Good afternoon everyone!
So as I type this I'm literally surrounded by cute (but screaming) watoto (children) at the school I'm interning at for the next 5 weeks. They've never seen a laptop before, and they're fascinated. I've actually been here for about 1.5 weeks, and a lot has happened, so I'll try to make this brief.
Sunday- Arrived at hut compound, met family, and realized I don't have a pillow or a door. Spent most of the night being silently alarmed, but very well-fed.
Monday- Host sister (also boss), took me all over town to her school, the clinic I work at on Wednesdays, the HIV clinic I go to support group meetings at, and the school for deaf children that I lecture at on Fridays. Whew, long day.
Tuesday- All day at the school...I realize that teaching preschoolers is much harder than it looks. Props to all pre-K teachers, it takes a LOT of patience.
Wednesday- First day at the lab in Ambira. They showed me around, and I took names and information for each patient as they passed through (and got hit on incessantly by lab techs. Gotta love Kenyan men!)
Thursday- All day at Alice Hope again, this time in ECD 2. Trying to teach someone how to draw numbers correctly is also harder than it looks.
Friday- Rough day. Started off with a piki-piki accident (nothing serious), I got to the school late, and then I got lost on the way to the deaf school, Sega. I arrived 45 mins late for that, and then went home after teaching. That night I was bitten by the watchdog of the compound...thankfully it didn't break the skin, because I never got rabies shots. I watched some Gilmore Girls on my laptop in bed to calm down.
Saturday through Tuesday- Sis and I went to Nakuru to see her husband and children, and got groceries for the month. On Sunday we went to a Jehovah's Witness service (interesting), and watch some movies (they have a TV!!!). On Monday we went to the market and got enough vegetables for the month, and on Tuesday we fit it all on the 8 hr bus ride back to Ugunja. I honestly didn't think it was all going to fit, and neither did Lilian, but 6 boxes later we were happily bouncing down the road home! That is until we came upon a traffic jam caused by not 1, but 3 semis stuck in the road. That took a few hours to fix, but we got home before dark. That night, I went to John's homestead so he could use the internet and we could have some mzungu (white person) time. And watched more Gilmore Girls (John thoroughly enjoyed it).
Wednesday- Worked at Alice Hope in the morning, and worked in the lab at Ambira in the afternoon, this time using the CD4 machine to check CD4 levels, and the microscope to check for malaria. It doesn't look any better microscopically (unlike HIV, which is quite beautiful). Also, I sorted though some sputum and stool samples!
Thursday- First talk to class 1 and 2 about HIV. We couldn't find a banana, so we put the condom on a blue bottle. The kids loved that, and the teachers had a good time, too! They've obviously heard the whole 'schpiel about HIV from doctors before, but another voice reinforcing the lesson never hurts (especially at such a great age to for learning!).
This weekend I will be going to Kisumu to work on my papers and hang out with Chelsea and Kaitlyn, while hopefully wandering around the coast of Lake Victoria.
Overall things are going great, but everything moves so slowly here. Once the sun goes down, there's not much to do because we don't have electricity. I actually find it rather relaxing, because I know exactly whe my work day is going to end. Also, in typical small-town fashion, everyone always has a smile on their face, and sincerely wants to know how your days is. It seems like a lot of the people here in Ugunja really enjoy their work, which is something I don't see a lot of in the US; and when you haven't got a TV, other people become your entertainment! What this means is that you can get to know someone in a very short time, and entertain each other for hours.
It's certainly a different lifestyle, but it's starting to grow on me.
Mia
So as I type this I'm literally surrounded by cute (but screaming) watoto (children) at the school I'm interning at for the next 5 weeks. They've never seen a laptop before, and they're fascinated. I've actually been here for about 1.5 weeks, and a lot has happened, so I'll try to make this brief.
Sunday- Arrived at hut compound, met family, and realized I don't have a pillow or a door. Spent most of the night being silently alarmed, but very well-fed.
Monday- Host sister (also boss), took me all over town to her school, the clinic I work at on Wednesdays, the HIV clinic I go to support group meetings at, and the school for deaf children that I lecture at on Fridays. Whew, long day.
Tuesday- All day at the school...I realize that teaching preschoolers is much harder than it looks. Props to all pre-K teachers, it takes a LOT of patience.
Wednesday- First day at the lab in Ambira. They showed me around, and I took names and information for each patient as they passed through (and got hit on incessantly by lab techs. Gotta love Kenyan men!)
Thursday- All day at Alice Hope again, this time in ECD 2. Trying to teach someone how to draw numbers correctly is also harder than it looks.
Friday- Rough day. Started off with a piki-piki accident (nothing serious), I got to the school late, and then I got lost on the way to the deaf school, Sega. I arrived 45 mins late for that, and then went home after teaching. That night I was bitten by the watchdog of the compound...thankfully it didn't break the skin, because I never got rabies shots. I watched some Gilmore Girls on my laptop in bed to calm down.
Saturday through Tuesday- Sis and I went to Nakuru to see her husband and children, and got groceries for the month. On Sunday we went to a Jehovah's Witness service (interesting), and watch some movies (they have a TV!!!). On Monday we went to the market and got enough vegetables for the month, and on Tuesday we fit it all on the 8 hr bus ride back to Ugunja. I honestly didn't think it was all going to fit, and neither did Lilian, but 6 boxes later we were happily bouncing down the road home! That is until we came upon a traffic jam caused by not 1, but 3 semis stuck in the road. That took a few hours to fix, but we got home before dark. That night, I went to John's homestead so he could use the internet and we could have some mzungu (white person) time. And watched more Gilmore Girls (John thoroughly enjoyed it).
Wednesday- Worked at Alice Hope in the morning, and worked in the lab at Ambira in the afternoon, this time using the CD4 machine to check CD4 levels, and the microscope to check for malaria. It doesn't look any better microscopically (unlike HIV, which is quite beautiful). Also, I sorted though some sputum and stool samples!
Thursday- First talk to class 1 and 2 about HIV. We couldn't find a banana, so we put the condom on a blue bottle. The kids loved that, and the teachers had a good time, too! They've obviously heard the whole 'schpiel about HIV from doctors before, but another voice reinforcing the lesson never hurts (especially at such a great age to for learning!).
This weekend I will be going to Kisumu to work on my papers and hang out with Chelsea and Kaitlyn, while hopefully wandering around the coast of Lake Victoria.
Overall things are going great, but everything moves so slowly here. Once the sun goes down, there's not much to do because we don't have electricity. I actually find it rather relaxing, because I know exactly whe my work day is going to end. Also, in typical small-town fashion, everyone always has a smile on their face, and sincerely wants to know how your days is. It seems like a lot of the people here in Ugunja really enjoy their work, which is something I don't see a lot of in the US; and when you haven't got a TV, other people become your entertainment! What this means is that you can get to know someone in a very short time, and entertain each other for hours.
It's certainly a different lifestyle, but it's starting to grow on me.
Mia
