OH BABY!

March 19, 2013 4:44pm

I am sitting in the newly built maternity ward with Chepkurui Lona, an 18 year old girl from my form 3 class at Singorwet Secondary School. She is about to have her first baby. She is scared and tense so I am helping to relax her. Her mother and grandmother have accompanied her today. According to her, she has been in labor for almost 12 hours. I am beginning to think we may unfortunately have to send her to Tenwek Hospital. It is only for her own health, however I am happy we now have the facilities to provide for most births. When I asked her if she was ready to be a mother, she responded, “I am ready to be a student so my baby can have a better life than me.” She says that the boy refuses to marry her or help her financially. I told her a baby isn’t a reason to get married and she said she didn’t want to marry him anyway, but her grandmother was pressuring her into it.

Update: We ended up having to refer Chepkurui to a hospital where she got a c-section. She named the baby Chepkosgei, after me. I was so happy to have been a part of that and to have helped her at least a little. I can’t wait to go visit the newborn as soon as she can go home.

We are so fortunate in America where you can choose to have a baby at a hospital and even better have an epidural. Watching someone have a baby makes me actually less scared of having one myself someday. I love children so much, which was my motivation for the maternity ward in the first place. I really want to adopt someday and have a diverse family. I know it sounds cliché, but with all my hopes and dreams of a career, the only thing I’ve ever truly wanted was to be a mother and I hope someday, when I’m ready, that will come true. At least for now I’m enjoying being an auntie to my niece Annemaire and my nephew Ethan and to all the village babies I get to play with every day.

On another note, today I taught about dental hygiene to the mothers at the MCH clinic. I recently had a mouth guard made in Nairobi and they let me keep my teeth plaster so I used it as a model. Due to the generous grant of Just Faith, I was able to buy 30 tooth brushes to provide to the women at the clinic. I taught them the importance of good eating for your teeth and also how to clean them. Most people here do not have any access to dental care, let alone tooth brushes. They make tooth brushes out of bamboo sticks. Anyway, I’m hoping that these mothers will go back and teach their children what they have learned. Kenyans never smile with their teeth, and maybe that can change.

I bought my ticket to Ethiopia! I’ll be going April 2^nd through the 9^th with two of my girlfriends. I’m so excited! It will be my last big trip before I head home. I believe I will hopefully be home around May 19^th so keep your fingers crossed. I’m just waiting for the go ahead from Peace Corps Washington headquarters and then the money so I can book the flight. Sangala will be in tow and I’m so excited for you all to meet him. He is going to love America and I plan on fattening him up.

Finally, a huge thank you to Alain OConnor, Susan Poor, and Desi Smith whom I have received checks from to sponsor some school girls at Singorwet Secondary. I have successfully paid off Term 1 and 2 for three of the girls in my scholarship program and am waiting for a few other promised checks so I can pay off Term 3. This program has been a huge success, especially the savings part of the program for the mothers. It has not only continued to reinforce the importance of education for girls, but also has taught the mothers financial responsibility. So again, thank you so much for your selfless donation to these girls futures!

Anyway, the countdown to home begins with about 7 weeks left in Kenya!

No News Is Good News

Not much has been happening with the Kenyan election. They voted on the 4^th and  have had a lot of problems with the system so people are just waiting for ballots to be counted. Some people had to wait in line for 6 hours to vote. I could never see an American doing that! There have been reports of some violence on the coast, but where they have us, it feels so far away. So that’s all the news for now, otherwise just wanted to let all my loved ones back home know not to worry about  me because….

I’ve been laying by the pool, playing football, teaching hip hop classes, enjoying electricity, hot showers, getting fat off good food and hanging out with my awesome Peace Corps friends. Life is very relaxing right now and I have no complaints. Besides my prayers that Kenya remains peaceful once we find out the results of the election, I have no problems.

Consolidation has been especially nice because of the really cool people I get to hang out with! Especially the ones that were in my training class. We are all almost done and have been here since the beginning together and we feel wise and bonded. We are now the oldest group in Kenya and it feels good to just sorta know how everything finally works. Going into Peace Corps I was like “two years?!, that’s so long!”, but now I understand why they make it two years. It takes that long to not only integrate into your communities and generate sustainable projects, but most importantly formulate friendships that will be life long. It is going to be bitter sweet when I have to leave this country. I’ll miss my community probably the most, but I will also miss getting to see these amazing PCVs on a fairly regular basis. The fun thing though is that when I go back to America, now I’ll know people from all over the country! Before I didn’t really know many people out of the west coast.

Anyway, things are obviously good on this end. I have pretty good internet so send me some emails or facebook me and let me know what’s going on in your life! I’d love some updates from home!

Kibendi Gaa (We're going home)

It’s hard to put into words the experience of visiting a true village home. I really think you can only understand if you have lived it as I have. However, I will try my best to convey this story through writing.

Geoffery is my mama’s farm boy. He has been working for her for 5 years. Around here people call him the “human lowrey” because he is so strong. He is also known as Baba Sangala because whenever I go out of town, he is the one to care for my dog. But, he is much more than that. He has become one of my best friends here. He has become the brother I never had. Geoffery can’t speak any English, let alone Kiswahili, so we mostly communicate in broken languages and hand gestures. He saves me from bugs, I let him eat my baking…we have a mutually beneficial relationship. 

Anyway, so for 5 years my mama had never been to Geoffery’s home. He lives with us, actually just two doors down from me. But through my encouragement, we ventured about an hour away and finally got to see where Geoffery comes from. His home is down a long dirt road. You could tell very few cars ever go that way from the roads condition (and also the looks we got as we drove by). It has to be completely impassable in the rainy season. Luckily, we had great weather.

We arrived to the gentle greeting of his father, an old African man of around at least 60 years. You could see the lines of a long life lived in the creases of his smile. His ears were cut in the traditional Kalengin way. Geoffery’s sisters in law prepared us a meal of rise, beans, potatoes and meat, and while they ate in the kitchen with the children, us “distinguished guests” sat in the house. The house was a modest mud hut with a tin roof, decorated with a few plastic chairs and a small table in the middle.

After we ate, we headed down into the farms to see some of his other family and neighbors. They all also live in very small round traditional mud huts. I was the first white person these people have ever seen so they were curious to say the least. We drank a cup of chai at every house, I thought I would burst. Sangala came along with us on the journey and everyone took to him very well. One little boy adopted him for the day and took him around on the leash. He wasn’t scared at all! One lady gave us a whole bag of sweet potatoes from her farm.

Our last stop, and one more cup of chai, we sang and danced and my mama presented the family with some gifts she had brought (a blanket, a laso (wrap for head/body), and thermos). Everyone got up and said a word or two. They were all so grateful we came. We went by a nearby school and I tell you, I know what it feels like to be a celebrity. All the children were screaming when I came in. They ran to me and petted my head and stroked my arm hair. They were asking me all about America and were surprised that I knew some of the language. All eyes were on me. Literally I felt famous. They sang me their national anthem and then I had to sing ours…which was horrible. I had to have broke some windows on “land of the freeeeeee”.

Anyway, the best part of the whole day was seeing how happy Geoffery was. He was so proud to introduce us to his family. After seeing where he comes from, I know Geoffery must have had a very impoverished upbringing, but the people don’t seem that way at all. They were all so happy and warm. It makes me realize how you are never truly poor in Kenya. Money is not the most important thing here. It’s family. And Geoffery is my family.

I think I will miss him the most. I always wonder how much closer we could be if he could speak at least Kiswahili. But it has also taught me that even language is not a true barrier of people. There really are none. We are all the same. Like I said, it’s hard to really write down the emotions that I went through during this experience, but I do know that a simple days journey has changed me at least in a way. I’m being changed here everyday little by little. And after a day like this, I think to myself, God is real, and I just want to smile. I feel so at peace.

Anyway, I'm now at consolidation. They are keeping all us Peace Corps Volunteers in one place during the elections. During 2007 there was mass violence and PC had to evacuate all the volunteers. This time it is said to be more peaceful, but we are still taking precautions. I am praying for peace in Kenya and I ask for your prayers too. I’m not quite ready to leave because I want to see my maternity ward completed. So far we have ¼ of the equipment. It’s been a slow (very slow) process. Until then, I’ll be resting by the pool with my PCV friends waiting for the results of the election. Most likely I’ll have wifi in the hotel so skype me if you can at: andrea.flynn.schneider