Johnsons syndrome or maybe allergic reaction so we sent her to the hospital. We also had a woman with severe abdominal pain and vomiting for 3 days and we ran some tests and found out she was pregnant. She also had right lower quadrant rebound tenderness which is classic for appendicitis so we had to send her to the hospital as well. The 2 nurses here work as doctors diagnosing diseases and prescribing medication so it's been fun having that role. I love the mystery and challenge of each patient. I've always thought I wanted to work in the ER and this experience is confirming that idea. The mama/baby clinic is good too, just redundant. But I'm getting lots of injection practice which I'm happy about. We had a couple funny visitors today. One was a man who wanders here often obliviously wearing a shirt with the F bomb on it in huge capitol letters. Another was a man who was drunk off his own corn brew from a clorox bottle sitting in his pocket selling a large bag of grass. No matter where you are in the world, hospitals and clinics attract the most interesting of people!

On Monday we went with social workers on home visits to see patients. They told us about their lives and struggles and we listened and prayed for them. First, we saw a man with tuberculosis. He looked miserably sick and frail and weak. He said he could not eat and has no energy to walk or work. The treatment takes 8 months so he has been sick for a long time. The next house was a single mom who had HIV and so did her 6 year old daughter. The social workers found her at her home in 2008 weighing 24 kg (50 pounds) and tested her for HIV, and now they take her for treatment every week. Now she weighs 60 kg! The last patient was a man who also has HIV. The inside of his mud hut was decorated with magazine pictures for wall paper. He wasn't doing well because he fell the day before, but he told an amazing story. In 2003, He was sick for a long time and accepted that he was dying, until Juli, the ELI HIV nurse found him at his home one day. He thought she was an angel because she was the first person to touch him in so long. Very little was known about HIV in 2003 and the community avoided him because they were afraid of getting it. She took him to get tested and treatment, and now 6 years later he is still living and living well. He got certified to be a home based AIDS caregiver to care for others and he works at HIV/AIDS campaigns because he is passionate about spreading hope, especially to those newly diagnosed. He was very inspiring and told me and Somerlyn to take his story back to America to give HIV patients in America hope, too. HIV is now considered a chronic illness instead of a terminal illness because of the Anti Retroviral treatment, which is amazing. These mothers and fathers and children now diagnosed with HIV can truly have hope in living many more years.

I'm getting closer to the kids at the Childrens Home and it is so fun! Nivah is my little shadow. She is really bashful and really precious and follows me everywhere. Magdalene is sassy and has an attitude and gets mad if don't sit next to her at dinner and plays with my hair every night. Stella is a diva and loves to take pictures and videos of herself with my camera. Viola is always happy and smiling and loves to wear my purse. Brian Kibet is ambitious and asks me tons of questions about America and speaks english really well and plays the keyboard. Shadrach is a troublemaker and gets a kick out of freaking me out with bugs. Cornelious plays the harmonica, and Eliud always makes sure I've eaten enough. They are all so unique and gifted and loving. They are also incredibly mature. They wash their own clothes (by hand), clean up everything after every meal, and run their own devotional service every night with reading scripture, sharing memory verses, telling testimonies, and singing and playing their songs. As orphans, they were robbed of a childhood, yet they are still full of energy and life.

I love hanging out with the kids, but the food is an entirely different story. We have corn for every meal and it is becoming painful. It's not the sweet, crunchy, American corn, but thick, hard, bland maize. For lunch, it's usually an ear or two of corn, and for dinner, it's Ugali with cabbage or Kale (aka grass). It's getting rough. Somerlyn and I talk about American food all the time and I dreamt about thai food the other night. I've dreamt about all sorts of crazy things since I've been here...thank you Mefloquine! We started a countdown and we only have to eat ugali 10 more times! WOOHOO!

Driving around Kenya is exactly like hte Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland. Tan safari jeep and all! We drove home from town in the mud on saturday and it was quite the adventure. I have to leave out the details because my parents read this, but we spun out once into a ditch while I was crammed in the backseat with Somerlyn, our night watchman Benjamin, and the camp speaker. It was exhillerating!

This week we've had visitors leave and the Kenyans host "goodbye ceremonies" for their visitors. It's really formal and awesome because the two groups really express their mutual gratitude for spending time together and getting to know one another. There are songs, tribal dancing, hand shaking, gift exchanges, and speeches. I feel like in American culture, we avoid goodbyes and dread them and hate them (I know I do), so it's been awesome seeing a goodbye from a completely different perspective. It's so filled with gratitude and joy and love, and the two groups feel so edified and encouraged and appreciated. This culture is so fun to be a part of.

It's Somerlyn's 21st birthday on Sunday so wish her a happy birthday!!! Christians do not drink in this culture, so there definitely won't be any alcohol, and birthdays aren't a big deal so it won't be a big celebration, so give her some American love. In town, I bought her a weird, hard, pink, heart-shaped cake that says "happy birthday" upside-down because it was the ony thing I could find! Maybe it will be the most delicious cake ever. We will close our eyes and dream that we are eating 21 choices or pinkberry or pizookie.

We have less than 2 weeks left here! It's been such a fun adventure but I'm starting to look forward to coming home. I really miss you guys! Please pray that I stay focused and present here. The missions team left so we are feeling a little lonely. But on the bright side, we moved into a "luxury" hut today! Clean, running water, a shower, and a toilet! So that is REALLY exciting. I love you all so much and hope that you are all doing well! I'm learning a ton and taking tons of pictures, so I can't wait to share it all with you when I'm home. I miss you guys! Thanks for the love and prayers!

You know you've been in Africa a while when your roommate says "cow" in her sleep

We are starting to settle in here and it feels great. This is our first "normal" week and the rhythm is set. We moved into our new room at Kipkaren on Saturday. It's quite luxurious... squatty potties down the trail, hot bucket of water at 7AM to shower... this is Kenya.

A missions team from So Cal is here for the next 10 days and it's been great spending time with them. I think Som and I both needed some American encouragement and some other people to talk to besides ourselves... haha.

On Sunday, I attended my 2nd church service. We were informed it was going to be short, and it lasted almost 3 hours! The majority of the service was dancing and singing, which is awesome. The Kenyans are really passionate in their worship. They sing loud and proud and dance at their seat and also in performances. Their only instrument is a keyboard. The children had quite a few dance numbers, and they pulled us up for some of the songs! They really showed us how to get down... We were on our hands and knees, doing the macarena, electric slide, and we shimmied! Haha... I'm not even kidding... It was so awesome. Even though 3 hours is a long time, I think it's really beautiful that Kenyan culture values their faith and community above time schedules. They take their time praying, worshipping, introducing themselves to one another, welcoming visitors, reading scripture, making announcements about the community. In America, time is money, and people are busy and rich, but in Kenya, time is free and people are rich in the love of their family, friends, and faith. It's really beautiful and I have a lot to learn from them, because I am quite guilty for complaining about long church things.

The reason church was "short" was because there was a burial service for a member of the community who passed away. The man's name was Thomas, and he was a patient of Michelle and Juli (The nurses at ELI). Juli managed his HIV and Michelle treated his tuberculosis. About when Som and I arrived, Thomas stopped coming to the clinic for his daily injection, and Michelle wondered if he had passed. Death is so normal here... but people are not desensitized. Michelle explained to us that pregnant women do not even celebrate, tell people, or buy baby clothes until the baby is finally born because it is not guaranteed that the baby will come. I have made 96 new friends at the Children's Home and every single one of them have lost their parents. Some of the ELI "parents" have lost their own biological children. It seems devastating, depressing, but yet they have hope. Their faith in God and love and support in their community get them through each painful loss. Funerals are much different here than in America. The community grieves hard with wailing, crying out, and collapsing, and soon after, they move on, look toward the future and leave the past behind. Not the mention that the burial took place in the man's own backyard. The entire village attended to support each other. Once again, a beautiful experience. While I sat in the grass of a stranger's backyard in Kenya, I thought about how this is someone's Jeremiah. As people spoke about Thomas in Swahili, I prayed for those people and also for my community at home mourning the loss of their friend, brother, son, Jeremiah. I prayed that they would be unified and that God's love and hope would be everything they need to have peace. Each attendee walked past the open casket one by one, and when it was my turn, I hesitated, but then looked at his face, and I saw that he looked empty. He did not look asleep, he looked empty. I was once again reminded that a person is not their body or face, but their soul, and Thomas is in heaven. He is in paradise with our Savior, and so is Jeremiah. Even after experiencing all of this, I still thought of Jeremiah last night in bed and half expected to see him again when I come home... huge grin, blue eyes, big enthusiastic hug, loud laugh, with a crazy story to tell. I miss him, but I have hope and peace in Christ's love. This is hard stuff to process through, but I'm here to grow, and I'm going to be a nurse in a year, and caring for the dying is an inevitable aspect of nursing. I pray that I would never become desensitized or jaded, but instead, so filled with faith, hope, and love, that it would overflow onto my patients to bring them Christ's peace and comfort.

Ok that's some heavy stuff... but on a lighter note, Somerlyn and I counted 60,120 pills on Monday! We are in the process of organizing, cleaning, and taking inventory of the clinic with the staff when we are not seeing patients. It's been quite a process, and also quite an eye-opening experience to 3rd world medicine. In America, we follow the "Gold Standard". Michelle calls Kenya's standard the "tin can standard". To count the meds, we poured out the bottle onto the counter, touched each pill with our glove-less fingers, and put them all back in the bottle. If one tell on the ground, we put it back in the bottle. I think I would be kicked out of the nursing program at APU if I did that at Huntington Memorial. The clinic's calamine lotion for chicken pox was in a vodka bottle! Kenya does not have access to medication like we do and people do not waste their valuable resources. While America has the highest standards, most sterile procedures, and strict policies, it is also quite wasteful.

Since the missions team has been here, Som and I have been spoiled with eating with them at the training center instead of the children's home. I found out that not all Kenyan food is horrible... Chippati is amazing! It's like the best homemade tortilla you've ever had. And avacados, mangos, and black currant fanta! (Did you know it's not grape?) A woman here is currently reading The Shack and apparently in the book, Jesus says Ugali is one of his favorite foods. That author has obviously never tried it!! Today for lunch, we had Maize. When they passed it around, I thought, "Sweet! Pepper!" but then I realized it was small dirt specks...haha. It was good though, it tasted it popcorn. And tonight is "American Night". Michelle hosts an american night once a week for the interns where we go on the internet, eat american dinner, and play a game or watch a movie. Tonight we are having lasagna and garlic bread.... mmm!

Today at the clinic we saw some interesting patients. We saw a boy with an infected tooth cavity and he needed to get it removed. The extraction was intense and pretty hard to watch. The dentist has tools and lidocaine, but no dental chair or spotlight or x-ray machine. ELI is looking into getting a dental chair and it would definitely be useful... the dentist just climbed over behind the poor boy with one leg up and loosened, then yanked the tooth out! By the way, the cost of this procedure was 400 shillings, which is about $5. The mom only had 300 shillings so the clinic covered the rest of her cost. We also saw many pregnant women and babies today. We examined them, palpated the funduses and positions of the babies and listened to their heart beats on fetal doplers. It is so fun! A girl we saw today is due on the 25th and we are really hoping to see her deliver.

That's pretty much everything! It's pouring right now which is great. The country is in a drought and the government decided to turn off the country's electricity two days a week. Also, Michelle is preparing for next year's increase in malnourished patients because of the decrease in crops. Kenya needs rain!! So do a rain dance for me everyone :)

I miss you all!!! Thank you for the love and prayers!!

100 physicals in 3 days in Illula

My time in Illula has been busy and emotional. En route to Illula (right after my last blog), I received news that my close friend, Jeremiah Murray, passed away on our church's annual houseboat trip. My heart broke into pieces... I thought about the powerful life he led, his family (biological, adopted, and church), his adventurous spirit, energy, and excitement, and all of our memories together. It's hard not being home right now, but I have faith that this is all in God's plan and I am trusting in that. The night that I heard the news, I saw the most incredible Kenyan sunset, and I was comforted knowing that God welcomed Jeremiah home into heaven and that one day, I will be with him again in eternity. I've never had more faith that good things will come out of such a tragedy... he touched so many lives with his short time on earth, and through his death, he will continue to reach people with his story of redemption. Among so many other things, this tragedy is a reminder to me that life is short, and I must never waste a moment, and to love the people in my life with all the love I have.

With that said, here I am in Kenya, following my dreams and passions and a calling God placed on my life to be a nurse and to care for sick and needy people. I'm more grateful than ever to be here right now on this day, in this moment. We came to the village of Illula to give all the children at the orphanage physicals. It has been busy and nonstop go, go, go, but I'm loving every minute of it. Many of the children are in well health, but even with that said, most are at the lowest line or below the growth curve, and many are suffering from colds, allergies, bad vision, worms, and fungi. Then there were a few with malaria, and a few more needing further examination and treatment. Michelle, the nurse for ELI, is superwoman. She is so smart and so observant and so compassionate and giving and hardworking. I really admire her work as a nurse and I'm excited to spend the rest of the month with her as my mentor/teacher.

While giving the physicals and documenting, I read as many of the children's charts as I could. Their stories are incredibly heartbreaking. More than half of their parents died from HIV/AIDS, but other causes were war violence, tuberculosis, malaria, cancer, suicide, and even a lightning case. Many of the kids were abandoned as well. When the kids arrived at the orphanage, they did not have a birthday, so ELI assigned them each birthdays. I'm pretty sure all the ages are correct. While reading these stories, talking with the children, and caring for them medically, my heart was broken in pain and then put back together with love and compassion. I'm still trying to figure out my place in building relationships with patients as a nurse, because it is so different in every setting and with every patient, but I'm excited about the role I have here. I am going back to Kipkaren tomorrow, where I will spend the remainder of the month, and I can't wait to grow closer to the children, especially the girls, in the Children's Home. I don't know if I mentioned this, but the orphanage has 100 kids and it is divided into 4 Children's Homes, and Somerlyn and I were each assigned to one. We eat meals with them and play with them in the evenings and on the weekends. Each children's home has house parents, and my house mom is on maternity leave, so I have a big responsibility to that home this month. It has already been a joy getting to know them and I am excited for these relationships to deepen.. the ages range from toddler to 14ish I believe. College group- ill be giving these kids the clothes I brought! I'll take pictures to show you these precious kids wearing your clothes :) Please pray that I learn all their names faster!!!

On a daily, hourly, mometary basis I am blown away by how different African culture is! I had my first culturally-insensitive mistake last night. I showered in an outhouse just a few feet away from the room I am staying in, and I walked back in my towel. When I came back in the room, Michelle's eyes lit up and said "AHH THATS NOT OK!". I should have known.... common sense... it was late and i'm pretty positive nobody saw me, but still, they are very conservative here. Also, dinner has been interesting eating with 4 American missionaries and 4 Kenyans! The conversations are beyond interesting. Last night, the group realized I was the only single woman, and of course all of the adults have single sons in their 20's, so they start arguing over who to set me up with. The Americans were much more into it (many Kenyans are opposed to cross culture marrying), and one Kenyan man named Lebon speaks up and says, "Well how many cows are you offering?" We all exploded into laughter and he continues to explain that in Kenyan culture, when a man wants to marry a woman, he brings the two families together along with church elders and other important people in the community to negotiate how many cows the man must buy for his woman's father. It is between 4 and 8 usually, but sometimes up to 12! And always an even number. He said he still owes his father in law cows, but he is waiting for his daughters to marry to recieve their cows. In some tribes, the woman is held hostage until the man can pay her cows. I told Lebon that I think I wanted to do it the American way and I pointed to my left ring finger, and we all laughed because he thinks Americans are crazy. We are pretty crazy! Traditions and cultures are so interesting and fun to experience in other countries, and it makes me realize all the weird and quirky things about American culture. I can't get enough of it.

I think that is everything for now. Africa is beautiful... life is crazy... God is amazing. I love you all and miss you so much! Thank you for the love and prayers!!!!

You can call me Chepkemei

Habari! I am finally at Kipkaren. it has been an amazing, crazy, busy whirlwind for a few days. I recieved the most extravagant welcome I have ever experienced... with singing, clapping, roses, hugs and handshakes from the entire village. I have never been to a more hospitable place! The kenyan people are so loving, welcoming, and grateful. They are constantly encouraging one another and helping each other in every way. Everything is community-focused... eating, cooking, cleaning, sleeping. There is hardly such thing as independence or privacy here. It's quite beautiful to be a part of.

They gave me a Kenyan name! It is Chepkemei, which means born in summer. The Kalenjin tribe commonly name their children after what time of day they were born or what was happening on the day they were born. Alie is aparently a boy's name in kenya... so im happy to have another one haha.

This area is so breathtakingly beautiful. it is located in teh heart of the rift valley and it is pure jungle and farmland for acres and acres. the sky is huge and blue and the clouds are low and have the coolest shapes ive ever seen. it rains everyday and most days it thunderstorms. i really really love the land and the weather. my room is located along a river that i sit by every morning. its a 1 mile walk to the clinic and we pass by huts, rivers and farms. its almost freaky passing right by giant cows. this place is just so lush and alive. no buildings or roads... just jungle, cornfields, and animals. i love it!

ive worked two days in the clinic! ive seen malaria patients, a typhoid patient, a man who cut his thumb open with a machete, and lots and lots of moms and babies! its soooo different than the US.... no appointments, no prescriptions, no pharmacy, no sterile technique. the treatment for malaria is realyl intense... 3 days of an injection of Quinon which is a thick painful drug from a 21 gauge needle right in the buttock... ouch. the kenyans do not vocalize their pain so they are perfectly silent during all the painful procedures without any anesthesia.. including teeth extraction and childbirth! Again, soooo different from the US! I've mostly observed so far but i did give an injection yesterday of Dopa, which is the main form of birth control used in kenya. dont worry mom, im being safe.

the food is rough but i braced myself before coming and i am surviving! Ugali (thick, firm cornmeal), cabbage, corn, and beans are the everyday lunch and dinner. along with warm whole milk. eek!

i wish i had more time bc there is so much more to share, but i gotta run! ill post again saturday on my way back from Illula.

Thanks for the love and prayers! i miss you all so much.