That’s me! My new KiLuyah name is Nekesa. It means the harvest. They gave me the name Nekesa because I came to Kenya around the time of the harvest. Most children are named after the season or time of day they are born. I was born in January and that name means “hunger” or something so I told them I’d prefer to be named after the time I was born a Kenyan. So here I am, Nekesa, just a typical village girl who baths in a bucket, hand washes her clothes and catches her water from the rain. Yup, that’s me now haha. I’m getting use to it and life is very calming here. I have so much time to reflect on myself and who I am, what my values are, who I want to be, what demons I need to face…it really has been a personal journey more than anything else. It’s not always easy being in my mind, but when there’s not much else to do I might as well take the time to reflect I suppose.
The last week has been overall good. Besides the usual malaria sessions I perform with Pembe Tatu, I was able to go see the World Food Program hand out food to those most vulnerable in a local village. The community members vote on the people in their village who are most in need of the food and then those people get to come once a month and collect corn, beans and cooking oil. WFP has sponsors from all over the world and each bag of food is printed with the country donor that sponsored it. It’s good to see America’s flag on a number of the bags. It shows people we really do care. I’m not necessarily for handouts, but I think it’s better than going to bed hungry.
I got in a pretty bad bicycle accident the other day. Don’t worry, I’m ok, but it defiantly gave me a reality shock and I may not be riding my bike for awhile. I live on a main highway, but people bike on it all the time too. So I was following another biker when out of no where a huge bus came by, hit me on the side and I went flying off the side of the road! They didn’t even stop to see if I was ok! Luckily some of the villagers ran to my rescue. I got the wind knocked out of me so I couldn’t even speak. They threw me into their car and rushed me to the Health Center (the same one I work at, which was a little embarrassing). By the time I got there, I was fine except my hand was really messed up. It’s been swollen for about a week now and badly bruised, but honestly I was lucky I just wasn’t more hurt. I really feel like God is watching over me here.
Life is hard here, much more difficult than the typical Americans. I went to a house the other day to pass my condolences on to some parents who had lost their 3 day old baby. I saw the baby’s lifeless little body. It was so hard not to cry right there and then. The parents didn’t know why she had even died. I couldn’t help but think that if this was America, this might not have happened. People don’t have access to the same medical luxuries here. When I got in my accident all they did was put iodine on my scratches and feel my hand to make sure it wasn’t broken. They don’t even have access to x-ray. Anyway, the father said to me, “Everybody says this is all a part of God’s plan, but I don’t understand why God would take my child from me. She didn’t even get to know I exist.” It was truly tragic.
Speaking of the medical system, I went to help deliver a baby the other day and was so excited, but the mother was having trouble dilating (they don’t have drugs to induce that here or even pain medication), so she had to be referred to the nearest city. They didn’t have a personal vehicle so they had to take the local transport! The matatu is the local transport and it’s so crowded there are people sitting on top of one another, the drivers drive like they are high on glue and it always smells like armpit and fish in there…I can’t imagine being in labor on one. Anyway, I don’t want to hear any complaining out of American mothers in labor ever again…just imagine giving birth in Africa. There’s one labor room and a bunk room for the new mothers. The babies don’t even have cribs!
So on the bright side I have began plans to start my Health Club at the local girls boarding high school and I’m really excited! The Guidance Counselor there is going to help me. Next week I’m going in to promote the club and hopefully girls will sign up. I’ll be teaching them everything from HIV/AIDS and STI awareness to the importance of having self-esteem, goal setting, time management, relationships, reproductive health and many more important topics. I’m planning on doing a lot of creative learning through art and theater because they don’t get a lot of that in school. Schools here are very exam centered and they don’t get anytime to do any fun activities. This is also where I’m hoping to start my soccer team. I think it will be a good way to have fun and also incorporate health. I’m really looking forward to this because I think it will give me something to do that will hopefully really make a difference in these girls lives.
Anywhoooo, miss you all back home! Thank you to all of you who have been reading my blog. I also want to say to my Cousin Logan, congratulations again! Love and miss you!
Sincerely,
Nekesa
xo
Friday, September 16, 2011
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Village Life
Life in the village is slow, but good. I've been trying to keep myself busy, but then other days i just laze around and do nothing absolutely nothing, which feels amazing. My puppy, Sangala is good and healthy. The vet came and gave him a vaccine for rabbies and deworming. He'll be the healthiest dog here that’s for sure. Whenever I’m busy out doing work, my new friend Millie watches him for me. She even feeds him! He’s stopped crying so much at night too so that makes me happy. We are making progress in our little life here in Matayos.
Anyway, the other day I ran into a bunch of American missionaries that were about my age so I asked them if I could go out with them for the day. We walked way back into the villages and I heard some really sad stories from families that are struggling. One house we went to had a child with a horrible skin disease. She was only 10 months old and the mother could not even afford soap. I think the disease could be prevented with just basic hygiene, but when there is lack of water and money, families have to make priorities and food is number one. It’s hard to see suffering like that because it makes me just want to do something immediately, like take the child home with me and care for her. Anyway, at another house there was this old man who couldn't walk. He told us that sometimes when it rains he gets stuck outside and rained on because no one will be home to carry him inside. His wife has to predict when to go to the markets based on the rains so she can be there to help him, but predicting the weather is not the easiest thing, so he sometimes gets rained on or else they will starve. Anyway I told them I live here and to come to the clinic if they can and I will talk to a doctor with them. I oddly have a lot of authority here, sadly I think because I'm white. They think I'm like a doctor myself or something. I was telling the nurse the other day that the reason why I'm in health is because of experience I've had with San Francisco Aids Foundation and she couldn't believe I didn't even study medicine in university.
I've been volunteering a little at the VCT too (voluntary counseling and testing) and helping out with the HIV testing. It's intense because you can see the fear in someone’s eyes when they come to get tested and the whole time I'm just praying please don't test positive. I sat in on an HIV support group the other day too. It was really interesting, but also made me concerned because I’m not sure how I can really help. I mean these people already KNOW about HIV etc, so I can’t teach them anything new really. What it seems like they need most is funding for their group so they can expand their farm and make more money for their families. Well money is something I don’t have, and even if I did, I don’t want to just give it out because it’s not sustainable. So I said maybe I could show them some income generating activities or something. It feels like a heavy burden on my shoulders because they expect so much from me. I just hope I can help at least a little.
I've also began work with my primary organization, Pembe Tatu. We go way out into the villages and do talks about malaria and show people the amount of money they will lose getting malaria instead of just spending a little money on a net to sleep under. Then we demonstrate how to tie and hang the net. It's all in Kiswahili and I try, but I can't really help too much due to lack of language skills on my part. People are so shocked to see a white person. Unfortunately when they see me they automatically think I'm rich, have money and will give it to them. It's sad and racist. I wasn't even rich in America! But I mean when I go out to these villages it makes me think how lucky I really am. I complain about the cockroaches and whatnot, but in retrospect, these houses have far worse conditions and the people have little to nothing. They live that way their entire lives, whereas I only have to deal for 2 years. It gives me strength actually.
Anyway, I’m missing home and missing Americans in general now that I’ve been at site for awhile. While it’s nice to have down time, I think I might begin to go a little stir crazy soon haha! I made my neighbor come over and play cards with me today because I was so bored and had no electricity. I guess I’m just feeling like I don’t quite know what to do with myself. It will come though and soon enough I’m sure I’ll get busy once I find my place here. Tomorrow I’m buying a bicycle so hopefully I can start exploring even further!
Anyway, the other day I ran into a bunch of American missionaries that were about my age so I asked them if I could go out with them for the day. We walked way back into the villages and I heard some really sad stories from families that are struggling. One house we went to had a child with a horrible skin disease. She was only 10 months old and the mother could not even afford soap. I think the disease could be prevented with just basic hygiene, but when there is lack of water and money, families have to make priorities and food is number one. It’s hard to see suffering like that because it makes me just want to do something immediately, like take the child home with me and care for her. Anyway, at another house there was this old man who couldn't walk. He told us that sometimes when it rains he gets stuck outside and rained on because no one will be home to carry him inside. His wife has to predict when to go to the markets based on the rains so she can be there to help him, but predicting the weather is not the easiest thing, so he sometimes gets rained on or else they will starve. Anyway I told them I live here and to come to the clinic if they can and I will talk to a doctor with them. I oddly have a lot of authority here, sadly I think because I'm white. They think I'm like a doctor myself or something. I was telling the nurse the other day that the reason why I'm in health is because of experience I've had with San Francisco Aids Foundation and she couldn't believe I didn't even study medicine in university.
I've been volunteering a little at the VCT too (voluntary counseling and testing) and helping out with the HIV testing. It's intense because you can see the fear in someone’s eyes when they come to get tested and the whole time I'm just praying please don't test positive. I sat in on an HIV support group the other day too. It was really interesting, but also made me concerned because I’m not sure how I can really help. I mean these people already KNOW about HIV etc, so I can’t teach them anything new really. What it seems like they need most is funding for their group so they can expand their farm and make more money for their families. Well money is something I don’t have, and even if I did, I don’t want to just give it out because it’s not sustainable. So I said maybe I could show them some income generating activities or something. It feels like a heavy burden on my shoulders because they expect so much from me. I just hope I can help at least a little.
I've also began work with my primary organization, Pembe Tatu. We go way out into the villages and do talks about malaria and show people the amount of money they will lose getting malaria instead of just spending a little money on a net to sleep under. Then we demonstrate how to tie and hang the net. It's all in Kiswahili and I try, but I can't really help too much due to lack of language skills on my part. People are so shocked to see a white person. Unfortunately when they see me they automatically think I'm rich, have money and will give it to them. It's sad and racist. I wasn't even rich in America! But I mean when I go out to these villages it makes me think how lucky I really am. I complain about the cockroaches and whatnot, but in retrospect, these houses have far worse conditions and the people have little to nothing. They live that way their entire lives, whereas I only have to deal for 2 years. It gives me strength actually.
Anyway, I’m missing home and missing Americans in general now that I’ve been at site for awhile. While it’s nice to have down time, I think I might begin to go a little stir crazy soon haha! I made my neighbor come over and play cards with me today because I was so bored and had no electricity. I guess I’m just feeling like I don’t quite know what to do with myself. It will come though and soon enough I’m sure I’ll get busy once I find my place here. Tomorrow I’m buying a bicycle so hopefully I can start exploring even further!
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